MIDDLEWARE

MONTREAL -- Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc., today announced the availability of combustion 3 for Microsoft Windows, the latest version of its award-winning visual effects and 3D compositing desktop software. combustion 3 software offers the creative tools, speed and interactivity that visual effects professionals and artists need to succeed. "As an independent artist, it is crucial that I am comfortable with the tools I use every day," noted Gary Davis of visualZ, LLC in Orlando, Florida. "combustion 3 allows me to perform all the major functions of the entire Adobe(R) Video Collection -- I can edit, create vector artwork, paint, rotoscope and composite all from within the same interface. The result is that I spend far less time bouncing between applications and produce high-quality content." combustion 3 is quickly becoming the must-have solution for creating effects and motion graphics for video, film, DVD, and the web. With an intuitive design environment and cutting edge new features and improvements, combustion 3 software brings unmatched capabilities to the desktop. "With combustion 3, Discreet continues to leverage its proven expertise in building world-class visual effects and compositing software," said Joe Klingler, Vice President of Software Products, Discreet. "The new features and enhancements of combustion 3, coupled with increasingly powerful and affordable desktop computers, bring Discreet's award-winning capabilities to a wider audience." New Features -- Editing Operator -- combustion 3 is the first visual effects application with integrated editing, enabling users to be more productive by performing the types of creative editing tasks most frequently needed by effects artists directly within the application. -- Expressions -- The JavaScript-based expressions will allow combustion artists to easily create complex animations -- eliminating tedious repetitive work. -- Flash Output -- Artists will be able to utilize the vector paint and animation interface tools in combustion 3 software to create and output Macromedia Flash animations, extending the range of services they can offer to their clients. -- RE:Flex warper and morpher -- With RE:Vision Effects' RE:Flex plug-in, warping is directed through the combustion 3 rotoscoping tools rather than with a grid of tedious mesh points. The result is a seamless and intuitive workflow with no learning curve. Integrated into combustion 3 at no additional cost, users save close to US$600.