MONTREAL, March 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Discreet, the media and entertainment division of Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) today announced that New York-based post-production house Nice Shoes has advanced its advertising workflow with new and upgraded Discreet processing, visual effects and editing solutions. Nice Shoes adopted these solutions in response to growing demand for advertising content that can be repurposed beyond television to cinematic spots, the web, promotional videos and retail outlets.

(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050308/SFTU006-a
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Nice Shoes is currently working on spots for Kodak, Sony, Splenda and Microsoft Xbox. Said Joe Bottazzi, principal & chief engineer at Nice Shoes, "With Discreet systems we're able to create projects in HD and higher resolutions, giving ourselves and our clients the freedom to repurpose content when needed. We can avoid creating a spot in standard definition and later getting stuck 'up-rezzing' for a different outlet. Also, Discreet systems' hallmark speed gives us the ability to effortlessly do visual effects, compositing and editing in real-time with the client."

Nice Shoes is benefiting from the interoperability between its Discreet systems and the systems' ability to input and output media in multiple formats. Nice Shoes purchased 14 Discreet burn(TM) background processor licenses, as well as upgrading its Discreet flame(R) visual effects and smoke(R) editing systems. The company's advertising workflow includes six smoke editing systems, a Discreet inferno(R) visual effects system and nine Discreet flame(R) systems. The result is a complete Discreet workflow that can handle media in standard-definition (SD), high-definition (HD) and 2K (film) resolutions in real-time.

Nice Shoes' Discreet smoke editing systems were upgraded to the latest version -- smoke 6.5, with a hardware upgrade from Silicon Graphics(R) Octane2(TM) to the Silicon Graphics(R) Tezro(R) visual workstation. The flame systems' hardware was upgraded to Silicon Graphics Tezro, enabling faster completion of projects.

About Discreet

Discreet empowers media professionals to realize the visual experience and transform their most evocative and ambitious visions into reality. Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and delivery -- across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, web/interactive, and design visualization. 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. Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. Product and corporate information: www.discreet.com. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit www.autodesk.com.

NOTE: Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk, Discreet, inferno, flame, smoke and burn are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc./ Autodesk Canada Co. in the USA and/or other countries. Silicon Graphics, SGI and Tezro are registered trademarks and Octane2 is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries worldwide. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

CONTACT: Roohi Saeed of Discreet, +1-514-954-7296, or roohi.saeed@discreet.com.

SOURCE Discreet
03/08/2005
CONTACT: Roohi Saeed of Discreet, +1-514-954-7296, or roohi.saeed@discreet.com
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050308/SFTU006-a
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050308/SFTU006-b
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050308/SFTU006-c
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Web site: http://www.discreet.com
Web site: http://www.autodesk.com