Autodesk Signs Agreement to Acquire Socialcam

Design and Entertainment Software Leader to Accelerate Adoption of Mobile, Cloud & Social Technologies Through Acquisition of Rapidly Growing Social Video Service 

Autodesk Inc., (NASDAQ: ADSK) a world leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Socialcam for a purchase price of approximately $60 Million.  Socialcam is a popular mobile social video capture, editing and sharing app and service that was launched in 2011.  This transaction is expected to close in Autodesk’s third quarter of fiscal 2013 (which ends on October 31, 2012) and is subject to customary closing conditions.

“Mobile computing, the cloud and social media are improving and changing the way people design, engineer and create projects,” said Samir Hanna, vice president, Autodesk Consumer Group.  “Video is an ideal medium for professionals and consumers alike to communicate and share their design ideas.  We are excited to have Socialcam join our growing portfolio of applications, services and communities for digital art, personal design and fabrication, home design and entertainment.”

Socialcam is a smartphone application and web-based service that makes it easy to capture, edit and share videos.  The Socialcam app has been one of the most popular mobile video apps in the iOS App Store and Android marketplace with over 16 million downloads since it was first launched in 2011.   Autodesk will prioritize support for the existing Socialcam community, while investing in scaling the platform and developing a more comprehensive set of tools for Socialcam users.  Autodesk also plans to use the Socialcam platform to help make its Academy Award-winning technology for professional film and video creators more accessible to a broader audience.   

“Socialcam shares Autodesk’s mission of helping everybody imagine, design and create a better world.” said Michael Seibel, Founder and CEO, Socialcam.  “Autodesk has a proven track record of acquiring and scaling fast-growing, early stage consumer businesses while staying true to their core audience and vision.  With products like Pixlr, SketchBook and 123D, Autodesk is empowering creativity in millions around the world by making their award-winning technology accessible to everybody.  We’re excited to join them and introduce this global community to simple video creation, editing and sharing.”

Business Outlook

For full year fiscal 2013, this transaction is expected to decrease targeted GAAP earnings per diluted share by approximately $0.06 (primarily in the third quarter). Excluding $0.05 of stock-based compensation and $0.01 of amortization of acquisition related intangibles, both net of tax, this transaction is expected to have no impact on targeted non-GAAP earnings per diluted share for the full year fiscal 2013.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in professional and personal 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Autodesk tools help unlock the creativity in everyone, from children and hobbyists to design and engineering professionals. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, digital art and entertainment industries, including the last 17 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects, use Autodesk software, mobile apps, cloud services and communities to design, visualize, simulate and communicate their ideas. For more information follow @autodesk or visit autodesk.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding: the impact of the acquisition on Autodesk's financial results, business performance and product and services offerings; Autodesk's commitments to Socialcam’s community; the impact of the combined product capabilities and how Autodesk's products and services will evolve and change and the integration of Socialcam’s products into Autodesk products. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: Autodesk’s ability to timely close the acquisition of Socialcam and integrate Socialcam technology and employees; costs related to the proposed acquisition; whether certain market segments grow as anticipated; the competitive environment in the software industry and competitive responses to the acquisition; our success developing new products or modifying existing products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance; general market and business conditions; general market, political, economic and business conditions; failure to maintain our revenue growth and profitability; our performance in particular geographies, including emerging economies; the timing and degree of expected investments in growth opportunities; pricing pressure; failure to achieve continued cost reductions and productivity increases; changes in the timing of product releases and retirements; failure of key new applications to achieve anticipated levels of customer acceptance; failure to achieve continued success in technology advancements; interruptions or terminations in the business of our consultants or third party developers; the expense and impact of legal or regulatory proceedings; and unanticipated impact of accounting for acquisitions.

Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Autodesk are included in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2012, and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2012, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Autodesk does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

Autodesk, AutoCAD , SketchBook, 123D and Pixlr are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

© 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Autodesk Introduces New Cloud Services for Next Generation of Building Information Modeling

PRESS RELEASE:

Autodesk BIM 360 Provides Anywhere, Anytime Access to Building and Civil Infrastructure Projects

Reinforcing its technology leadership in the building design, construction and civil infrastructure industries, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today unveiled Autodesk BIM 360, the next generation of Building Information Modeling (BIM).Autodesk BIM 360 includesa set of cloud services that will provide anytime, anywhere access to BIM project information throughout the project lifecycle.  Autodesk BIM 360 will work with BIM solutions for design, construction and operations including the Autodesk Building Design Suite and Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite.  BIM is an intelligent 3D model–based process that provides insight for creating and managing building and civil infrastructure projects faster, more economically, and with less environmental impact.

"Cloud-connected workflows are giving our customersworldwide a better way to work with colleagues across their organizations and with business partners, clients and stakeholders,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, information modeling products. "Autodesk BIM 360, the next generation of BIM, will revolutionize the way building and infrastructure owners, designers, engineers and contractors create, share and use project information." 

With Autodesk BIM 360, Autodesk is bringing the BIM process to the cloud.  New cloud-based services for multidiscipline collaboration that support model coordinationand intelligent object data exchange will transform the way architects, engineers, contractors and owners collaborate in real time and manage as well as distribute building and civil infrastructuredata.  Autodesk BIM 360 offers civil engineers, transportation and urban planning professionals new cloud-based servicesto collaborate between geographically dispersed teams to explore design concepts, create and review proposals andconduct feasibility evaluations.  

“Using Autodesk BIM 360 with the Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite, we have been able to share our early design concepts to better evaluate feasibility on our infrastructure projects,” said Keith Warren, Virtual Design Technology Manager at VTN Consulting. “This has been a great addition to what we can already do with our Autodesk products and has extended our ability to share even the largest models more efficiently with remote teams.”

Autodesk recently announced the acquisition of Vela Systems, a provider of cloud and mobile field management software for the construction industry.  The combination of the Vela technology with Autodesk BIM 360 will bring the BIM process to the project site, helping contractors to automate field processes such as quality, safety and commissioning checklists and distribution of plans and drawings. Autodesk BIM 360 can also helpimprove project outcomes by moving computational intensive tasks to the cloud, allowing rapid visualization with rendering services and the ability to simulate early and often with energy and structural analysis services.  Autodesk BIM 360 will also help support the project handover and lifecycle by providing intelligent information to building and infrastructure owners for operations and maintenance.

“Time is money, especially in the construction world and every owner wants more value for their money. Autodesk BIM 360 is a key tool that helps us accomplish this,” said Weston Tanner, Virtual Construction Manager, The Walsh Group

The launch of Autodesk BIM 360 marks an important expansion of Autodesk 360, a cloud-based platform that enables customers to harness the vast computing power available in the cloud to transform the way they design, visualize and simulate their ideas and share their work. Earlier this year, the company launched Autodesk PLM 360 lifecycle management software, a cloud service that enables manufacturers to better access and manage product information to help continuously improve the products they design and manufacture, followed by a range of new Autodesk 360 services for Autodesk Design and Creation Suite customers.  Since launching Autodesk 360 in September 2011, nearly nine million users have accessed the services. 

Availability

Autodesk BIM 360are now avaialble in English, and will be available in the near future in other languages.  Some services may be available exclusively for Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2013 and Autodesk Building Design Suite 2013 subscription customers.  Customers may contact their local reseller or visit www.autodesk.com/bim360vto learn more.

About Autodesk BIM Solutions

BIM is an intelligent model–based process that provides insight for creating and managing building and infrastructure projects faster, more economically and with less environmental impact. Autodesk BIM solutions for building and infrastructure lifecycles are based on intelligent models created with Autodesk Revit software products and AutoCAD Civil 3D software. Helping to expand the benefits of BIM is a powerful set of complementary solutions for visualizing and simulating projects virtually, documentation and professional drafting, and data management and collaboration. Autodesk Building Design Suite 2013, Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite 2013 and Autodesk Plant Design Suite 2013 offer comprehensive sets of tools to support BIM workflows in single, cost-effective packages.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries ― including the last 17 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects — use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

 

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Civil 3D,and Revitare registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

Autodesk Philippines Boosts Channel Partner Support with Reseller Training

PRESS RELEASE:

In continuation of its mission to support channel partners in the country, Autodesk Philippines flew in US-based Autodesk Technical Marketing Manager, Heidi Hewett to train local channel partner Wordtext Systems, Inc.’s (WSI) roster of resellers.

Photo courtesy of Autodesk Phils.

Hewitt trained local resellers on the updates and latest developments available in AutoCAD Design Suite 2013. Aside from the latest version of AutoCAD software, Hewett also highlighted complementary solutions such as AutoCAD Raster Design software, Autodesk Showcase software and Autodesk 360. Autodesk 360 is a cloud-based platform that gives you access to storage, a collaboration workspace, and cloud services to help you dramatically improve the way you design, visualize, simulate, and share your work with others anytime, anywhere.

These design solutions work together, arming users with efficient workflows and powerful visualization capabilities. The solutions overview was followed by a series of technical sessions to raise the resellers’ understanding of the products, helping them perform better as business partners.

“Autodesk strongly believes in educating and supporting its channel partners with its new product updates and solutions. Beyond capital considerations, Autodesk finds a sense of accomplishment in aiding local collaborators to further grow their businesses,” says Autodesk Philippines, Country Manager, Teddy D. Tiu. 

After her stop in the Philippines, Hewett is set to visit and train Autodesk partners in Thailand and Indonesia.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries ¾ including the last 17 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects ¾ use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com

14 Academy Award-Nominated Movies: One Thing in Common

Digital Artists Worldwide Used Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation Software to Create 2011’s Most Celebrated Movies

Digital artists devoted days and years behind the scenes to help create the movie magic seen in many of this year’s Academy Award-nominated films. In the categories for Best Visual Effects and Best Animated Film (Feature and Short) in particular, many artists relied on the same set of tools — Digital Entertainment Creation (DEC) software from Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK).

“Great films depend on great storytelling and our technology is designed to enable artistic vision,” said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “We congratulate the multi-talented teams of artists from North America, New Zealand, Europe and Asia, and we are proud of Autodesk software’s role in helping them create these extraordinary movies.”

Best Visual Effects

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

© 2011 Warner Bros. Harry Potter Publishing Rights (c) J.K. Rowling.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”— UK-based visual effects (VFX) studios Double Negative, MPC and Framestore each used Autodesk Maya 3D animation and rendering software to help create the visually extravagant effects for this final installment in the Harry Potter franchise. Double Negative VFX Supervisor David Vickery said, “Maya has been the lynch pin of our pipeline since ‘Goblet of Fire.’ For this film, Maya helped us build a fully computer-generated (CG) Hogwarts in a massive 3D environment, including a spectacular mountain range and an animated fire-breathing dragon digitally modeled with Autodesk Mudbox software.”MPC VFX Supervisor Greg Butler added, “From the first film in the ‘Potter’ series through to this film’s final shot, MPC has relied on Maya for modeling, rigging and lighting.”Andy Kind, Framestore VFX supervisor said, "Autodesk's Maya once again was our go-to tool, enabling us to bring to life the magic of the Chamber of Secrets for Ron and Hermione's first kiss, as well as Harry's vision of Heaven. We couldn't have done any of the eight films without it!"

“Hugo” — VFX studio Pixomondo managed a global production team across 10 of its 11 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia for this richly detailed reimagining of 1930s Paris. The worldwide team worked for over a year using a production pipeline comprised of Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max for animation, rendering, character rigging and modeling; as well as Autodesk MotionBuilder for motion capture and animation. VFX Supervisor Ben Grossmann said, “The interoperability of Autodesk tools helped us meet tight deadlines andbring Martin Scorsese’s magical vision to the big screen.”

©DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC.  All Rights Reserved

“Real Steel” —Visual effects powerhouse Digital Domain, motion-capture specialists Giant Studios and virtual production innovators Technoprops delivered “Real Steel” within an impressively efficient 71-day production schedule. The close collaboration between the threecompanies and anAutodesk toolset helped createthis realistic and thrilling action movie with a believable and captivating robot and human relationship. VFX Supervisor Erik Nash said, “The on-set real-time interoperability of Maya and MotionBuilder enabled tremendous creative freedom for the entire production team.”

TM and © 2011 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.  All rights reserved.  Not for sale or duplication

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” — Caesar, the CG chimpanzee performed by Andy Serkis is a creative milestone for Weta Digital in New Zealand. Weta used Maya and MotionBuilder as the core of its creative production pipelines for its groundbreaking visual effectsand performance capture. Sebastian Sylwan, chief technology officer at Weta said, “Creating a believable and realistic CG character like Caesar required providing our artists with the right tools and innovative technology that allowed them to iterate and express their creativity. We developed our own software to perfect performance capture, hair, eyes and muscles amongst others, using Maya and MotionBuilder as a backbone.” Canada-based Image Engine contributed previsualization for the film and also took advantage of a Maya-based pipeline.

“Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon”—The extraordinarily detailed Transformer robotscontain up to50,000 million polygons renderedin stereoscopic 3D by lead visual effects houses Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) with studios in San Francisco and Singapore and Digital Domain. ILM used the following Autodesk DEC software tools in its pipeline: 3ds Max for digital environment work; Autodesk Flame as part of its proprietary SABRE high-speed compositing system; and Maya as the core tool for animation, rigging and layout. Scott Farrar, visual effects supervisor on ‘Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon’ said, “As effects work continues to grow in complexity, it is more important than ever that our artists have access to best of breed tools and by using Autodesk’s Digital Entertainment Creation software, ILM is able to continue to create groundbreaking visual effects.”

Best Animated Feature Film

“Kung Fu Panda 2”and “Puss in Boots”—Both movies earned not only Academy Award nominations for Animated Feature Film for Dreamworks Animation (DWA), but also were two of the top three grossing animated films of 2011.*DWA continues to creatively push technology to imbue animated characters with huge personalities, and both films used Maya. Phil McNally, stereoscopic supervisor on both movies said, “Either on our own or in concert with Autodesk, we can develop tools in Maya to specifically address the challenges of stereoscopic 3D. Maya gives us that intuitive flexibility, or the ability to see what we’re doing—while we’re doing it—in 3D.”

“Rango”

“Rango,” the story of a weird lizard’s quest for identity, was ILM’s first animated feature. The film presented some daunting creative and technical challenges: Rango’s face alone required over 300 controllers to achieve the range of performance needed for the 1,100 shots he appears in.On top of which, Rango was just one of well over 100 characters that populated the film. “All of these characters had some combination of scales, feathers, or fur and all had clothing. We strove to create a very tactile world for Rango,” said ILM’s Hal Hickel, animator director on the film. “We wanted to create the illusion that if you could reach out and touch objects in the frame you'd know exactly what they would feel like, so it was very important that our software enable us to show as much detail as possible ateach phase of the process. This allowed us to make certain the performances would translate to the big screen. Maya was great at letting us do that.”

Other Categories

·         “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” — nominated for Short Film (animated) — Moonbot Studios in Louisiana used Maya to help create this poignant and humorous allegorical film.

·         “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” —nominated for five awards — Digital Domain createddigital doubles, matte paintings, animation and set extensions using both Maya and 3ds Max. Method Studios contributed to 101 VFX shots, including a fully CG train sequence through a snow-covered landscape using Maya, Flame and Autodesk Flare software.Blur Studios created the amazing title sequence using a combination of 3ds Max for animation and Autodesk Softimage for keyframing.

·         “La Luna” — nominated for Short Film (animated) — Pixar used Maya and Pixar’s own Renderman to create this mystical coming-of-age story.

·         “The Muppets” — nominated for Original Song— LOOK Effects used a combination of Flame, Flare and Maya to help bring these beloved characters to life in this box-office hit.

·         “The Tree of Life” — nominated for three awards including Best Picture — Method Studios used Maya to help create the fully CG 4K(4096 × 3112 pixels per frame) sequence for the film’s “Microbial” section,which plays effectively alongside practical and mixed-technique approaches. Method’s EVP Dan Glass was also the film’s overall senior visual effects supervisor. Prime Focus used Maya, 3ds Max and Mudbox to create the wonderfully realistic dinosaur sequences, dedicating a team of 50 artists to achieving Terrence Malick's vision for these scenes.

·         “War Horse” — nominated for six awards including Best Picture — UK-based Framestore used Maya to help create the equine digital double, barbwire VFX integration, digital environments and clean-up on 200 shots for Steven Spielberg’s epic drama. Hollywood and London-based The Third Floor also pre-visualized key sequences using a toolset that includes Maya.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries ¾ including the last 16 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects ¾ use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

* Source: Box Office Mojo

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Flame, Flare, Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Softimage and 3ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

© 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.