Frantic Films Serves Up Amaretto

Frantic Films Serves Up Amaretto

Frantic Films and NVIDIA bridge the software gap

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Frantic Films, one of Canada's leading production and post-production companies for film and television, is pleased to announce the availability of Amaretto, the 3ds Max interface for the NVIDIA Gelato renderer.

This new software application, developed by Frantic Films, will be distributed by NVIDIA alongside the latest major release of the highly-regarded film-frame rendering software Gelato 2.0. In addition, NVIDIA will be distributing Frantic's Deadline render farm management system alongside Gelato.

"We're very pleased to be able to bundle Amaretto with Gelato and make the GPU-accelerated rendering widely available to 3ds Max users, said Jeff Brown, general manager for NVIDIA professional products. "Frantic Films has done a superb job developing the plug-in and it validates the decision we made some two years ago to release Gelato with an open API that customers and third parties can build off of. The combination of Amaretto and Gelato, along with the Deadline render management system, provides a powerful rendering offering to 3ds Max studios."

Amaretto, a software bridge and interface between the NVIDIA Gelato renderer and Autodesk 3ds Max, combines the strengths of both programs in a highly customizable system. Amaretto allows the user to select Gelato within 3ds Max to render existing scenes, or access Gelato's extensive feature set -- including fast sub-pixel displacement, analytical sub-division surfaces and shader programming language to enhance the quality of their artistic output.

"We developed Amaretto with the artist in mind" said Mark Wiebe, Director of R&D at Frantic Films. "Autodesk 3ds Max is a great 3D environment, and plugging in the power of NVIDIA Gelato the results in pure dynamite."

Gelato 2.0 and Amaretto will both be featured at SIGGRAPH 2005. Frantic Films will be demonstrating Amaretto at Booth # 2019 and #1700.

Amaretto is currently in beta testing, however, a full release is scheduled for this fall. With the release date for Amaretto on the horizon, the company is pleased to announce a new distribution partnership that has recently been forged with NVIDIA. The distribution partnership will see Amaretto bundled with the NVIDIA Gelato renderer and sold through authorized NVIDIA Gelato resellers.

"We are excited to release Amaretto this fall and are very pleased to be in partnership with NVIDIA," Wiebe said.

NVIDIA digital film products are available from authorized resellers by region; evaluation copies of the software are also available. For more information, please visit http://film.nvidia.com/object/gelato_wtb.html.

About Frantic Films

Consistently on the cutting edge of visual effects production, Frantic Films has firmly established a reputation as one of North America's most dynamic and successful creative resources. With offices in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Winnipeg, Frantic offers accessible and localized consultation for all elements of film production. Frantic Films strives to move creative ideas from concept to completion by offering a wide array of services: from previz and look development to custom software solutions and postproduction visual effects. Frantic's clients include Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, New Market, Dimension and Alliance Atlantis, to name a few. For more information, visit the company's web site at www.franticfilms.com.

Source: Frantic Films

CONTACT: Chris Bond, VFX Supervisor, +1-204-975-5116, cbond@franticfilms.com, Jamie Brown, CEO & Executive Producer, +1-204-975-5115, jbrown@franticfilms.com, Ken Zorniak, Executive Producer, +1-204-975-5114, kzorniak@franticfilms.com, or Scott McCulloch, Software, +1-204-949-0070, smcculloch@franticfilms.com, all of Frantic Films

Web site: http://www.franticfilms.com/ http://film.nvidia.com/object/gelato_wtb.html

------- Profile: Ent