December 5, 1996 2:00 PM ET

ParaGraph inks licensing deal with Disney, debuts VRML tools
By Maria Seminerio

VRML developer ParaGraph International Inc. has debuted a suite of next-generation VRML authoring tools for Windows 95 and the Macintosh and has licensed its 3-D and digital ink technologies to Disney Online, the Internet subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co. ParaGraph's Internet3D Space Builder 2.0 and Internet3D FontMagic Windows 95 tools for three-dimensional Internet content publishing, to be demonstrated at Internet World next week in New York, are among the first tools to support the VRML 2.0 standard, company officials said. The tools allow users to convert text created with TrueType fonts to VRML 2.0 and to create 3-D content accessible through standard VRML 2.0-enabled browsers. The company's Virtual Home Space Builder for the Macintosh platform is the first VRML 2.0-compliant software tool for the Macintosh. The Mac software also will be on display at Internet World. Internet3D Space Builder provides advanced shape creation, drag-and-drop assembly and integrated multimedia including URL links, sound and video. Internet3D FontMagic enables users to create interactive 3-D text, logos and billboards for World Wide Web sites. Text created with Internet3D FontMagic can be viewed online by any VRML-enabled browser and incorporated into existing HTML pages, company officials said. Virtual Home Space Builder for the Macintosh includes multimedia functionality for enhancing Web sites with digital images, animation, digital video, sound and text, as well as hypertext linking to connect any object to any Web page, ParaGraph officials said. Virtual Home Space Builder also includes a library of textures, pictures, animation, sounds and sample 3-D utilities for creating multimedia environments. Pricing for Internet3D Space Builder is $89.95, or $69.95 for a downloadable version. Internet3D FontMagic is priced at $29.95 for both the shrink-wrapped and downloadable versions. Virtual Home Space Builder is priced at $29.95 as a download and $49.95 for a CD-ROM version. All the products are available at the ParaGraph site at www.paragraph.com/. Disney Online will use ParaGraph's Internet3D tools and digital ink technology to build virtual reality content for Disney Internet sites, officials for the two companies said. Terms of the deal were not announced. Other corporate customers for ParaGraph's VRML technologies include Apple Computer Inc., Corel Corp. and IBM. ParaGraph is based in Campbell, Calif. Copyright(c) 1996 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. PC Week and the PC Week logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. PC Week Online and the PC Week Online logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Send mail to PC Week