Autodesk to invest in DeviantART

#1

Quote:
"Online art community deviantART is announcing that it has received a strategic investment from software company Autodesk.

The financial terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed, but deviantART co-founder and CEO Angelo Sotira told me this makes Autodesk his company’s largest investor. Autodesk’s vice president of consumer products, Samir Hanna, will be joining the deviantART board of directors, but Sotira also said the deal doesn’t affect “control of the organization” (in other words, deviantART remains a founder-controlled company)."

http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/26/deviantart-autodesk-funding/

#2

They don’t get it do they their board needs to go…

Customers want development not some attempt to turn a cold faceless company into some touch freely organisation by acquiring stuff like this. One second they are talking about how they are firing a stack of workers next minute they are pouring money acquiring a picture sharing site because clearly that is what the users are begging for.

What kind of lunacy is this do they even understand the demographic of people who use a site like deviant art.

What they need to do is consolidate their product lines significantly increase R&D re-investment treat customers like first class citizens not hold them at ransom for short term gains for share holders, only acquire products that fill a technology void not double up on stuff (Naiad was a good buy XSI not so much).

I feel bad for the developers :confused:

#3

It’s a good thing that somebody is supporting a site that is made up mostly of beginning artists’ first attempts to draw a dragon. This could really turn Autodesk’s fortunes around.

#4

As a user of Softimage, I couldn’t agree more. Really wish The Foundry would have picked up XSI.

#5

Adobe bought Behance for better Creative Cloud service and What about Autodesk and DeviantART?

#6

Haha, DeviantArt… really ? Autodesk must be desperate to spend some money on something. I can’t wait to see how they plan on integrating DeviantArt into 3DSMAX. :smiley:

/ Magnus

#7

Autodesk have consistently fired developers and under delivered on products for a number of years Adobe has been much better.

Also Adobe has a much bigger prosumer and hobby customer base where as Autodesk creates software for professional / business use so it actually makes sense for Adobe.

User who’s lively hood is tied to these tools have the right to be pissed off when they pay $$$ for subs only to see developers of their product line get fired but at the same time Adsk is dropping cash on things like this it’s a very poor allocation of resources and quiet frankly insulting to customers.

#8

Interesting post by Spacefrog on Maxunderground

[No more updates from 2015](- Autodesk will not provide product updates any longer from Feb.1st 2015. All has to be either full purchase, rental or subscription based then. Makes not much difference to the current situation IMHO, as upgrade costs are already insane and do not make sense anyways, but nevertheless i think this is an interesting bit of info

From Autodesk investor day, Autodesk will no longer provide product updates from Feb 2015, you either have to rent, subscribe, or buy a new seat.

#9

Steve: There has something gone wrong with your URL linking. Here’s the working maxunderground link
http://www.maxunderground.com/archives/19787_autodesk_to_invest_in_deviantart.html

And just for reference, besides listening to the talk, you’ll find that info about end of upgrade possibility on pages 25/26 off the following PDF
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MjA1MDk1fENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1

Edit: replaced “update” with “UPGRADE” to prevent confusion

#10

Originally Posted by Steve Green
[i]Interesting post by Spacefrog on Maxunderground

No more updates from 2015

From Autodesk investor day, Autodesk will no longer provide product updates from Feb 2015, you either have to rent, subscribe, or buy a new seat.[/i]

so basically when a new version comes out you cannot buy the upgrade. i guess they want everyone to be on subs if you bought the full product.

#11

Thanks for the fixed (and extra) link!

#12

Don’t forget the never ending depths of DAZ porn. Sometimes I wonder why I even put stuff up there, but the site itself is really convenient as a place to get more eyeballs on personal projects. PROTIP: submit all 3D work to the interior/exterior galleries. Those are mostly people who modeled and textured their own stuff. The rest is…this kind of shit

#13

Hmm… the wording was “Autodesk will not provide product updates any longer”.

I read that to mean i.e. service packs rather than point-release upgrades. But that can’t be right, can it?

#14

Yep - my wording is wrong - i should have written “Upgrades” meaning possibility to upgrade from a older major version at reduced cost. See the mentioned PDF to see they use the word "upgrade. "I’ll correct my posts to prevent even more confusion…

#15

Aha, that makes more sense :slight_smile:

Fits right in with their new forward-thinking M.O. Down with hangers-on!

#16

I get why Autodesk would invest in Deviantart. What better time to get people to use your products than when they are first learning to create? People tend to stick with what they know best, and if they first thing they learn is an Autodesk product, then…

Whatever you think of Autodesk, or Deviantart, I think this deal could be a win/win for them both.

#17

I get why Autodesk would invest in Deviantart. What better time to get people to use your products than when they are first learning to create? People tend to stick with what they know best, and if they first thing they learn is an Autodesk product, then…

Whatever you think of Autodesk, or Deviantart, I think this deal could be a win/win for them both.

But they already have that with the student licensing. People in colleges are eventually going to be people who need fully licensed seats - people on Deviant Art … Well, it’s a win for Deviant Art anyway …

#18

Looks to me like Autodesk is going for its own “Social Media” hub. The Area + Deviantart + SocialCam (+ maybe all the mobile apps they’re coming up with) = “Look ma, did it with Autodesk products!”. Given The Area’s success as a hub for 3d artists, I guess it remains to be seen how all this will work.

#19

You guys are forgetting about Sketchbook.

Sketchbook (both the desktop software and tablet/phone app) has been hugely effective at increasing Autodesk’s name recognition outside of the 3D industry. The DeviantArt thing is just an extension of that.

You can find fault in how AD has managed their 3D portfolio, but they’ve handled Sketchbook really well since the Alias acquisition, lowering the price and adding features, and it’s starting to pay off for them.

They know that their 3D customers aren’t DA users. This is almost entirely about Sketchbook.

#20

I agree it might appear a bit obtuse at first, but the investment in DeviantART is actually part of Autodesk’s Consumer Group and not part of M&E, or any of our other professional product groups.
For context, the consumer group already runs a very successful community here: http://www.instructables.com/.
These communities are not really seen as seeding strategies for professional users and are therefore separate from initiatives like our education/student programs.
What the consumer group is trying to do is to explore what it means to help anyone who wants to make (or create) something - a cake, a custom bike or a sketch of their child - but who is not a professional and does not have access to the resources and networks professionals typically have at their disposal; which is why community is important here. It is a very different approach to both community and product than is typical in other parts of our business.

maurice
autodesk