{"id":1325,"date":"2009-10-02T01:07:46","date_gmt":"2009-10-02T07:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2010-03-23T05:25:14","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T05:25:14","slug":"turbosquid-signs-an-autodesk-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/1325\/blog\/turbosquid-signs-an-autodesk-deal","title":{"rendered":"Turbosquid Signs an Autodesk Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first glance<\/a>, I nearly fainted because I thought this was yet another Autodesk merger deal<\/a> that I’d have to write my congressman about. \u00a0To my surprise (and dare I say relief) it is not. \u00a0I’ve got a few thoughts on the matter, but I’ve been told that brevity is not my strong suit so I’ll try to get my point across quickly.<\/p>\n

Good things<\/h2>\n

There are a lot of good things to be had here. \u00a0According to Matt Wisdom’s blog post<\/a> that’s going to mean as much as a 20x increase in their targetable audience. \u00a0Now I balk at these quotes because they tend to be blown way out of proportion. \u00a0But if you actually browse Autodesk’s Seek<\/a> you’ll find that the aggregate content offering is unexpectedly thin, and what’s\u00a0there isn’t up to the level of quality I’ve become accustomed to on Turbosquid. \u00a0When you blend this thirst for quality content with even the more modest estimates of traffic growth, you get a smoothie that’s quite digestible\u00a0for the Turbosquid content creator.<\/p>\n

From a strategic standpoint, Matt’s also right in that Revit and other advances are forcing CAD users to meet a higher bar of visual quality, and Turbosquid needs to be on the forefront of that. \u00a0Merging these two platforms to help prepare for that trend looks like a good strategic move.<\/p>\n

What Does it Mean<\/h2>\n

For you and me? \u00a0Right now? \u00a0Not a whole lot. \u00a0These kinds of things take time to ramp up, and Autodesk is nothing if not a lumbering behemoth of a company. \u00a0I’m afraid I can’t put a timeframe on this for you, but it’d be a good idea to start shoring up your inventory now to make sure you’re in a good place when visitors come looking for refrigerators, hot carts, and couches.<\/p>\n

In the long run, I generally see good forces coming together here. \u00a0Your products will get exposed to more traffic and more traffic almost always means more sales.<\/p>\n

Things to Watch Out For<\/h2>\n

This deal does have a few things I think we’ll want to watch out for.<\/p>\n

First, the content that Autodesk Seek provides and the content that Turbosquid provides are different in that the Seek merchandise is real. \u00a0You can find an American Standard toilet in Seek and know that there’s a real manufacturer behind it, and that the model is made to the specifications of the real thing<\/em>. <\/em>I’ve found that Turbosquid’s content base is skewed\u00a0toward things that look good, but aren’t exactly made from the manufacturer’s blueprints. \u00a0The items that are<\/em> to specification cost more because they’re usually quite good.<\/p>\n

Targeting Seek’s CAD audience looks like it’s going to require a different tactic on our part as content creators. \u00a0It’s going to emphasize more careful work. \u00a0While this doesn’t mean modeling like a surgeon, it does mean you’ll have to try adding precision to your speed\/quality mixture. \u00a0I’m half-expecting a validation service like “Game-Ready Submission” except geared toward architectural visualization. \u00a0Judging by the visual appeal of Seek’s inventory, I’m confident that most of you out there can rock this party, regardless. \u00a0And don’t forget that corporate players have deeper pockets- don’t feel bad charging more money for that model<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Second, I’m always wary of Autodesk getting fresh with companies I like. \u00a0They’re like a claims adjuster- they might seem nice but in reality they have an agenda that might not be in your best interest. \u00a0The cynic in me says this looks a lot like Autodesk trying to reinforce a humdrum product with Turbosquid, and the latter being oblivious and happy to stand in the shadow of such a large corporation. \u00a0But I don’t often listen to the cynic in me- he’s depressing. \u00a0Turbosquid isn’t staffed by idiots or they wouldn’t have made it this far. \u00a0I’m sure they’re keeping this deal at arm’s length, and both companies will walk away better for the cooperation.<\/p>\n

So that’s the rundown from my perspective. \u00a0As always, we’ll see what happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turbosquid signed a deal to become the exclusive provider of content to Autodesk’s Seek marketplace. I provide my thoughts on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[182,144],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mrbluesummers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}