Autodesk Media and Entertainment

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"Discreet" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Discrete or DiscReet Records.
Autodesk Media and Entertainment, Inc.
Type Subsidiary of Autodesk, Inc.
Industry Computer software
Founded Montreal, Quebec (1999)
Headquarters Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Key people Martin Vann, VP Worldwide Sales
Marc Petit, VP Product Development
Products Maya
Softimage
3ds Max
Mudbox
Inferno
Flame
Flare
Flint
Smoke
Combustion
Lustre
Backdraft
Website www.autodesk.com/me

Autodesk Media and Entertainment, formerly Discreet, is based in Montreal, Quebec as the entertainment division of Autodesk. This division produces software used in feature films, television commercials and computer games. It also provides products for management and distribution to complement its primary product line. It also resells harddisks and sells certain Linux software which is only with bundled computers.

Contents

History[edit]

Autodesk Media and Entertainment is a division of Autodesk which provides animation and visual effects products[1] and was formed by the combination of multiple acquisitions.

It originally created a San Francisco multimedia unit in 1996 under the name Kinetix to publish 3D Studio Max, a product developed by The Yost Group.[2]

In August 1998, Autodesk announced plans to acquire Discreet Logic [3] and its intent to combine that operation with Kinetix. At the time, it was its largest acquisition.[4] The new business unit would be named Discreet.[5]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences granted in 1998 an Academy Sci-Tech Award to Gary Tregaskis, Dominique Boisvert, Philippe Panzini and Andre LeBlanc, the original designers and developers of the core Discreet Logic products, Flame and Inferno. [6]

The combined Discreet-branded product catalog then encompassed all the Discreet Logic products, including Flame, Flint, Fire, Smoke, Effect, Edit, and Kinetix's product, including 3D Studio Max, Lightscape, Character Studio.

Montreal-based Discreet Logic Inc had been founded in 1991 by former Softimage, Co. sales director Richard Szalwinski, to commercialize the 2D compositor Eddie, licensed from Australian production company Animal Logic.[7] Eddie was the brainchild of Australian software engineer Bruno Nicoletti, who later founded well-known VFX software company The Foundry, in London, England. In 1992, Discreet Logic entered into a European distribution agreement with Softimage, and shifted its focus on Flame, one of the first software-only image compositing solution, developed by Australian Gary Tregaskis.[8] Flame, which was originally named Flash, was first shown[9] at NAB in 1992, ran on the Silicon Graphics platform, and became the company's flagship product.

In March 2005, Autodesk renamed its business unit Autodesk Media and Entertainment and discontinued the Discreet brand.[10]

Through the years, Autodesk has augmented its Entertainment division with many other acquisitions. One of the most significant one was in October 2005, when Autodesk acquired Toronto-based Alias,[11] and merged its animation business into its Entertainment division. Today, the division's main products[12] are Maya, 3DS Max, Softimage, Mudbox, MotionBuilder, the game middleware Kynapse, and the creative finishing products Flame, Flare, Lustre, and Smoke.[13]

In 2011, Autodesk acquired a cloud-based set of image tools and utilities called Pixlr.[14]

Industry Usage[edit]

Much of Avatar's visual effects were created with Autodesk media and entertainment software. Autodesk software enabled Avatar director James Cameron to aim a camera at actors wearing motion-capture suits in a studio and see them as characters in the fictional world of Pandora in the film.[15] Autodesk software also played a role in the visual effects of Alice in Wonderland, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Inception, Iron Man 2, King Kong, Gladiator, Titanic, Life of Pi, Hugo, The Adventures of Tintin and other films.[16]

In November 2010, Ubisoft announced that Autodesk's 3D gaming technology was used in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.[17]

These products have also won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for 16 consecutive years.[18]

Products[edit]

Current Products[edit]

Software currently produced by the division includes Maya, Softimage, 3ds Max, Mudbox, Inferno, Flame, Flare, Flint, Smoke, Combustion, Sketchbook, Lustre, and Backdraft.

Historical Products[edit]

  • Discreet Frost, introduced in 1996, a SGI-based template-based on-air graphics system for news, weather and sports [19]
  • Matchmover, now bundled with 3DS Max, Maya and Softimage, Retimer and VTour. All acquired from RealViz
  • Media Cleaner, a video-encoder for the Mac, and Edit, acquired from Media 100 in 2001[20]
  • Lightscape,[21] a windows-based real-time radiosity solution acquired in 1997,[22] now incorporated in 3DS Max
  • Discreet Plasma, released in 2002, a simplified version of 3DSMax for Adobe Flash authoring[23][24]
  • Discreet GMax, a simplified version of 3DS Max customized for game modders
  • Autodesk Toxik, introduced in 2007, a compositing software that allowed users to coordinate work on a production.[25] The software could only be bought for a minimum of 3 PCs, underlining its focus on collaborative, database-driven workflow. With its collaborative functions and databases removed, and renamed "Composite",[26] it is now bundled with Maya 3ds Max, and Softimage.

Creative Finishing Products[edit]

Flame, Flare, Flint & Inferno (IFF), and Smoke are software for visual effects and non linear editing originally created on the MIPS-Architecture computers from SGI, running IRIX.

By mid-1995, Flame had become a market leader in visual effects software, with a price around 175,000 USD, or 450,000 USD with a Silicon Graphics workstation. Time with the software was typically rented at a post-production house with an operator.[27]

Flint was a lower-priced version of Flame with removed functions. In 1995, the company introduced Inferno, a version of Flame destined for the film market, with a price of about 225,000 USD without hardware. Flare, a software-only version of Flame, was introduced in 2009.[28]

Autodesk Smoke is a non-linear editing software closely related to Flame. 2009 the first member of the Flame family to make its way onto the Mac.[29]

In September 2010, Autodesk introduced Flame Premium, a suite contains Smoke, Flame and Lustre with a retail price of 125,000 USD. [30]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "ADSK Profile | Autodesk, Inc. Stock - Yahoo! Finance". Finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  2. ^ "Area :: 3dsMax 20th Anniversary". Area.autodesk.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  3. ^ "Autodesk to buy Discreet Logic - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  4. ^ "AUTODESK COMPLETES LARGEST EVER ACQUISITION; DEBUTS NEW DISCREET DIVISION. | Software Industry Report | Professional Journal archives from". AllBusiness.com. 1999-03-22. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  5. ^ "Animation Software Companies and Individuals in CGI". Design.osu.edu. 1995-02-07. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  6. ^ "Oscar 1998". Mahawa.jw-music.net. 1999-03-21. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  7. ^ "Discreet Logic Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Discreet Logic Inc". Referenceforbusiness.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  8. ^ [1][dead link]
  9. ^ [2][dead link]
  10. ^ [3][dead link]
  11. ^ "Autodesk - Press Releases Archive - Autodesk Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Alias". Usa.autodesk.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  12. ^ "Autodesk Unveils 2011 Versions of Its Digital Entertainment Creation Software". ITnewsLink. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  13. ^ "Autodesk Announces 2011 Versions of [[IFF (software)|Flame, Flare]], [[Smoke (software)|Smoke]] and Lustre". ITnewsLink. Retrieved 2012-03-04.  Wikilink embedded in URL title (help)
  14. ^ Tuesday, July 19th, 2011 (2011-07-19). "Autodesk Acquires Online Photo Editing Service Pixlr". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2013-06-01. 
  15. ^ "Fiction Film Technology to Shine at Academy Awards (7 News)". 
  16. ^ "Autodesk: The Secret Star Behind Oscar-Winning Visual Effects (Fast Company)". 
  17. ^ "Ubisoft Uses Autodesk Games Technology in Ubisoft 'Assassin’s Creed® Brotherhood' Production Pipeline : CAD CAM News". cadcamnews.in. 2011 [last update]. Retrieved 9 August 2011. 
  18. ^ "Autodesk Tools Build Pipelines for Oscar Winners and Nominees (Digital Media World)". 
  19. ^ "Discreet Logic introduces two new desktop-based virtual sets systems; new VAPOUR Preview and Design Station and FROST now support Silicon Graphics Indigo2 IMPACT desktop workstation. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  20. ^ "Autodesk to Acquire Media 100 Software Line". Animationartist.com. 2001-08-30. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  21. ^ 06:34 PM. "lightscape to be retired". Forums.cgarchitect.com. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  22. ^ "Discreet Logic Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Lightscape Technologies | Business Wire". Find Articles. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  23. ^ "Discreet Plasma > Reviews >". Flash Magazine. 2002-10-04. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  24. ^ "Autodesk :: Investor Relations :: News Release". Investors.autodesk.com. 2002-06-05. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  25. ^ "Autodesk Toxik 2007". Studio Daily. 2006-04-20. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  26. ^ "Toxik RIP (sort of) + New Maya 2010". fxguide. 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2012-03-04. 
  27. ^ "History of Discreet Logic Inc. – FundingUniverse". Fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2013-06-01. 
  28. ^ [4][dead link]
  29. ^ Business Wire (2009-12-15). "Autodesk Smoke Software Comes to the Mac". Business Wire. Retrieved 2013-06-01. 
  30. ^ "fxguidetv from IBC: Flame Premium + Full Length 2011×1 Feature Videos". Fxguide.com. 2010-09-09. Retrieved 2013-06-01. 

External links[edit]

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