Autodesk Sees Strong Customer Adoption of New Flare Visual Effects Software

AMSTERDAM - Autodesk announced strong sales worldwide for Autodesk Flare visual effects software and launched Extension 1 for Flare 2010 software (announced separately). First introduced at the National Association of Broadcasters 2009 Convention (NAB) in April 2009 Flare has already been adopted by many customers who are using the Autodesk Flame and Autodesk Inferno visual effects systems. The software-only application shares the Flame and Inferno creative toolset and is an integral part of the Autodesk solution to bridge the gap between 2D and 3D.

"On film and TV projects, Flame and Inferno are established go-to solutions for the most demanding visual effects work," said Stig Gruman, vice president, Autodesk Digital Entertainment Group. "As demand for high-quality visual effects grows and budgets shrink, our clients asked for a way to efficiently expand capacity when using the Flame and Inferno tools they rely on. This inspired us to create Flare. More than ever, post-production houses need to get more work done faster. Flare helps make that possible."

Customers have used Flare along with Flame to shape television commercials such as campaigns for the Orbitz travel site and the anti-tobacco educational Truth campaign as well as an Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America public service announcement. Post magazine selected Flare as one of five products for a POST PICKS, an honor awarded to products that represent "the best of the best at NAB," as selected by a team of industry professionals.

Flare is designed for creative tasks: interactive design, advanced graphics and compositing as well as support tasks: rotoscoping, retouching and project setup. Flare uses the Flame/Inferno Batch compositing environment and is designed to facilitate five areas of digital entertainment creation: creative collaboration, compatibility, affordability, flexibility and artist development.