The Advanced Visualizer

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The Advanced Visualizer (TAV), a 3D graphics software package, was the flagship product of Wavefront Technologies from the 1980s until the 1990s.

It was made into an animators package after the hype from movies The Abyss, Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park. When Microsoft purchased Softimage in an attempt to take over the 3D computer graphics market, Silicon Graphics purchased Alias Systems Corporation, a competitor of Wavefront, and their competitor from England, TDI (Thompson Digital) Explore, and created a super company called Alias|Wavefront. Wavefront's programmers continued to reside in California but the management of the company was carried out in Toronto, Canada. In 1996 Alias|Wavefront announced the release of Maya.

Recently the company was renamed to Alias Technologies. When TAV was pulled from the market, Alias's representatives continued to peddle "Alias Power Animator" as a revolutionary animation package, though some artists were not impressed and had severe trouble producing animation exceeding the quality of TAV's Kinemation.