Autodesk makes life easier for the animation, VFX and gaming ecosystem: Alok Sharma

Creating animation in today’s world is increasingly becoming more and more complex as the consumer is becoming even more demanding, with easy accessibility to different kind of stories and style of animations across the globe. To keep up with global standards, one requires assistance from a global player, that’s where an Autodesk steps into the picture.

AnimationXpress.com recently caught up with Autodesk’s Head – M&E, India and SAARC, Alok Sharma on what the software giant is doing in addressing the needs of all the stakeholders in this market.

“We have always been pioneers and leaders in this space not just in India, but globally as well. We have always been the go to place for any technological assistance that the industry players require or wish for, and we have always stood tall and delivered to our brand promise,” Sharma exults.

The company recently also introduced its updated version of the Entertainment Creative Suite with the 2015 update in late April. This included updates to its popular 3D animations tools: Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Softimage, and the newest addition to the lineup, Maya LT, a 3D animation and modeling tool for professional indie game makers.

Sharma says: “Maya LT is clearly focused on helping indie developers to really nurture their concepts and ideas to create a world class game. We have priced it keeping in mind the target audience, which is very young and hungry to make a mark in the gaming space. We just want to help the industry to grow and reach its optimum potential in quick time.”

The updates are clearly aimed at enabling artists to better manage complex projects and large data sets, while helping stay on schedule and on budget. With the 2015 suit artists have access to a variety of features ranging from high fidelity interactive viewports, “what you see is what you get” work environment and single-click, cross-product workflows and ability to use low-cost consumer devices to capture body movements.

“Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone – from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists – uses our software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges, and we are really proud of that fact,” he adds.

With VFX and animation being used nowadays in not only movies, but also television and TV commercials;  the scope for use of softwares like Autodesk is even more. “We have always supported the industry, we keep revising our updates based on industry and user feedback, because at the end of the day we are catering to their end to end needs,” Sharma expounds.

Autodesk recently in late June signed a definitive agreement to acquire Shotgun Software, a developer of scalable, cloud-based production tracking, review, and asset management software for the film, television and games industries. “Shotgun’s tools for production management are used by some of the world’s leading production studios, and are tightly integrated with many of the most widely used tools in the industry including Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya software. Shotgun brings deep expertise and industry-leading technology in cloud products and production management, so we welcome the team, customers and community to Autodesk,” Sharma adds.

It certainly seems that Autodesk is really doing its bit in helping the industry grow and also bearing the torch in bringing about the necessary changes to help build pipelines for the best results.