Natural Motion's Endorphin 2.6 debuts at GDC

NaturalMotion today announced that it will debut endorphin 2.6, the newest version of the company’s award-winning 3D animation software, at the 2006 Game Developer Conference (GDC), booth 1136. With new network licensing, improved adaptive behaviors, enhanced pipeline integration and improved character editing features, endorphin 2.6 boasts a powerful suite of tools that allow animators to create realistic, fully interactive 3D character animation for games, films and broadcast production.

“The new network licensing is one of many improvements in endorphin 2.6 which are a direct result of feedback received from our key accounts,” said Richard Craig-McFeely, sales and marketing director for NaturalMotion. “We’ve integrated new features and added functionality that was requested by many of today’s leading games and production companies plus our extensive 20,000-strong Learning Edition user community. These additions to endorphin 2.6 give animators and artists even more control when creating highly-complex character animation sequences.”

New features in endorphin 2.6 include:

• Network Licensing - Enables users to share multiple endorphin licenses across a network from a single server dongle.
• Adaptive Behaviors - New and improved adaptive behaviors such as grab and hold.
• Behavior Property Visualization - Viewport visualization of key parameters makes it easier to use and apply adaptive behaviors to characters.
• Property View Multi-Select - Common object parameter selection and editing speeds up the process of scene and character setup.
• Improved Pipeline Tools - Enhanced tools for integrating endorphin into most 3D and animation pipelines.
• Improved Character Edit Mode - Automation of existing processes speeds up the creation of simulation characters.

New Reference Manual & Training Material - Comprehensive new user guide features up-to-date reference manual, more detailed tutorials, improved navigation and a full set of tips and tricks written by top endorphin specialists. Regularly updated versions will be available online at the NaturalMotion User Forum, and can also be downloaded as a Windows Help document or an Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

Used by leading game and production companies such as Blitz Games, FreeStyleGames, Sony Computer Entertainment, Tigar Hare Studios, Venom Games, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Giant Killer Robots, CIS Hollywood, The Mill and Moving Picture Company, endorphin offers an entirely new approach to 3D animation, and is the only character animation software to utilize DMS, a technology based on artificial intelligence controllers that imitate the human nervous system. Unlike conventional animation techniques such as key-framing or motion capture, endorphin’s DMS technology uses the CPU to simulate the brain and body of 3D characters, which allows animators to synthesize human movements in real time. This approach produces directed and fully-interactive 3D characters that essentially animate themselves with real-life movements that are unique every time; thus dramatically reducing animation asset production time.

Pricing and Availability
endorphin 2.6 is available now for USD $9,495. The upgrade is free of charge to existing NaturalMotion customers with a valid maintenance contract. NaturalMotion also gives customers an opportunity to rent endorphin on a monthly basis for USD $1,195. The company’s free endorphin 2.6 Learning Edition is scheduled for release in May 2006. For additional information on endorphin, please visit NaturalMotion’s website at www.naturalmotion.com.

About NaturalMotion
NaturalMotion Ltd. is the first company to create 3D character animation software (endorphin) based on Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS), a technology that utilizes Adaptive Behaviors and artificial intelligence to simulate the human-nervous system. Based on Oxford University research on the control of body movements, NaturalMotion’s first product endorphin synthesizes off-line 3D character animation in real time. With customers such as Sega, Sony, Moving Picture Company, The Mill, Giant Killer Robots, CIS Hollywood, Namco, Konami, Zoic, Blitz Games and Tigar Hare Studios, endorphin has rapidly become the tool of choice for many leading games and visual effects artists creating high-end animation. For further information please visit NaturalMotion’s website at www.naturalmotion.com, or join the 20,000 endorphin Learning Edition users at this link.

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