Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 21, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
he Autodesk developers Duncan Brinsmead, Jos Stam, Julia Pakalns and Martin Werner received the Technical Achievement Awards for the development and implementation of Maya’s Fluid Effects system. At the beginning of the month, they were presented with the distinction at the Scientific and Technical Academy Awards ceremony. The Academy honours developers who have demonstrably made a significant contribution to the film production process. This was already the fifth time that innovative technological developments from Autodesk had been honoured by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences with a Scientific and Technical Achievement Award.
Marc Petit, Senior Vice President of Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment division, says: ‘It is a great honour that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has recognised us with this Scientific and Technical Award — the gold standard for technological achievements in the film industry. The award testifies to the brilliance of our engineers, who repeatedly break new ground for the entire 3D computer graphics industry.’
The Academy Award distinction is already the third major prize for Maya this year.
· National Television Academy Awards: Autodesk’s 3ds Max and Maya software received the National Television Academy prize on January 7, 2008. At the 59th Annual Technology and Engineering Awards ceremony, the software was honoured in the video game category ‘Visual Digital Content Creation Tools and Their Impact’. The award was presented in this category for the fourth time and honours pioneering efforts and breakthroughs in the video game industry.
· Game Developer Hall of Fame Award: In the January issue of Game Developer magazine, Maya was honoured with the Front Line Hall of Fame Award 2007. Each year, this recognises a product that has made an exceptional contribution to the video game development industry over a period of at least five years. 3ds Max had already received the award in 2005.
