Maya

Wavefront Technologies, Silicon Graphics (SGI) and Alias Research announced a merger plan.⁠[1]

That year, under Silicon Graphics, Alias merged with Wavefront, based in Santa Barbara, California, to form Alias|Wavefront, headquartered in Toronto. Alias had been founded about a decade earlier as Alias Research; its founders included Stephen Bingham and Susan McKenna.⁠[2]

Alias|Wavefront released Maya version 1.0 in January 1998 as the company’s new flagship 3D product. The software was based mainly on Alias’s PowerAnimator and Wavefront’s Advanced Visualizer.⁠[2][1]

Maya was then offered as Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited, running on the IRIX and Windows NT platforms; the Unlimited edition added modules such as cloth and fur to those of Maya Complete.⁠[1]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Alias|Wavefront an Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statuette) among its Scientific and Technical Awards for developing Maya, a 3D animation, dynamics, modeling and rendering production tool, citing the software’s significant impact on the motion picture industry and its rich infrastructure for extension and customization.⁠[3]

It was Alias|Wavefront’s first Oscar statuette; Maya had been used on nearly every film nominated for Best Visual Effects in the preceding five years. The company said it would receive the award on March 1, 2003.⁠[4][5]

Silicon Graphics announced the closing of the sale of its Alias graphics software business to Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm, for a final purchase price of $57.5 million in cash.⁠[6]

Autodesk announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Alias.⁠[1]

Autodesk completed its acquisition of Alias Systems Holdings, making it a wholly owned subsidiary, for total consideration of about $196.8 million (another account gives $197 million in cash).⁠[7][8]

Besides Maya, the products brought into Autodesk by the acquisition included the 3D character animation software MotionBuilder and the 3D content exchange format FBX.⁠[8]

Autodesk launched Maya 8, with 64-bit support on Windows and Linux and a 32-bit version that also supported Mac OS X, as well as geometry cache exchange with 3ds Max3ds Max3ds Max is Autodesk’s 3D modeling, animation and rendering software; descended from 3D Studio, a DOS program released in 1990, it has long been used in game development, film and television production, and design visualization such as architecture.Open the full entry; the English version was expected to be available in August 2006.⁠[9]

Autodesk released Maya 2027, adding the Smart Bevel system, which follows mesh shape rather than topology; building in the ngSkinTools skinning plug-in; adding surface tension to Bifrost liquid simulations; and providing an experimental AI assistant that answers technical questions from Autodesk documentation. The generative AI animation system MotionMaker gained support for animating horses.⁠[10]

The Maya 2027.1 update improved Smart Bevel results on complex geometry, added OpenTimelineIO support to the Sequencer, and brought features such as texture projection and rigid body simulation to LookdevX 2.1 and Bifrost 3.1.⁠[11]

Autodesk positions Maya as a professional 3D modeling, layout, animation, effects and rendering toolset for character and visual effects work, used by modelers and animators in the film, television and games industries; users quoted on its product page include Walt Disney Animation Studios (for environments in Zootopia 2), Framestore, SEGA and Fortiche Production.⁠[12]

Maya 2027 is offered by subscription only and supports Windows 11, RHEL and Rocky Linux 8.10/9.7, and macOS 14.0 and later; eligible small users can choose Maya Indie.⁠[10]

Maya: Official website: https://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview (opens in a new window)⁠[12]