Alias signs agreement to acquire Kaydara
updated 01:10 pm EDT, Mon August 9, 2004
Alias acquires Kaydara
, a leading developer of realtime 3D character animation and motion editing solutions in the entertainment industry, including MotionBuilder and Kaydara FBX. Alias provides 3D graphics technology and services for the film, video games, web, interactive media markets. Operating under the Alias name, Kaydara will remain in Montreal and current President Michel Besner will stay with the company and join Alias' Executive Management Team. The purchase is expected to close within 60 days.
"Kaydara has quickly become the recognized leader in its field, and this strategic acquisition brings an additional pool of highly complementary intellectual and technical property to Alias' existing product and service portfolio," said Doug Walker, president of Alias. "This move effectively unites the top 3D product development talent in Toronto and Montreal - allowing our team to harness this combined creative power and deliver innovative 3D software solutions that enable our customers to create, visualize and communicate the world's most compelling digital visual experiences."
Kaydara will continue to support all current industry platforms and will be sold as standalone products under the Alias brand name. Kaydara FBX, a widely used standard for the universal exchange and reuse of 3D content, will continue to be offered as a vendor neutral format. MotionBuilder's unique real-time architecture, intelligent character technology and breakthrough story system lets any 3D animator create state-of-the-art results in record time, while FBX allows animation teams to easily transfer assets between multiple tools used during production. Alias says it will continue to offer Kaydara FBX as a vendor neutral format.
