3D product developer Immersion Corporation has announced its MicroScribe Connections for Maya software, a new digitizing plug-in designed to streamline workflow and increase design performance and productivity, will be available beginning July 22, 2002. MicroScribe Connections for Maya is the first in a new series of plug-ins from Immersion. According to the company, these plug-ins will allow animators, game developers and industrial designers who use both Maya and MicroScribe to digitize and render 3D models, animated characters and digital content easily. The MicroScribe Connections plug-in allows 3D position and orientation data from Immersion's MicroScribe digitizing hardware to be accessed directly by the Maya software interface. "As audiences' appetites for 3D imagery in film, television and gaming continue to grow, hardware and software products must continue to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of designers," said Greg Belaus, director of 3D products for Immersion. "Our customers want better support and integration between design software and MicroScribe products. We started with the Maya plug-in because it's one of the most popular 3D design and animation software packages. Immersion will continue to build upon the momentum in the 3D market as we introduce more products in the future." MicroScribe Connections for Maya allows designers to see the movement of the MicroScribe tip in real-time, through a Maya scene, as it traces the contours of an object or sets the position of a light source. Utilizing the MicroScribe Connections plug-in, designers can directly control the MicroScribe through a menu integrated into Maya, allowing for greater control over the modeling process. The plug-in directly supports Maya 4.0 for Windows NT, XP or 2000 and is fully compatible with all MicroScribe digitizing systems.
