The new wholly owned subsidiary was named 'Alias | | Wavefront'. SGI's acquisition was a response to Microsoft Corporation acquiring Softimage 3D. acquired both Alias and Wavefront Technologies, Inc., Wavefront's technology (then under development) was merged into Maya.

This was a particular influence in the open architecture of Maya, and partly responsible for its popularity in the animation industry.Īfter Silicon Graphics Inc. Disney requested that the user interface of the application be customizable to allow for a personalized workflow. Walt Disney Feature Animation collaborated closely with Maya's development during its production of Dinosaur. The IRIX-based projects were combined and animation features were added the project codename was Maya. Maya was originally an animation product based on code from The Advanced Visualizer by Wavefront Technologies, Thomson Digital Image (TDI) Explore, PowerAnimator by Alias, and Alias Sketch!. It is used to create assets for interactive 3D applications (including video games), animated films, TV series, and visual effects. Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya ( / ˈ m aɪ ə/ MY-ə ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk.