Cosmic Blobs Unleashes Kids’ Creativity in Three Dimensions

Powerful software lets boys and girls stretch their imaginations and spark original 3D graphics creations

PARIS, Nov. 3, 2004 – Dassault Systèmes (NASDAQ: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in the development of 3D design software, today announced the release of Cosmic Blobs, the most powerful 3D graphics software ever invented for kids. With Cosmic Blobs, digital modeling clay for children, kids ages 7 to 14 can quickly design and build 3D creations that are on par with today’s leading computer-generated movies and cartoons.

Cosmic Blobs extends children’s imaginations by letting them go beyond simply consuming 3D digital images. Instead, they can create and manipulate characters and inventions inspired not only by television and video games, but by the farthest reaches of their imaginations.

Dassault Systèmes’ innovative New Products Group developed Cosmic Blobs in its Concord, Mass., location. Dassault Systèmes’ software helps engineers from companies such as Boeing, Toyota, and Whirlpool design airliners, autos, and a variety of consumer products. With Cosmic Blobs, Dassault Systèmes is providing young users with the opportunity to learn and design in 3D.

“Cosmic Blobs demonstrates our desire to democratize advanced 3D technology,” said Bernard Charlès, CEO, Dassault Systèmes. “With Cosmic Blobs, we are investigating the educational potential of our 3D technology and enabling children to discover 3D by showing them how powerful, yet simple and fun, this technology can be.”  

A significant difference between Cosmic Blobs and other creativity software is that Blobs involves the third dimension – like sculpting an object with clay versus just sketching it with a pencil. The interface of the patent-pending creativity software resembles a colorful chemistry lab. Instead of reading menus, kids intuitively apply 3D processes like stretching, squeezing, and rotating. The Blob can have elegant lines and any of hundreds of possible colors and textures. Kids can animate their Blobs, e-mail them to friends, print them, or import them into other applications for dressing up a school report or making a custom instant messaging buddy icon.

“Cosmic Blobs is an amazing breakthrough in 3D graphics incorporating a new language of shapes and some truly astonishing mathematics that produce ultra-sleek surfaces,” said Scott Harris, Cosmic Blobs’ creator and co-founder of SolidWorks Corporation. “Until now, only very high-end software could produce these types of results. Cosmic Blobs turns this power over to kids in a product that is simple to learn, fun to use, and always full of surprises.”

"With courses like video game development routinely offered at colleges today, and an emerging job market for those who can visualize data – whether it's for entertainment, science, or business – Cosmic Blobs is an important first building block towards unleashing your child's 3D imagination,” says Robin Raskin, technology writer, author and spokesperson for raising kids in a digital world. "Don't toss out your Play-Doh® or LEGO® bricks, but think of Cosmic Blobs as a pioneering tool to let young children experience the thrill of 3D graphic manipulation."  

Cosmic Blobs originated in Dassault Systèmes’ efforts to create a new shape description metaphor and more agile interfaces for product developers, and it serves as an incubator for new software concepts. Upcoming Cosmic Blobs developments will likely include themed versions of the software, parts libraries, special effects options, and more.

To accompany Cosmic Blobs, Dassault Systèmes has created a website (www.cosmicblobs.com) to offer content, instructions, tips, and activities for Blobbers to learn more about the software, find new things to try and buy, and share their creative ideas and thoughts. Other website offerings include:

• Blob creation directions and ‘How to’ movies;
• galleries showing Blobs from the user community in a unique web 3D viewer;
• downloads, including collectible parts, decals, themes, and add-on packs; and
• contests and prizes for raising the Blobbing bar.

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Cosmic Blobs can be purchased for $39.99 at www.cosmicblobs.com. It requires a Windows PC running Windows 98SE or later, a Pentium 1.0 Ghz processor or equivalent, 256 MB RAM, and a 3D graphics video card with 16MB RAM or more.

For more information on Dassault Systèmes involvement in Cosmic Blobs, see: https://www.3ds.com/products-services/3dvia/