Autodesk Smoke 2012 for Mac OS X Now Shipping

Smoke for Mac has been used to create corporate videos for companies from Oakley to Land Rover; commercials for high-profile brands, including Adidas, ESPN, Volkswagen, and Subway; and for unique multiscreen projects on display at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center and the California Science Center.

"From digital signage to in-house corporate video to television commercials, everywhere you look, people need to produce high-quality video content that stands out from the crowd," says Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "Smoke for Mac appeals to creative professionals looking for ways to expand their creative service offerings and generate new business. We are seeing new users, from independent professionals to established ad agencies, purchasing Smoke and adding high-end graphics and 3D visual effects to their capabilities." 

"Smoke for Mac really speeds up our workflow," said Jöran Masswinkel, senior Smoke artist at John Bake Productions in The Netherlands. "It's all-in-one, so that means we aren't exporting footage for compositing--we do it all in Smoke."

Smoke provides an all-in-one editorial workflow by combining powerful finishing tools with the familiar workflow of a nonlinear editor (NLE) to reduce complexity and streamline finishing of high-quality content. A recent report published by Pfeiffer Consultingconcluded that Smoke provides a significant productivity boost over a multiproduct workflow in typical finishing workflows. According to the report, Smoke is 35 percent more efficient at editing and finishing operations than multiproduct workflows. 

"Autodesk is a brand clients trust," says Sebastien Dostie, visual effects supervisor at Boogie Studios in Canada. "We were able to expand from an audio house to a full-service postproduction facility by purchasing Smoke and the Autodesk Maya Entertainment Creation Suite to form the backbone of our expanding facility. We couldn't be happier. Smoke has become our secret sauce."

Photography studios, corporate video and audio postproduction houses -- and even web and mobile video producers -- are choosing Smoke to expand services and offer high-quality video production. Recent customers who have adopted Smoke for Mac to differentiate themselves from the competition include an in-house corporate video team (Oakley), an audio mixing house (Boogie Studios), a traditional photography studio (Voda Studios), as well as boutique postproduction facilities in the United States (Glyph Corp. in Kentucky) and the United Kingdom (delicious edit). 

"Smoke has Action [the 3D compositing environment of Smoke], and I use it for every project," says Rob Lederman, senior compositor/editor at North Avenue Post in the United States "I get the majority of my keying, lighting and compositing done there, and the ability to control shadows, add light rays and lens flares, and all the Flame FX tools basically eliminate the need for third-party sparks/plug-ins."

Key Features:
· Autodesk Smoke 2012 enhancements -- a redesigned 3D lighting system in Action that produces cast shadows and realistic 3D lighting artifacts, support for geometry cache animation import from Autodesk animation software via Autodesk FBX software, and Flame FX creative and technical tools for common finishing tasks 
· A comprehensive stereo 3D (S3D) toolset for editing, monitoring, compositing and delivering S3D projects
· Integrated tools for color correction, keying and advanced 3D compositing
· Conform and finishing workflow with Apple Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer via AAF and XML import 
· Support for native media from H.264 from DSLRs to full-resolution R3D media 

An Autodesk Smoke 2012 for Mac OS X license is available at a suggested retail price of $14,995. Autodesk Subscription is available for purchase simultaneously with the product license for $1,995 MSRP per year. Subscription program benefits include software extensions, version upgrades and product support, as well as access to exclusive training materials during the Subscription term. Smoke 2012 is also available for a free  30-day trial download. Students can join the  Autodesk Smoke student community to access a free 36-month license.