Looks like Autodesk bought Naiad

[Tekano]

Hi Bullit,

sorry was ranting a bit after the recent news, what I was trying to refer was Socialcam - essentially a popularity website for video submissions costing Autodesk $60 million whereas Softimage costing only £35 million in comparison. think the user base for socialcam was roughly 60 million as well so in in essence Autodesk paid about $1 a user. The bubble I would like bursting is the one where user count is worth more than than the intellectual property. the lines of code and ideas and people behind them - ie how much is Naiad bought for? I imagine much less than Softimage. Essentially I dont see the worth of Socialcam over the likes of Softimage & Naiad are for a company like Autodesk.

[bottleofram]

Essentially I dont see the worth of Socialcam over the likes of Softimage & Naiad are for a company like Autodesk.

Remember Carl Bass talking about the significant role cloud computing will have in Autodesk's future? Socialcam and similar acquisitions are investments of a different kind to Softimage and (possibly) Naiad. A more profitable kind, it is assumed.

[Bullit]

If Socialcam will be embeded of every Autodesk application.. or even just Autocad then it is much more important for Autodesk than Softimage.
Note that for example just Autocad is bigger than all Autodesk Entertainment and Softimage is only a minor part of it. Softimage technology potentially affects only Maya, 3dsMax.

[Rork]

Ugh.... Adding social crap into your apps..

I already hate it when you "need" to have a FB or Twitter account just to create an account for an app

[Hirazi Blue]

Over at CGTalk jason-slab quotes (in full) the mail Exotic Matter apparently sent to its customers.

Now my best guess is, AD plans to use Naiad mainly for Ark Viz...

[iamVFX]

✖▂✖

[Bellsey]

If Socialcam will be embeded of every Autodesk application.. or even just Autocad then it is much more important for Autodesk than Softimage.
Note that for example just Autocad is bigger than all Autodesk Entertainment and Softimage is only a minor part of it. Softimage technology potentially affects only Maya, 3dsMax.

I think this is what you have to look at in terms of some of the acquisitions Autodesk makes, some are industry/product focused, others more general. IMO, Socialcam is one of the general ones that could have an wider impact. Behind YouTube, Socialcam apparently was(is) the most popular video service for smartphone/tablet devices, which when you think about it, is pretty big. If you look at some of the services Autodesk are starting to offer with Subs, and some of the mobile apps that are doing as well, such as AutoCAD WS, Design Review, Inventor and so on, then potentially adding video capability could be very interesting. I'm sure it could apply to Media & Entertainment as well, though its perhaps not very clear at the moment.

As for acquisitions, the way I understood it was, that public listed company like Autodesk must announce their plans to acquire someone, once an agreement has been made. It wouldn't surprise me if there's a time limit for this as well, but I don't know. Any announcements would go out on the news wires with some being picked up more than others, perhaps depending on their significance.

[Tekano]

from another forum

[iamVFX]

from another forum..

Which forum it is?

By the way, imagine how awkward it would be, if it would be integrated in Softimage. I mean, the dead body of Lagoa lies on the floor and Naiad enters the room

[gustavoeb]

dont see any problems of having many solvers inside ICE... but I bet they wont do it

[luceric]

a more informed discussion of SocialCam here
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/17/social ... 0-million/

[bottleofram]

I mean, the dead body of Lagoa lies on the floor and Naiad enters the room...

... wrapped up in white for the room was the mortuary where all dead technology goes.


The End

[Kzin]

naiad in xsi makes no sense. who should use it?
the big projects are done in maya, if we see a integration, it would be maya and not si.
a naiad ice solver, reminds me on the krakatoa for ice thing some years ago, a dead horse since a long time.

perhaps it will be a standalone app in the future like it is today with good export options to all 3 apps, i would prefer something like this.

[origin]

naiad is not standalone app, its set of libaries. Naiad studio is open source gui for naiad server.
ICEed naiad shouldnt be a problem for people like Helge or mr Core.

[bottleofram]

perhaps it will be a standalone app in the future like it is today with good export options to all 3 apps, i would prefer something like this.

Not happening

...
Autodesk will not continue to market and sell Naiad as a standalone product but it is anticipated that certain Naiad technology may find its way into future Autodesk offerings. As of this time, there are no new product or offering announcements pertaining to the Autodesk software portfolio.
...

Paragraph taken from the official announcement: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc ... eID=123112

[Bellsey]

Secondly, Bellsey may know because he works at AD. Not sure he'd be able to say anything but a little prodding for info never hurt.

As to Bellsey knowing about it and being able to comment, I sincerely doubt it. If it's still "in the works" commenting on it would amount to something like a "cardinal sin" and while Bellsey probably knows more about a lot of things he already isn't allowed to share, we mustn't assume he's privy to information about Autodesk's acquisition policy.

Now that the press release is public, I can maybe elaborate. Yes it's true that sometimes I can be privy to certain confidential information, including possible acquisitions. However, realistically I'm way to far down the food chain to really know about this stuff until it actually happens, unless I got it from another source. I'm sure in these situations, the less people that know, the better. But even if I did know, you're right, I wouldn't be able to say anything and I've learned to acquire a good poker face. Death doesn't even come close as to the amount of trouble I could get into, if unveiled sensitive and confidential information, lol.

As for Naiad, l didn't know anything, not even a vague rumour. I literally only found out last week when people started posting on twitter, CGtalk, etc.
I don't know how things will move forwards now, but I can perhaps see why Autodesk made a move for Naiad, after all it is very good, but I don't think it's all doom and gloom in the way the forums are prophesying.