The company was founded in 1985 by Roman Ormandy.
A prototype 3D video animation package for the Amiga Computer led to the incorporation of Octree Software in 1986.
From 1988 to 1992, Octree released several software packages including Caligari1, Caligari2, Caligari Broadcast, and Caligari 24.
Caligari wanted to provide inexpensive yet professional industrial video and corporate presentation software.
In 1993 Octree Software moved from New York to California and became known as Caligari Corporation.
In 1994 trueSpace 1.0 was introduced on the Windows platform.
In early 2008, the company was acquired by Microsoft and trueSpace 7.6 was released for free.
Microsoft suspended all development and support of trueSpace as of the 21st of May, 2009. No future plans are known for trueSpace and the Caligari web site is likely to be closed within five months of the above date. Any existing trueSpace owner, or curious member of the public, is urged to download all the latest patches, the free installer copy, all course tutorials, and all other material they might need before the site is finally closed.
An independent forum at — http://www.tscommunity.co.cc/forum/index.php — has been formed to continue the trueSpace community once the Caligari site closes.
Future development plans are in discussion amongst community members for a replacement or other options.