Boulder, Colorado, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada – July 16, 2001 – Softimage Co., the Montreal-based animation and special effects subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID), and Electric Rain, Inc., a Boulder, Colorado-based 3D and multimedia software company, today announced the upcoming release of the Swift 3D™ XSI™ plug-in that will allow SOFTIMAGE®|XSI users access to key vector-based 2D formats, including Macromedia Flash (SWF). With this technology, animators and digital artists using Softimage’s flagship software product – SOFTIMAGE|XSI – will be able to re-purpose their 3D content for use on Web pages and in printed media.

“Our customers asked for more Web and print format support in SOFTIMAGE|XSI, and we responded,” said Michael Sheasby, director of business development for Softimage. “Development of this plug-in means Softimage animators and artists will be able to deliver their content to a wider variety of media, most notably the Flash format. We were happy to collaborate with Electric Rain to produce this key feature, as we found Electric Rain’s exclusive RAViX™ II technology to be an extremely precise and reliable technology for rendering 3D content to vector formats,” Sheasby added.

RAViX II, Electric Rain’s industry-leading vector rendering technology, converts 3D model meshes into vector-based gradient shaded 2D images, and forms the core of the Swift 3D XSI plug-in.

Key features of the plug-in include:

Access to four vector formats:

• Flash (SWF) – With the plug-in, users will be able to take a 3D scene or animation and render it to Flash for display on a Web site. The result is a high-quality, portable, low-bandwidth version of the scene – which can be viewed anywhere that Flash can be viewed.


• EPS and AI – Allows users to export 3D work into 2D vector formats for integration with Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and other popular print-related programs. The ability to export sequential EPS files facilitates seamless integration with Adobe’s LiveMotion software.


• SVG –A new vector-based Web standard similar to Flash, which was recently approved by the W3C.

QUALITY AND SPEED:
With the Swift3D XSI plug-in, the rendering process is extremely fast, with superb output quality. Once rendering is complete, the resulting vector files are highly optimized and immediately suitable for insertion directly into a Web page, or for direct use with Macromedia Flash, Adobe LiveMotion or an HTML editing application.

“Rendering out 3D content directly from XSI to Flash will finally bridge the gap between high-quality animation and the Web,” said Arne Oehme, project leader for new media with the Frankfurt-Germany based media services firm, Martincolor. “This technology is exactly what we need to breathe life into our Web sites, and it will be a major building block in all our future Web and multimedia projects.”

“As Softimage provides best-of-breed tools for 3D content creation, we are delighted to be joining forces with Softimage to give XSI users the ability to re-purpose their 3D content and take advantage of cutting-edge Web technologies like Flash,” said David Klein, VP of Marketing for Electric Rain. “Our plug-in provides unmatched speed and quality for Flash, AI, EPS, and SVG conversions. These are critical formats for the crossover from traditional to new media, and Electric Rain is contributing to this trend.”

PRICING INFORMATION & PRODUCT AVAILABILITY
The plug-in is scheduled to ship in August 2001, and will be available from Electric Rain’s Website at www.erain.com. The price of the plug-in will be $475 (USMSRP).

About Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid Technology, Inc., of which Softimage Co. is a subsidiary, delivers the solutions that Make, Manage and Move Media™. As a recognized digital standard for professionals who Make the world's media -- from video, audio and film to animation, special effects and streaming media -- Avid’s products are used to make more television and news shows, commercials, music videos and CDs, corporate/industrial productions and major motion pictures combined than any other nonlinear editing manufacturer in the world. Now, building on its Oscar®, Grammy® and Emmy® award-winning heritage in creating content, Avid is extending its reach by redefining how digital media is shared, stored and distributed. To Manage today's increasingly rich collection of dynamic media, Avid provides powerful servers, networks and media tools to help customers search files, share media and collaborate on new productions, both locally and globally. Avid’s solutions also empower users to easily Move media, whether on air, over cable or satellite or through the Internet. Like no other media company today, Avid’s end-to-end solutions span the continuum of media creation, management and distribution. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Tewksbury, MA. More information about the company is available at www.avid.com and www.softimage.com.

About Electric Rain, Inc.
Electric Rain, Inc. is a fast moving 3D and multimedia software company with a vision of bringing easy-to-use 3D and multimedia tools to the masses. Through the release of its stand-alone application, Swift 3D v1.0, and the company's proprietary RAViX rendering technology, Electric Rain has quickly become the industry leading developer and supplier of 3D to vector solutions. The company is located at the base of the Flatirons in Boulder, Colorado. More information about Electric Rain and its products and technologies is available at www.erain.com.

2001 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product specifications and availability are subject to change without notice. All prices are USMSRP for U.S. and Canada only and are subject to change without notice. Contact your local Avid office or reseller for prices outside the U.S. and Canada. Avid and Softimage are registered trademarks and XSI and Make, Manage and Move Media are trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. Swift 3D and RAViX are trademarks of Electric Rain, Inc. Oscar is a trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Grammy is a trademark of The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. Emmy is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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For More Information Contact:
Ed Wunsch - Electric Rain, Inc.
P (303) 543-8233
F (303) 543-8225
E ewunsch@erain.com