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Schreiber Instruments, Inc. is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Key Factory the physics and dynamics plug-in for 3D Studio. Key Factory brings the laws of physics to 3D Studio Release 4. Mesh objects in your scene respond to collisions, gravity, wind, and many types of applied motion, while honoring physics based upon the objects mass and elasticity. Mesh objects have physical properties: Mass Each individual mesh object may be assigned a different mass. Masses may range from weightless to planetary. Elasticity Each individual mesh object may be assigned a different elasticity from inelastic to super-ball. Objects bounce differently from the carpet than the concrete floor. Drag Drag may be assigned on an object basis. Each object may slow down accordingly. Need acceleration? Use negative drag to reach hyperspace. Friction Objects roll upon striking a surface. Adjustable friction allows control of how fast objects spin up to speed. Axis of rotation Objects normally tumble about their pivot points when hit, but if you need a specific rotation axis of an object, you may specify a different axis for each object if needed. Axis locks Any motion may be constrained along specific axes. Need a planar explosion? Simply lock one axis. Start frame Trigger any effect or force based upon the objects start frame. Randomly drop leaves from a tree by having gravity or wind turn on at a different time for each leaf. Collisions Optimized collision detection provides for fast trajectory calculation of complex motion. Key Factory provides accurate key frame calculation for systems vastly too complex to keyframe by hand. Several different methods of collision detection include from face-level collision to accelerated methods. Collisions correctly take into account object mass, elasticity, drag, friction, lateral and rotational velocity, and momentum to correctly calculate post-collision velocities and rotations. Tumble Objects tumble based upon collision dynamics. Roll Objects roll as they impact a surface obliquely Types of motion Each of the following types of object motion are supported within Key Factory. No initial motion Pre-existing Linear Random Linear Random Random Explode / Implode Orbital Brownian Helix Types of forces Gravity Gravity may be independently applied to sets of objects in the scene. Wind Wind may be independently applied to sets of objects in the scene. You have complete control over wind speed and direction and which objects are affected. Rotation control Sets of objects may have rotation applied to them with independent control over object rotation speed and axis. Rotation axis may specified on an individual object level. Dialog box preview All motion may be viewed in a rendered preview window right in the dialog box. The motion may be recorded on a preview tape deck for frame by frame analysis. Segment control Key Factory may operate on any frame segment, allowing you to build each segment on previously computed or keyframed motion. Keyframe utilities KXP utilities are included to assign object properties (mass, elasticity, etc.) and to manage keyframe data (copy, delete, reverse, expand) existing keys. Conclusion Key Factory brings the reality of the physical world to 3D Studio. All in one package complete with over 230 pages of fully illustrated documentation including 27 tutorials. Full render preview and a host of Release 4 interface goodies. Key Factory is state of the art 3D Studio applications software. A demo is available IPAS Lib #1 KFACTDEM.ZIP Key Factory is a trademark of Schreiber Instruments, Inc. 3D Studio is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc.