Creating great entertainment requires talent and imagination, and the will to push boundaries, take risks and tackle the unknown. The same skillset also helps make great software.

One such pool of talent is not far from Autodesk’s office in Toronto, at Tangent Labs. We are delighted to announce that Autodesk is acquiring LoUPE, the powerful cloud-based production pipeline technology for artists and studios, and the team that created it.

We share a common passion—the desire to build software that empowers animators and studios to create the best stories and entertainment. Removing friction from production allows more time for creative ideation and iteration that lets them produce more content, faster.

We believe that a cloud-based production ecosystem for Media & Entertainment (M&E) is the right way to tackle the future needs of the industry. Cloud-based workflows make it easier for artists, producers, and supervisors to work more efficiently and scale with the pace of production. This is a journey we are taking in collaboration with our customers, our partners, industry organizations, and even other software vendors.

This acquisition furthers our mission, and I’m excited about what it brings to Autodesk:  decades of production experience and extensive software expertise in areas such as asset management and real-time reporting & analytics. By combining this with Autodesk’s well-established leadership in production management and content creation, we can accelerate development of our next-generation cloud production tools on the Autodesk platform for M&E.

I’m equally excited that Tangent Labs founder Jeff Bell will be joining Autodesk with his development team. Jeff is a well-respected leader in the 3D animation industry who started his career at Alias Wavefront, and previously worked at Autodesk on the Maya team. In many ways this is a homecoming for him. Jeff’s animation and asset management expertise will help drive the future of production in the cloud, and shape future industry collaborations.

I welcome the new talent, technology, and expertise to Autodesk, and look forward to what we will accomplish together.

To track Autodesk updates for the media and entertainment community visit https://area.autodesk.com/.