Three-dimensional visualization software company mental images has acquired interactive 3D software platform Cult3D from Cycore, a dealer in interactive 3D software for e-business. According to mental images, the deal is significant because it "will drive widespread adoption and deployment of 3D technology for the Internet."
Cult3D is a 3D software application that brings interactive 3D to mainstream devices like PCs and handheld devices like PDAs and cell phones, regardless of their processing power and graphics capabilities. It is currently used by thousands of websites with more than 10,000 models in circulation. Customers include major car manufacturers, TV stations and leading mobile telephone manufacturers worldwide.
Cult3D will be integrated into mental images’ RealityServer, a secure, server-based collaboration platform for industries that require the remote collaborative creation, interaction with and visualization of 3D content. The resulting RealityServer Version 1.5 will be made commercially available in the fourth quarter of 2004. It will provide realtime interaction on any device with 3D data of reduced complexity. These are automatically derived from the original CAD or design data contained in the RealityServer database.
The technology is applicable in a number of arenas, including the airline and automotive industries, as well as remote training and teaching, collaborative design and engineering, medical diagnosis and surgery planning, oil and gas exploration and broad-band based, interactive on-line entertainment applications such as single- and multi-player games.
Under the terms of the agreement, mental images acquires the source code and all rights to Cult3D and all related 3D technology and Cycore becomes a shareholder in mental images. Additionally, the entire Cult3D development team will join mental images as part of the company’s office in Stockholm, Sweden. Cycore will continue to provide support to its existing Cult3D customers and business partners, and become a premier value added system integrator for RealityServer solutions worldwide.
“The integration of Cycore’s technology into mental images’s RealityServer will allow us to provide the most comprehensive, versatile, scalable and powerful software platform for the creation and deployment of web and WLAN based, collaborative 3D applications and 3D application services,” says Rolf Herken, president, CEO and CTO of mental images.
To date, mental images’s patented technologies and products are distributed primarily as the integrated rendering and (in some cases) modeling software components of digital content creation and CAD programs such as Alias’ Maya, Softimage’s Softimage|XSI, discreet’s 3ds max and 3ds viz, SolidWorks’ SolidWorks and Dassault Systemes’ CATIA.
