Prime Focus Software Releases Krakatoa 1.6

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (Aug. 31, 2010) - Prime Focus Software, the R&D arm of Prime Focus, announces the release of Krakatoa 1.6, the company's production-proven volumetric particle rendering, manipulation and management toolkit that creates believable natural phenomena like dust, smoke, silt, ocean surface foam, plasma and even solid objects.

"Krakatoa fills a critical gap in visual effects work by giving us a tool that renders masses of particles startlingly fast," said Mark Stasiuk, co-founder & vfx supervisor at Fusion CI Studios, and also a beta tester for Krakatoa 1.6. "Gone are the days of renders jamming on a million particles, we're now chewing up tens of millions. With an increasing number of great features, like updated support for RealFlow particle data and improved integration with FumeFX and Thinking Particles, plus the improved connection between Maya and Max via FBX, Krakatoa provides us with a particle manipulation and rendering tool that really breaks down barriers on our VFX work. On top of that, Prime Focus continues to update it quickly, and provide fast helpful responses to tough production questions. It is quickly becoming an overall hub for our particle work and we're very excited to be working with this great tool."

Added Mohsen Mousavi, head of technology at Pixomondo, and also a beta tester, "Krakatoa is at the front-end of a lot of the complex visual effects work we do. We've been using Krakatoa on major-scale projects like 'Sucker Punch,' '2012,' 'Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,' 'A Nightmare on Elm Street,' 'Ninja Assassins' and many others. Krakatoa's robust and flexible nature allows us to connect many different VFX toolsets as well as build a highly customized pipeline around it. It's a fantastic new tool and rife with cool new features."

Krakatoa 1.6 will include the following:

• Improved performance: all aspects of particle rendering are now multi-threaded.
• New feature addition: a dedicated Shadow Generator, compatible with other 3ds Max renderers including Default Scanline, V-Ray and Brazil.
• Improved interoperability: Advanced FumeFX conversion to particles workflow and support for FumeFX 2.0 and Thinking Particles 4.
• Added support: for dedicated render elements that utilize the 3ds Max Render Elements management system.
• Feature enhancements: new operators and workflow improvements are introduced for Magma, Krakatoa's particle channel editor.
• Increased usability: optimized navigation and performance of the user interface based on direct user feedback.

Current pricing for Krakatoa will remain the same with this release. The price of one standard bundle of Krakatoa including one workstation and two render nodes is listed at $995 plus $248.75 for the first year of support and upgrades. For more information or to purchase: krakatoasales@ primefocusworld.com.

About Prime Focus Software

Prime Focus Software is a division of Prime Focus, a global visual entertainment services group providing creative and technical services to the film, broadcast, commercials, gaming, internet and media industries. Prime Focus Software, formerly known as Frantic Films Software, has a reputation for creating innovative custom-built R&D solutions and quality software products, including its popular Deadline Render Farm Management System, the Awake stereoscopic plug-ins for eyeon Fusion, and its high-performance volumetric particle renderer Krakatoa. Prime Focus Software pushes the envelope of conventional thought and applies real science to create tools and technology that truly open a whole new world of possibilities for VFX professionals. For more information, visit http://software.primefocusworld.com.

About Prime Focus

Prime Focus is a global Visual Entertainment Services group that provides creative and technical services to the film, broadcast, commercials, gaming, internet and media industries.

The group offers a genuine end-to-end solution from pre-production to final delivery - including previsualisation, equipment hire, visual effects, video and audio post-production, digital intermediate, digital asset management and distribution.

Prime Focus employs more than 1200 people with state-of-the-art facilities throughout the key markets of North America, the UK and India. Using its 'worldsourcing' business model, Prime Focus provides a network that combines global cost advantages, resources and talent pool with strong relationships and a deep understanding of the local markets.

Prime Focus is a public stock company with shares traded in the Mumbai and National Stock exchanges in India (Symbol - PRIMEFOCUS). Prime Focus also owns and operates Prime Focus London plc (Symbol - PFO), which is publicly traded in the LSE's AIM market. For more information, please visit http://www.primefocusworld.com.