Autodesk makes its software free for schools
Educators and students now have free access to key game development tools
Autodesk is making more than 100 of its products available to educators and students for free.
That includes software packages that are widely used in game development, like 3DS Max and Maya. Autodesk claims that the initiative will reach 680 million students in 800,000 schools - both secondary and higher education.
And this is a global effort. Autodesk made its software free to academic institutions in the US earlier this year, but that has expanded to 188 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific and beyond.
"The way we make things is changing rapidly, and we need a workforce ready to design for new manufacturing and construction techniques," said Autodesk CEO Carl Bass. "By providing free professional design tools to students, faculty members and academic institutions around the world, we're helping get industry ready for the next phase."
Autodesk has been active in improving its products this year, acquiring both Bitsquid and Shotgun Software in June.