As many of you know by now Autodesk made a somewhat big splash at Macworld Expo and yet the company wasn’t even there in booth-form! Instead, tucked away in a conference room in a hip and stylish SF hotel, Autodesk hosted a series of private meetings with a selective group of Mac press.
The big news was that Autodesk was making big news at Macworld Expo.
However, their announcements, which we have covered in detail here on Architosh, were noteworthy for themselves as much as what they portend.
The Augur Says…
If the Mac world had its own official augur he or she might suggest that Autodesk’s statements to Architosh during this private press meeting bode to a changing world within the computer industry.
In fact, as far as “signs” are concerned Autodesk’s presentment at Macworld Expo is as bold and forthwith as Apple’s unashamed statements that they were no longer really interested in attending Macworld Expo in the future.
But much like IBM’s tantrum over Mark Papermaster‘s hitch-up with Apple, Autodesk’s flat out statements about serving Mac customers came as a bit of a shock. And like the IBM versus Apple battle over Papermaster, both indicate a changing world within the computer industry.
Apple and the Mac Matter
The tone of the meeting with Autodesk was very clear. In fact there were two tones bound together into a single timbre. It said: Apple is important to our customers…ever growingly so. And the second part said: Autodesk intends to fully meet this demand.
Rob Hoffmann, Sr. Product Marketing Manager 3D for Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment division, said quite plainly that “the Mac market is extremely important to Autodesk.” “If you asked me four years ago about the Mac I would have said they were a rare sight within the production studio, but now they are a common sight,” says Rob. “The Mac is just like any other platform within entertainment sharing the same roles as Windows and Linux.”
Outside M&E
Beyond the Media & Entertainment division Rob could not elaborate to the same extent as a man whose been serving the entertainment-driven 3D software market for over 14 years. But he did say “we are experiencing across the entire Autodesk software portfolio…strong demand for Mac support.”
But while the Mac is growing at an accelerating rate within the markets Autodesk serves, customers shouldn’t get too hopeful for particular Autodesk apps they would like to see on their beloved platform. Rob told us that how Autodesk will respond to Mac demand within its portfolio depends on a matrix of factors, least of which is development ease and cost…and opportunity for growth.
Up there in the complexity curve would be applications like Autodesk AutoCAD and maybe some of its very Windows-API oriented design applications. Easier apps to deliver to the Mac would be those they just started developing or those that were developed by others first (pre-acquisition) that developed around more portable software development models.
CAD to Ad
During our meeting Rob Hoffmann said that Autodesk is seeing a cross-over of applications into other markets. His metaphor of “CAD to Ad” means that getting all of Autodesk’s diverse software to work with each other is a big and important task for the company. “CAD to Ad means that the assets from say the engineers and product designers can carry over to our Media & Entertainment software,” says Rob.
This means a 3D geometry file coming out of Autodesk’s design software must be able to move to say a film or 3D application like Maya and Toxik. Getting all this to work better on an ongoing basis will see the increased utilization of the FBX file format.
FBX is one of the technologies that came with Kaydara’s MotionBuilder acquisition; it is that app’s native file format. FBX is platform-independent and widely supported within the whole 3D software industry.
However, it will be interesting to see how FBX (being controlled by Autodesk) grows in relation to neutral standards like OBJ, Collada, IGES and STEP. Many of Autodesk’s CAD and engineering software competitors would be loath to promote FBX at the expense of key file formats that are industry neutral.
“Autodesk will still support those other file formats,” said Rob, “we just want to utilize FBX within our tools to tie all the various pipelines together better.”
Autodesk Acquisitions: the softImage case
When questioned about Autodesk’s strategy when it comes to acquisitions and if overlapping product lines might cause eventual elimination of the weaker application Rob said, “artists are passionate about the tools they use and it would be detrimental [to Autodesk] to alienate those user bases.”
“All Autodesk products are profitable,” said Rob Hoffmann. In the case of the recent softImage acquisition and it being a direct competitor with substantial overlap between itself and Autodesk Maya, Rob said Autodesk plans to simply integrate it into the product portfolio.
The rumor mill was lit up over the softImage acquisition in particular, much like when Autodesk purchased Maya and some thought they would kill off 3d studio max. Rob said users always react this way but “we understand how users are passionate about their tools.”
Autodesk Going Forward and the Mac
Autodesk was at Macworld to announce the company’s new Mac applications and growing commitment to serving their Mac customers. The company could not comment on what other Autodesk apps they have cooking for the Mac platform in the future but simply said they were deeply committed to meeting their customer needs.