VFX

The all new Autodesk® Smoke® 2013 professional video editing software connects editing and visual effects like never before. Smoke is the professional choice for all-in-one video editing and effects on the Mac®. By integrating familiar editing tools and node-based compositing directly into the timeline, Smoke is revolutionizing video post-production. Save time from complex multi-application workflows by having all the tools you need at your fingertips so you can focus on being creative.

Autodesk® Smoke® 2013 video editing software for Mac® combines the nonlinear creative workflow of a video editor with 3D visual effects and post-production tools in a single application. Manage entire projects from first cut to final delivery with the powerful and connected set of video editing and effects tools in Smoke.

Video Editing and Effects—Connected Like Never Before 
Smoke combines video editing and effects in a single application that works the way you think—like an editor. Create effects using the workflow of a nonlinear editor (NLE) as well as color correction, 3D compositing, and re-lighting.

Powerful 3D Visual Effects in Your Timeline
Your world isn’t flat. Why should your effects be? Interactive 3D visual effects tools are at the core of Smoke. Work with light, 3D elements, and geometry in a true 3D environment, as you create and animate motion graphics, titles, and logos.

Editing Tools That Work the Way You Do 
Designed for video editors, the familiar timeline and editorial tools in Smoke allow you to quickly edit and add effects to your project. Use the timeline as your home base and work in a fast and fluid environment to deliver the high-quality results that your clients demand.

Managing Your Projects Has Never Been Easier 
Stop managing your data and spend more time being creative. The new Smoke features MediaHub, an intuitive and easy way to manage all the media in your project—from ingest to edit to effects and archiving.

Node-Based Compositing Without Leaving Your Timeline
Create sophisticated effects without leaving your timeline with the node-based compositing of the new ConnectFX in Autodesk Smoke 2013. With editing and effects integrated in your timeline, you can easily experiment and make changes—the results are automatically fed back into your edit.

Autodesk, Inc., (NASDAQ: ADSK) announced the 2013 versions of its Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) software and suites, used by leading artists working in film, game development, television and advertising. The new releases improve consistency and interoperability between applications, making it even easier for artists to take advantage of powerful new and enhanced creative features.

"Creative artists want to work at the speed of thought," said Marc Petit, Autodesk senior vice president, Media & Entertainment. "They need software that enables them to explore new concepts, iterate and refine their ideas. The 2013 releases of our Entertainment Creation Suites provide rich visual feedback earlier in the creative process and allow artists to work in their favorite tools by making it easier to move between multiple applications. Autodesk is also removing technical barriers to the creation of believable characters by providing new simulation tools for realistic cloth, hair and crowds."

"Entertainment companies are seeking out new ways to standardize and optimize their workflows, better manage increasing project complexity, and take full advantage of globally distributed production resources," added Petit. "Autodesk is working closely with the leading studios in the film and games industries to develop and package workflows that address these challenges into our Entertainment Creation Suites."

Expanded Suites Deliver More Powerful Toolsets
Autodesk extended its suites offering with the new Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Ultimate edition. This suite contains both Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 and Autodesk Maya 2013 animation software, together with Autodesk Softimage 2013 3D animation and visual effects software, Autodesk Mudbox 2013 3D sculpting and painting software and Autodesk MotionBuilder 2013 real-time virtual production and motion capture editing software.

All editions of the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites now also include Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2013 concept art software. This product enables artists to explore and present new ideas for characters, props and environments using an intuitive hybrid paint and vector toolset.

For more information about the three editions of the Entertainment Creation Suites, visit http://www.autodesk.com/entertainmentcreationsuites

Enhanced Interoperability Provides Greater Flexibility
Building on the existing data exchange workflows, the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites 2013 offer a variety of new features to further enhance interoperability between products:

• Live character streaming between MotionBuilder and Maya provides an efficient way to previsualize a retargeting result in the final Maya scene before transferring the data between applications.
• More consistent hotkeys make it easier for Maya artists to navigate viewports in the 3D suite applications, and help artists familiar with 3ds Max to get up to speed with Softimage faster.
• The enhanced, consistent F-Curve Editor within 3ds Max, Maya, Softimage and MotionBuilder now offers consistent functionality, helping animators transition between these applications more smoothly.
• Autodesk HumanIK Interoperability with CAT (Character Animation Toolkit) provides a single-step, round-trip workflow to transfer 3ds Max CAT bipedal characters between 3ds Max, Maya and MotionBuilder.
• Enhanced interoperability between Maya and 3ds Max enables artists to move 3D data between the applications in a single step.

Autodesk 2013 Software Helps Power Creativity, Enable Collaboration and Manage Data Complexity
Products contained within the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites 2013 have also been updated to offer new creative toolsets, more interactive viewports and workflow enhancements that help artists collaborate, manage complexity and move data through their pipeline more efficiently:

• Autodesk Maya 2013 software delivers powerful new toolsets for dynamic simulation, animation and rendering that offer new levels of creativity, while everyday productivity enhancements help artists work faster. In addition, the Open Data initiative introduced in Maya 2013 offers tools to help facilitate parallel workflows and better complexity handling.
  
  
• Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 software delivers ActiveShade support in the NVIDIA iray renderer; a new render pass system; and enhanced interoperability with Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop software. The 2013 version also offers new tools for motion graphics, 3D animation, and simulation.
  
  
• Autodesk Softimage 2013 software delivers a new high-fidelity interactive environment and powerful new creative toolsets that include a new CrowdFX simulation feature set, along with enhanced modeling, animation, physics, and selection tools.
  
  
• Autodesk MotionBuilder 2013 software helps production teams more reliably acquire, aggregate and refine data, and offers a new nonlinear editing paradigm for Virtual Production. Highlights are the option to record live motion capture data directly to disk, a flexible new HUD (heads-up display), a floating viewer and support for broadcast WAVE files.
  
  
• Autodesk Mudbox 2013 software helps artists create complex production-ready scenes with greater ease, with the Gigatexel engine and the ability to work efficiently with significantly more objects. In addition, Mudbox 2013 offers new multipurpose curves, support for edge sharpness data and enhanced interoperability with Adobe Photoshop software.

Autodesk also announced the 2013 version of its Autodesk Flame Premium software, which combines high-end visual effects and finishing tools with real-time color grading in a single solution. The 2013 version features:

• More creative and technical tools for advanced compositing and 3D relighting
• Interactivity enhancements in Action for an even more fluid creative experience
• Improved 3D tracking workflow for greater flexibility and control when positioning compositing elements in a scene
• Enhanced grading capabilities including new color grading presets to get started on look development, new media export workflow and Tangent Element modular control panel support

‘The Last Train’ is an animated short movie that was made as part of The Animation Hub, a collaboration between staff and students of the Irish School of Animation (ISA) at Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE), staff and students of Trinity College’s Graphics, Vision and Visualisation Group (GV2) and the recently established animation studio Giant Creative, set up by BCFE graduates.

The Animation Hub, which received support from the Irish Film Board and Science Foundation Ireland, ran for 3 months over the summer in 2011 and involved Giant Creative working with animation and computer science students to create a one minute animated short fusing motion capture techniques with naturalistic

The Last Train from Animation Hub on Vimeo.

HIERO is a desktop application for collaborative VFX workflow - a scriptable timeline tool that conforms edit decision lists and parcels out VFX shots to artists, allows progress to be viewed in context, and liberates your finishing systems and artists for more creative tasks.

HIERO has been built to work ‘out of the box’ with NUKE, and can also be custom-scripted to work with other applications in your facility.

Because HIERO is open and scriptable via the Python programming language, it is an editorial tool that fits naturally into any VFX pipeline.

With HIERO's increased output you can put more jobs through your facility, easily offload VFX heavy shots from your finishing system to NUKE, and review and version the resultant VFX shots within the context of the edit. You can also deliver your reconformed timeline and completed shots to your tool of choice.