Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 3, 2009. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
At SIGGRAPH 09, Autodesk presented its suites for Digital Entertainment Creation. These product suites provide artists, production facilities and educators with more creative tools. By using the products bundled in these suites together, artists can increase their creativity and optimise their productivity.
“Autodesk is bringing affordable suites of its popular 3D tools to market to help artists create innovative entertainment in today’s difficult economic environment,” says Stig Gruman, Vice President of the Autodesk Digital Entertainment Group. “The suites significantly expand artists’ capabilities by providing them with a fantastic range of creative tools – from detailed model creation and sculpting through to advanced real-time animation – so that they can tackle creative challenges.”
Autodesk is launching the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites and Autodesk Real-Time Animation Suites for commercial applications. The company also introduced the Autodesk Education Suite for Entertainment Creation for higher education and Autodesk Animation Academy 2010 for schools.
Suites for commercial use
Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites
The Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites give customers the choice of Autodesk Maya 2010 or Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 together with Autodesk Mudbox 2010 and Autodesk MotionBuilder 2010 software. Mudbox helps artists shape detailed models more intuitively. MotionBuilder provides a real-time animation engine for an interactive creation process and the efficient handling of large quantities of animation data. With Autodesk FBX 2010 data-exchange technology, the suite provides a coherent and efficient pipeline. The complementary toolsets better enable artists to overcome difficult production problems.
Further information at http://www.autodesk.com/entertainmentcreationsuites.
Autodesk Real-Time Animation Suites
The Autodesk Real-Time Animation Suites are designed for animation-intensive productions. These suites bundle either Autodesk Maya 2010 or Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 with Autodesk MotionBuilder 2010. MotionBuilder provides animation artists with a real-time 3D engine and a specialised set of animation tools that allow them to create, modify and process extensive quantities of animation data faster and more efficiently.
Further information at http://www.autodesk.com/realtimeanimationsuites.
Suites for educators
Autodesk Education Suite for Entertainment Creation
The Autodesk Education Suite for Entertainment Creation helps educators, pupils and students prepare for a professional career in the increasingly competitive 3D-industry job market. The suite includes access to flexible teaching materials as well as the same software used by professional artists: Maya 2010, 3ds Max 2010, MotionBuilder 2010, Mudbox 2010, Autodesk Softimage 2010 and Autodesk SketchBook Pro 2010. The suite is offered for purchase both to educational institutions and to pupils and students.
Further information at http://www.autodesk.com/entertainmentsuite-edu.
Autodesk Animation Academy 2010
Autodesk Animation Academy 2010 helps pupils develop an interest in careers in art, entertainment and visualisation. The suite provides software and teaching resources that introduce pupils to 3D technology while they discover new ways to visualise ideas. It includes Maya 2010, 3ds Max 2010, MotionBuilder 2010, Mudbox 2010 and SketchBook Pro 2010 software, as well as a DVD with teaching materials and access to online community resources. Animation Academy is reserved for schools that teach young people aged 11–17.
Further information at http://www.autodesk.com/animationacademy.
Pricing and availability
All four Digital Entertainment Creation Suites are expected to be available in autumn 2009 in English for the Windows operating system. Pricing information is available from Autodesk resellers: http://www.autodesk.de/partner
