Alias Systems Corporation
| Company type | Private (formerly public) |
|---|---|
| Industry | 3D graphics software development |
| Predecessor | Alias Research, Alias |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Stephen Bingham, Nigel McGrath, Susan McKenna, David Springer |
| Fate | Acquired by Autodesk |
| Successor | Autodesk |
| Headquarters | Toronto , Canada |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Maya, StudioTools, SketchBook Pro, Sketch!, PowerAnimator |
Alias Systems Corporation—previously known as Alias Research and Alias|Wavefront, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada—was a company focused on advanced 3D graphics software development. Eventually, Alias became part of Autodesk through acquisition.
History
Established in 1983 by Stephen Bingham, Nigel McGrath, Susan McKenna, and David Springer, Alias Systems Corporation initially secured funding from a $61,000 grant provided by the National Research Council Canada, supplemented by scientific research tax incentives and capital from the founders themselves.
The company adopted the name Alias in 1984, generating revenue through Springer's anti-aliasing innovations for Silicon Graphics, Inc.. In 1985 at SIGGRAPH, Alias introduced Alias 1, which utilized cardinal splines rather than polygon meshes. The subsequent release, Alias 2, played a role in creating visual effects for the 1989 film The Abyss, which earned the 1990 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
By 1990, Alias had raised around $35 million via an initial public offering and launched several products, including Studio, PowerAnimator, and UpFront. PowerAnimator was instrumental in the visual effects of Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1992. That same year, Alias expanded its capabilities by acquiring Spacemaker and Full Color Computing, companies specializing in photo retouching and color prepress software.
Work on what would become Maya commenced in 1995; this software eventually emerged as a premier tool for 3D animation. On February 7, 1995, Alias merged with Wavefront Technologies and SGI to establish Alias|Wavefront under SGI's umbrella. This strategic alliance was designed to rival Microsoft's purchase of Softimage. The first version of Maya was released in 1998.
On March 1, 2003, Alias was honored with an Academy Award recognizing their scientific and technical contributions through Maya’s development. Earlier, Wavefront Technologies' founders had received an Academy Award in 1997 for their work on the Wavefront Advanced Visualizer.
In July 2003, the company simplified its branding from Alias|Wavefront to Alias Systems Corporation. The following year in June 2004, Silicon Graphics divested Alias to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan alongside private equity firm Accel-KKR for $57.1 million USD.
September 2004 saw Alias broaden its product range by acquiring Kaydara, thereby incorporating character animation and motion editing technologies.
On October 4, 2005, Autodesk announced its intent to purchase Alias; this transaction was finalized on January 10, 2006, with Autodesk paying $197 million USD in cash.
Products
Alias’ primary offering was the Maya software suite for 3D modeling and animation, initially launched in 1998 and regularly updated every nine to twelve months. The last version released under Alias was Maya 7.0; following Autodesk’s acquisition, subsequent releases adopted a year-based naming convention such as Maya 2008.
Additional significant products included StudioTools (previously known simply as "Alias"), a favored industrial design solution extensively utilized within automotive, aerospace, and other industrial sectors. The company also developed the SketchBook Pro application for digital drawing. In 1992, Alias created Sketch!, an early Macintosh-compatible tool for 3D modeling and rendering that served as a foundation for Maya’s development. Sketch! introduced essential non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) editing functionality derived from technology acquired alongside a lead developer who joined Alias.