Photorealistic Visualization Makes It Easier Than Ever to Communicate Design Intent Easily, Realistically and Accurately

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced the availability of Autodesk(R) VIZ 2005 software. Autodesk VIZ 2005 is for designers who need the power to realistically explore design concepts, communicate design intent, and easily share work with clients and prospects.

Notable enhancements to this release of Autodesk VIZ include the addition of new modeling capabilities, more powerful interoperability with Autodesk software products, and streamlined design data management features. Using these tools, designers have a competitive advantage. Along with the most advanced lighting and image making technologies available, designers can create, manage, and share design concepts with remarkable clarity.

"Day after day clients become more demanding and projects more complex. Autodesk VIZ 2005 will be invaluable in improving both my productivity and the quality of my work," said Fermi Bertran, Imagina Arquiserveis.

"Our customers frequently tell us that sharing a design with a client through a 3D visualization is a lot like showing them a photograph or a movie -- they can see it and can therefore better understand the design," said John Sanders, vice president of the Platform Technology Division at Autodesk. "With Autodesk VIZ, designers are able to communicate more effectively with their clients and prospects, giving them a competitive advantage. Autodesk realizes that this as an important part of the design process, and is committed to the future of Autodesk VIZ."

Interoperability with Autodesk Design Applications

Autodesk customers produce 3D designs in most Autodesk(R) applications, from AutoCAD(R) to Autodesk(R) Revit(R) and Autodesk Inventor(R). Increased demand from clients for high quality photorealistic visualizations, as well as a greater familiarity with the power of digital visualization tools, however, has accelerated customer need for Autodesk VIZ. By using Autodesk VIZ in conjunction with other Autodesk design applications, customers enhance their designs to better communicate ideas more realistically and accurately.

So that designers can better take advantage of existing design data, Autodesk has strengthened the interoperability between Autodesk VIZ 2005 and Autodesk design applications. At various stages in the design development and validation process, data created in AutoCAD or in the industry-specific applications based on AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, and Autodesk Revit software can be further developed in Autodesk VIZ to expand upon a design. Using the enhanced File Link feature, customers can process large data sets even more quickly, thereby further improving the transfer of design change data between the visual model and the supporting Autodesk applications.

Rendering

In Autodesk VIZ 4, designers gained a powerful global illumination rendering engine that allowed them to add subtlety and realism to the most demanding design simulations. Autodesk VIZ 2005 builds on this impressive technology with the addition of mental ray(R) rendering technology, an illumination rendering system that incorporates an advanced global illumination system for visually stunning effects such as caustics, displacements, depth of field and motion blur. When using any of the rendering engines provided in Autodesk VIZ, customers will benefit from an enhanced rendering workflow because numerous repetitive tasks have been streamlined.

"Among the very long list of new and improved tools and features, the brightest star is the inclusion of mental ray renderer, which makes VIZ unbeatable," added Bertran.

Workflow and Modeling

In addition to enhanced interoperability and rendering improvements, designers will find a number of new modeling tools in VIZ 2005, as well as significant advances in design data management. Both provide new efficiencies and design options which complement sophisticated rendering effects with essential speed and performance.

Autodesk VIZ 2005 is backed by Autodesk Consulting, which includes integrated consulting and training to help customers worldwide maximize the value of their investment in Autodesk technology.

Product Availability

Autodesk VIZ 2005 is available in English internationally and may be released in other languages at a later date. For more information about Autodesk VIZ 2005, contact an Authorized Autodesk Reseller, call Autodesk at 800-964-6432, or see www.autodesk.com/viz. Autodesk VIZ 2005 is also available through Autodesk(R) Subscription which provides customers with the most current design technology, Web Support direct from Autodesk, flexible self- paced training options and a broad range of other technology and business benefits. For more information about Autodesk Subscription, visit www.autodesk.com/subscription.

About Autodesk

Autodesk is the world's leading design software and digital content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. Autodesk helps customers in the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media, and wireless data services fields increase the value of their digital design data and improve efficiencies across their entire project lifecycle management processes. For more information about the company, see www.autodesk.com.

NOTE: Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, and Revit are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. mental ray is a registered trademark of mental images GmbH & Co. KG, licensed for use by Autodesk, Inc. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders

During the course of this communication, we may make forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of the Company. These forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are discussed in documents we file from time to time with the SEC and specifically in our Annual Report and 10-K filed for the year ended January 31, 2003. These documents contain and identify important factors that may cause the actual results to differ from those contained in our forward-looking statements.

Additionally, we may make statements regarding planned or future development efforts for our existing or new products and services. These statements are not intended to be a promise or guarantee of future delivery of products, services or features but merely reflect our current plans, which may change. Purchasing decisions should not be made based upon reliance on these statements.

The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist or change after the date on which they were made.

CONTACT: Nicole Pack of Autodesk, +1-415-507-6282, or nicole.pack@autodesk.com.

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc. -0- 04/20/2004 /CONTACT: Nicole Pack of Autodesk, +1-415-507-6282, or nicole.pack@autodesk.com/ /Web site: http://www.autodesk.com/ (ADSK) CO: Autodesk, Inc. ST: California IN: CPR STW MLM SU: PDT JB-EB -- SFTU097 -- 7189 04/20/2004 08:31 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com