Pulse Powers Immersive 3D Web Tour for"Will & Grace" TV Show

SAN FRANCISCO (August 6, 2001) - Pulse*, the leader in providinginteractive, 3D rich media solutions for the Internet, in conjunctionwith NBC, today announced that a new "3D virtual tour" of the sets fromNBC's hit show Will & Grace© is now available on NBC.com.Developed by Pulse utilizing their proprietary technology as well asthat of partner REALVIZ, the primary sets from the Emmy-Award winningWill & Grace are now offered as immersive, interactive 3Denvironments that fans of the show can explore in depth with the clickof a mouse.

Offering a first-person, hands-on view of the title characters' homeand offices, the Will & Grace 3D virtual tour for the first timeenables users to navigate and interact with photo-realistic versions ofthe actual sets and props from a TV show. Pulse's previouscollaboration with NBC resulted in the creation of the Virtual Jay Lenocharacter - the first interactive, 3D version of a real-world TVcelebrity. Virtual Jay appeared on "The Tonight Show" and is stillfeatured on the NBC.com site.

The first photo-real walk-through of a TV show's sets on the Web,the Will & Grace virtual tour also features the Web's firstphoto-real site guide. Melinda Ritz, the set decorator for thetelevision show, serves as "tour guide" and appears as a 3D, photo-real"virtual character" in the lower right corner of the screen at keytimes during the tour. Ritz offers up insights regarding the sets'design and evolution, as well as behind-the-scenes, newly disclosedtrivia about the show.

With interest in Will & Grace at an all-time high, the virtualtour serves NBC's viewing public by providing followers of the showwith new ways to involve themselves in the characters' living space.NBC.com hosts the new virtual tour and will feature it on the site asWill & Grace prepares for its fourth season this Fall. The Will& Grace virtual tour is available directly athttp://www.nbc.com/nbc/Will & Grace/special features.shtml

"The Pulse-powered virtual tour of Will & Grace exemplifies arevolutionary new way for consumers to experience their favoritetelevision shows online," said Chris Gelke, Marketing Manager at NBC."Pulse adds a third dimension and interactivity to previouslytwo-dimensional content, allowing viewers to become more engaged withshows which already hold a place in their daily lives."

Pulse partnered with the San Francisco division of French-basedREALVIZ, a global leader in image-based content creation, to build theWill & Grace sets. Applying "photo-stitching" and image modelingprocesses to digital pictures of the actual show sets, Pulse andREALVIZ recreated the show's environs in a fully immersive, interactiveform accessible to consumers around the globe. The Will & Gracevirtual tour has been optimized for download via narrow- and broadbandconnections. While the files take approximately five minutes todownload via a 56k modem, they each contain the equivalent of roughly75 MB of digitized video, which would require more than six hours todownload. And unlike video, the Pulse files are fully interactive andnavigable. Users can even pick up, rotate and learn more about variousprops in each setting, such as Will's espresso maker and Karen's deskand refrigerator in Grace's office.

"We've succeeded in making the most popular medium in history evenmore engaging, through the additions of online immersion andinteractivity," said Fred Angelopoulos, CEO of Pulse. "Takingtelevision from a passive 'lean-back' experience to a 'lean-forward,'interactive online experience for consumers illustrates the incrediblepotential of our technology. The Will & Grace tour demonstrates howPulse technology enables any audience to experience a virtualenvironment."