PowerAnimator

PowerAnimator and Animator, also referred to simply as "Alias" and "Alias Wavefront", the precursor to what is now Maya and StudioTools, was a highly integrated industrial 3D modeling, animation, and visual effects suite. It had a relatively long track record, starting with Mashin Hero Wataru and My Neighbor Totoro in 1988 and ending in Télétoon Advance and Pokémon The Movie 2000: The Power of One in 1999. PowerAnimator ran natively on MIPS-based SGI IRIX and IBM AIX systems.

Alias Research (Software)
Developer(s)Alias Systems Corporation
Initial release1988 (1988)[1]
Stable release
9.0.2 / July 22, 1999 (1999-07-22)
Operating systemIRIX, AIX
TypeComputer graphics
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.alias.com/products/maya/

History

Alias PowerAnimator was first launched in 1988.

In March 2, 1996, John Gibson, Rob Krieger, Milan Novacek, Glen Ozymok, and Dave Springer were presented for Alias Wavefront Maya with the Scientific and Engineering Award for their contributions to the geometric modeling component of the PowerAnimator system. The citation was:

"The Alias Wavefront PowerAnimator system is widely regarded in the computer animation field as one of the best commercially available software packages for digital geometric modeling. Used by many motion picture visual effects houses, it has been a benchmark for comparison of modeling tools and has had a major influence on visual effects and animation."

Television and film
Alias PowerAnimator 9.0 scene showing dynamic attributes used in VFX.

The software's more notable contributions to the entertainment industry can be found in television series and films like Mashin Hero Wataru, Ranma ½, Dragon Ball Z, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Samurai Pizza Cats, Gude Crest, Sailor Moon, Wee Sing, VeggieTales, Akazukin Chacha, Tico of the Seven Seas, ReBoot, Magic Knight Rayearth, Insektors, Tenchi Universe, Wedding Peach, Slayers, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Saint Tail, Dragon Ball GT, Donkey Kong Country, Cutie Honey Flash, Hyper Police, Don't Leave Me Alone, Daisy, Rolie Polie Olie, Ojamajo Doremi, Télétoon Advance, The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hocus Pocus, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Toy Story, Mulan, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, A Bug's Life, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-a-Doodle, Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, Off His Rockers, Space Jam, Quest for Camelot, My Neighbor Totoro, Akira, Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Ghost in the Shell, Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo in Love, Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness, Pokémon: The First Movie, Tenchi Forever! The Movie, and Pokémon The Movie 2000: The Power of One.

PowerAnimator was used to create the magic broom in the 1989 film Kiki's Delivery Service, as well as the seaplane in Porco Rosso, at a cost of $460,000 per minute. It was also used heavily for the many visual effects of the 1997 film Princess Mononoke. PowerAnimator also served as the solution used to produce Pokémon episodes digitally before production was moved to Maya. The title sequence of TV Tokyo was created using Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator.

Game development

PowerAnimator was also used in game development, in particular as a part of PlayStation and Nintendo 64's SGI-based developers kit. It saw some use for modeling, texturing, animation and realtime effects for other titles and platforms as well.

Notable titles:

References
  1. "History of Alias".
  2. Gavin, Andy. "Making Crash Bandicoot – part 3".
  3. "Interplay to "Spook" Platform Gamers". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (71): 30. June 1995.
  4. https://www.scribd.com/document/133225106/PowerAnimator-8-Games-Flyer

Notes
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.