MUMBAI: For the past 12 years, films winning Oscars in the best visual effects category are the ones which have been shaped by Autodesk technology. And now by winning the 80th Annual Academy Award in best visual effects category, The Golden Compass has marked one more testimony in the records of Autodesk technology.

Framestore CFC used Autodesk Maya 3D modelling, animation and rendering software and the Inferno visual effects system to shape The Golden Compass.

"Autodesk Maya was used as part of our visual effects pipeline, to create and light all the challenging polar environments, ice and snow shots in the film. Maya, with its wide-reaching flexibility, has always been a terrific package for us, easily and efficiently enabling integration of our in-house tools and other packages in our pipeline," said Framestore CFC's computer graphics supervisor Laurent Hugueniot.

In the best animated film category from Sony Pictures Animation, artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks used the Autodesk Lustre colour grading system for the final grade of nominated film Surf's Up, directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. Maya was used extensively to create the complex final water animation sequence.

"It was necessary to develop animation rigs and tools that could produce physically accurate water motion and at the same time be intricately directed and art directed. The Maya software's extensibility made the process flow smoothly, providing the riggers with a platform to develop a unique character rig for the waves providing the animators with a high-performance animation and layout environment," explained lead wave animator John Clark.

Autodesk, specialising in 2D and 3D-design software, has also been used to shape Academy Award-nominated films like Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End, No Country for Old Men, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Atonement.