00:05Welcome, gentlemen. How are you?
00:07Good. How are you doing?
00:08I'm doing very well. So in my research for...
00:10Before today, I came across an adage that has stuck with me, which was, if God didn't make
00:14it, Autodesk probably did. Now, that may have been fed to me from your PR team.
00:19Okay.
00:19I can't confirm or deny. But it does speak to the ubiquity of this company.
00:24So for those who are uninitiated, can you just give us the sort of elevator pitch of what
00:28Autodesk is?
00:30Yeah. So, I mean, Autodesk is really around 3D design software and almost everything that's
00:35actually made.
00:35Nowadays, it starts with 3D design, whether it's a building or whether it's something
00:40that's manufactured.
00:40Like your phone or whether it's a movie right now, you have to make, you know, for VFX and
00:44things like that.
00:45You have to do 3D character animation and 3D character design. So that's really what Autodesk...
00:50Autodesk is about. And it really is true that this building, almost every single movie, like
00:54it's a pretty...
00:55ubiquitous in terms of, like, if you have to design it in 3D, Autodesk is there.
00:59So how long has this technology been around?
01:00I mean, 3D technology, you know, it really, say, go back like...
01:05You know, 30 years or so. It kind of depends on the industry. It was very useful, like...
01:10People probably know the product AutoCAD, which is, you know, like around for a long time.
01:15In the film industry, it was really around, sort of, say, like the Jurassic Park time when...
01:20People started to be aware of, like...
01:21A lot of world building.
01:22It's really, yeah, world building and really, like, driving, sort of...
01:25Like, artists to achieve their creative visions, yeah.
01:28That was a very succinct elevator pitch. Thank you.
01:30Thank you so much.
01:31So, in this space, what have been your biggest challenges as of late?
01:35When you are working to democratize these technologies and also monetize them.
01:40As this is a business.
01:41But also keeping human beings always at the center of your work.
01:45Because I know this is a toggling, it's probably difficult.
01:48But tell me how you're managing that balance.
01:50Yeah.
01:51Well, the difficult thing is coming up with a safe word for the orgy.
01:56Thank you, Daniel, for setting the stage.
01:58Hi.
01:59What is our safe word for...
02:00For tonight, by the way.
02:01I'm going to propose rhubarb is the safe word for tonight.
02:04So...
02:05If we're ever getting out of line, just say rhubarb and we'll take it back.
02:08Okay.
02:09I mean, honestly, it's interesting...
02:10Because like some of the problems we deal with are like very new and futuristic.
02:13And some are actually very old and archaic.
02:15So like, you know, one of the things we're dealing with is making a movie is still very
02:18inefficient.
02:19There's like so many people involved...
02:20And so much data involved that actually just managing those people and data and getting
02:23them to collaborate.
02:24Especially animated films are...
02:25Video games can take a decade.
02:26Yeah, video games.
02:27Everything.
02:28Yeah.
02:29And so the first...
02:30Sort of archaic thing that people might be surprised by is like the management of that
02:34data and make...
02:35Making it so that artists can use whatever tools they want to use and the data is just
02:38there for them if they should have it and it's not there if they shouldn't.
02:40Is sort of the archaic thing.
02:42And then of course the, you know, more futuristic...
02:45Thing is what everybody's talking about which is AI and really trying to figure out how...
02:50Should all of this work with AI in the future and really coming together as...
02:55An industry to make sure it's done in a way that is, you know, respectful of creatives,
02:59respectful of the business...
03:00And, you know, really with reverence for the art.
03:03So is the AI in this context...
03:05About data storage and making that more efficient sort of cloud-based storage.
03:10Well, I mean, there's some aspects of that.
03:12So the data management, there is some aspects of that.
03:14Really like the root of...
03:15All AI is data actually.
03:17And so being able to manage your data effectively...
03:20Is how you can actually take advantage of AI.
03:23And also like a lot of studios that we work with...
03:25They're interested.
03:26They have a lot of data.
03:27They are not really interested in having people steal their data.
03:30And just profit off of it.
03:31But they are interested in leveraging their data.
03:33And getting more value out of it for them.
03:35Themselves because it's theirs.
03:36And so the more you can organize the data, the more that you can manage it.
03:39The more you can...
03:40You can do that yourself.
03:41And so we're very big on, you know...
03:43Autodesk is also not interested in stealing any...
03:45Of anybody's data and profiting off of it.
03:47But we are interested in working with the industry to...
03:50Try to figure out the best way to make this work for the creatives.
03:53And you have a great tool called Flose.
03:55In the studio.
03:56And I want to know who are the artists who would most benefit from this tool.
03:59And just tell us a little...
04:00Tell us a little bit about what this tool is for those who may not know what it is.
04:02Yeah.
04:03I mean, Flow Studio is really how we're...
04:05Trying to reimagine filmmaking for the future.
04:09Because filmmaking has...
04:10It's always been evolving, but with AI, we think it's going to change quite a bit.
04:15And I actually don't think we look at it as the same way as like some others as like an open AI might work.
04:20Or, you know, they just want you to go and prompt something and generate a video...
04:23That's the part that we don't like, generating...
04:25Yes.
04:25And we don't like that either.
04:26And particularly because like our customers, they've got...
04:30Jobs to do.
04:31And as Daniel said, they're all working crazy hours.
04:33I mean, it's a very weird thing.
04:35That everybody's overworked and afraid of losing their job at the same time and all the jobs going...
04:40It's a strange conundrum for sure.
04:41Yeah.
04:42And so, you know, with Flow Studio, we're trying to imagine how can we use...
04:45AI to accelerate artists working the way that they want to work today.
04:50And...
04:50And so, the initial sort of workflow was like, it's kind of magical actually.
04:55It was...
04:56You could upload your video and you could basically select some characters in the video and you
05:00say, I want to...
05:00Replace it with this 3D character, right?
05:01Something that you might do in a traditional VFX workflow.
05:04Behind...
05:05Behind the scenes, it does a bunch of different stuff.
05:07It streams together a workflow of many, many...
05:10Smaller AI models to sort of do the things in the traditional tool chain.
05:14So, it'll go to do some rotoscopes...
05:15Hoping to remove the human.
05:16It'll do some camera tracking to estimate the camera motion.
05:19It'll...
05:20Estimate your lighting and things like that.
05:21And none of it's perfect, right?
05:23But it's a really good head start and it actually...
05:25It gets artists to...
05:26You know, professional artists who have like a very long task to do.
05:30We like to say it'll remove the worst, you know, 50% of their job.
05:34The most boring part so they can...
05:35And focus on the creative output.
05:36Well, that quality of life aspect that Danielle talked about.
05:38Yeah.
05:39So, it's...
05:40You're not removing...
05:40People's jobs.
05:41You're allowing that artist to maybe get home for dinner.
05:43Correct.
05:44Yeah.
05:45And then...
05:45I think the other aspect is that we're really interested in is...
05:48You know, Daniel talked about the gatekeeping...
05:50That's gonna be my next question.
05:51Yes.
05:52Talk about that.
05:53It's really hard to make a movie.
05:54This is why I'm like, you know, I'm...
05:55Every movie screening I go to, the filmmaker says, this took me seven years and I'll...
06:00It almost killed me, right?
06:01Like, it's...
06:02It's a really difficult thing.
06:03So, like, we think...
06:04We want the process to be joyful...
06:05Right.
06:06If possible.
06:07Because, you know, seeking to enjoy the process only when it's completed is sort of...
06:10Removing a lot of joy from our life in the meantime.
06:12Exactly.
06:13Exactly.
06:14Yeah.
06:15And so, we think this technology can be used...
06:15To enable a lot of people who have really good stories to tell but haven't been able to tell
06:18them because...
06:20Because, you know, it's...
06:21If you want to make a sci-fi movie with robots, it's really difficult to do that now.
06:25But we think the technology for Flow Studio can actually enable you to do that.
06:30Okay.
06:31So, is this a consumer product that someone can buy and install on their desktop?
06:35It's...
06:35It's actually a web product.
06:36So, you can just go there.
06:37You can go there right now.
06:38There's a free tier.
06:39You can just try it.
06:40You can try it out today.
06:41Yeah.
06:42So, it's really...
06:43It's an artistic tool that people can use to make...
06:45And it's mostly animated films and art-heavy films.
06:48We're not talking like general live action.
06:50Well, there's a lot of general live action that does have sort of like character work
06:54in it.
06:55So, it could...
06:55It could be used for that.
06:56This is also the sort of the initial workflow.
06:58We think that AI can sort of...
07:00Accelerate and empower creatives for all different kinds of things.
07:04So, Flow Studio is where...
07:05A lot of those re-imagining of the workflows will go.
07:08Yeah.
07:09And when have you...
07:10Have you been most proud of something that you've helped to usher and create and you've
07:14seen someone apply?
07:15How do you apply it in a way that you feel 10 or even 5 years ago wasn't possible for
07:19them to accomplish?
07:20How do you accomplish that goal?
07:21I think I...
07:22So, not to make this about me, but I'm also an amateur filmmaker.
07:24This is about you.
07:25How are you?
07:26I'm not just a technologist.
07:27I'm also an amateur filmmaker.
07:29And when we acquired Flow Studio...
07:30I wanted to see...
07:32Because I don't do VFX.
07:33I'm not an artist.
07:34I can't do...
07:35I can't do those things.
07:36But I wanted to see...
07:37Could I make a short film with a robot as a character?
07:40In 48 hours.
07:41Because I thought with the technology we should be able to.
07:43And so we actually went...
07:45And we did that.
07:46And it was magical, to be honest.
07:48It was literally a story I could not tell.
07:50Previous to this technology.
07:54It didn't take anybody's job because...
07:55I literally couldn't do it before.
07:56And in fact, if I wanted to do this on a sort of a more higher end...
08:00project, it would probably create jobs because now I can create this film.
08:03And this gives me a head start and I could actually hire...
08:05people to go get it the rest of the way, but make it more economical for me to do it.
08:09And where can we see...
08:10Can you see this film?
08:11Oh boy.
08:12It's probably on YouTube somewhere.
08:14What's it called?
08:15Because we're all going to look it up later.
08:16It's called Frenchy.
08:17It stars my wife actually.
08:18She's an actress.
08:19Yeah.
08:20So...
08:21That's very sweet.
08:22Well, Matt, I wish we had so much more time with you, but thank you so much for...
08:25I think it's given a lot of us a lot to think about.
08:27And I'm very interested in Flow Studio now.
08:29And I'm not artistic at all.
08:30So you've really made an impact.
08:31Thank you so much.
08:32Thank you very much.
08:33Thank you, everyone.
08:35Thank you very much.
08:36Thank you very much.
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