Alias/Wavefront Ships mental ray For Maya; Much-Anticipated Optional, Plug-In Renderer Now Available.

Business & High-Tech Editors

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 21, 2001

Alias/Wavefront(TM), an SGI (NYSE:SGI) company, today announced that its recently unveiled mental ray(R) for Maya(R) technology is now shipping.

As an optional, plug-in renderer for the award-winning Maya 3D software package, mental ray for Maya provides customers with a tightly integrated rendering solution that maximizes the strengths of both products. In addition to this new rendering option, Alias/Wavefront is also offering mental ray stand-alone licenses for increased interactive rendering speed within Maya as well as for use in batch rendering.

"Both Maya and the mental ray renderer from mental images are regarded within industry circles as world-class production tools," states Chris Ford, senior Maya product manager, Alias/Wavefront. "For some time there has been a strong push from within the industry for us to unite the two. In response, we are delighted to release mental ray for Maya, a product which provides a seamless workflow between the mental ray renderer and Maya's unparalleled capabilities."

mental ray for Maya

mental ray for Maya is an optional and fully integrated plug-in renderer for Maya that offers the features and tools available in the renowned mental ray renderer version 3.0 from mental images(R). The new Alias/Wavefront offering will be available to customers in either node locked or floating license configurations.

As a mental ray for Maya early access site, Boy Wonder Visual Effects in Culver City, California had the opportunity to use the product for their work on the upcoming trailer for a major Hollywood studio's feature film commercials. "The time constraints were incredibly tight, still we had to insure that we produced the most high-resolution, photo realistic images possible," explains company President Burt Ward. "mental ray for Maya with its strengths in global illumination, motion blur and light fall off ensured that we could deliver high quality, photo realistic shots to the client, on time."

Pricing and Availability

mental ray for Maya is available on the Windows NT(R) and IRIX(R) platforms and may be purchased through Alias/Wavefront sales offices and authorized resellers. Annual maintenance is also available for purchase.

About Alias/Wavefront

As the world's leading innovator of 3D graphics technology, Alias/Wavefront develops software for the film and video, games, interactive media, industrial design, and visualization markets.

Entertainment customers include Blue Sky, Cinesite, CNN, Digital Domain, Disney's The Secret Lab, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic, 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(TM) with headquarters in Toronto and technical centers in Seattle and Santa Barbara. Please visit the Alias/Wavefront website at www.aliaswavefront.com or call 1-800-447-2542 in North America. International contact numbers include: Europe, 00 800 4125 4125; the Middle East and Africa, 00 353 1 890 2244; Japan, 0120 764 088; other parts of Asia Pacific, 81 3 3470 8282; Latin America, 770 393 1881.

mental images and mental ray are registered trademarks of mental images GmbH & Co. KG in the United States and/or other countries. Alias/Wavefront is a trademark and the Alias/Wavefront logo is a registered trademark of Alias/Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited, in the United States and/or other countries. IRIX is a registered trademark and SGI is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Maya is a registered trademark and the Maya logo is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., exclusively used by Alias/Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. Windows NT is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. 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.