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Alias Celebrates Six New Maya Masters

The 2005 Maya Masters, announced and honored at the Alias Global Users Assn. (AGUA) annual event last month during SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles, include:

* Drew Berry works for The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia and creates scientific visualizations for science documentaries, museum exhibits and gallery installations around the world. His most recent project involved creating animations of the very nasty bugs Smallpox, Ebola and Anthrax for a National Geographic documentary on Bioterrorism.

* Corban Gossett was once a senior product specialist for Maya at Alias and afterward joined PDI/DreamWorks as a production engineer, where he was tasked to better integrate Maya into PDI's propriety pipeline. He also worked on several projects at DreamWorks Animation and did a stint in Hong Kong, working on FATHER OF THE PRIDE. He is now the supervising technical director on SHREK 3 and will work on this project until the film is released in 2007.

* David Goulds varied roles in production, including research and development, shader writing, lighting and CG effects, reflects his broad range of talents. He has also authored two acclaimed books on Maya programming. Gould is currently at Weta Digital, where he worked on THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and is currently working on KING KONG.

* Rob Magiera is the first digital publishing artist to receive the Maya Master distinction. He is the president and founder of Noumena Digital, a full-service digital art studio specializing in high-end CG for print. He has become one of the most recognized computer artists in the world, having worked for clients such as American Express and Intel. His unique blend of 3D techniques and sophisticated compositing consistently push the boundaries of the modern still image.

* Steven Stahlberg was the first CG artist in the world to have a virtual character sponsored by Elite, a major modeling agency. The character was presented to the world in a press conference in 1999 and later appeared on ABC and BBC, as well as in dozens of newspapers, including THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE FINANCIAL TIMES and THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. He is now a partner in Optidigit. He has also worked on projects for Disney, Electronic Arts and an animated feature about Anne Frank.

* Ryo Takahashi works at Namco as an engineer and is involved in creating the Maya plug-ins needed for game development, in addition to providing technical support. His latest accomplishment is the development of TEKKEN'S NINA WILLIAMS IN: DEATH BY DEGREES, an action adventure game for PS2.

Established in 2001, the Maya Masters Program celebrates the accomplishments of Maya users around the world. Each year, Alias recognizes exceptional Maya Masters from all walks of life the digital artists, visual storytellers and scientists. Maya Masters is a non-endorsement program, with no fees paid and membership by invitation only, based on nominations.

For more information about Maya Masters, please visit www.alias.com/mayamasters.

2004 Maya MastersAndrew DaffyJeremy GordonLee GriggsDerald HuntTom KluyskensRené Morel

2003 Maya MastersScot BrewHiroyuki HayashidaMeats MeierDaniel RoizmanTakahito TejimaRob van den Bragt

2002 Maya MastersAlceu BaptistaoEmmanuel CampinDr. Court CuttingBryan EwertKenneth HuffJason Schleifer

2001 Maya MastersDirk BialluchChris LandrethNobuo TakahashiHabib Zargarpour

Alias (www.alias.com) develops software for the film and video, games, web, interactive media, industrial design, automotive, architecture and visualization markets. Alias is headquartered in Toronto with a custom development center in Santa Barbara with offices worldwide.

Bill Desowitz's picture

Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.