Alias/Wavefront and Quantel Announce the Integration of Maya Paint Effects With New Quantel iQ Product Line.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 5, 2000

Alias/Wavefront and Quantel announce the integration of Maya

Paint Effects with new Quantel iQ product line

Alias/Wavefront(TM), an SGI (NYSE: SGI) company, today announced a deeper relationship with Quantel for its new iQ product line. In addition to the existing Maya(R) software on Quantel, this expansion of the relationship now features the licensing of Maya Paint Effects technology for the new iQ product line from Quantel. The iQ technology delivers a new platform where the power of Quantel's dedicated hardware meets the openness of standard platforms. The award-winning Maya Paint Effects has been licensed by Quantel to be integrated into Qpaint, the paint application that ships on all iQ systems. The result is a mix of hardware and software that delivers an unmatched degree of real-time interactive performance, enormous workflow flexibility and total creative freedom.

Paint Effects is a revolutionary and unique artist's tool for the nearly instant creation and animation of stunning organic and painterly effects. These effects can then be animated over time with controls for the elements like turbulence and gravity to produce realistic sequences of fire, smoke, trees in the wind, flowers in bloom and much more. Maya Paint Effects on Qpaint will be previewed for the first time as part of the new iQ product line at Quantel's booth at IBC.

"We're very excited about the new direction and product offering from Quantel," said Richard Kerris, Director of Maya Technologies for Alias/Wavefront. "Quantel's iQ product line will deliver an elegant solution to a critical problem that every production facility faces when it comes to committing to one, or all, of the emerging video formats. iQ takes advantage of years of unparalleled hardware expertise by Quantel and provides the artist with an open, resolution independent, environment. The creative collaboration with Qpaint and Maya Paint Effects will allow artists to bring more of Maya's unique technology into the online environment of video post production."

"Alias/Wavefront provides the most cutting-edge computer graphics technology in the world," said Nigel Turner, Marketing Director for Quantel. "From the first time we saw Alias/Wavefront's amazing Maya Paint Effects software, we were exploring ways to combine their technology with our online paint expertise. This new aspect of our relationship will be bringing some of the best mix of technologies from both companies to our customers."

Availability and Pricing

Details on Maya Paint Effects for Quantel's new iQ product line will be announced at a later date by Quantel. Maya on Quantel is currently available on all Quantel Editbox FX systems.

About Alias/Wavefront

Alias/Wavefront provides artists with open workflow solutions for creative advantage. As the world's leading innovator of 2D and 3D graphics technology, Alias/Wavefront develops software for the film and video, games, interactive media, industrial design, and visualization markets.

Alias/Wavefront's games customers include Acclaim Entertainment, Core Design, Electronic Arts, Factor 5, Kodak Interactive, Lucas Arts Entertainment Company, Midway Games, Naughty Dog, Nihilistic, Nintendo, Radical Entertainment, Rare Ltd., Relic Entertainment, Retro Studios, Sega, Single Trac, Sony Computer Entertainment, Square, Timeline Studios, Valkyrie Studios, Verant Interactive and Westwood Studios.

Film and video customers include Blue Sky, Cinesite, CNN, Digital Domain, Industrial Light & Magic, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, The Secret Lab, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Feature Animation.

Alias/Wavefront is a wholly owned, independent software company of SGI with headquarters in Toronto and technical centers in Seattle and Santa Barbara. Please visit the Alias/Wavefront Web site at www.aliaswavefront.com or call 1-800-447-2542 in North America. Readers in Europe can call [phone] or 800 791 174 in Italy; [phone] in the Middle East and Africa; 8 1 3 3470 8282 in Asia-Pacific; and 525 203 0030 in Latin America for the nearest sales office or authorized reseller in their area.

Alias/Wavefront and the Alias/Wavefront logo are trademarks of Alias/Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. Silicon Graphics is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. Maya and the Maya logo are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics Inc., and exclusively used by Alias/Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. Maya Paint Effects is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., exclusively used by Alias/Wavefront. All other brands and products referenced herein are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Alias/Wavefront, 210 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5A 1J7, Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone].

NOTE TO EDITORS: Throughout this release the vertical bar symbol in the company name Alias/Wavefront has been changed to a "/", since the vertical bar causes transmission problems on many systems.