Autodesk embraces Creative Commons

Autodesk, Inc. announced that its Media & Entertainment (M&E) support and learning content for its 2014 product line is now live and available under Creative Commons (CC) licensing. In total, the company has made available 20,000 pages of documentation, 70 videos and 140 downloadable 3D files, so far.

The company established the Autodesk Open Learning Initiative in response to a request from Paul Duguay, a 3D and multimedia studies instructor at the Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada. After discovering a series of videos on the Autodesk 3ds Max Learning Channel that fit his curriculum needs, Duguay wanted to translate the audio into French as well as provide his students with legal access to the videos from the college’s website.

Eventually Duguay hoped to share his video translations with the wider French speaking 3ds Max community. Unfortunately, the legal complexities of traditional copyright agreements proved insurmountable. Thanks to the Creative Commons framework, Autodesk is now able to facilitate creative sharing and the Power of Open.

According to the company, the Autodesk Knowledge Network is initially implementing Creative Commons licensing for the media and entertainment industry, but also plans to publish product help materials across the company under the license. In addition, Autodesk intends to place its Knowledge Base and Discussion Forums, as well as past and future training content from Autodesk University under the Creative Commons model.
http://area.autodesk.com/creativecommons