 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 1984; 41 years ago (1984) inSanta Barbara, California |
| Founders | Bill Kovacs |
| Defunct | February 7, 1995; 30 years ago (1995-02-07) |
| Fate | Acquired bySilicon Graphics to form Alias/Wavefront |
| Headquarters | |
| Website | www |
Wavefront Technologies was acomputer graphics company that developed and soldanimation software used inHollywoodmotion pictures and other industries. It was founded in 1984, inSanta Barbara, California, byBill Kovacs, Larry Barels and Mark Sylvester. They started the company to produce computer graphics for movies and televisioncommercials, and to market their own software, as there were no off-the-shelf computer animation tools available at the time. On February 7, 1995, Wavefront Technologies was acquired bySilicon Graphics, and merged withAlias Research to form Alias|Wavefront.[1]
Wavefront developed their first product, Preview, during the first year of business. The company's production department helped tune the software by using it on commercial projects, creating opening graphics for television programs. One of the first customers to purchase Preview wasUniversal Studios, for the television programKnight Rider. Further early customers includedNBC,Electronic Arts, andNASA.
Some of Wavefront's early animation software was created byBill Kovacs, Jim Keating, andJohn Grower, after they leftRobert Abel and Associates. Roy A. Hall, and others after him, developed the company's flagship product, the WavefrontAdvanced Visualizer.
In 1988, Wavefront released the Personal Visualizer, a desktopworkstation interface to their high-end rendering software. As with Wavefront's other software, it was developed forSilicon Graphics computers, but it was later ported toSun,IBM,Hewlett-Packard,Tektronix,DEC andSony systems. Wavefront purchasedSilicon Graphics first production workstation after their offer to buy the prototype they were given a demo of was knocked back.
In 1989, the company released the Data Visualizer, an early commercial tool forscientific visualization.
In 1991, Wavefront introduced Composer, an image manipulation product. Composer became a standard for 2D and 3Dcompositing and special effects for feature films and, later, television.
In 1992, Wavefront released two new animation tools that worked withThe Advanced Visualizer. Kinemation was a character animation system that usedinverse kinematics for natural motion.Dynamation was a tool for interactively creating and modifyingparticle systems for realistic, natural motion.Dream Quest Images used Dynamation and Composer to create over 90 visual effects sequences for the filmCrimson Tide. This technology is still being used in theAlias|Wavefront Maya product today.
In 1994, the same year that rival Alias made a deal withNintendo, Wavefront partnered withAtari to develop the GameWare game development software. GameWare was the exclusive graphics and animation development system for theAtari Jaguar. Electronic Arts' Richard Taylor, said that Wavefront's software was "so beautifully designed that even a non-technical person could learn it. Wavefront was a major reason that CG took a leap forward."[2]
Wavefront software was used in numerous major films, includingLuxo Jr.,The Great Mouse Detective,Oilspot and Lipstick,Akira,Technological Threat,All Dogs Go to Heaven,Rock-a-Doodle,Off His Rockers,Outbreak,Aladdin,True Lies andStargate.
Wavefront was involved in several mergers of major computer graphics software companies through the 1980s and 1990s. In 1988, Wavefront acquired Abel Image Research, a division ofRobert Abel and Associates, where founder Bill Kovacs had previously worked. The acquisition was partially financed by theBelgian government, following Wavefront's establishment of an office inGhent in association withBarco Graphics ofKortrijk. Acquiring Abel Image Research increased Wavefront's presence inJapan. The Japanese conglomerateCSK became a part owner of Wavefront Japan in 1990, helping to expand the company further in Asia.
Wavefront acquired rival computer graphics company Thomson Digital Images[3] of France in 1993. TDI's software Explore featured innovations inNURBS modeling and interactive rendering. The company also had extensive distribution channels in Europe and Asia.
On February 7, 1995,Silicon Graphics announced that it would purchase Wavefront Technologies andAlias Research, in a deal totaling approximately $500 million.[4] SGI merged the two companies to createAlias|Wavefront, with the goal of creating more advanced digital tools by combining the companies' strengths and reducing duplication. At the time of the merger, Wavefront had a market value of $119 million, and 1994 revenues of $28 million.
What partially motivated this merger wasMicrosoft's purchase of Alias and Wavefront's competitorSoftimage. SGI saw Microsoft's entrance into the market as a threat and merged Alias and Wavefront to compete with Microsoft. Alias is now owned byAutodesk, as is Softimage as of October 2008.
In 1997, whilst working at Wavefront,Jim Hourihan received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for the creation of Dynamation. Bill Kovacs and Roy Hall received a Scientific and EngineeringAcademy Award in 1998 for their work on the Advanced Visualizer.
On March 1, 2003, Alias|Wavefront was awarded anAcademy Award for scientific and technical achievement for theirAlias Maya software, which had been created from a combination of the earlier software of Wavefront, Alias, and TDI.[5]