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Ascension Tracker
Brings Motion To NCMEC Animations
| Burlington,
Vermont USA; November
11, 2002: The
National Center
for Missing & Exploited
Children®
(NCMEC) is now using Ascension
Technology’s MotionStar
Wireless® tracker
to animate the NetSmartz
Workshop® characters.
The NetSmartz Workshop
(www.NetSmartz.org) is
an interactive educational
resource for children
aged 5 to 17, parents,
and educators that uses
age-appropriate, 3-D activities
to teach children how
to stay safer on the Internet.
MotionStar Wireless is
a motion-capture system
that transfers the movements
of real performers onto
animated 3-D characters,
adding more realism to
the characters while shortening
the animation process.
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Beginning with a live animation
presented to the U.S. Congress
in September, NCMEC’s productions
have been enhanced through
the use of MotionStar, allowing
their characters, Clicky,
Nettie, and Webster, to move
realistically and interact
with their audience. NetSmartz
features interactive games
and activities online that
use the latest web technologies
to entertain while they educate.
According to Rick Minicucci,
Chief Technology Officer of
the National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children,
technological capabilities
and price led the NetSmartz
team to MotionStar. “When
NCMEC was looking for an affordable
product to accomplish the
technological goals of the
NetSmartz Workshop, we turned
to MotionStar,” Minicucci
explains. “MotionStar has
given NCMEC the best product
for our budget.”
The original cast of 3-D
animated characters was focus-tested
with Boys & Girls Clubs
of America members in six
sites across the country,
and their comments and suggestions
helped to shape the characters’
appearances and hone the program’s
educational content. Animators
with Viewpoint® created
and brought the NetSmartz
characters to life. A donation
from the Compaq Computer Corporation,
the new HP, helped to establish
an on-site studio at NCMEC
with 3-D animators, artists,
and web developers.
Ascension Technology Corporation
in Burlington, Vermont, develops
motion-tracking solutions
for 3-D computer graphics
applications. More information
about Ascension trackers is
available at www.ascension-tech.com.
The National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children is
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
working in cooperation with
the U.S. Department of Justice's
Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention.
Serving as the national clearinghouse
for information and a resource
center for child protection,
NCMEC has worked with law
enforcement on more than 83,000
missing-child cases, resulting
in the recovery of more than
66,000 children. For more
information about the National
Center for Missing & Exploited
Children, visit www.missingkids.com.
-- end --
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jack Scully (802)
893-6657 or e-mail: jscully@ascension-tech.com
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