NewTek Brings High-End 3D Software to More Users

LightWave 3D Suggested List Price Slashed to $1595 Special VideoToaster [2] Price for LightWave Users Also Announced

San Antonio, TX - NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading 3Danimation and video production products, announced today that LightWave3D [7], will be available at a greatly reduced suggested retail price.With a full $900 price reduction from $2495 to the new price of $1595,NewTek is once again setting a new price/performance standard for theprofessional 3D industry. NewTek also announced a special promotion forcurrent LightWave users to purchase Video Toaster [2], their real-time,uncompressed, non-linear editing system for only $1995.

"LightWave 3D was already the most affordable professional 3Dprogram on the market, but that wasn't enough for us," said NewTekPresident and CEO, Jim Plant. "Over the last decade LightWave has madeit possible for tens of thousands of people to become 3D animators -our users included both Emmy award winners for Visual Effects thisyear, as well as the Oscar-nominated Jimmy Neutron, the firstanimated movie made entirely with off-the-shelf 3D animation software.This new pricing is the first step in our plan to deliver the power offully professional, 3D animation software to a whole new generation ofartists, designers, technicians, storytellers, video producers andcreative visionaries."

"We're trying to bring some sanity to the way high end 3D tools arepriced," said NewTek founder and Chief Technology Officer, Tim Jenison."The days of 3D software that costs thousands of dollars are over, andthey aren't coming back. Everyone in the industry knows this, but onceagain we're happy to step up to the plate and do something about it.With the huge changes in the price/performance of computers and contentcreation tools in the past few years, nobody today can say with astraight face that a higher price is somehow a magic shortcut toprofessional quality. We have thousands of users in TV, motion picturesand games who know that LightWave is a no compromise, complete 3Danimation, modeling and rendering solution. It's been used day in andday out in real world production for ten years, and our current versionof LightWave can go toe to toe with any other animation packageavailable today at any price."

LightWave 3D is versatile enough to make the transition to and fromall kinds of creative projects. Proven for years in television, film,and games, LightWave 3D is also being used to create graphics forprint, web, industrial design, architecture, medical imaging, andanywhere else a 3D package is needed. A full, robust program, LightWave3D includes soft-body dynamics, particles, Sasquatch Lite for hair andfur, plus unlimited render nodes; LightWave 3D ships with all the toolsan artist needs to begin immediately creating sophisticated 3D graphicsand animation.

Pricing and Availability

LightWave [7] is currently shipping for a suggested retail price ofUS$1595. Registered owners of LightWave [6] may upgrade to version [7]for US$395, and registered owners of LightWave 5.6 or earlier mayupgrade to version [7] for US$495. Current users of any version ofLightWave 3D can purchase Video Toaster [2] for US$1995. LightWave [7]is available for Macintosh OS 9 and OS X-native, and for Windows 98,2000, ME and NT4, running on AMD and Intel processors. Video Toaster[2] is available for Windows 2000-based personal computers. LightWave3D and Video Toaster [2] are available through NewTek's channel ofauthorized resellers and distributors worldwide.