New Software Promotes Collaboration, Compatibility, Flexibility and Artist Development

AMSTERDAM, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At IBC 2009-- Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) announced strong sales worldwide for Autodesk Flare visual effects software and launched Extension 1 for Flare 2010 software ( announced separately). First introduced at the National Association of Broadcasters 2009 Convention (NAB) in April 2009 Flare has already been adopted by many customers who are using the Autodesk Flame and Autodesk Inferno visual effects systems. The software-only application shares the Flame and Inferno creative toolset and is an integral part of the Autodesk solution to bridge the gap between 2D and 3D.

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"On film and TV projects, Flame and Inferno are established go-to solutions for the most demanding visual effects work," said Stig Gruman, vice president, Autodesk Digital Entertainment Group. "As demand for high-quality visual effects grows and budgets shrink, our clients asked for a way to efficiently expand capacity when using the Flame and Inferno tools they rely on. This inspired us to create Flare. More than ever, post-production houses need to get more work done faster. Flare helps make that possible."

Customers have used Flare along with Flame to shape television commercials such as campaigns for the Orbitz travel site and the anti-tobacco educational Truth campaign as well as an Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America public service announcement. Post magazine selected Flare as one of five products for a POST PICKS, an honor awarded to products that represent "the best of the best at NAB," as selected by a team of industry professionals.

Flare is designed for creative tasks: interactive design, advanced graphics and compositing as well as support tasks: rotoscoping, retouching and project setup. Flare uses the Flame/Inferno Batch compositing environment and is designed to facilitate five areas of digital entertainment creation: creative collaboration, compatibility, affordability, flexibility and artist development.

Customer Adoption

Customers from North America, Asia, Europe and Australia/New Zealand are early adopters of Flare.

"Brickyard is always looking for ways to deliver better value for our customers, and Flare is doing exactly that for us. In fact, we've redesigned our entire internal compositing pipeline to maximize the performance of our five new Flare seats. The perfect compatibility between Flare and Flame is its greatest strength, allowing junior artists access to all the great tools to develop skills that senior artists have, giving us double value."

--Dave Waller, Founder

Brickyard VFX, Boston, Mass.

"In addition to Flame, we are using Flare on the upcoming Roman Polanski film 'The Ghost.' Deadlines are tight but we are confident with our choice. Flare has already proven itself as an effective tool with an artist-friendly Batch environment and an architecture that allows us to improve our visual effects in no time and keep our focus on the job. We absolutely love it!"

--Frederic Moreau, Visual Effects Designer/Manager

Def2shoot, Paris, France

"We like to use the newest technology, but it's really about the talent behind the technology. With Flare, our creative artists can achieve impressive speed on even the most complex visual effects, without any technological compromise. At a fraction of the cost of a Flame system, Flare offers great value and is the perfect complement to our Flame systems."

--Jeff Beckerman, President/Creative Director

BOND, New York, NY

"Flare is a really efficient means of training junior artists. They can work alongside the main Flame suite, becoming proficient with the exact same toolset as Flame, while under the guidance of the lead Flame artist, who is also more likely to give juniors harder shots when they are nearby and can be assisted with troubleshooting."

--Jason Bath, Executive Producer

Fuel, Sydney, Australia

"We cut our project timetables in half by using Flare in tandem with our Flame, Inferno and three Autodesk Smoke systems. Visual effects, rotoscoping, scene retouching and other tasks that take considerable time to accomplish can be handled by Flare, freeing up Inferno and Flame for more complex visual effects compositing and graphics generation. Flare also offers a platform to develop new talent and train new hires since it shares the Flame and Inferno creative toolset."

--Pete Jimenez, General Manager

Optima Digital, Manila, Philippines

Additional Flare clients include: Smoke & Mirrors (United Kingdom), Digipost (New Zealand), WRKS bv (Holland), 1000 Volt Film (Turkey), Lola Visual Effects (United States), Eclair Laboratoires (France), Light Film Servicos Audiovisuais (Portugal), Teletota (France) and Futureworks Media (India).

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital Prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Flame, Flare, Inferno and Smoke are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

(C) 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved

Contacts: Rama Dunayevich, 415-547-2472; Kim Willsher, +44 (0) 20 7403 8878

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SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.

Web site: http://www.autodesk.com/