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Prezvision (actually, prezvision, with a lower-case "p") is an exciting new 3D animation program that starts with PowerPoint content and creates an amazing transformation. Because you start with PowerPoint, you can easily create 3D animation that would otherwise involve very expensive software and a huge learning curve.
Wataru Sugawara, CEO of SoftAdvance, the company that created Prezvision, and Ron Radcliff, VP of Business Development, showed off the software's capabilities at PowerPoint Live in New Orleans, in October, 2007.
Wataru Sugawara agreed to be interviewed by e-mail.
EF: What gave you the idea to create prezvision?
WS: The motivation to develop 3D presentation software was for my use first. I had been selling my products, including system integrations professional services. I could not well explain what I wanted to say with 2D drawings, because 2D is not natural as our physical world. We need 3D with motion and with multimedia including video, audio and picture to explain well whatever new idea, plan, vision, product, etc. we have. I always imagine everything with 3D and the time dimension. There was no software in the world that provided what I needed.
EF: Give us a brief overview of the features of prezvision.
WS: It is 3D multimedia presentation software. It helps you to present your plan, idea, product, etc. visually instead of with text. Here's a list of the major functions that you can do with prezvision software:
- Create 3D animation:
You can easily develop 3D animation without learning or using Adobe Flash.
- Incorporate Motion:
You can demonstrate movement & state of change, like a door opening / closing.
- Add special effects with "Zooming" features:
You can incorporate a zooming effect which includes depth and motion (small-to-big, deep-to-front or hide-to-appearing) in order to keep your audience focused and engaged.
- Customizable 3D Slide Designs: You can design 3D images, with varied shapes, sizes, directions and depth on a slide canvas.
- Develop creative picture shows:
You can develop an unique album with 3D pictures & special effects.
- Build Multimedia presentations:
You can incorporate pictures, videos, sound and other input sources into your presentations. You can export your presentations as Quicktime Movies, SnapShots, Image sequences & PDF.
Here are two other important features:
- Offers Microsoft PowerPoint compatibility:
You can import data from PowerPoint (today) and in the future you'll be able to export data into PowerPoint presentations.
- Utilizes a user friendly, defacto, graphical user interface:
You will find prezvision's GUI is based upon an industry defacto standard. The user friendliness makes it easy to create and manage the prezvision 3D multimedia presentation software.
EF: How is Prezvision unique?
WS: Prezvision is unique in several ways:
- It's easy to create animations, 3D and multimedia presentations.
The moving slide-show like telop used in TV news shows can be created with the same result and working time in PowerPoint. [Editor's note: "telop" is a projection device that projects and superimposed images or text over the TV image.]
- Prezvision automatically recognizes any difference in two consecutive slides and creates a motion transition as animation. This function is called 'Seamless transition." There are a lot of functions that make this type of animation easy to create. For instance, all shapes on a slide are named by ID. The shape of the same name on two slides is changed. The user can freely rename a shape to control the animation. We are applying for an international patent for this feature.
- Meaningful animation:
The essence of animation of prezvision is different from the animation of PowerPoint. It is not eye-Candy. It makes an animation of your product, result, plan, idea, etc. All animations created by prezvision are meaningful.
EF: How do you envision people using Prezvision? By that I mean, for what purpose?
WS: We are targeting all types of people who must impart to others a clear visual message in a short time. For instance, you can imagine the following people:
- A teacher at an elementary school who wants to develop original teaching material with 3D and seamless transitions. This can help the kids' imagination. Instead,a teachers now show pictures in 2D and reduce the kids' creativity because they translate from the natural 3D world to artificial 2D pictures.
- A marketing expert who must communicate with the media to introduce a new product without misunderstanding.
- A CEO who must communicate his plan, target, vision, schedule of the future with visualization to the stockholders or market.
- Officers or managers who wants to explain a new business model to concerned parties.
- The salesperson who wants to propose a new service to a customer.
- Postgraduate students or professors who wants to rouse the audience's attention at an academic conference.
EF: What are your future plans for the software?
WS: First of all, prezvision must be used by users in U.S. After we achieve this, I want to achieve the following.
- Improved of power of expression:
Power of expression can be improved more if we use latest technology of real-time 3D. The critical point is to balance the power of 3D acceleration of mobile PCs.
- Improved convenience:
Especially, I want to improve cooperation with office software.
- Strengthening of network functioning :
I want to enable prezvision to operate, and to refer to the created file, in a Web browser. However, I must wait for a standard and efficient 3D rendering platform to appear.
- Correspondence to business solution:
It will be important that prezvision be equipped the interfaces with solution packages as a front end of visualization of business applications. This story might exceed the frame of prezvision.
- Internationalization: Action on the world-wide market.
Language localization itself is not a big problem. I want to make software that corresponds to the difference of culture in each country.
EF: Do you have some samples on your Web site?
WS: The latest information is at the following URL. http://www.prezvision.com/en/. In addition, you can see it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAfLj5uqb90.
EF: What background do you have and what previous work have you done?
WS: I am a software designer, system integrator, and professional IT consultant who leads the IT strategy from management strategy.
My boast is that I was the lead programmer of a system integration project using NeXT-computers. Perhaps it was the first case in Japan. It was exciting every day as the lead programmer.
Note: Version 1 is available now from www.prezvision.com/en. Version 2, which has more features like Graph from Excel, CAD import and
so on, is due out in April. |
