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Autodesk Licenses Support and Learning Material with Creative Commons

  • By Kevin Hudson
  • 07/25/13

Autodesk, provider of 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software and services, has licensed its Media and Entertainment support, along with learning content for its 2014 product line, with Creative Commons.

Creative Commons provides an infrastructure for copyright licenses and tools that seek to create a balance between traditional copyright law and the potential for collaborative sharing of content allowed by the Internet. According to the Creative Commons Web site, these tools are designed to "give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions" a way to keep copyright intact while allowing certain uses of their work to make content "more compatible with the full potential of the internet."

For Autodesk, the need for a more open approach to licensing was realized when a French-speaking 3D and multimedia studies instructor sought to legally translate the audio of videos from the Autodesk 3ds Max Learning Channel from English to French for his students to use.

According to a company release, the "legal complexities of traditional copyright agreements proved insurmountable," which ruled out the possibility of a legal translation of the free academic content from English to French.

"The new digital world is forging powerful networked communities of people eager to share their knowledge and expertise and to mentor each other, and we can play an important part in making that happen," said Chris Bradshaw, Autodesk senior vice president, in a company release. "With Creative Commons, we are adopting an easy-to-follow legal infrastructure for the worldwide user community to effectively share knowledge. I can't wait to see what artists create: a Finnish translation of new Maya software features or an independent school in Bangladesh teaching 3D animation — the possibilities are limitless."

Organizations and artists that already license content using Creative Commons copyright tools include Google, Flickr, MIT OpenCourseWare, and Nine Inch Nails.

About the Author

Kevin Hudson is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Oregon. He can be reached at [email protected].

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