SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 29, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

From Blockbuster Movies and Leading Video Games to Product Designs, New Version of Company's Animation and Modeling Software Raises the Bar Again

Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSK), today announced the first customer shipment of 3ds max 5 -- a significant feature release of its professional 3D animation and modeling software. From summer blockbusters such as "Minority Report" and "Spider-Man" to top-selling video games, including "Halo" and "Command & Conquer: Renegade," 3ds max software enables animators in film, television, games and design visualization markets to work within -- and build -- realistic environments and animate expressive characters with greater workflow and productivity. This release -- showcased to rave reviews at Siggraph 2002 -- solidifies Discreet's ongoing commitment to provide its diverse range of customers with the industry's most advanced 3D tools.

"3ds max 5 was the most solid beta I've tested in the ten years I've been beta testing," said Matt Merkovich, visual effects artist. "A fan of the product, I counted on its predecessor, 3ds max 4, when producing 80 complete shots for my work on `Minority Report.' In fact, I couldn't have finished the project on time without the robust feature sets it provided."

3ds max 5 software offers a robust new feature set designed to meet the needs of each specific market. In film, the software package enables new levels of rendered and physical realism while providing greater efficiency with significant enhancements to its animation workflow. It also provides greater abilities to manage, process and share data between products in studio pipelines including Discreet's own inferno, flame, flint systems and combustion software. In games, 3ds max 5 continues its status as the premiere choice of game developers with support for new techniques and latest hardware abilities. The new features reinforce the software's reputation of proven productivity, extensibility and rich toolset for creating real-time worlds and pre-rendered cinematics. And in design visualization, 3ds max 5 allows designers and engineer professionals to achieve photo-realistic results for design investigations, presentations, training, marketing launches, virtual branding layouts, and more.

    Price and Availability

Discreet's 3ds max 5 software has a suggested retail price (SRP) in North America of US $3,495. Upgrades from 3ds max 4 to 3ds max 5 have an SRP of US $795. With this release, Discreet will also be launching its subscription program, both single user and network versions, for $390 the first year and $330 for renewals. Discreet Subscription ensures customers timely access to the latest upgrades and enhancements while simplifying the budgeting process. The Discreet Subscription program will be available in North America in August, with other regions to soon follow.

3ds max is available from local Discreet resellers and on the Discreet e-store: http://www.discreet.com/purchase. Visit Discreet at: www.discreet.com or call 800/869-3504 or 514/393-1616 for more information on 3ds max software and other Discreet products.

    About Discreet

Discreet empowers moving media professionals to realize the visual experience, transforming their most evocative and ambitious visions into reality. Its range of award-winning systems and software is developed for digital media creation, management and delivery -- across all disciplines from visual effects and editing to animation, game development, web and interactive. Discreet is based in Montreal, Quebec and is a division of Autodesk, Inc., the world's leading design and digital media creation, management, and distribution company. Product and corporate information is located on the Internet at www.discreet.com.

Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. Discreet, 3ds max, combustion, flame, flint, and inferno are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc./Autodesk Canada Inc. in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

    (c) Copyright 2002, Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

CONTACT:          Discreet Public Relations
                  Kevin G. Clark, 415/547-2457
                  kevin.g.clark@autodesk.com
                  or
                  Access Communications for Discreet
                  Peter Nguyen, 415/844-6215
                  pnguyen@accesspr.com

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