SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Mar 01, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) announced new releases of the company's digital entertainment creation software and middleware. The 2012 versions enable iterative workflows, help users manage complexity and provide new creative tools. Autodesk products have been used to create popular movies like "Black Swan," chart-topping video games such as "Medal of Honor," primetime television commercials like the "Bridgestone 'Carma'" Super Bowl ad and hit television shows such as "Glee."

"Movie, video game and television audiences are demanding more sophisticated content, which is causing production complexity to outpace budgets," said Marc Petit, Autodesk senior vice president, Media & Entertainment. "To remain competitive, studios must improve production efficiency and maximize their creative capabilities."

"Our 2012 product releases harness the latest hardware technology to increase performance and deliver stunning graphics in the viewport," Petit continued. "We have also enhanced interoperability and simplified pipeline integration, making it easier for our customers to take advantage of specialized toolsets; and provided new creative tools for modern production trends like virtual moviemaking and stereoscopic 3D production."

Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites for Enhanced Creative Capabilities and Efficiency

The 2012 Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites give artists and production facilities access to a powerful range of creative toolsets at exceptional cost savings*. Artists can extend their familiar Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Maya software workflow with intuitive tools for sculpting and texture painting, real-time character animation, and effects. Single-step interoperability and more consistent user interfaces in the 2012 software suites help artists to realize their creative potential and optimize productivity by facilitating the use of multiple products and making specialized toolsets more accessible.

All products in the latest Entertainment Creation Suites offer notable new features and enhancements:

• Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 software delivers a new accelerated graphics core, mRigids for dynamic rigid-body simulations in the viewport and new sculpting and painting enhancements like the Clone brush
• Autodesk Maya 2012 software provides significant enhancements to the viewport offering full-screen effects, editable motion trails for animation editing in the viewport, as well as new simulation options
• Autodesk Softimage 2012 software provides new procedural ICE modeling, integrated Syflex cloth simulation, stereoscopic capabilities and multiple core software development kit (SDK) additions
• Autodesk Mudbox 2012 software delivers enhancements to the painting toolset, innovative new UV and topology-independent workflows, practical posing tools and improved large dataset handling
• Autodesk MotionBuilder 2012 software provides new in-viewport stereoscopic display and camera rig, a unified interface and solver for Autodesk HumanIK 4.5 or 2012 middleware, as well as new tools for virtual moviemaking

Creative Finishing Software for Film, Television and Commercial Post Production

Autodesk Flame Premium software combines high-end visual effects and finishing tools with real-time color grading in a single solution. The 2012 release features:

• Groundbreaking new tools that help artists integrate ultrarealistic 3D lighting effects into composites
• A comprehensive set of effects tools for finishing stereoscopic 3D projects, enhanced finishing workflows with CG pipelines
• A range of new tools designed to make 3D compositing as fast and interactive as traditional 2D compositing

Autodesk Smoke 2012 software offers a timeline-based, all-in-one creative solution for professional finishing on the Mac. The Smoke toolset spans color correction, compositing, 3D visual effects and stereoscopic 3D and features an efficient complementary workflow with Apple Final Cut Pro. The 2012 release contains:

• A redesigned 3D lighting system
• Flame FX, a comprehensive new set of creative and technical tools for common finishing tasks, featuring Damage, Deform, Edge Detect and Pixel Spread

Autodesk Games Middleware for Common Runtime Challenges

Autodesk's game middleware technology helps solve known runtime challenges, enabling programmers to focus on high-impact areas of development. The new middleware releases offer the following enhancements:

• An enhanced API (application programming interface) in Autodesk Beast 2012 global illumination middleware enables developers to integrate the eRnsT interactive lighting preview tool into custom game level editors
• Autodesk HumanIK2012 character animation middleware now supports the next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP) from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., as well as the Apple iOS mobile platform, enabling more realistic character animation on the latest mobile gaming devices
• Autodesk Kynapse2012 artificial intelligence middleware focuses on improving runtime performance and making advanced features easier to use

For more information about Autodesk's latest product releases for digital entertainment creation, visit www.autodesk.com/me and Autodesk blogs on the AREA digital entertainment and visualization community. For real-time updates on Autodesk's software for digital entertainment creation follow the company on Twitter at www.twitter.com/autodesk_me and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/autodeskME.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries -- including the last 16 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects -- use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

*Savings based on USD MSRP.International pricing may vary.Value represents total MSRP of most closely matched products, as licensed for stand-alone use. Applicable design suites are licensed for installation and use of each component by one user to deliver additional workflow and functionality value as compared to the stand-alone individual products.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Beast, Flame, HumanIK, Kynapse, Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Smoke, Softimage and 3ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc.,and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.© 2011 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE: Autodesk, Inc.

Autodesk, Inc.
Brittany Bonhomme, 416-874-8798
brittany.bonhomme@autodesk.com
or
Karen Raz, 310-450-1482
karen@razpr.com