Kaidan Macworld Expo 2002
Press Releases

01-08-2002

Kaidan and EyeSee360 Announce One-Shot Panoramic Photographic VR Solution Kaidan and EyeSee360 announce an affordable and easy-to-use one-shot Photographic VR solution: 360 One San Francisco, CA ­ Macworld Expo ­ January 8, 2002: Kaidan Incorporated and EyeSee360 Inc. today announced the 360 One, an optical system that captures a complete 360° panoramic image in a single camera shot. Kaidan is the leading manufacturer and supplier of Photographic VR solutions and EyeSee360 is a leading developer of immersive, interactive imaging technology. Two years of extensive research by EyeSee360 have produced innovative optical and software technology that delivers unrivaled quality and simplicity. Through partnership with Kaidan, this technology has been formed into a product ideally suited to the needs of the panoramic photographer. The 360 One consists of a lightweight and rugged proprietary optical system and the innovative EyeSee360 PhotoWarp software. The unique EyeSee360 optic provides a complete 360° horizontal panorama with a 100° vertical field-of-view (50° above and 50° below the horizon). This vertical field-of-view is substantially greater than competitive offerings and brings single-shot panoramic technology into the mainstream. With the 360 One, single-shot panoramas can be used for interior real estate shots and other situations where it is important to look up and down as well as side-to-side. When coupled with a 3 megapixel or greater camera, the 360 One offers an exceptional and unparalleled level of quality that rivals current solutions requiring 12 or more stitched images. Since the 360 One requires only a single shot to capture the full 360° view, action scenes with moving objects are easily photographed. The 360 One can capture panoramic images in crowd scenes, at concerts, on city streets, at sporting events, or even from moving vehicles. Photographers avoid the stitching or seaming demanded by competitive multiple-shot systems (such as the two and three-shot iPIX® system), eliminating the problems of visible seams or exposure differences across the panorama. EyeSee360's PhotoWarp software quickly and easily processes a 360 One photograph into a viewable panoramic image. The straightforward, simple-to-use interface enhances workflow by automatically generating web pages and thumbnail images along with QuickTime VR® panoramic images, the industry-leading panoramic image format. PhotoWarp can also produce images suitable for Java-based viewers. There are also no per-image or "click fees" imposed on the user. PhotoWarp was designed for the Apple® Mac OS X® platform and supports the Mac OS 9, Microsoft Windows® 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems. The 360 One, which requires no special technical expertise, can be hand-held or mounted on a convenient monopod using a remote shutter release and a bubble level. Initially the 360 One will support the Nikon Coolpix® line of cameras including the 990, 995 and 5000. Support for a wide range of film and other digital cameras will be announced in the coming months. According to Joan Rankin, Assistant Sales and Marketing Director for Kaidan, "The 360 One is ideal for a wide array of vertical markets: real estate, surveillance, travel, tourism and education. EyeSee360 and Kaidan have eliminated the barriers that previously limited single-shot panoramas. With a single click and a single image you quickly and effortlessly capture the complete panoramic view. You could easily produce a hundred or more panoramas in an afternoon." Michael Rondinelli, V.P. of Technology for EyeSee360, adds, "360 One is a best-of-breed device. Now, taking 360° panoramic pictures from inside a crowd, on a racetrack, or at the scene of news in the making is as simple as a single click. For the first time, a single-shot panorama requires no compromises in quality or field-of-view, and no recurring fees. This is clearly a new standard in interactive panoramic imaging." Scheduled to ship in early 2002, the 360 One is priced at $999.95. The 360 One will be available from Kaidan and from all authorized Kaidan resellers and distributors worldwide. Optional accessories including monopods and hardware carrying cases will also be available from Kaidan. About Kaidan Incorporated Kaidan Incorporated is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of Photographic VR solutions for the Internet. Kaidan has active alliances with many digital imaging companies, such as Nikon, Kodak, Apple Computer, Inc., and supports a variety of immersive imaging development efforts. Kaidan has resellers and distributors worldwide. Kaidan, founded in 1994, is headquartered in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. For more information, please contact Salvatore DiPaolo, Director of Sales and Marketing (dip@kaidan.com) at (215) 364-1778 or visit the company at http://www.kaidan.com About EyeSee 360° Inc. EyeSee360 is the technology leader in single-shot panoramic imaging for both still and video photography. EyeSee360 has applied decades of research in robotic vision, image rendering, and software interface expertise to the challenge of creating interactive panoramic still images and videos. EyeSee360, Inc. (formerly Telemersion, LLC) was founded in 1998 as an offshoot of Carnegie Mellon University, and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, please contact Michael Rondinelli, V.P. of Technology (mjr@EyeSee360.com) or visit http://www.eyesee360.com ### Kaidan is a trademark of Kaidan Incorporated. EyeSee360 and PhotoWarp are registered trademarks of EyeSee360 Inc. 360 One is a trademark of EyeSee360 and Kaidan Incorporated. QuickTime and Mac OS X are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Coolpix is a registered trademark of Nikon, Inc. iPIX is a registered trademark of Internet Pictures Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 01/10/02 update: Kaidan wins "Best of Show" at MacWorld Expo San Francisco 2002 for its introduction of the 360 One, an optical system that captures a complete 360° panoramic image in a single camera shot. 01-08-2002 Kaidan Announces QuickPan III Panoramic Tripod Head System New QuickPan III modular system supports cylindrical, multi-row and fisheye panoramic photography with a new lightweight and compact design. San Francisco, CA - Macworld Expo ­ January 8, 2002: The world's leading provider of immersive imaging solutions, Kaidan Incorporated, today announced a major update and revision to their QuickPan professional line of panoramic tripod heads. The new QuickPan III product line is a radical departure from prior offerings and features a modular system approach. The new lineup is built around a new heavy-duty Rotator Base and interchangeable Camera Brackets that facilitate panoramic photography with a variety of lenses and cameras. Rotator Base ­ This heavy-duty design is lighter and more compact than previous models and the competition. The new base employs interchangeable Indexing Rings that support any number of click-stop positions from 2 through 22. The rings can be easily swapped at any time and contribute to the light weight. The Rotator Base accepts a wide-variety of Camera Brackets that are designed for specific solutions and tasks. This new design also will work with the existing QuickTilt Leveler base as an option. Kaidan will initially offer three interchangeable Camera Brackets for the QuickPan III family. The MSRP of the Rotator Base is $199.95. Standard Camera Bracket - Designed to support most digital and film cameras in a portrait orientation. Used primarily to shoot single-row or cylindrical panoramas, the Standard Camera Bracket can be adjusted along the horizontal arm of the Rotator Base in order to locate the camera in the side-to-side orientation. There are three slots in the bracket, that when used with various positioning aids, provide for the fore-aft adjustment of the camera's optical center, or nodal point, over the rotational center of the tripod head. This bracket will be most typically used with software such as Apple's QuickTime VR Authoring Studio, VR Toolbox's VR PanoWorx/VR Worx, MGI Photovista and other stitching titles which combine a single row of images. The MSRP of the Standard Camera Bracket is $149.95. Spherical Camera Bracket - Designed to support most digital and film cameras and to permit the angular up/down elevation for the capture of multirow spherical and cubic panoramas. This bracket will be used with those software applications that stitch multiple rows of images, including up/down "cap" shots. Examples include, REALVIZ Stitcher and Helmut Dersch's Panotools. The Spherical Camera Bracket can also be positioned at a level zero degrees, thus fulfilling the same functions as the Standard Camera Bracket. The MSRP of the Spherical Camera Bracket is $399.95. Twin-Axis Camera Bracket - Designed to support most digital and film cameras that are equipped with fisheye lenses, or for those users who desire or appreciate two independent sliding and locking axes of adjustment. The bracket has two independent axes of adjustment and positions the lens in such a manner so as not to capture any more of the Rotator Base than necessary. When a camera equipped with a 8mm circular fisheye lens is installed properly on the bracket, only a small segment of the Rotator Base will appear in the image. This feature makes the Twin-Axis Camera Bracket ideal for those using iPIX software (http://www.ipix.com), Panoweaver (http://www.easypano.com) and other software applications that use fisheye images. The Twin-Axis Camera Bracket can also fulfill the same functions as the Standard Camera Bracket. The MSRP of the Twin-Axis Camera Bracket is $199.95. According to Sal DiPaolo, Director of Sales and Marketing for Kaidan, "Kaidan has taken all of our experience and design insight and put it into the QuickPan III. We've listened to our customers when they said they wanted a compact, sturdy, lightweight, robust tripod head that supported all forms of panoramic photography. From single-row, to multi-row, to fisheye imaging, we have it covered. Our customers have come to expect quality and value from Kaidan and we think the QuickPan III will be very highly regarded in the industry. I also think we've designed a tripod head that will appeal to those photographers who appreciate a finely crafted piece of equipment. The precise action of the click-stops, the sculpted appearance of the Rotator Base and the aesthetics have all come together to make this product a real winner. Panoramic photographers now have a new benchmark." The QuickPan III will be available for ordering and delivery by Kaidan and authorized resellers in Q1-2002. Company and Contact Info: Kaidan Incorporated is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of Photographic VR products and solutions for the Internet. Kaidan has active alliances with many digital imaging companies such as REALVIZ, Nikon, Kodak, Apple Computer, Inc. and MGI Software. Kaidan was founded in 1994, and is a privately held company with main offices in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, and has distributors and resellers worldwide. For more information, please contact Kaidan Incorporated at (215) 364-1778, fax (215) 322-4186 or visit the company's web site at http//www.kaidan.com. Contacts: Sal DiPaolo, Director of Sales and Marketing ­ dip@kaidan.com ### Kaidan, KiWi and QuickPan are trademarks of Kaidan Incorporated. iPIX is a registered trademark of Internet Pictures Corporation. QuickTime is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 01-08-2002 Kaidan KiWi Solution for the Nikon Coolpix 5000 Digital Camera Leading Immersive Imaging Company Expands Their Panoramic Imaging Product Lineup by Supporting the Nikon® Coolpix® 5000 Digital Camera. San Francisco, CA - Macworld Expo ­ January 8, 2002: - Kaidan Incorporated, the leading manufacturer of Photographic VR and Immersive Imaging hardware, announced today a new panoramic tripod head for Nikon's latest high-end prosumer digital camera, the Nikon Coolpix 5000. With the introduction of the Kaidan KiWi 5000 and corresponding upgrade kit, content creation professionals, web developers and photographers can create immersive imaging content with a variety of panoramic software solutions. "Kaidan continues to support and offer compelling and affordable immersive imaging solutions that support Nikon's Coolpix family," said Jim Anders, Kaidan President. "Our KiWi 5000 continues this tradition and lets our customers capture content using Apple QuickTime VR, MGI Photovista, VR Toolbox VR Worx, Easypano Panoweaver, Helmut Dersch's Panotools and iPIX." The Kaidan KiWi 5000 builds upon the successful Kaidan KiWi 990 and provides an innovative indexing mechanism with interchangeable detent discs that provide increments from 2 through 22 positions. Each tripod head comes with 4 detent discs and a camera mounting cradle that keeps the camera level and helps to position the camera to accommodate either the standard lens, the new Nikon 19mm wide angle lens, the Nikon 8mm fisheye lens, or any third-party add-on lens. Owners of the KiWi 990 can purchase upgrade kits for the Coolpix 5000. The upgrade kit includes the camera mounting cradle, a label that shows the proper mounting location for the various Nikon lenses, and a camera mounting screw. Customers can also purchase bundled solutions from Kaidan that include tripods, carrying cases and panoramic stitching software from Apple, VR Toolbox, MGI and other companies. In all cases, the imaging software offered by Kaidan does not impose a per-image fee or click-fee in order to create a panoramic image. Users can create as many panoramic images as they like and need only pay once for the software application that is used to create these images. The KiWi 5000 solutions will be available from Kaidan and their resellers in Q1 2002. The suggested retail price for the KiWi 5000 is $199.95, which includes the KiWi 990 head (which is used as the base unit) plus $29.95 for the 5000 mounting kit. Suggested retail pricing for the separate 5000 upgrade kit for existing owners of KiWi 990 tripod heads will be $39.95. ### About Kaidan: Kaidan Incorporated (www.kaidan.com) is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of Photographic VR solutions for the Internet. Kaidan has alliances with many digital imaging companies such as Kodak, Nikon, VR Toolbox and Apple Computer. Kaidan was founded in 1994, and is a privately held company headquartered in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. Kaidan offers their products and solutions through their worldwide distribution channel and through their web site. For more information, please contact Kaidan Incorporated at (215) 364-1778 or Fax (215) 322-4186. Contact: Sal DiPaolo, VP Sales and Marketing - dip@ kaidan.com. Kaidan and KiWI are trademarks of Kaidan Incorporated. Nikon and Coolpix are registered trademarks of Nikon. QuickTime is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. iPIX is a registered trademark of Internet Pictures Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 01-08-2002 Kaidan and Autolycus Announce SpinImage DV Pro at Macworld Expo 3-D Object Creation Software is Taken to a Professional Level with SpinImage DV Pro. San Francisco, CA - Macworld Expo ­ January 8, 2002: The world's leading provider of immersive imaging solutions, Kaidan Incorporated, and Autolycus Corporation, developer of the award-winning SpinImage 3-D imaging software products, will premiere and demonstrate SpinImage DV Pro for the Macintosh at Macworld Expo SF 2002 (Kaidan Booth #445). This new product preserves the ease-of-use that earned the original 3-D Object Imaging Kit a prestigious "5-apple" award in MacHome magazine, while at the same time adding enhanced capabilities and an assortment of powerful new features. With this latest announcement, Autolycus and Kaidan continue in their cooperative alliance and successfully follow their joint release of the 3-D Object Imaging Kit. SpinImage DV Pro enables users to create higher resolution (640 x 480) and higher quality virtual reality (VR) output than ever before possible with digital video. Priced at $995, the software can be combined with a number of Kaidan continuous motion turntables making it one of the most cost-effective VR object solutions available today. The software initially supports Mac OS 9 with a Mac OS X version planned for Q1 2002. Objects of a wide variety of size and weight can be imaged in under a minute, with no per-image or software royalty fees. The user can choose to save the completed VR image in either QuickTime VR format, or in the plug-in free SpinImage format. Alternatively, still frames may be exported in a variety of image file formats (psd, tiff, eps, pict, etc.) for easy re-purposing of the images. SpinImage DV Pro works with any Kaidan continuous motion turntable, including the PiXi-M and the upcoming 3-foot diameter Magellan Turntable 36 (MT-36). Because the rotational speed can be set as a preference in the software, SpinImage DV Pro can also be used with Kaidan discrete motion turntables such as the 19-inch diameter Magellan Desktop Turntable, the Magellan TM-400 and the Meridian MT-84. SpinImage DV Pro and the aforementioned turntables are available immediately from Kaidan or through authorized Kaidan resellers worldwide. According to Andrew Justice, CEO of Autolycus Corporation, "The release of the Pro software is a milestone for our company. We designed the Pro feature set based on feedback from our current customers. We're constantly striving to improve our products, and SpinImage DV Pro is a significant step forward." "The SpinImage DV Pro software lets companies, web developers, content creators or anyone capture 3-D object movies as quickly as the objects can be placed and positioned on our turntables," says James Anders - President of Kaidan. "There's simply no better way to capture a large number of objects in a minimum amount of time. We think SpinImage DV Pro provides a compelling and cost effective solution for our customers." Company and Contact Info: Sales/Marketing: Kaidan Incorporated is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of Photographic VR products and solutions for the Internet. Kaidan has active alliances with many digital imaging companies such as Nikon, Kodak, Apple Computer, Inc. and MGI Software. Kaidan was founded in 1994, and is a privately held company with main offices in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, and has distributors and resellers worldwide. For more information, please contact Kaidan Incorporated at (215) 364-1778, fax (215) 322-4186 or visit the company's web site at http://www.kaidan.com Contact: Sal DiPaolo, Director of Sales and Marketing ­ dip@kaidan.com Software Development: Autolycus Corporation is a software company dedicated to bringing interactive visual content to the Web in the fastest, easiest way. Users of SpinImage solutions include CNET, New Balance, Ritz Interactive, Sony Pictures Entertainment, BattleBots, and many others. For more information, please contact Autolycus Corporation at (717) 761-9080. Autolycus and SpinImage are trademarks of Autolycus Corporation. Kaidan, PiXi are trademarks of Kaidan Incorporated. QuickTime is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 01-08-2002 Kaidan Announces KiWi Panoramic Tripod Head Upgrade Bundle Aimed at iPIX Photographers KiWi upgrade provides iPIX® photographers using Nikon® Coolpix® cameras with three-shot indexing capabilities and new software imaging options. San Francisco, CA ­ Macworld Expo ­ January 8, 2002: The world's leading provider of immersive imaging solutions, Kaidan Incorporated, today announced a limited-time promotional iPIX upgrade package for their KiWi 880/990/995 Panoramic Tripod Heads. These KiWi tripod heads are designed to work with the Nikon Coolpix 880, 990 and 995 digital cameras respectively and are used to orient, position and increment the camera for panoramic photography. The offer compliments the recently announced 2.0 version of the iPIX® 360 Suite and iPIX® Suite Pro software, which provides iPIX customers with a new capability of stitching a full spherical scene from three equally spaced hemispherical fisheye images. The aforementioned Kaidan tripod heads feature interchangeable indexing disks and therefore have the flexibility to capture two or three (any number from 2 through 22 are optionally available) equally spaced images that can be used in conjunction with the new iPIX software as well as other stitching applications such as Photovista (MGI Software, Inc.) and Panoweaver (http://www.easypano.com). The upgrade package includes either a Kaidan KiWi 880, 990 or 995, a copy (Windows) of Photovista panoramic imaging software from MGI Software, Inc., and a expanded set of indexing detent discs (2, 3, 5, 6, 14 and 18 position). Photovista is a complete panoramic stitching program that provides detailed high-resolution panoramas using as few as 5 shots (when shot with the Nikon Coolpix fisheye lens that is also used for iPIX images). Even more detail, and the ability to zoom in while maintaining a high level of detail, can be obtained with the Nikon standard and wide-angle lenses when used with the 14 and 18 position discs on the KiWi. The package gives the photographer full creative control with all the Nikon Coolpix lenses and with a variety of imaging options and software applications. The package sells for $189.95, which is a savings of approximately $100 off of the suggested retail price and is only available directly from Kaidan. In order to qualify for the discounted price, the old iPIX rotator head must be sent into Kaidan. According to Sal DiPaolo, Director of Sales and Marketing for Kaidan, "Whether you're using iPIX software with 2 or now 3 circular fisheye images, Easypano's Panoweaver for QuickTime® VR cubic output with 2 circular fisheye images, or MGI's Photovista with 5 or 6 full-frame rectangular fisheye images, you only need one Kaidan tripod head to get the job done. We realize that photographers have numerous software options for creating immersive environments and we provide an assortment of discs with our KiWi tripod heads just for that reason. We want to support the software choice of our customers for today and tomorrow." Company and Contact Info: Kaidan Incorporated is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of Photographic VR products and solutions for the Internet. Kaidan has active alliances with many digital imaging companies such as Nikon, Kodak, Apple Computer, Inc. and MGI Software. Kaidan was founded in 1994, and is a privately held company with main offices in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, and has distributors and resellers worldwide. For more information, please contact Kaidan Incorporated at (215) 364-1778, fax (215) 322-4186 or visit the company's web site at http//www.kaidan.com. Contacts: Joan Rankin, Sales and Marketing ­ jrankin@kaidan.com Sal DiPaolo, Director of Sales and Marketing ­ dip@kaidan.com

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