Those remotely familiar with graphics or animation know the name of Autodesk, the worldwide leader in software for 2D and 3D effects.  It’s Maya software gained popularity amongst amateurs through the revelation that Gollum from Lord of the Rings was created with it and spawned a younger generation to start dipping their feet into the software.  In 2009 George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic made it a standard staple of it’s post production process, incorporating Autodesk into many of it’s high profile films.

From that summer’s series of effects driven films have all used different versions of Autodesk’s software, from the popular Maya used for animation in the rebirth of Star Trek;  3D Studio Max for digital matte painting in Transformers 2 & 3 and Inferno to create extensive photo-realistic fluid simulations of fire and water in the latest Harry Potter’s.  All have been key components of these amazing displays of animation and effects that we marvel at.  For the majority of artists in this field this comes as no surprise as they have been using Autodesk’s software for many years, but what has been a recent surge, is the up-and-comers who are learning either in school or right out of school the vast selection of compositing and effects software Autodesk has to offer. 

Autodesk has been through is share of ups and downs over the last year from stock shares dropping in the first and second quarter of this year to finally stabilizing in the third, the company has recently come out of a restructuring and looks as strong as can be.  With more and more artists both new and old continuing to utilize it’s vast software, Autodesk looks like it will continue to hold the market place for years to come. I’ve included the Autodesk Siggraph show reel for 2009, as expected it’s very, very impressive and I’m sure there’s more than one spot you’ll recognize.