Marc’s Blog
Education: Connecting Students and Industry
Education is huge priority at Autodesk across every vertical market we serve – not only at the university or professional level, but also in elementary and secondary levels, where computer graphics can help spark deeper interests in math, physics, science, visual arts and more. In M&E, we’ve been involved in many education initiatives—some that AREA readers might be aware of and others that may be new to you.
The VFX Legacy of Harry Potter
The ‘boy-who-lived’ first graced the silver screen in November 2001, bringing J.K. Rowling’s literary wizarding world to life. Potter-mania was in full force and fans of the books eagerly lined up to see how the magical adventures would play out in the theater. Ten years and over B in box office later, the fantastical franchise concludes with the bittersweet release of the eighth and final film, not to mention a bona fide box office smash hit, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.
Watching WebGL
Engineers have been tackling the complex technical challenge of bringing GPU hardware acceleration into web browsers to enable great looking 3D content on the web. It’s a logical effort since GPUs are now for the most part ubiquitous on all modern computers. With browser wars heating up, along with efforts to provide more robust online experiences, we’re seeing some interesting new technologies taking center stage.
Project Skyline: Bringing Artistry Into Game Runtime
For the past three years we’ve been hard at work developing a new technology dubbed Project Skyline. We previewed Project Skyline at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and were relieved to see that you responded with as much enthusiasm as we’ve had about it ourselves. Despite copious hours of research with our customers and countless interviews with artists, TDs and programmers in the field before diving into Project Skyline R&D, it’s always nerve wracking to debut a new piece of technology that you feel so passionately about — so much so that I literally came away from GDC and my first thought was “PHEW”! The concepts were incredibly well received.
Award Season Musings
Awards season is upon us. It’s been an interesting year for animation and visual effects. We’ve seen the maturation of the industry as a whole. There has been evidence in this year’s visual effects nominations of a more artful use of visual effects in service to a story, and animation is being recognized in the Best Picture category with Toy Story 3—these are all exciting developments for digital artists and for readers of our AREA blog.
2010 Reflections and Looking Ahead
It’s that time of year when we look back at how far we’ve come and evaluate the goals we’re setting for the next year. While the economic hurdles of 2009 posed many challenges, 2010 is proof that the industry is on the mend.
Stereo and the bleeding edge
The groundswell of enthusiasm over Stereo 3D (S3D) has pushed the entertainment industry into hyperdrive. Hollywood studios have announced S3D film releases at a dizzying pace and the same is ringing true for conversions of catalogue titles. Love it or hate it—S3D has been a boon to the entertainment industry and a driving force for new jobs around the world in production, visual effects, post-production and game development.
Autodesk Toronto Tour
Many of you enjoyed the tour of our 10 Duke headquarters in Montreal. As promised, here's a look inside our Toronto office. This is where a lot of the Maya and Mudbox magic happens.
Our 2011 Releases are “Suite”!
It’s now public! Our 2011 line up of 3D products has been announced. Next month (April) will mark the first time we release the entire Autodesk Media & Entertainment portfolio of 3D products on the same date. Even though Maya, Softimage, Mudbox and MotionBuilder 2010 released just 6 months ago, we’ve been able bring you some very significant increases in performance and capabilities in the new 2011 versions.
Avatar and the future of digital entertainment creation
My friends at AWN have given me a chance to speak about this incredible movie and what it means for us at Autodesk and for the industry...
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