Alias/Wavefront Announces Maya 5.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NAB2003

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 2003

Latest Version of Award-Winning Software Delivers

Unique Image Creation Possibilities, Increases Productivity

and Builds on Existing Innovation

Alias/Wavefront(TM), an SGI (NYSE:SGI) company, announced today Maya(R) 5 -- the latest version of its Oscar(R) award-winning 3D software. With the eighth release of its flagship software, Alias/Wavefront delivers a host of innovative new ways to create digital content along with numerous customer suggested productivity enhancements. Improvements added to both Maya Complete(TM) and Maya Unlimited(TM) software will energize artist and programmer workflows in such creative industries as game development, broadcast graphics, web content creation, design visualization and film production.

"Our team has beta tested the new features in Maya, including the new fur clumping capabilities and the new wakes and ponds features in Maya Fluid Effects," said Jami Levesque at Meteor Studios. "Maya 5 is definitely going to be integrated into our current pipeline and will be used extensively in our future projects. The ease of use improvements in this release will simplify our artists' workflow and the unified rendering options will allow us to choose which renderer is best for the effects we're looking to achieve."

"We took feedback from our extensive community and built a new version of Maya that simplifies workflow, boosts productivity and puts more creative possibilities into their hands," said Bob Bennett, General Manager, Product Development, Alias/Wavefront. "We've also 'future-proofed' Maya by working closely with leading Hardware companies and expanded Maya's ability to work with other applications such as Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Flash and programs that read or write AutoCAD DWG files."

Unique Image Creation Possibilities

Maya 5 now boasts four distinctive options for rendering -- the Maya software renderer, mental ray(R) for Maya(TM), a new Vector Renderer and a breakthrough Hardware Renderer -- allowing users to choose the image creation method according to the task at hand: whether it be a photo-realistic design visualization or a toon-shaded Macromedia(R) Flash(R) Vector graphic for the web. As of Maya 5, all rendering options are unified through a consistent rendering user interface and workflow.

With Maya 5 Hardware rendering, customers can produce broadcast quality images up to 20 times faster than ever before possible. The new Vector Renderer allows Maya artists to create content in popular graphics formats such as Macromedia Flash (SWF), Encapsulated PostScript(R) (EPS), Adobe(R) Illustrator(R) (AI) and Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG(TM)). As a result, Maya is suddenly more applicable to 2D artists, web developers and even technical illustrators. Furthermore, mental ray is now a standard part of Maya, and Maya 5 brings the 3D industry its first introduction to the mental ray renderer, version 3.2.

Maya 5 Pumps Up Productivity

The Maya software's industry-leading modeling, animation and effects features have been fine-tuned using customer input to make production workflows more efficient. For example, extensive enhancements to animation constraints, one of the most widely used tools in everyday character animation, will save valuable time while providing improved flexibility when working with characters. Maya 5 introduces a highly visual form of FK/IK blending, plus new ghosting and channel muting options that speed up animation tasks.

In the realm of modeling, an expanded range of tools includes an innovative new polygon reduction facility, new UV editing and extrusion tools, including a graph-based profile curve for taper control. In Maya 5, artists can now use the Maya Artisan(TM) brush feature to paint Face Vertices for more precise placement of and even paint weighting values for polygon reduction, to intuitively keep detail in a chosen area.

Performance in Maya 5 has also been improved in the area of dynamics computation while speed on the Windows(R) operating system has been improved by up to 90%.

Programmers and Technical Directors will see numerous enhancements to the Maya API, including a node/attribute callback mechanism, more detailed exposure of light data and high-level polygon operations. There is also a new Maya Embedded Language(TM) (MEL) "renderer" command that simplifies the hook-up of third party renderers.

Building on Existing Innovation

Enhancements to the Maya software's, artist-friendly, brush-based toolsets amount to a new paradigm in organic modeling. As of Maya 5, Maya Paint Effects(TM) can now be drawn as, or converted to, polygons. This latest advance enables Maya Paint Effects to be edited with regular polygon tools and output to other renderers, including mental ray. In addition, a new Thin Line brush mode in Maya Paint Effects brings multi-streaked realistic hair within reach. Well over a hundred new preset brushes lend further artistic possibilities to the user and demonstrate the new mesh based features; everything from buildings, to crystals to infinitely detailed flowers and trees, are included.

Maya Unlimited delivers exciting new features in Maya Fluid Effects(TM), which have been enhanced so that previously unobtainable effects, including true dynamic computation of wakes and the accurate simulation of ponds and lakes, are now easily achieved. A new, Make Motion Field feature, lets users more accurately simulate the effect of objects moving through a fluid, such as a character emerging from a smoke cloud or a helicopter hovering above rippling water. Among the enhancements to Maya Fur(TM) is the addition of a new fur clumping feature that supports a range of hairy looks such as wet, matted or dirty fur. This new feature together with support for animated file textures enables artists to achieve time-based effects such as fur spreading out over a surface.

Another first is the inclusion of a free Maya Learning Tool(TM) DVD in every box of Maya software.

Enhanced Data Exchange

Maya 5 also offers enhanced and new data exchanges with leading technology applications which allows customers to interface with their choice of today's most popular data formats including; Macromedia Flash, DWG, DXF, Adobe Illustrator, Encapsulated PostScript, Scalable Vector Graphics, IGES, OpenFlight(R), StudioTools(R) and OBJ.

"The new version of Maya 5 is going to open up your mind and more," commented Dave Taylor, Creative Director at Taylor Imaging. "There's an entirely new level of possibilities added. From an architect's standpoint, we now have a DWG import and export on the Mac and for the industrial designer - IGES import and export to machineable parts. Now, take those two things and combine them with mental ray built in on the Mac for unsurpassed realism using HDRI textures. Now that's a screaming package! Users will be more than simply satisfied with this upgrade."

Pricing and Availability

Maya Complete for the Windows, IRIX(R), Linux(R) and Mac OS X operating systems, is priced at $1,999* and includes modeling, rendering, animation, dynamics, Maya Artisan, Maya Paint Effects, mental ray for Maya and Maya Embedded Language (MEL), an open interface for programming and scripting. Maya Unlimited for the Windows, IRIX and Linux operating systems, is priced at $6,999* and includes all features in Maya Complete along with Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Fur, Maya Cloth(TM) and Maya Live(TM). Maya will be available to purchase in May 2003 through the Alias/Wavefront network of authorized resellers or online at: http://www.aliaswavefront.com.

Version upgrades for Maya Complete are priced at $899* and for Maya Unlimited at $1,249*.

* Prices are list prices for node-locked licenses; floating licenses for Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited are available at an additional fee. All prices quoted are in U.S. dollars. International pricing may vary.

About Alias/Wavefront

As the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology, Alias/Wavefront develops software for the film and video, games, web, interactive media, industrial design, and visualization markets. On March 1 2003, the company was awarded an Oscar for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its development of Maya software, its professional 3D animation and effects package. Entertainment and games customers include: Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., CNN, Core Design Limited, Digital Domain, Disney, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic, Factor 5 LLC, Midway Games, Nintendo, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Pixar, Sega, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Square Co., Ltd., Warner Feature Animation and Weta Ltd.

Alias/Wavefront is a wholly owned, independent software company of SGI(R) with headquarters in Toronto and custom development center in Santa Barbara. Please visit the Alias/Wavefront web site at http://www.aliaswavefront.com or call 1-800-447-2542 in North America. International contact numbers include: Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, [phone]; Germany, East & Southeast Europe, 0049 89 31 70 20; France, Spain and Portugal, [phone]; Japan and other parts of Asia Pacific, 81 3 5797 3500 and Latin America, 770 393 1881.

The Alias/Wavefront logo and StudioTools are registered trademarks and Alias/Wavefront is a trademark of Alias/Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Maya is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., exclusively used by Alias/Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited, and the Maya logo, Maya Complete, Maya Unlimited, Maya Paint Effects, Maya Artisan, Maya Fur, Maya Cloth, Maya Live, Maya Fluid Effects, mental ray for Maya, Maya Learning Tools, and Maya Embedded Language are trademarks of Alias/Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. SGI and IRIX are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. mental ray is a registered trademark of mental images GmbH & Co. KG in the United States and/or other countries. Macromedia and Flash are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia Inc in the United States and/or other countries. Oscar is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Adobe, Illustrator and PostScript are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. SVG is a registered or unregistered trademark of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. IRIX and SGI are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation, in the United States and/or other countries. Mac is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. registered in the US and other countries. OpenFlight is a registered trademark of MultiGen-Paradigm Inc. All other products or companies mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Alias/Wavefront, 210 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5A 1J7, Tel: [phone], FAX: [phone].

Note to Editors: There should be a pipe symbol between "Alias" and "Wavefront". The pipe symbol was changed to a forward slash ("/") for transmission purposes only.