Autodesk Launches Lustre 2008 Digital Color Grading System

Enables Creative Color Grading throughout Post-Production Process; Supports American Society of Cinematographers’ Color Decision List

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced the Autodesk Lustre 2008 digital color grading system. Lustre has shaped colors and lighting in hundreds of feature films, trailers and TV shows, including Balls of Fury, El Cantante, Children of Men, Babel, King Kong, Cane, Pushing Daisies and Swingtown. Lustre 2008 will be showcased at Autodesk stand #7-420 during the International Broadcasters Convention 2007, held in Amsterdam’s RAI Convention Center, September 7-11.

“Around the world, Autodesk Lustre is used to enhance lighting, cinematography and storytelling in films and TV content,” said Stig Gruman, vice president of Advanced Systems, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “Lustre 2008 equips colorists with even more creative flexibility and includes a new multi-layer timeline. Colorists can experiment with look creation earlier in the post-production process. As well, Lustre 2008 offers a better workflow that leads to faster project completion and ultimately offers greater value for all types of productions.”

Companies rely on the Lustre system’s advanced creative capabilities, as well as its cost-effective performance that is made possible through Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)-acceleration, pipeline flexibility and facility-wide application interoperability.

Andreas Rostock, managing director at Sonne Postproduction in Denmark, said, “At Sonne, we’re ready to take on any kind of project, from feature films to music videos, but we specialize in commercials. We’ve developed a workflow that gives us the flexibility needed to take on any type of job and Autodesk Lustre fits well into our process. The new multi-layer timeline in Lustre 2008 will give us greater workflow flexibility in terms of how we conform, while the rich grading toolset will allow us to expand our creative capabilities to deliver a higher-quality product to our customers.”

Chris Jacobson, colorist at LaserPacific Media Corporation, also sees great value in the Lustre workflow, particularly as it relates to the interoperability between Lustre and the Autodesk Smoke editing/finishing system. Jacobson commented: “We can easily share media between Lustre and Smoke with no time-consuming rendering in between, thanks to Autodesk’s Wiretap technology. In essence, the editorial and digital intermediate color sessions can happen simultaneously, making our clients very happy. With a pipeline like this, you really can be in two places at once. It brings multi-tasking to a whole new level.”


Highlights of Lustre 2008

New creative tools:

· The new multi-layer timeline gives colorists gestural tools to quickly create editorial, shot and grade versions of their project. Colorists can experiment with multiple looks on a single shot, as well as easily applying a look across multiple shots.

· With the automatic region tracker, colorists can track elements of a scene faster than ever before. Colorists can specify an image region and Lustre figures out the rest, automatically analyzing inside the region in order to apply scaling and rotation to secondary geometries.


Workflow and performance improvements:

· Lustre 2008 supports The American Society of Cinematographers’ Color Decision List (ASC-CDL). The ASC-CDL was developed to ensure that images appear the same when displayed in different places on different platforms. This leads to look consistency across the various stages of post-production, from on-set look creation to the final grade. Lustre 2008 allows colorists to import multiple CDLs, either as Slope-Offset-Power (SOP) values in an edit decision list (EDL), or as files referenced in the EDL comments, to which CDL data can be applied on a per-shot basis in the Lustre timeline.

· The Lustre system’s grading functions now include additional GPU-acceleration of secondary grading capabilities, including geometry blurring and inside/outside grading, as well as GPU-accelerated playback for plug-in effects such as Blur Mix, Print Bleach and Glow. These improvements speed up the look-creation process.


For a complete list of new features and enhancements in Autodesk Lustre 2008, visit www.autodesk.com/lustre

Autodesk Media and Entertainment launches 12 City Roadshow

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), today announced that it will embark on a 12 city roadshow across India beginning with Hyderabad on September 11, 2007. In line with the recent launch of the company’s new range of products including Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk® Maya® and Autodesk® MotionBuilder™ (M3), the roadshows are expected to reach out to the company’s customers and channel partners across the spheres of animation and design visualization.

The roadshows are a part of Autodesk’s continuous efforts to impart quality training and educate the channel partners and customers about the company’s India strategy as well as new products. The company plans to conduct 12 road shows across cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Indore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Indore and Trivandrum.

Commenting on the roadshows Mr. Sheraz Hasan, Marketing Head, Autodesk Media and Entertainment said “Autodesk has consistently been launching new and improved versions of its software into the Indian market and we believe that it is essential to educate our customers about these. The 12 city roadshow is a step in this direction and with the broad range of cities we are covering; we hope to reach out to a varied customer base.”

Roadshow Schedule


Hyderabad Sept 11, 2007

Chennai Sept 12, 2007

Mumbai Sept 13, 2007

Delhi Sept 18, 2007

Bangalore Sept 19, 2007

Jaipur Sept 22, 2007

Ahmadabad Sept 24, 2007

Indore Sept 26, 2007

Kolkata Sept 27, 2007

Trivandrum Sept 28, 2007

Pune Sept 29, 2007

Chandigarh Oct 05, 2007

Autodesk Launches New Versions of Visual Effects and Finishing Systems

Autodesk Launches New Versions of Visual Effects and Finishing Systems for High-Value Content Creators

Facility-wide Improvements with Open File System, Shared Storage and 100 Percent Clip Compatibility

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today announced the 2008 releases of the Autodesk Inferno, Autodesk Flame and Autodesk Flint visual effects systems, as well as the Autodesk Fire and Autodesk Smoke editing/finishing systems. These new releases are offered on Linux-based PCs, making Autodesk’s visual effects and editing/finishing products more accessible to both high-end and mid-range markets. The new releases deliver open file systems, allowing for improved interoperability with third-party applications, as well as 100 percent clip compatibility across the Autodesk visual effects and editing/finishing pipeline.


Autodesk’s visual effects and editing/finishing systems have shaped countless award-winning projects, such as the Spider-Man 3, Transformers and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer films, as well as Coca-Cola’s Happiness Factory and Lexus’ Hydrant commercials. The 2008 product versions will be showcased at the Autodesk stand (#7-420) during the International Broadcasters Convention 2007, being held at the RAI Convention Center in Amsterdam, September 7-11, 2007.


“Autodesk’s new visual effects and editing/finishing releases will create new workflow possibilities, allowing customers to share media throughout their facility using either direct-attached storage, storage area network (SAN) or network-attached storage (NAS) configurations,” said Stig Gruman, vice president of Advanced Systems, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “This ability to interoperate with all technologies present in the post-production facility greatly enhances collaboration and data management, which in turn, opens up new markets, including mid-range post production and broadcast.”


Indianapolis-based WTHR TV NBC 13 became the first local station in Indiana to broadcast a newscast in high definition (HD). “Now the potential to put more Autodesk systems into mid-level post and broadcast facilities is real, due to Autodesk’s new standard file system support, Autodesk Wiretap technology and third-party tools that bind the whole facility together,” commented Brian Mulligan, WTHR’s senior editor and Autodesk Smoke system artist. Autodesk Smoke was used to create WTHR’s Eyewitness news promo branding and Super Bowl promos.


In addition, the 2008 releases feature an updated user interface (UI) that is streamlined across the products, making it easier for artists to switch between applications. The new UI also provides the user with more tools on the desktop. Alex Ortoll, visual effects supervisor at Estudios Alcine and Flame artist said, "The new 16:9 interface puts many more tools right at my fingertips, thus greatly reducing the need to dig through layers of sub-menus. Though it took me a couple of days to build new ‘muscle memory’ on the new layout, speed improvements are now quite noticeable." Estudios Alcine recently used Flame to create the epic film The Heart of the Earth and is currently working on the feature film Open Graves in Spain.


Highlights of Autodesk’s 2008 Visual Effects and Editing/Finishing Systems

New toolsets and workflow improvements:

· New standard file system support improves facility workflow, allowing systems and third-party applications to instantly share clips without the need for media duplication, and to work with media natively off a SAN or NAS storage device.

· Enhanced concurrent workflows between visual effects, editing and grading are now possible due to metadata handling and Infiniband networking improvements.

· OpenEXR software support and enhanced Autodesk FBX software support create powerful interoperability between Flame and Autodesk Maya software. The visual effects products can now import NURBS objects and artists have the ability to match their compositions with the 3D department by exporting camera data, as well as axis positions and 3D point clouds.

· 100 percent compatibility between Flame and Smoke setups and clips enables round-tripping of clips and metadata between visual effects and finishing product lines.

· New multi-layer timeline and audio tools in Flame, Flint, and Inferno improve flexibility and interoperability with Smoke and Fire.

· Redesigned 16:9 user interfaces put more tools at artists’ fingertips.

· New Smoke and Flame user interfaces allow a more intuitive switch from one application to the other.

· On-screen tool tips have been added to enhance the user experience.

· Enhanced DVE 3D compositing environment in Fire and Smoke delivers more visual effects power and a look and feel that makes it easier for artists to switch back and forth between Smoke and Flame. New Expressions toolset eliminates manual keyframing techniques, allowing artists to quickly create animations.


Also included in these releases are features that were originally introduced in the 2007 Extension 1 release, previously available only to Autodesk subscription customers. For a complete list of new features and enhancements in the 2008 versions of Autodesk Inferno, Autodesk Flame, Autodesk Flint, Autodesk Fire, and Autodesk Smoke, visit: www.autodesk.com/me

Autodesk anticipates that its 2008 releases of Inferno, Flame, Flint, Fire and Smoke will be available in autumn 2007. New 2008 systems will ship on HP 9400 workstations running the Linux operating system.

Autodesk’s 3D Software Shapes Highly Anticipated Korean Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Autodesk’s 3D Software Shapes Highly Anticipated Korean Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Leading Korean game developers NCsoft (KOSPI: 036570), Webzen (NASDAQ: WZEN and KOSDAQ: 069080) and Gravity (NASDAQ: GRVY) are relying on Autodesk, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: ADSK) 3D modeling, animation and rendering software to deliver some of the most-anticipated massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). MMOGs enable millions of players to simultaneously interact in an online game. Characters, objects and entire worlds for the AION, Huxley and Ragnarok Online II upcoming MMOG titles are being shaped with Autodesk products.


“Online games have become a major part of Korea’s entertainment culture, and Korea is a hotbed for game development innovation,” said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “We’ve seen an explosion of massively multiplayer online games in the past five years. Our clients NCsoft, Webzen and Gravity are raising the bar for MMOGs around the world, and they’re relying on Autodesk’s 3D software to create award-winning, lucrative game titles.”


Established in 1997, NCsoft is a leading developer and publisher of online computer games, with offices in Korea, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, China, Taiwan and Thailand. Its 1998 launch of the MMOG Lineage has attracted more than 3.5 million subscribers. NCsoft plans to launch AION, a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), in 2008. Set within a mythical world, AION is a story about Angelic and Demonic races confronting each other and fighting the common threat of a Draconic race. Characters can move through the sky and use flying tactically to win combat.


Kim Hyung Joon, art director and art team manager at NCsoft, said, “AION is an ambitious MMORPG in which battles take place everywhere with true 3D movement. Players can fly on wings to explore beautiful, detailed worlds. They can also engage in dynamic combat with various styles and strategies.”


Joon continued: “At NCsoft, we wouldn’t be able to realize our vision for AION without Autodesk 3ds Max. Productivity and standardized workflows are key for our 80-artist team. By using 3ds Max, we have an efficient, stable asset creation pipeline. As well, the 3ds Max software’s pervasiveness makes it easier for me to recruit new artists, since there’s a large 3ds Max talent pool in Korea and around the world.”


Webzen is a global digital entertainment leader with studios in Korea, China, Taiwan and the United States. Webzen developed MU Online, Korea’s first-ever online 3D game. In November 2006, the company began commercialized service of Soul of the Ultimate Nation, which was the first title to incorporate console-style game mechanics into a classic MMORPG.


Using Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya 3D modeling, animation and rendering software, Webzen continues to develop Soul of the Ultimate Nation and is creating Huxley, a massively multiplayer first-person shooter game. Huxley takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where human beings have mutated and are divided into two opposing races, Sapiens and Alternative.


Hyun Gyung-up, creative artist of Soul of the Ultimate Nation Studio at Webzen, said, “In May 2007, Webzen’s Soul of the Ultimate Nation enjoyed a 400,000 simultaneous player record. Our game is renowned for its rich 3D characters and environments, which we develop using Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya. We’ve standardized our asset creation pipeline on Autodesk products because of their extensive toolsets, interoperability with one another and third-party applications, and efficiency in handling large datasets.”


Founded in 2000, Gravity is a global entertainment company that has fuelled the growth of the Korean online game industry with Ragnarok Online, the country’s leading MMORPG. Gravity is using 3ds Max to create Ragnarok Online II, which features full-3D graphics and is based on Norse mythology. Gravity has evolved the bubble emotes found in the original game with sophisticated character expressions in the sequel title.


Park Young Woo, Ragnarok Online II producer at Gravity, commented: “Characters in Ragnarok Online II were primarily created with Autodesk 3ds Max. Our goal was to create cute yet extremely expressive and natural facial animations for all characters. 3ds Max enabled us to model, animate and render ideal characters that retain the cuteness of the original Ragnarok anime characters, while delivering livelier expressions and more convincing social movements.” Gravity is also using 3ds Max on the upcoming MMOGs Requiem Online, Pucca Racing and W-Baseball.

Autodesk Introduces New Animation Academy Curriculum for High School Students

Curriculum Expands Students’ 3D Animation and Academic Skills; Now Includes Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) has released the 2008 version of its popular Animation Academy for Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya software products. Autodesk Animation Academy is the premier visual communication program for secondary schools wishing to bring mathematical, technical, scientific and artistic subject matter to life. The team-based curriculum teaches students sophisticated 3D visualization and animation skills with the same technology that is used by professionals in the media and entertainment industry.

The 2008 release of Animation Academy is available globally for both the 3ds Max and Maya 3D modeling, animation and rendering software products. Animation Academy for 3ds Max is available to Windows operating system users. Animation Academy for Maya is available to secondary schools teaching on the Macintosh and Windows platforms.

David Della-Rocca, education product manager for Autodesk Media & Entertainment, said, “The demand for skilled workers who have a firm grasp of visual communication and animation is on the rise in entertainment, as well as in many other arts- and design-focused industries. The Autodesk Animation Academy helps propel students into exciting careers by familiarizing them with the latest 3D software, while supplementing their critical thinking, design and communication skills across academic disciplines.”

Autodesk Animation Academy curriculum is already being taught in secondary schools throughout North America, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. It provides a team-based, cross-discipline curriculum aligned to U.S. academic standards. The curriculum was developed specifically for secondary schools by experienced educators and technical experts. It encourages students to explore specific topics, such as the physics of planetary motion, archeological reconstruction of the Parthenon, the digestive system and more. Students then use the 3D animation technology of Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya to demonstrate and present what they have learned.



Key Features of Autodesk Animation Academy 2008

· Maya 2008 and 3ds Max 2008: Animation Academy is now based on the latest versions of both of the Autodesk 3D modeling, animation and rendering products.

· Capstone Project: This new part of the curriculum is intended for an independent study class that simulates the experience of a real-world 3D design job. Students begin with a “client” interview to determine how the client’s job could be made easier with the use of 3D visualization. Students then bring the client’s vision to life using 3D design technology from Autodesk.

· Lessons: Planetary Mechanics, Archaeological Reconstruction of the Parthenon, Digestive System, Weather Systems and Tornadoes, Forensics and Facial Reconstruction.



Animation Academy 2008 meets the following U.S. academic standards:

· Science: National Council for Science Education Standards Assessment (NCSESA)

· Math: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)

· Language Arts: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

· Technology: International Technology Education Association (ITEA) is used as a base, with additional compliance to psycho-motor standards that are common in many states.

In addition, the curriculum aligns with the National Science Foundation’s Visualization in Science and Technology Education (NSF VISTE) project materials.



To learn more about Animation Academy, please visit www.autodesk.com/animationacademy