Year: 2002

At SIGGRAPH today, Kaydara introduced MotionBuilder 4.0, the company’s next-generation 3D character animation software. Version 4.0 focuses on simplifying character animation, and features a new drag-and-drop interface, automatic character rigging, and improved lip sync and facial animation. MOTIONBUILDER 4.0 will be available this fall for Mac OS X, Redhat Linux, and Windows XP for US$3,495.

Creative introduced the MuVo today, a unique flash-based MP3 player that it bills as the world’s smallest. The MuVo slides apart to reveal a USB connector, which is plugged directly into a USB port to transfer songs or data.

Blizzard today announced that it has shipped more than one million copies of WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos worldwide, less than three weeks since the game shipped in North America, Europe and Asia. The company also said it has shipped more than 4.4 million copies of the title to retailers to satisfy demand. WarCraft III ships as a hybrid Mac/Windows title and sells for US$59.95.

Bungie co-founder Alexander Seropian will be leaving the company at the end of August for personal reasons, Bungie.net reports. Seropian’s company was responsible for the blockbuster Marathon and Myth series. Two years ago Microsoft acquired Bungie; the company’s latest game, Halo, has been hugely successful as an Xbox exclusive.

Blackmagic Design and AJA Video today announced version 2.0 of the software for Kona SD, a 10-bit uncompressed QuickTime PCI video capture card for Mac OS X.