Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 11, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
DP: The future belongs to the visualization market. Architects and 3D artists must work more closely together. Do you see a shared future for both markets?
Hanspal: Definitely. Basically, everyone works with similar hardware and software. And the problems that both markets have are more similar than different. It would be time for us to work together here. For many architects, especially on medium-sized and larger projects, visualizing their ideas is simply part of the process today. This also includes how the building looks by day and by night, how the impression of a building changes with different positions of the sun – and this is done in 3D and will gain significantly more importance.
DP: Autodesk has grown strongly in recent years. In the 3D area, the purchase of Alias was important. How has this changed your corporate culture?
Hanspal: We have created a digital world for our customers that they can now use completely from Autodesk. That is our vision, to simplify customers’ access to and use of the digital world. And this world is supplemented by ever more powerful products for simulating and visualizing. Our culture means innovation for practice. In doing so, we do not only focus on large Hollywood studios, but our enthusiasm lies in making Hollywood studio software accessible and usable for everyone. That drives our innovations forward.
DP: Nevertheless, your software is not everyday software and the learning curve is still very steep.
Hanspal: It depends on which side you look at it from. In the architecture area, the user can achieve results very quickly. In the 3D area, it still looks different. Here the learning curve is still steep, but we have significantly improved the handling of our software compared with the beginnings. Today, creativity comes first.
DP: Many an architect is still afraid of 3D. He gives his visualizations to a freelance 3D artist. How can we take away his fear?
Hanspal: In the long term, it is the wrong way. The architect must concern himself with visualization. He must devote himself to the subject of 3D, there is no way around it, regardless of whether he is dealing with energy flows in the building or with other things.
DP: Do we need a new generation of architects for this?
Hanspal: Perhaps we need a new generation for this, perhaps only parts of the current generation need to listen more closely. Customers will demand it. We have studies from the United States that prove precisely this path. Around 30 percent of the architects surveyed said that they use visualizations and that there is more demand. In two years, certainly more than 50 percent of architects will use 3D software. That cannot be argued away, even if some people would like to. It is time for many architects to open up to new currents and new software.
DP: In the past, it seemed that there was a dispute over formats: Acrobat 3D from Adobe against DWF from Autodesk. Are you still arguing?
Hanspal: Adobe’s software is good and very popular with customers and it is aimed at document management. We support the PDF format and will support it even more strongly in future. A few years ago it always sounded as though we did not like PDF. That is wrong. Many of our customers use PDF in their workflow. DWF takes a different path. To put it vividly: DWF ensures that the world becomes three-dimensional. Complex models from our software can be transferred easily. With DWF, 2D and 3D planning data can be used jointly by project teams, thereby improving the quality, costs and scheduling of a project without losses in precision, security or fidelity to objectives. We do not want to replace PDF, we want to complement it.
DP: Software’s feature mania should come to an end in order to place more value on workflow integration. Is this a goal?
Hanspal: For us, usability is the focus. Autodesk is investing here. We want to make things easier for our customers. We have succeeded very well in the 2D area, now we are concentrating on the 3D area. Operation will become much easier. Interaction is important. In the architecture area, this means that we do not only create a building, but how does the building look in sunlight, how does it behave with clouds, etc. A smooth workflow is also important to us because our customers do not create their design in isolated worlds, but they must pass their work on to others.
DP: What role does community play among your customers?
Hanspal: In the Media and Entertainment area there is the area http://area.autodesk.com/, which will also be interesting for architects. Our customers want an area in which they can exchange questions. The best kind of community is when we can all learn from one another. Autodesk can contribute parts of a platform here, but this platform is filled with life when the users use it. But we are not a control company that makes sure that nothing wrong is published.
DP: Final question about the dispute between operating systems. The majority of Autodesk software runs under Windows, a few applications such as Maya or Cleaner run under Mac OS. The Mac market is rising steadily. Is this also a new market for Autodesk?
Hanspal: We are a Windows-centered company, but in some cases we support the Mac system, just as we support the Linux system. It depends on the respective products. Ten, 15 years ago we released every product on every machine, but we have learned over the years. The Mac is very popular among creative people, so I do not believe that manufacturing software for the Mac would be a good idea. That does not mean that we will not develop anything for the Mac. The future certainly belongs to applications that work in the browser and are platform-independent. Take our Buzzsaw software, which runs on every operating system and under every browser. You will see more such software from us in future.
