Sci-Tech Oscars. (film).

Computer graphics technologists garnered five of the 13 Sci-Tech Oscars at this year's Academy Awards ceremony. The winners included Alias|Wavefront, Side Effects Software, mental images, PDI/Dreamworks, and Disney.

Of the three levels of awards--the Academy Award of Merit, the Scientific and Engineering Award, and the Technical Achievement Award--only 38 Awards of Merit have been issued since the inception of the Sci-Tech Oscars. And this year, three companies were given this honor, including the CG industry's own Alias|Wavefront. While specific individuals within the company have been granted Sci-Tech Oscars in the past, this is the first time Alias|Wavefront as a whole has been so honored.

The company was chosen for this award because of the impact its Maya 3D animation software has had on the film industry. Not only did Maya play a significant role in the production of all three of this year's nominees in the best visual effects category--Spider-Man (at right), Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers--the program was also used extensively in two of the films nominated for best animated short (The ChubbChubbs and Mike's New Car) and four of the five films nominated for best animated feature film (Ice Age, Lilo and Stitch, Treasure Planet, and Spirit: Stallion Of the Cimarron).

The founders of Side Effects Software were on hand to receive a Scientific and Engineering ...