Autodesk expands presence in on-set production and announces it has closed acquisition of production management solution PIX as part of its strategy for the future.

On February 4, 2024, Autodesk announced the company had entered an agreement to acquire PIX of X2X. PIX is a production management solution for secure review and content collaboration between creatives and executives in the media and entertainment industry throughout the production process.

The acquisition was part of a strategy started two years earlier and clearly expressed in Autodesk’s 2023 State of Design and Make report, that found that media and entertainment companies cite operational efficiency and value creation as key business drivers. The PIX acquisition would strongly deliver on both of these customer-driven outcomes by fostering broader collaboration and communication, as well as driving greater efficiencies in the production process to save customers time and money. The acquisition would also support Autodesk’s vision to fully realize the potential of connecting pre- and post-production data for our customers through Flow, the Media & Entertainment industry cloud on Autodesk’s Design and Make platform.

Efficiency has long been a major problem in the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry. Assets often need to be recreated, data is saved in incompatible formats, and important information can be easily lost in webs of files and folders. These issues cause a lot of rework for Autodesk customers, costing them time and money.

To help solve some of these challenges, the company says, “we are building Flow, the Autodesk industry cloud for M&E. Our vision for Flow sounds simple–unite data, workflows, and teams in the cloud to enable more efficient collaboration up and down the production pipeline–but delivering on that vision is anything but.”

To start, “we knew we had to think beyond post-production where our content creation and production management tools are best-in-class. Much of the data and relevant information that our customers rely on is generated on set, yet because these two phases of production have historically been disconnected, it often doesn’t make it all the way downstream, getting lost in the process and causing considerable inefficiency.”

So, two years ago, Autodesk took a step into on-set production, “expanding upstream to better integrate processes and connections across the entire production chain– a move for Autodesk into new territory and a major part of the company’s vision to bring production into the cloud.  We’ve made great strides with Moxion, exploring opportunities for streamlined connections and building workflows between on set and post-production.”

Fast forward to today, and with the acquisition of PIX officially closed, Autodesk is accelerating its position on set, now bringing the studios along on its journey. According to the company, “the addition of PIX to Autodesk will make it easier to share data captured on set with studio executives and production teams, fostering broader collaboration and linking a previously disparate workflow. Connecting PIX’s production management solution to Flow will ensure a better flow of data to all stakeholders and help reduce inefficiency.”

By combining the expertise and strong network of the PIX team with Autodesk’s resources and cloud technology capabilities—and connecting it all with Flow—we can, the company notes, “improve customer experiences and transform how films and TV shows are made.”