Los Angeles, CA - March 1, 2004 - Pixologic Inc. today announced that its award-winningZBrush software contributed significantly to Weta Digital's modeling pipeline in the creation of the Academy Award®-winning "Lord of the RingsTM: The Return Of The KingTM".

Providing flexibility, speed and innovations in high-resolution sculpting, ZBrush helped Weta’s modeling team save money and time by building digital maquette’s in place of scanned physical sculptures.

Matt Aitken, Digital Models Supervisor at WETA explains:

“Pixologic's ZBrush was trialed by Weta Digital's modeling department early in our post-
production work on "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and it quickly became one
of the key software components of our modeling pipeline."

"The revolutionary nature of ZBrush leads to Weta Digital creating a new approach to modeling hero creatures, digital doubles and props for film 3 in the trilogy. Throughout our work on "Lord of the Rings" we have been extracting displacement maps from high- resolution geometry. For films 1 and 2 we were obliged to use 3D scans of physical maquette to obtain this high resolution geometry, a time consuming and expensive process, because software didn't exist that could sculpt geometric detail to the level required."

"Now with ZBrush that software is available and in many cases we are replacing the maquette scan with a "digital maquette" that is sculpted on the computer. With support for interactively updating models of up to 4 million faces, we are now able to add details such as muscle and fat definition, skin and cloth wrinkles, and surfaces such as rock, cast iron, and weathered timber." "Without the delay and cost of sculpting and scanning a physical maquette we have more time to refine the look of our models, and the software has the necessary flexibility to work in a production environment with changes to art direction and the level of detail required."

WETA DIGITAL has been instrumental in testing ZBrush's upcoming version. Using a combination of ZBrush’s currently-available modeling and texturing tools, as well as new features and enhancements, Weta Digital has developed high-quality models for animating in NEW LINE® Cinema's Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. This collaboration will help all users, as these features will become part of Pixologic's soon to be released version.

“We wish to congratulate Weta Digital, and we are thrilled that ZBrush could contribute to their outstanding success. Our product has benefited greatly from the feedback we received from them during the testing process. New features have been introduced and refined which make ZBrush an extremely powerful tool for high-end detail 3D modelers. We look forward to continuing collaborations with them.” adds Ofer Alon - Pixologic CTO.

Pricing and Availability
ZBrush retails for $489.00 and can be purchased and downloaded online at
Pixologic e-store www.pixologic.com/store ZBrush is also available from Pixologic authorized resellers for both Windows and Mac platform. The ZBrush2 Demo can be downloaded from the Pixologic website by visiting the Try ZBrush page.

About ZBrush
ZBrush is an integrated modeling, texturing and illustration environment. ZBrush’s innovative set of real-time sculpting, texturing, and deformation tools is used in major film studios and game companies worldwide. Its instant feedback and real-time response makes it the most natural feeling digital sculpting tool available today. As a stand-alone application, ZBrush offers tremendous flexibility and appeals to a wide audience.

About Pixologic Inc.
Founded in 1997, Pixologic Incorporated - www.pixologic.com develops and markets innovative software products for digital artists. The privately funded company is based in Los Angeles, California, with Research and Development located in Silicon Valley.

Press contact:
[email protected]

About New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema® is the entertainment industry’s leading independent producer and distributor of theatrical motion pictures. The company operates several divisions including in-house theatrical distribution, marketing, home video, television, acquisitions, production, licensing and merchandising units.

New Line Cinema is a registered trademark and Lord of the Rings is a trademark of New Line Productions, Inc. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company DBA Tolkien Enterprises. Academy Awards are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other products or companies mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.