Creative Commons’ Simple Licensing Model Frees Autodesk Digital Content
for Public Modification, Remixing and Sharing
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 23, 2013--
Autodesk,
Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), announced that its Media & Entertainment (M&E)
support and learning content for its 2014 product line is now live and
available under Creative Commons (CC) licensing; that equates to 20,000
pages of documentation, 70 videos and 140 downloadable 3D asset files.
"Autodesk embracing Creative Commons licensing is a big win for Creative
Commons, but more importantly, it’s a big win for the design community
online," said Creative Commons CEO Cathy Casserly. "The power of the
Internet lies in how easy it is for people to share and build on each
other’s work. CC licenses make that kind of sharing possible without the
law getting in the way. In opening its resources, Autodesk is
demonstrating that it understands the capacity for creativity and
collaboration among its community of users."
The company established the Autodesk Open Learning Initiative in
response to a request from Paul Duguay, a 3D and multimedia studies
instructor at the Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada.
After discovering a series of videos on the Autodesk
3ds Max Learning Channel that perfectly fit his curriculum needs,
Duguay wanted to translate the audio into French as well as provide his
students with legal access to the videos from the college’s website.
Eventually Duguay hoped to share his video translations with the wider
French speaking 3ds Max community. Unfortunately, the legal complexities
of traditional copyright agreements proved insurmountable. Thanks to the
Creative Commons framework, Autodesk is now able to facilitate creative
sharing and the Power
of Open.
"The new digital world is forging powerful networked communities of
people eager to share their knowledge and expertise and to mentor each
other, and we can play an important part in making that happen," said
Chris Bradshaw, Autodesk senior vice president. "With Creative Commons,
we are adopting an easy-to-follow legal infrastructure for the worldwide
user community to effectively share knowledge. I can’t wait to see what
artists create: a Finnish translation of new Maya software features or
an independent school in Bangladesh teaching 3D animation — the
possibilities are limitless."
The Autodesk Knowledge Network is initially implementing Creative
Commons licensing for the media and entertainment industry, but also
plans to publish product help materials across the company under the
license. In addition, Autodesk intends to place its Knowledge
Base and Discussion
Forums, as well as past and future training content from Autodesk
University under the Creative Commons model. Once digital content has
been released to Creative Commons, it can be modified, remixed and
shared globally.
Earlier this year, Autodesk jumped on board to help maximize digital
creativity, sharing and innovation by investing at the Innovator level
in Creative Commons, joining Creator level corporate donors such as
Google and eBay; numerous foundations including: the Bill & Melinda
Gates; William and Flora Hewlett; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
and Alfred P. Sloan; as well of thousands of committed individual
contributors.
Creative Commons is part of Autodesk’s ongoing support of students’
pursuit of careers in science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Today’s students
face a challenging job market, and Autodesk’s goal is to ensure the next
generation of designers, engineers and digital artists have great
training and free access to the same software that professionals use
every day.
For more information on Autodesk and Creative Commons implementation,
please visit: http://www.autodesk.com/creativecommons.
To participate in the Autodesk Media & Entertainment Creative Commons
community visit: http://area.autodesk.com/creativecommons
About Autodesk
Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world.
Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital
artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their
creativity and solve important challenges. For more information visit autodesk.com or
follow @autodesk.
Autodesk, Maya and 3ds Max are registered trademark of Autodesk,
Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other
countries. 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.
© 2013 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130723005059/en/
Source: Autodesk, Inc.
Autodesk, Inc.
Rama Dunayevich, 415-547-2472
rama.dunayevich@autodesk.com
Karen
Raz, 310-450-1482
karen@razpr.com