Autodesk Inc, Sausalito, California has put up cash to help Dr Alvy Ray Smith to get a new company, Altamira Software Corp off the ground in Mill Valley, California. Smith co-founded Pixar Corp, and Altamira will develop colour imaging applications based on technology developed by Dr Smith and licensed to Altamira by Pixar; he is credited with writing the first true-colour electronic paint program in 1977. Eric Lyons, formerly director of software development for Autodesk’s Multimedia Business Unit, is aco-founder of the new company and will serve as Altamira’s vice-president of operations. The team is completed by Nicholas Clay, formerly with Adobe Systems Inc and before that Sybase Inc: he is described as a user-interface development expert with cross-system expertise in Windows, Motif/X Window, Macintosh OS, and OS/2 Presentation Manager. He will serve as vice-president of technology. Pixar will continue to develop its system-level IceMan technology and Altamira intends to be a leading provider of desktop colour imaging applications based on IceMan. No financial details of the backing the company has received were disclosed, and Autodesk has not said how large its stake will be.
