Autodesk Signs Agreement with Avid Technology to Acquire Softimage

#901

That is correct - see my blog for details.

Thx

Paul

#902

Ah, That makes sense,

Thanks Paul, good post and blog

Chris

#903

That is what is said i think we got our wires crossed :stuck_out_tongue:

#904

“I know more than a few film companies that are producing their CG features in ‘game’ engines.”

That is very interesting to me can you share anymore??

#905

I was going to say that you are an idiot but I’ll refrain. As far as I know you don’t need iTunes to upgrade any of the other pro apps and unlike most apps on windows, you don’t need twenty system tray icons running in the background to figure out if their is an update. Apple were the first to implement copy/paste as we know it so I doubt they will have issue there. You ever think that maybe the iPhone doesn’t have copy/paset becasue Apple is having issues figuring out how to do it in the first place? What gesture woudl you use to copy text, what gesture woudl you use to select the text? These are thinsg that need to be worked out and the iPhone’s lack of buttons doesn’t make it easy. Apple probably wouldn’t drop the Linux version but they would charge far more for the Linux version that the Apple version, that is where the Apple tax comes in handy. They probably woudl have changed the name but I doubt they woudl have called it I3D, if anythign because that name is already taken :p. The Mac part is true like I said you pay the Apple tax at the beginning, but you get a cheaper product in the end. Logic is far and away the most bang for your buck you can get for a DAW if you already have a Mac, imo.

I do agree with some people’s assesment that Apple doesn’t seem all that interesetd in the pro market since their recent popularity, in-fact they have slowly but surely been pulling out. Loyalty isn’t something I think of when I think about Apple. Sure the fans and users are loyal. They have loyally supported Apple even when some thought Apple was dead end. Who but an Apple fan payed for a G5 Mac? Shake is a great product and if Apple is not going to do anything with it, opensource the sucker and be done with it, or at least integrate it into FCP in some way. Logic has seen some major and much needed changes lately (new UI) and while I love Logic, it crashes way too much for my comfort. Apple is a great software company and they can make great software when they set their minds to it, but I guess the pro market is not something they are really that interested in anymore. My take on it is that now that the platform is as popular as it is they are probably stepping back so that other third party companies can come in. Right now Apple’s main focus is on the consumer Market. Apple has had plenty of chances of aquiring Adobe, and I doubt Autddesk is their sites as I don’t think Apple is all that interested in CAD, or the 3D market for that matter, regardless of how closely they supposedly work with Pixar.

As for XSI looking like Max, that woudl be awful, I had issues when they implemented that Maya compatbility mode as I still think XSI’s way of doing things is superior. Luckily, it was optional.

#906

Sorry to go off-topic but the reason why Apple “killed” Shake is because it’s successor is about to come (named “Phenom”). But if and when that will be i don’t know. Seems like they’re overwhelmed with their consumer iphone and ipod crap at the moment anyway.

Ok back to Autodesk.

#907

For those who haven’t seen it. Here’s a bit of Softimage nostalgia: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-163150319185531526&ei=tAoFSceUMpCYrAL59cUB&q=softimage

#908

@Kabab - unfortunately I would be breaching NDA’s if I disclosed projects that were currently in production/seeking funding. I can’t comment on the quality of the projects either as I only saw early WIP - but what I saw from engines like Crytek’s was v.impressive.

I think that arch vis will probably take the step to real-time sooner than film/post - just my opinion. I would also expect to see tv/broadcast CG work in engine before then.

$0.02 :slight_smile:

#909

This has really nothing to do with “will AD keep XSI”, i think they will, this has everything to do with Monopolizing the market & killing competition by purchasing them up. Even if I liked AD, this just isn’t right.

#910

Yeah i completely understand, was just interesting for me as we are doing lots of game engine stuff currently for interactive car / training “things” (mostly using Virtools).

#911

I don’t have a crystal ball, so i will not pretend to know what is going to happen. I hope the future will bring good things to Softimage and Autodesk, i use products from both entities, and they are good “rock solid” quality products! Products that I can trust to be the backbone of any 3d/animation/game company.

It is true that Autodesk is a giant, but in my eyes it is a gentle giant, with a passion for 3D software, even though they don’t really know how to communicate that passion. Their community relationship skill is not exactly stellar. They have some of the best brains in the 3D industry, and they need to keep them there. If they fail to do that, they are simply generating a new competing company. As usual brilliant minds don’t like to be idle or corporate drones for a very long time, a group of employees will become ex-employees and create a new company, getting funding will not be hard even in the current macro economic panorama. A couple of years and presto a new contender is born. The “lightwave -> luxology” experience comes to mind.

Just between us: i was kind of secretly waiting for news of autodesk acquisition of luxology during this siggraph since they have the most recent core, along with softimage, but i guess softimage tool maturity made them go after xsi instead. Autodesk has smart execs, by buying softimage they not only get a modern core, with a mature toolset, a great team of engineers, a top notch support team, but they also get an added revenue stream, good integration possibilities and the ability to set standards and fully integrated pipelines that work seamlessly.

Who knows what the future holds… maybe some people will go to Luxology, maybe they will create a new company. A couple of years from now we will see if this had a positive impact or a negative impact in the 3D editor ecosystem, until then… let’s continue to chew the fat! That is always fun to do.

#912

(sorry if this is of no use, or if it has been mentioned already. I was just surprised to see the change in stock price for Avid)

Avid stock;

Feb. 11th, 2005:   66.99

Oct. 24th, 2008:   13.56

---------------------------------

(maybe of no interest, but from 'Google Finance Discussions for Avid Technology, Inc.'
2 messages posted back in July, 2008);

Jul 3, 2008

It looks like some idiot upgraded this company from underperform to
neutral and the stock is up like 15% in a day. It is hard to
understand why someone will buy shares of a company that is 1) loosing
market share to competitors 2) has reduced the price of their products
across the board by 25%-30% but the products are still 2-3x more
expensive than the competitors 3) demand environment across the board
is weaker.
I think people are probably playing a technical game here? I don’t
think any fundamental investor will touch this company

The only near term event for this company is the July call when they 
 will discuss their future strategy. Think about it what can they say: 
 1) Everything is fine and after reducing the prices we are seeing 
 tremendous improvement in demand ( oh by the way our prices are still 
 2-3x more than our nearest competitor) - I think this is what most of 
 the investors who are bulls on the stock are thinking. The probability 
 of this happening is very low. Honestly, AVID reminds me of GM and 
 Ford which at one point were great companies and now what is left of 
 them is just the brand. Same thing with Avid - good brand but 
 everything else is screwed up. 
 2) the company is screwed up and we need to divest pinnacle and 
 discontinue couple of product lines - this is more likely scenario - 
 in that case all the numbers in the street will need to be trimmed and 
 plus investors will adopt a wait and watch policy 
 

This is a fantastic short 

Jul 11, 2008

i disagree. the company has no debt, has been buying back shares
mercilessly, has new management that has a good reputation in
turnaround situations, and has a strong niche in the upper levels of
the market. not to mention the fact that they have new products coming
out that i, as a video and animation production professional, know to
be innovative and high quality from the previews ive been able to
sneak. not to mention the fact that in the last quarter they’ve made
sales to such clients as george clooney, focus features and utvi,
india’s largest television network.

i do agree that pinnacle may be sand in the shoe for this company, but
protools, softimage and the avid video editing software are all
quality products that have their niches deeply dug in their respective
industries.

[http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.656328/browse_thread/thread/95b105309434a520?hl=en#](http://finance.google.com/group/google.finance.656328/browse_thread/thread/95b105309434a520?hl=en#)
#913

晴天霹雳啊，从此这个世界被统一了

#914

Insightful blog posting. I think the different perspective is useful. A lot of commentators see it as three titans that used to slug it out but are now part of the same company and so a monopoly where innovation will slow. I see it rather differently - they are really three small fish in a very big pond where most revenue goes on internal development and the big threat to all three apps is the game engine. By having the three together under one umbrella, each can focus on their strengths to try to compete with this threat rather than fighting each other by matching functionality feature for feature. Imagine how much duplicated effort there has been over the years with all three products implementing the same features as each other over and over. Now there is an opportunity for each to focus on it’s key strengths rather than wasting resources filling checkboxes on functionality sheets.

#915

Perhaps this has been mentioned too but Avid bought Softimage for about $240 million in 1998.

So this new sale for $35 million means about 85% loss in value over 10 years. Rather like my 401K.

#916

Apples to oranges IMHO… the purchase from Microsoft was not only for XSI and it’s satellite applications, it was also for DS, a much larger base technology (at the time) for a much more premium market. That technology stays with Avid, and is not a part of this acquisition.

#917

[size=2]There are so many issues and questions about the future of all the Autodesk applications
but at least we can all get some relief knowing how this came about.

Watch this video to learn the truth !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7UWImpG54

ENJOY !
[/size]

#918

comic relief needed:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7UWImpG54

cheers,
chrisg

#919

Maybe i have twisted sense of humor but that is SOOOO funny!!

#920

comic relief needed:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7UWImpG54

this is quite funny, lol. makes for a really good laugh.