LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2003--

   Featuring Leadership in Digital Intermediate Workflows for Film,
  2K and Hd; New Media-Mastering Software for Film, Broadcast, 3D and
                           Media Compression

NAB (Booth #SL-1500)--Building on more than a decade of leadership in the broadcast and film industries, Discreet, a division of Autodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK), is defining a new era of leadership that spans the advanced systems, desktop software and animation markets at NAB 2003--the world's leading conference and exhibition for broadcast, post-production and media communications industries.

At NAB, Discreet is unveiling the industry's first real-time, non-proprietary digital color grading system--and showcasing new advancements for its effects, nonlinear editing, desktop video and animation products.

Discreet demonstrates its leadership in delivering solutions for finishing at the highest resolutions--HD, 2K and above. With more than 1000 hours of groundbreaking HD content created and finished on Discreet systems around the world--more than any other manufacturer--Discreet remains at the forefront of HD programming.

"At NAB, Discreet continues its leadership in bringing powerful, industrial-strength solutions to our customers on tuned systems, advanced animation and the rapidly emerging desktop market," said Paul Lypaczewski, Discreet general manager and executive vice president, Autodesk, Inc. "Whether for creative control over the 'look' of digitally graded feature films, advanced animation, broadcast content finished in HD--or breaking news, encoded and delivered from anywhere in the world--Discreet solutions touch every facet of the NAB audience."

Systems

Discreet is unveiling lustre(TM), the world's first non-proprietary real-time 2K digital color grading system for Digital Intermediates. It is based on highly advanced technology from Colorfront (Hungary) following the January 2003 announcement of an exclusive partnership between the two companies. Optimized for maximum performance on an Intel architecture, the lustre system offers colorists and color timers an intuitive environment for highly interactive color correction sessions that will enable them to collaborate directly with directors of photography, cinematographers and filmmakers to perfectly adjust the colors and 'look' of a film--from the most subtle of adjustments to extravagant color and lighting effects.

The lustre color correction program will add to Discreet's complete range of fully-integrated digital cinema solutions and workflows--including its Academy Award(1)-winning inferno(R) 5 and flame(R) 8 visual effects systems, the flint(R) 8 effects system, and smoke(R) 5 and fire(R) 5--online creative editing, conforming and finishing solutions. These industry-standard systems from Discreet are behind the scenes of today's most provocative HD content, from The Sopranos to Sex in the City and CSI Miami, ER, The Practice, NYPD Blue and Dragnet. Broadcasters including CBS, the BBC, ABC, FOX and Sky TV use Discreet HD systems for everything from network programming and commercials to bumpers and promos.

For greater management and extension of its creative solutions, Discreet is launching its new infrastructure direction--with new products, decreased pricing, new partners such as Maximum Throughput and SGI, and a compelling new infrastructure sparks(R) plug-in program--all designed to deliver greater choice and flexibility to clients, and lower cost of ownership.

Desktop Software

With a legacy in advanced systems technology leadership, Discreet is aggressively extending its expertise to the desktop market. Leading the charge to deliver professional media mastering and encoding tools for the desktop, Discreet is presenting cleaner(TM) XL for Microsoft(R) Windows(R). Shipping since March 2003, Discreet cleaner XL software is a must-have for mastering, encoding and delivering stunning media to DVDs, CD-ROMs, the Web, PDAs or mobile phones. With a robust feature set and a practical, new workflow-focused user interface, cleaner XL for Windows builds on the cleaner legacy to deliver a solid return on investment (ROI) for any desktop video professional.

Discreet will showcase combustion(R) 2.1 software at NAB--quickly becoming an industry standard as a unified vector paint, compositing and color correction solution for motion graphics and visual effects on the desktop. With the reduced price point of US $995--and the heritage of Discreet's award-winning technology, combustion software is ever more essential--and affordable--for today's desktop media professional involved in video and film effects, from high-end, to corporate and boutique post-production environments. (more about combustion)

3D Animation

At NAB, Discreet will showcase 3ds max(TM) 5 and character studio(R) 4 modeling, character animation and rendering software used for film and video CG and visual effects, short animated films, and broadcast graphic design. This year, the animation presentations will highlight new character studio 4 software capabilities for nonlinear animation; a 3ds max technology demonstration of new particle flow tools, and new 2D/3D workflow capabilities with the industry's best implementation of the FBX file format. Support for this well-regarded format in 3ds max and the inferno and flame systems allow a more comprehensive exchange of objects, lighting, texturing and animation data between animators and effects or graphic artists.

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. Product and corporate information: www.discreet.com.

Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk, Discreet, 3ds max, cleaner, character studio, combustion, fire, flame, flint, inferno, lustre and sparks are either trademarks or registered 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 2003, Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

(1)In 1999, Discreet's inferno and flame visual effects systems were each recognized with an Academy Award - Scientific and Engineering Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

    CONTACT: Discreet Public Relations
             Kevin G Clark, 415/547-2457
             Mobile at NAB: 415/609-3338
             kevin.g.clark@autodesk.com
             or
             Access Communications
             Lindsay Stewart, 415/844-6217
             Mobile at NAB: 415/254-4348
             lstewart@accesspr.com

    SOURCE: Discreet