![]() The company was purchased by SGI in 1996, then sold off to private equity investment firm Accel-KKR for US$57 million in 2004.Īutodesk claims that in the immediate future, both 3D Studio Max and Maya will continue to be developed and sold separately. However, Alias has been in poor financial shape in recent years. The purchase price of US$182 million seems surprisingly low for a company with over 20 years of research and development IP, and at least two major software packages that are acknowledged to be the leaders in their industry. Maya is available on many platforms, including Windows, OSX, Solaris and Linux. In recent years Maya has become almost synonymous with 3D graphics. However, the company has recently been known mostly for its 3D software package Maya, which has been used in hundreds of motion picture and television projects. Their StudioTools software is used by nearly every major automobile manufacturer in the world. While the popularity of 3D Studio Max has waned in recent years, many game development studios still use the program today.Īlias Research was formed in 1983 in Toronto, Ontario. The two products combined to become 3D Studio Max, a Windows-only 3D graphics package that became incredibly popular in the game development industry. The company purchased Montreal, Quebec-based Discreet, makers of a 3D program called MAX, in 1999. I think anyone doing 3D even those that hate Autodesk would at least have to seriously think about the offer.Autodesk, the company that develops the industry standard drafting package AutoCAD and the 3D modeling application 3D Studio Max, has announced that it is purchasing Alias, makers of the popular 3D modeling program Maya, in a cash transaction worth US$182 million.Īutodesk, founded in 1982, originally developed 3D Studio as a companion program for its popular AutoCAD software. Lets not pretend that at $250 a year and a guaranty of reasonable price increases year to year that this offer wouldn't be popular. What they really want is a reasonable price and certainty that it doesn't escalate dramatically year to year. I think this makes many people apprehensive about the offer because they fully expect it to be at full price within a year without question. ![]() The problem is the unpredictability of the offer and to be perfectly honest Autodesk has a reputation, fair or not, for having a money grab mentality. ![]() From the people I have talked to that don't use Maya or Max and and don't particularity care for Autodesk, many of them said at that price they would get it just to have it in there arsenal even if they didn't use it. I even exclaimed "Autodesk is going to shake the industry to it's core." but then I saw the price proviso. The offer is so competitive that it shocked me at first. ![]()
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