The software was initially released for the IRIX operating system. Maya is an application used to generate 3D assets for use in film, television, games, and commercials.

However, the name 'Maya' continues to be the dominant name used for the product. Under the name of the new parent company, Maya was renamed Autodesk Maya.

Following a series of acquisitions, Maya was bought by Autodesk in 2005.

Sophia, the scripting language in Wavefront's Dynamation, was chosen as the basis of MEL. In the early days of development Maya started with Tcl as the scripting language, in order to leverage its similarity to a Unix shell language, but after the merger with Wavefront it was replaced with Maya Embedded Language (MEL). The new wholly owned subsidiary was named 'Alias | Wavefront'. SGI's acquisition was a response to Microsoft Corporation acquiring Softimage 3D. acquired both Alias and Wavefront Technologies, Inc., Wavefront's technology (then under development) was merged into Maya. This was a particular influence in the open architecture of Maya, and partly responsible for it becoming popular in the animation industry.Īfter Silicon Graphics Inc. Disney requested that the user interface of the application be customizable so that a personalized workflow could be created.

Walt Disney Feature Animation collaborated closely with Maya's development during its production of Dinosaur. The IRIX-based projects were combined and animation features were added the project codename was Maya. Maya was originally an animation product based on code from The Advanced Visualizer by Wavefront Technologies, Thomson Digital Image (TDI) Explore, PowerAnimator by Alias, and Alias Sketch!. It is used to create assets for interactive 3D applications (including video games), animated films, TV series, and visual effects. Autodesk Maya, commonly shortened to just Maya ( / ˈ m aɪ ə/ MY-ə ), is a 3D computer graphics application that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, originally developed by Alias and currently owned and developed by Autodesk.

Autodesk maya 3d animation