Autodesk Implements Creative Commons Open Learning Initiative

Creative Commons CEO Cathy Casserly calls Autodesk embracing Creative Commons licensing a big win for the design community online. "The power of the Internet lies in how easy it is for people to share and build on each other's work," she says. "CC licenses make that kind of sharing possible without the law getting in the way. In opening its resources, Autodesk is demonstrating that it understands the capacity for creativity and collaboration among its community of users."

The company established the Autodesk Open Learning Initiative in response to a request from Paul Duguay, a 3D and multimedia studies instructor at the Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada. After discovering a series of videos on theAutodesk 3ds Max Learning Channel that perfectly fit his curriculum needs, Duguay wanted to translate the audio into French as well as provide his students with legal access to the videos from the college's website. Eventually, Duguay hoped to share his video translations with the wider French speaking 3ds Max community. Unfortunately, the legal complexities of traditional copyright agreements proved insurmountable. Thanks to the Creative Commons framework, Autodesk is now able to facilitate creative sharing and the  Power of Open.

"The new digital world is forging powerful networked communities of people eager to share their knowledge and expertise and to mentor each other, and we can play an important part in making that happen," says Chris Bradshaw, Autodesk senior vice president. "With Creative Commons, we are adopting an easy-to-follow legal infrastructure for the worldwide user community to effectively share knowledge. I can't wait to see what artists create: a Finnish translation of new Maya software features or an independent school in Bangladesh teaching 3D animation -- the possibilities are limitless." 

The Autodesk Knowledge Network is initially implementing Creative Commons licensing for the media and entertainment industry, but also plans to publish product help materials across the company under the license. In addition, Autodesk intends to place its Knowledge Base and  Discussion Forums, as well as past and future training content from Autodesk University under the Creative Commons model. Once digital content has been released to Creative Commons, it can be modified, remixed, and shared globally.

Earlier this year, Autodesk jumped on board to help maximize digital creativity, sharing and innovation by investing at the Innovator level in Creative Commons, joining Creator level corporate donors, such as Google and eBay; numerous foundations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates; William and Flora Hewlett; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur and Alfred P. Sloan; as well of thousands of committed individual contributors.

Creative Commons is part of Autodesk's ongoing support of students' pursuit of careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Today's students face a challenging job market, and Autodesk's goal is to ensure the next generation of designers, engineers and digital artists have great training and free access to the same software that professionals use every day.

For more information on Autodesk and Creative Commons implementation, visit: http://www.autodesk.com/creativecommons. To participate in the Autodesk Media & Entertainment Creative Commons community, visit:  http://area.autodesk.com/creativecommons.