TORONTO, CANADA -- Alias/Wavefront(TM), an SGI (NYSE:SGI) company, today announced Maya 4.5, the seventh major release of its highly popular Maya® 3D animation software. With its innovative Fluid Effects technology, Maya Unlimited(TM) 4.5 will give users integrated tools for accurately simulating and rendering atmospheric effects, viscous liquids, pyrotechnics and space effects. Additionally, a new Ocean Shader will make it possible to represent a whole range of different open water effects. The release also boasts powerful new modeling tools in both Maya Complete(TM) and Maya Unlimited, as well as a substantial expansion of the Maya API. Maya 4.5 also marks version synchronicity for Maya on all supported hardware platforms including Mac® OS X. All versions of Maya 4.5 are expected to ship on or before September 30, 2002. "Maya 4.5 is proof of Alias/Wavefront's continued commitment to unparalleled innovation," states Alias/Wavefront, General Manager of Product Development, Bob Bennett. "Beyond the astounding integrated Fluid Effects technology of Maya Unlimited, the release contains numerous enhancements that will give our users the ability to create visual effects and animation that were traditionally almost impossible to achieve." Fluid Effects Technology This major new technology provides the general 3D artist, for the very first time, with a fully integrated solution to what have traditionally been some of the most difficult challenges in computer graphics. Fluid Effects will allow users to create: various types of atmospherics (billowing clouds and cigarette smoke); thick, viscous liquids (mud, lava); pyrotechnics (fire, explosions, nuclear blasts); and space effects (comets, nebulae and meteors). The fluid simulation tools can also be used to deform logos or images and to create a wide range of eye-catching animated textures. A new Ocean Shader makes it possible to represent a whole range of different open water effects, including waves and foam. Additionally, the shader's integration with the rest of Maya allows users to float objects on the ocean surface and have those objects react to the motion of the water. Alias/Wavefront made the decision to develop the Fluid Effects technology at the request of customers who were finding it very difficult to achieve such effects in existing applications and who often had to resort to time-consuming and costly practical methods. Fluid Effects is integrated natively in Maya and includes: a fast interactive 2D solver, 3D fluids solver, interactive control with Maya Artisan(TM), an Ocean Shader, and volumetric and implicit surface texturing and rendering. Fluid motion is accurately simulated using state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics developed by Alias/Wavefront's renowned research department. An extensive library of examples and presets will allow the artist to select and customize effects; updates to this library will be accessible via a weblink to the Alias/Wavefront website. The advanced user will also have access to a wide range of attributes and controls to create and customize their own 2D and 3D effects. "Photorealistic clouds are one thing we knew we would need for our feature film, Delgo, but we found third-party plug-ins to be expensive and inflexible," states Warren Grubb, master artisan of kinematic wonders, Fathom Studios. "With Maya 4.5, fluids are truly integrated, which gives us the look we were craving for our clouds while also providing a tool that offers solutions for a range of volumetric and dynamic effects like fog, smoke and alien, whirling goo. Without Alias' commitment to innovation and responsiveness to the needs of their customers, we simply wouldn't be expanding into feature films." Maya Complete 4.5 Users of Maya Complete 4.5, as well as Maya Unlimited, will enjoy a wealth of advances in modeling, animation, workflow and rendering. In particular Maya Complete users will benefit from the migration of the Advanced Modeling functionality of Maya Unlimited into Maya Complete. This functionality includes advanced NURBS tools and true hierarchical subdivision surfaces (now with improved texturing options), and provides the ability to convert between all geometry types -- this includes conversion from subdivision surfaces to NURBS. A new Smooth Proxy tool provides additional modeling flexibility for building high-resolution polygonal geometry with a low-resolution proxy cage. Enhanced snapping tools along with attribute presets and annotation options will improve overall workflow. New animation features, including offset attributes on constraints, lead the list of animation enhancements. Also, as of Maya 4.5 the Maya renderer will feature volume lighting capability and ramp shader rendering effects. Game and Interactive Development New polygonal mesh and editing tools, with a re-designed UV unwrap interface, along with a dramatic expansion of the Maya API will further increase Maya's reputation as the platform of choice for next generation game development and interactive Web applications. As the most substantial API release since Maya 1.0, Maya 4.5 offers even greater access to the API for tool teams and programmers. Of particular interest to game developers are an expansion of the Polygon API and enhancements to the hardware shaders API, the latter of which allows for more flexibility in developing pixel and vertex shaders. Pricing and Availability Maya Complete, available for the Windows®, IRIX®, Linux® and Mac® OS X operating systems, is priced at $1,999(a) (US) and includes Advanced Modeling, rendering, animation, dynamics, Maya Artisan(TM), Maya Paint Effects(TM) and Maya Embedded Language(TM) (MEL), an open interface for programming and scripting. Maya Unlimited is priced at $6,999(a) (US) and includes Maya Fluid Effects(TM), Maya Fur(TM), Maya Cloth(TM), and Maya Live(TM). Maya is available through the Alias/Wavefront network of authorized resellers or may be purchased online at: http://www.aliaswavefront.com. Version upgrades are priced at $999 for Maya Unlimited, and $699 for Maya Complete.