Project Pinocchio to graduate to Autodesk Character Generator

Recall what I mentioned when Project Pinocchio first launched: We will continue to offer desktop applications bundled into Suites for years to come; however, eventually you are going to want to do everything from your mobile phone or tablet device. Yes we could port our powerful applications to iPhones and the wide variety of flavors of Android devices, attempting to account for the particulars of each one, or we can make our applications available as services from servers in the cloud with lots of CPU power and memory suited to the job. As a step in this direction, the Media & Entertainment (M&E) division asked you to try your hand at character generation using a web-based solution. No download. No install. Just a web browser.

Project Pinocchio is our technology preview that leverages Autodesk's powerful 3D design and animation tools so you can create fully-rigged custom 3D characters. You design a creation of your own or modify existing stock characters using a variety of pre-defined body types, facial features, and clothing styles for inclusion in 3D games, animations, and scenes. You can create, customize, and download your very own rigged 3D characters from a catalog of over 100 body types, outfits, hairstyles, and physical attributes in a few simple steps.

The technology preview was a rousing success! Thanks to everyone who participated. When it comes to releasing software, at Autodesk we don't normally share specific dates. Too many things are subject to change. We remain vague until the very end so as not to over commit ourselves; however, in this case I am going to bend that rule.

• February 11, 2014

  We will take the existing Project Pinocchio technology preview site down. There is a really good chance this will happen on this date.

• February 18, 2014

  We will bring up a new production-quality site under the banner of Autodesk Character Generator. For users who participated in the technology preview, the plan is to migrate the user generated content (characters designs, not generated characters) from the technology preview. There is a good chance that this will happen on this date, but as you can imagine, it is a more complicated endeavor to bring up a new site complete with migrated content versus shutting down an old site. It is possible that the site could emerge without the migrated data or only a portion of the data (e.g., no clothes).

I know the story of Pinocchio is about a boy whose nose grew every time he lied. What I am sharing here is the truth based on information as of today; however, things are subject to change, so don't be disappointed if the dates vary a little bit.

Gazing into the crystal ball is alive in the lab.