Company type
Montreal, Quebec (1991 as Discreet Logic)
San Francisco, California (1996 as Autodesk Kinetix)
2005 as Autodesk Media and Entertainment
Maya
Maya LT
FBX
Softimage (discontinued)
3ds Max
Mudbox
Flame
Lustre
Smoke (discontinued)
Beast
Shotgun
Scaleform
HumanIK
Navigation
Arnold
MotionBuilder
Stingray Game Engine (discontinued)
Autodesk Media & Entertainment Collection
Wwise (under license from Audiokinetic)
History[edit]
Discreet Logic[edit]
Montreal-based Discreet Logic was founded in 1991 by former Softimage Company sales director Richard Szalwinski, to commercialize the 2D compositor Eddie, licensed from Australian production company Animal Logic.[2] Eddie was associated with Australian software engineer Bruno Nicoletti, who later founded visual effects software company The Foundry, in London, England.
In 1992, Discreet Logic entered into a European distribution agreement with Softimage, and shifted its focus on Flame, one of the first software-only image compositing products, developed by Australian Gary Tregaskis.[3] Flame, which was originally named Flash, was first shown[4] at NAB in 1992, ran on the Silicon Graphics platform, and became the company's flagship product.
In July 1995, Discreet Logic's initial public offering raised about US$40 million.
On May 26, 1995, the company acquired the assets of Brughetti Corporation for about CDN$1 million, and in October acquired Computer-und Serviceverwaltungs AG, located in Innsbruck, Austria and some software from Innovative Medientechnik-und Planungs-GmbH in Geltendorf, Germany.
After a 2-for-1 stock split on October 16, 1995, a secondary offering in December 1995 raised an additional $28 million.[5]
On April 15, Discreet invested $2.5 million in privately held Essential Communications Corporation.[5]
Kinetix[edit]
Autodesk originally created a San Francisco multimedia unit in 1996 under the name Kinetix to publish 3D Studio Max, a product developed by The Yost Group.[6]
In August 1998, Autodesk announced plans to acquire Discreet Logic and its intent to combine that operation with Kinetix.[7]
At the time, it was its largest acquisition, valued at about $410 million by the time it closed in March 1999 (down from an estimated $520 million when announced).[7][8] The new business unit was named the Discreet division.[9]
The combined Discreet-branded product catalog then encompassed all the Discreet Logic products, including Flame, Flint, Fire, Smoke, Effect, Edit, and Kinetix's product, including 3D Studio Max, Lightscape, Character Studio.
Media and Entertainment[edit]
In March 2005, Autodesk renamed its business unit Autodesk Media and Entertainment and discontinued the Discreet brand (still headquartered in Montreal).[6][10][11]
Through the years, Autodesk augmented its entertainment division with many other acquisitions. One of the most significant was in October 2005, when Autodesk acquired Toronto-based Alias Systems Corporation for an estimated $182 million from Accel-KKR, and merged its animation business into its entertainment division.[12]
Alias had been part of SGI until 2004.[13]
In 2008, it acquired technology of the former Softimage Company from Avid Technology.[14]
In 2011, Autodesk acquired image tools and utilities that use cloud computing called Pixlr.[15]
Industry usage[edit]
By 2011, these products were used in films that won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for 16 consecutive years.[16]
Much of Avatar's visual effects were created with Autodesk media and entertainment software. Autodesk software enabled Avatar director James Cameron to aim a camera at actors wearing motion-capture suits in a studio and see them as characters in the fictional world of Pandora in the film.[17] Autodesk software also played a role in the visual effects of Alice in Wonderland, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Inception, Iron Man 2, King Kong, Gladiator, Titanic, Life of Pi, Hugo, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and other films.[18]
In November 2010, Ubisoft announced that Autodesk's 3D gaming technology was used in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.[19]