Autodesk Maya 2011: Modern Look, High Performance Core and New 3D Editorial

Autodesk Maya 2011: Modern Look, High Performance Core and New 3D Editorial
Customizable User Interface, 3D Editorial Timeline and Skinning Workflows
Make 3D Animation Easier

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., March 9, 2010 - Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK),
announced Autodesk Maya 2011 software - the latest version of its Academy
Award-winning 3D animation software. A new user interface (UI), 3D
editorial capability and enhanced skinning workflow help provide computer
graphics (CG) artists with an end-to-end creative workflow at an
exceptional value. Autodesk Maya software has been used on countless games
as well as every Oscar-winning movie for Best Visual Effects since 2001.

"Maya continues to help artists set new standards in entertainment with
credits such as 'Avatar' and 'Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,'" said Stig
Gruman, Autodesk vice president of digital entertainment. "The 2011 release
is a key milestone for Maya. With a new customizable UI and a new graphics
architecture, Maya strengthens its position as a foundation for modern film
and game pipelines. The innovative 3D editorial timeline helps communicate
and validate the creative vision behind a project and enables previs and
virtual moviemaking workflows for users."

Key New Features in Autodesk Maya 2011 Software
o Redesigned User Interface - Maya 2011 has a fresh new look and feel.
Based on Nokia Qt, the new UI is simpler to customize, featuring dockable
UI elements and improved editors. As beta tester Rob van den Bragt,
supervisor/director, The Mill, explained, "I am loving all the positive
steps taken in Maya 2011. With the UI now based on Qt, Maya has become more
flexible, powerful and modern."
o High Performance Core - Maya 2011 features a completely redesigned
graphics pipeline that helps deliver new levels of performance for complex
scenes while improving the quality of the viewport feedback.
o Mac OS X 64-Bit Availability - Mac OS X users can access considerably
more memory to handle larger and more complex scenes with the new 64-bit
executable.
o Accelerated 3D Editorial - The software's new Camera Sequencer adds
powerful multicamera editorial capabilities to help facilitate
pre-visualization and virtual moviemaking production using a Maya timeline.
Developed on-site in production to meet the needs of large-scale CG
animations, the Camera Sequencer supports import of both AAF and Final Cut
Pro EDLs. "The most exciting feature in Maya 2011 is the Camera Sequencer,"
said beta tester Matt Wood, visual effects supervisor, Space Digital Ltd.
"I found it to be an amazing solution. The ability to edit and animate at
the same time is truly remarkable Ø not just sequencing cameras but
slipping, reordering and even retiming them individually. It's so
valuable."
o Enhanced Skinning Workflow - Creating believable CG characters is also
made easier with a new, dual quaternion option for smooth skinning,
interactive volume binding, enhancements to the Paint Skin Weights tool,
deformer weight mirroring and surface falloff mode for the Wrap deformer.
"The Paint Skin Weights tool overhaul has made working with large numbers
of joints much easier, and the interactive skinning envelopes will be very
helpful for working with multiple characters of the same size with various
mesh topologies," said beta tester Ryan Trowbridge, character technical
director, Naughty Dog.
o Improved Maya Composite - A new Vector Paint feature in Maya Composite
dramatically improves its paint and rotoscoping capabilities. Now,
animatable and trackable paint strokes can be used to paint colors and
reveal or clone data across a sequence or on a per-frame basis. "We
absolutely love the new Vector Paint tools, which nicely round out the
robust toolset in Maya Composite," said beta tester Michael Vaglienty,
visual effects supervisor, Giant Steps, VFX.

From March 11-13, 2010, visit the Virtual GDC event on the AREA community
site to watch Maya 2011 product demonstrations and customer presentations
live from the Autodesk Game Developers Conference booth. More information
is also available on AREA blogs: Cory Mogk's Mayalicious, Steven Roselle's
My Oh Maya! and Duncan Brinsmead's Duncan's Corner. Videos of the new
features are available on the Autodesk You Tube channel.

Pricing and Availability
Autodesk anticipates that Maya 2011 will be available in English and
Japanese in April 2010. The Autodesk suggested retail price (SRP) for an
Autodesk Maya 2011 stand-alone license is US$3,495.* The SRP to upgrade
from Maya 2010 stand-alone to Maya 2011 stand-alone is $1,745.* Autodesk
Subscription is available for purchase simultaneously with the product or
upgrade purchase for $595 SRP per year.

Autodesk Maya 2011 will also be available as part of the Autodesk Maya
Entertainment Creation Suite 2011. The Suite offers customers Maya 2011
together with Autodesk Mudbox 2011 and Autodesk MotionBuilder 2011
software. Artists and production facilities have access to a range of
powerful creative tools at more than 35 percent** cost savings, compared to
purchasing each product separately.

* International pricing may vary.
** International savings may vary.

About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and
entertainment software for the manufacturing, building and construction,
and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD
software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of
state-of-the-art software to help customers experience their ideas
digitally before they are built. Fortune 100 companies Ø as well as the
last 15 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects Ø use Autodesk
software tools to design, visualize and simulate their ideas to save time
and money, enhance quality and foster innovation for competitive advantage.
For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Maya, MotionBuilder and Mudbox are registered trademarks
or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates
in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names,
product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk
reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and
specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not
responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this
document.

© 2010 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.