April 7, 2005

AUTODESK UNVEILS TOXIK FOR FILM COMPOSITING

LAS VEGAS - Montreal's Autodesk, formerly Discreet (www.discreet.com), is at the NAB show with its Toxik digital compositing solution for feature film production. The tool is an end-to-end pipeline solution that is the result of several years of work by the company to create a technology that addresses new integrated, collaborative workflows. Based on the Oracle database, Toxik combines centralized data management with advanced creative tools and high dynamic range image processing.

Autodesk sees the software-only Toxik as a solution for 2K and 4K film studios with more than five seats as its main market. Its secondary market would be high-end post facilities with more than five seats. The release includes creative tools for compositing and visual effects creation. Reaction is Autodesk's next-generation 3D compositing environment. Suave is a 32-bit HDR-capable software renderer. Touch UI is an interface for fast, on-screen compositing interaction.

Toxik is designed for the PC/Windows/Linux environment. One creative seat will be priced at $6,500. Five to 10 seats would make up a typical work environment. There is also a mandatory $2,500 annual charge per seat as part of a maintenance/support/subscription program.