Autodesk Acquiring LoUPE Cloud-Based Animation Pipeline Tech from Tangent Labs

Autodesk, maker of Maya software, has announced the acquisition of Loupe, a cloud-based production pipeline technology for artists and studios. Loupe was launched publicly last year. It integrates all aspects of cg production into one package, from asset and project management to render management, while reducing the need for elaborate on-site infrastructure. It is compatible with major software including Blender and Autodesk Maya. Support for SideFX’s Houdini, Epic Games’ Unreal, and Pixar’s Universal Scene Description (USD) is planned.

As part of the deal, Autodesk is hiring the team that created Loupe at Toronto-based Tangent Labs. (Tangent Labs’ sister company, Tangent Animation, abruptly shut down last August.) Among the people joining the Autodesk team is Tangent Labs founder Jeff Bell, along with his development team who have extensive software expertise in asset management and real time reporting and analytics. Well known in the 3D animation industry, Jeff started his career at Alias Wavefront, the original developers of Maya, and previously worked at Autodesk on the Maya team. His animation and asset management expertise are expected to help drive the future of production in the cloud, and shape future industry collaborations.

By combining the LoUPE pipeline and Tangent Lab talent with Autodesk’s skill in production management and content creation, the company aims to accelerate development of cloud production tools for the media and entertainment industries.

Autodesk says that Bell’s “animation and asset management expertise will help drive the future of production in the cloud, and shape future industry collaborations.

In a blog post, Diana Colella, svp, entertainment & media solutions at Autodesk, elaborated on how the acquisition would fit into the company’s existing business strategy:

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.

The LoUPE production pipeline uses AWS to increase efficiency and improve the everyday working experience for artists and teams. Data is held in the cloud on AWS S3, so that the team can be located anywhere. LoUPE’s media review, asset and project management tools are tightly integrated, and include real-time reporting and multiple ways to view data.

LoUPE supports Open Source Blender and/or commercial dcc packages, currently integrating with Blender and Maya. Support for Houdini, UnrealEd and Pixar USD will follow. LoUPE can also be used to integrate in-house rendering with AWS Thinkbox Deadline, cloud-based render management. The rendering can be done in the studio or in the cloud, or in combination by augmenting and scaling resources with AWS EC2 instances.

Remote real-time review sessions include playlist creation with resources from anywhere in LoUPE, scrub and mark-up, and task assignment. LoUPE also integrates with Teradici virtual workstations. www.autodesk.com