Win • Mac Alien Skin Software is shipping Eye Candy 5: Nature, a set of 10 plug-in filters for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, Macromedia Fireworks, and Jasc Paint Shop Pro. Among the filters offered in Nature are: Corona, Drip, Fire, Icicles, Ripples, Rust, Smoke, Snow Drift, Squint, and Water Drops. Targeted at graphic designers, digital photographers, and Web and multimedia content creators, Eye Candy 5: Nature is the second of three Eye Candy 5 collections. Eye Candy 5: Textures, released earlier and priced at $99, includes such surface effects as fur, brick, stone, and wood. Eye Candy 5: Impact, with more graphic design effects, is scheduled for release later this year. Eye Candy 5: Nature is available now for Windows and Macintosh systems at a cost of $99.
Alien Skin Software; www.alienskin.com
Modification
Softimage and parent company Avid Technology have released Softimage XSI Mod Tool, a version of its 3D animation software that aids in modifying video game content. In conjunction with Valve’s Source Software Development Kit (SDK), Softimage XSI Mod Tool enables users to create props, characters, and environment models, and output the content into
Half-Life 2 and other Valve Source engine-powered games. The new release boasts tools for creating, texturing, and animating props and characters, designing and previewing real-time effects, and outputting the results, as well as the normal mapping features in Softimage XSI 4.2.
Softimage; www.softimage.com
Video
Win NewTek has announced the availability of the first Service Pack for its VT4 integrated, professional video production suite. In addition to various performance and utility im-provements, VT4 Service Pack 1 infuses the company’s software solution with such new features as support for the .DVD format, a Color Match tool, PRX (Windows Media profile) support in VT-Stream, and italics support for image layers in VT-Edit. VT4 Service Pack 1 is available at no charge to VT4 owners. Newly updated and available for Windows 2000 and XP Professional operating systems, VT4 is priced at $3995.
NewTek; www.newtek.com
Workstations
Alienware has announced that its Aurora 7500 and Aurora ALX workstations support Nvidia’s SLI technology. By enabling the com-bination of two Nvidia GeForce 6 Series graphics cards in a single PC, Nvidia SLI technology increases graphics performance, translating to faster imaging speeds for graphics-intensive applications. The Aurora 7500 and Aurora ALX AMD-based workstations take advantage of the Nvidia nForce4 SLI media and communications processor, which provides advanced storage features and support for PCI Express graphics and AMD Athlon 64 FX processors. Pricing for the Alienware Aurora 7500 and Aurora ALX starts at $2159 and $5079, respectively.
Alienware; www.alienware.com