Alias, parent company of the world's most popular 3D software Maya, has released the Macintosh (OS X) version for its pen driven, digital sketching and annotation software.

"Since Alias SketchBook Pro was released in late 2002, we have had numerous requests from the Mac community to release a version for the Mac platform," says Colin Smith, product manager, Alias. "The extraordinary toolset consisting of Alias SketchBook Pro, Mac OS X and a Wacom tablet will empower designers, animators, illustrators and other creative professionals to quickly and easily draw, sketch, paint and visualize their concepts."

In addition to its compatibility with the Mac platform, new features in Alias SketchBook Pro version 1.1 include the introduction of 26 hotkeys, a new single layer copy tool, a redesigned brush editor that enables easier creation of custom brushes and an enhanced user interface designed to increase overall usability. These features are available in both the Mac and Windows® versions of Alias SketchBook Pro.

Some of the key features in Alias SketchBook Pro include:

- " Intuitive, pen-driven UI: Tried and tested interface, designed specifically for the pen-based tablet provides maximum drawing space. Marking Menus™ software allows remarkably fast access to key tools such as colors, brushes, zoom and pan.

- " Production quality drawing tools: Realistic, high quality and responsive pencils, pens, markers, brushes and airbrushes come in a full range of colors. Create and save custom brushes, erasers, airbrushes or smear brushes, varying their size, transparency, roundness, slant and stamp spacing.

- " Layers: Control editing by writing over images without damaging them, to compare or explore variations, or to build up complex drawings. Layers are preserved in the industry standard TIF file format.

- " Screen Capture: One-button screen capture allows users to quickly take a snapshot of any application screen and open it in Alias SketchBook Pro for instant annotation.

- " E-mail integration: After marking up an image, screen capture or document, annotations can be e-mailed back and forth with colleagues directly from Alias SketchBook Pro.

- " Sketch management and presentation: Create collections of sketches that can be viewed, organized and distributed easily. Deliver impromptu and formal presentations of sketches and images, and then record any feedback instantly on annotation layers.

The software will be available for download and on CD. The download version being priced at $179.00 USD and the CD Version at $199.00 USD.