New App Based on Autodesk Maya Software Brings Hollywood Blockbuster Effects to iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

LOS ANGELES -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- at SIGGRAPH -- Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) today announced its Autodesk Fluid FX App is now available on the App Store. The app brings the fun and excitement of Hollywood visual effects to the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone by letting users play with a wide variety of digital effects such as smoke, fire and image warping.

“Autodesk Fluid FX empowers a wide audience to enjoy a beautiful and immersive visual experience based on sophisticated visual effects technology and complex physics,” said two-time Academy Award winner Jos Stam, Autodesk senior research scientist and creator of the app.

The app is based on the Academy Award–winning Autodesk Maya fluid effects technology. Users can now interact with and manipulate fire and billowing smoke clouds for their own amusement and entertainment. The new app enables users to interact in real time with up to 10 multitouch points to manipulate ultrarealistic smoke and fire or create dry ice effects that fall and flow along the ground. Tilting or changing the orientation of the device influences the imagery which behaves realistically as if affected by gravity.

The app includes a wide variety of preset effects, but users also have the freedom to adjust, save and load their own custom presets, including personal photographs and images from the Photo Library. When the simulation is applied, the app allows the images to warp and swirl like fluid. What once took days, expertise and expensive computers to develop can now be enjoyed by novices with Fluid FX on iOS.

Autodesk Fluid FX becomes kinetic art when in “party mode.” The app automatically displays stunning visuals, through fluid dynamic simulations, randomizing colors, settings and fading across presets. Fluid FX also supports video out, so users can create ambience by displaying their visuals on a big screen television. On iPhone 4, Fluid FX takes advantage of the stunning Retina Display by running at full 960 x 640 resolution (for both the simulation and the user interface). The iPad version also takes full advantage of the larger screen real estate.

The Autodesk Fluid FX App is now available for US $1.99 from the App Store on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad or at at www.itunes.com/appstore/. View the Fluid FX demo video on You Tube.

Autodesk Apps for iPad, iPod touch and iPhone
The Autodesk Fluid FX App joins the top-selling Autodesk professional-grade paint and drawing apps, Autodesk SketchBook Pro for iPad, Autodesk SketchBook Mobile and Autodesk SketchBook Mobile Express for iPhone and iPod touch, which have been downloaded more than 1.85 million times. To learn more about the SketchBook products, visit www.autodesk.com/sketchbookpro.

Autodesk Maya
Autodesk Fluid FX uses the same underlying technology as the Maya Fluid Effects system, first introduced in 2002, which enables digital artists to create near realistic animation of liquids and gases, using novel simulation techniques for accuracy and speed, as well as a unique scripting language for working with volumetric data. In 2008, Autodesk developers Duncan Brinsmead, Jos Stam, Julia Pakalns and Martin Werner were recognized with Technical Achievement Awards for the design and implementation of the Maya Fluid Effects system. Maya is a leading tool for 3D animation, modeling, visual effects, rendering and compositing which provides artists with an end-to-end creative workflow. Some recent entertainment projects from film, games, television shows and commercial advertising created with Maya are “Avatar,” “Iron Man 2,” “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,” “Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time,” “Mad Men,” “True Blood,” as well as the popular Super Bowl spots for E*Trade and the Betty White commercial for Snickers. To download a free* 30-day trial of Maya for Mac or PC right from your desktop computer, visit Maya Trial.

*This product is subject to the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement that accompanies this software.

About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software to help customers experience their ideas digitally before they are built. Fortune 100 companies -- as well as the last 15 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects -- use Autodesk software tools to design, visualize and simulate their ideas to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation for competitive advantage. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Maya and SketchBook 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.

iPad, iPhone, and iPod are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.

© 2010 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.