To further this point, SGI Indigo II workstations were, what, $40k in mid-90s dollars? And a fully-featured license for something like Wavefront or Alias Power

To further this point, SGI Indigo II workstations were, what, $40k in mid-90s dollars? And a fully-featured license for something like Wavefront or Alias Power Animator was another $15-30k.