Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 Posted by Jim Thacker

Siggraph 2011: Autodesk unveils new Advantage Packs


Autodesk has announced its latest round of software Advantage Packs at Siggraph 2011.

Both Max and Maya get some significant new features, so we’re covering those as separate stories: click here to find out what’s new in 3ds Max and what’s new in Maya.

Softimage, Mudbox and the creative finishing tools – Flame, Flare and Smoke – all get smaller incremental upgrades: new ICE options in the case of Softimage, support for large texture datasets in the case of Mudbox, and new stereo viewing modes and import/export options in the case of the finishing tools.

The updates, which are only available to users on Subscription contracts, are due to ship by late September

PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts)
At SIGGRAPH 2011 — Autodesk, Inc., has announced Subscription Advantage Packs for its Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites 2012, as well as most of its portfolio of Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) toolsets. Subscription Advantage Packs provide current Autodesk Subscription customers with early access to new features and enhancements that help manage complexity, make everyday workflows more efficient and expand creative capabilities.

“Subscription Advantage Packs allow us to get new functionality out to our Subscription customers much sooner than would otherwise be possible,” said Marc Petit, Autodesk senior vice president, Media & Entertainment. “This is great because the 2012 Advantage Packs contain powerful new enhancements that are going to help artists work more efficiently and creatively. We’ve integrated high-performance third-party technology, speeded up common workflows, and extended creative capabilities.”

Digital Entertainment Creation Subscription Advantage Pack Features

Softimage 2012

  • New modeling and selection tools that greatly improve productivity and ease of use
  • New options for ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) rigid body dynamics that enhance the simulation toolset
  • Extended SDK access that provides greater control over customization

Mudbox 2012

  • A new Gigatexel engine to enable artists to create substantial amounts of detail, scaling with the artist’s hardware configuration
  • An extended creative painting and sculpting toolset providing support for edge sharpness data, the ability to combine bump and normal map information, and easier methods for creating and extracting tiled detail

Finishing tools

The Creative Finishing extension releases for Autodesk Flame Premium 2012, Autodesk Flare 2012 and the Subscription Advantage Pack for Autodesk Smoke 2012 for Mac OS X software deliver powerful new creative and technical tools, plus increased digital file format support for film, television and commercial post-production. The releases provide:

  • New stereoscopic 3D viewing modes, enabling digital artists to scan for differences between left and right eye clips
  • Enhanced creative tools providing stylized graphic effects to create original looks and more control over relighting, motion blur and recursive operations
  • Expanded format support for Flame Premium now includes HDRx support, MXF export, and AVCHD codec import. For Smoke for Mac, format support now includes Apple ProRes QuickTime, IMX and MXF OP-1a export, RED Epic HDRx support, AVCHD codec import, and Avid DNxHD export in a QuickTime wrapper

Availability
The Subscription Advantage Packs and Creative Finishing extension releases are expected to be available to current Autodesk Subscription customers in late-September 2011. Subscription customers will be able to download the Advantage Packs and extension releases in one of two ways: from the Subscription Center or directly through the interface of the Autodesk software.

Visit Autodesk online