Every creative professional worth his salt would be familiar with Autodesk, the world’s largest design software company, with more than 9 million users globally, and recently named number 25 on Fast Company's list of "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies."

Today, TAXI sits down with Sebastian Sylwan, Media & Entertainment's Senior Film Industry Manager for Autodesk. Responsible for researching market opportunities and trends in the global film market, Sebastian works closely with Autodesk's customers and partners to further the understanding and use of digital technologies. His insights help ensure that the company's products meet customers' production challenges and allow Autodesk to extend its leadership into new areas. We delve deep into the mind of the individual who has been instrumental in leading Autodesk's strategy for stereoscopic 3D.



TAXI >>Hello Sebastian. As the barriers of entry to creating new digital content becomes ever lower due to technologies and software developed by Autodesk, how important is the role of technicality today in the developing and production of content?

Sebastian Sylwan>>Technology (and Digital Technology in particular) has a very important and prominent role in today’s production environment, well beyond the original beachheads of VFX or animation. Technology has permeated the entire process. However, technology is only as important as the purpose it serves, and it is not inherently good or bad.

One of the main reasons for such pervasive adoption is that it has allowed for processes that were before strictly technical, to become creative ones. Take for example color grading. It used to be a strictly technical process that has now become an integral part of the creative process.

The same has happened with 3D and previsualization. What used to be a technical rendition of a creative vision is now exploration in a sophisticated virtual environment.

Autodesk solutions enable not only the creative artists but the entire creative process by addressing the needs of the all creative stakeholders holistically - the creative leader/visionary (e.g. producer/director), the individual creator (the animator, colorist, editor, etc.), as well as the production team (i.e. the programmers and the collaborative group).

TAXI >>As the number of schools offering programs in digital media, specifically film, video, broadcast, games development, general animation and visual effects has increased significantly, what do you feel are some of the biggest challenges facing the students of today?

Sebastian Sylwan>>I only wish these schools and programs were around when I started my career in this industry!

There is such a broad range of offerings, and a very good quality of training and education. The drawback is that it isn’t always clear for a student which is the best program for their desired career path.

What all the excellent courses cannot give the students is the experience of a fast-paced and challenging production environment. It takes a lot more than the knowledge of tools to become a successful artist, TD, or supervisor. Every facility works slightly differently and the interaction with other people in your group is a key aspects to good work. The most successful schools simulate such environments, but there’s no substitute for real world experience.


TAXI >>Siggraph Asia represents an important step forward in the digital industry, as it is the first time that the premier event has set up roots in Asia. As India and China set themselves up to be production giants, what does this mean for the global paradigm in years to come?

Sebastian Sylwan>>From the market perspective, China, India and other countries are starting to grow past the outsourcing model. They have started to generate their own content for local audiences with different sensitivities. The production environment on the other hand is more and more globalized and fragmented, with many companies setting up global production pipelines that function around the clock.

Having access to large pools of skilled artists, and establishing strong communications and processes between geographically dispersed teams are some of the implications. I believe this is just the beginning, with much more to come as skills improve, technical and organizational hurdles are overcome and demand keeps going global.

TAXI >>What have been some of the hardest lessons Autodesk has taken away from working with its global clients?

Sebastian Sylwan>>I believe there are some aspects of production that are the same on a global basis and some others that need to be addressed differently. The contribution we bring to the table is based on the same expertise that is gained globally but needs to be adapted to the local requirements and specific needs. Every market, and every client, needs to be understood and helped in a different way - just like our clients treat every project differently, yet the same way.

TAXI >>Apart from investing heavily in education, what else is Autodesk focusing its resources on in the near future, and can you elaborate a bit more on these areas?

Sebastian Sylwan>>On a strategic level, we focus on a three areas. Of course, providing artists with the best creative tools is one of our main areas of focus. We believe that the creative immersion made possible by real-time tools with their unobtrusive fast interaction enable better creative exploration. Furthermore, artists work in a collaborative environment. Enabling efficient workflows and empowering collective production has a direct impact on the bottom line, but more importantly on the final results. Projects are so complex nowadays that they could not be realized with a highly integrated pipeline. A third area of focus is the fact that the production environment is increasingly virtualized and non-linear. Many processes that were outside of the digital realm are now entering it in a very fast way, enabling an amount of flexibility and collaboration that was not possible before.

At the same time, we keep providing innovation at the product level on many fronts, from sustainable design to new visual effects technologies. Within Autodesk Media & Entertainment we continue to innovate with new technologies across a broad range of applications. Examples include the Autodesk Maya Nucleus simulation framework; real-time dynamics in Autodesk MotionBuilder software; viewport-based photometric-area lights and the Exposure daylight analysis in Autodesk 3ds Max, and the Autodesk Toxik compositing software’s architecture.

Performance is another area that gets constant attention: 64-bit, multi-threading, GPUs, more intelligent assets for data-centric workflows, and broader ranges of operating systems, etc.

TAXI >>Autodesk’s technologies enable its customers to visualize, simulate and analyze the real-world performances of their ideas early in the design process, purportedly saving time, money, improve quality and foster innovation. What has been the demographic that benefits the most from these advances, and what has been the least?

Sebastian Sylwan>>Technology has had a strong impact on the digital creation of entertainment, and in the manufacturing, automotive, architecture, engineering and construction industries.

Visualizing ideas enables creative exploration. There are many ways technology impacts the work of various creative stakeholders:

• Artists get better creative tools

• Tools become more sophisticated but less complex after maturity, and they end up un-mediated in the hands of creative decision makers. For example, Autodesk MotionBuilder used for on-set direction or Mudbox for digital sculpting.

• Everybody involved benefits from taking the headache out of the collaborative process and enabling better, more efficient production workflows.

In the end I would say that those who benefit most are moviegoers since the tools get used to produce better stories.

It’s hard to find who has benefited least from these, but I guess as we offer professional tools, the consumer market has not yet fully benefitted from our 3D technology.

TAXI >>As different platforms gradually converge, what are some of the trends that we can expect to see emerging from this in the near future?

Sebastian Sylwan>>With production pipelines becoming entirely digital, and the convergence between games, film and television content creation tools there is an opportunity for more “digital continuity” - creating a digital asset once and repurposing it in many ways for many different entertainment and communications projects.

I also expect to see a more common narrative and language cross-pollination between different but contiguous mediums.

TAXI >>What is the WORD, which you think would reside and reverberate in the creative world for the next 10 years?

Sebastian Sylwan>>The word has not changed. It continues to be “storytelling”. Story remains king and key to the success of entertainment projects.


This interview was made possible with the assistance of Autodesk Inc., Asher Communications and SIGGRAPH Asia.



..........................................................................................................



..........................................................................................................
Read OTHER INTERVIEWS on DESIGN LEADERS

Shelly Lazarus & Jerry Della Femina

Steff Geissbuhler & Marcio Salem

Mary Warlick & Simon Waterfall
..........................................................................................................



© 2003 - 2009 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.