Advertisers and movie studios relied on technology from Autodesk to tackle the cutting-edge visual effects and animation integral to delivering their Super Bowl XLIII message.

"Super Bowl commercials and trailers are some of the most demanding entertainment projects in the world," says Bruno Sargeant, senior industry manager for television and broadcast, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "For over 15 years, leading creatives have relied on a variety of Autodesk solutions to shape awe-inspiring content."

Several movie studios unveiled movie trailers during the Super Bowl to generate excitement for upcoming releases. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) worked on two films whose trailers aired during the game: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Star Trek. On both projects, ILM used Autodesk Maya 3D modeling, animation and rendering software and Autodesk Inferno visual effects software as part of ILM's SABRE system.

Numerous postproduction facilities used Autodesk technology to work on the creation of Super Bowl commercials:

• Brickyard VFX worked on an impressive number of commercials: Bud Light Lime's "Sphere of Summer" and "Thugs," a commercial for a Denny's campaign. Both were shaped with the Autodesk Flame visual effects software. (Maya was also used on the Budweiser commercial.) In addition, Brickyard VFX used the Autodesk Smoke finishing effects software on Cash4Gold.com's "One Up."

• PSYOP created three commercials that aired during the game: Coca Cola's "Heist," Kellogg's "Plant a Seed" and "Fandamonium" for Monster.com. All were created with Flame, Maya and Softimage|XSI 3D modeling, animation and rendering software.

• The Mill worked on the Gatorade "Manifesto" multi-commercial campaign using Flame, Maya and Autodesk Combustion compositing software and "The Chase" for Audi using Flame and Combustion.

• Method Studios created six commercials using a host of Autodesk tools. Method used Flame and Combustion on five commercials: "Tips" for Career Builders, the Ladders' "Little Creatures" and "Chairs," and Pepsi's "Pass" and "Refresh Anthem"--on which Maya was also used
  . Method also used Flame and Maya on Hulu's "Alec in Huluwood" commercial.

• Framestore NY had a prolific Super Bowl season with six commercials: Bridgestone's two-commercial campaign "Hot Item" and "Taters," and General Electric's "Scarecrow." All were all shaped with Flame and Maya. As well, Framestore used Flame on E-Trade's "401K" and "Wings," and on "Double Take" for Monster.com.

• MPC used Flame for compositing and 3D projection and Autodesk Burn, a Linux-based rendering software, for Pedigree "Crazy Pets."

• Smoke & Mirrors New York used Flame for conforming and compositing the Castrol "Grease Monkeys" commercial.

• Asylum worked on two commercials that aired during the game: Coke Zero "Mean Troy" using Inferno, Smoke and Flame and Teleflora "Talking Flowers" using Inferno, Smoke, Flame, and Maya for modeling, rigging, animation and lighting of the flower.

• Radium used Maya and Inferno for the Nextel "Roadies" commercial as well as for two Sprint commercials that aired pre-game: "Highschool" and "Petals."

• AXYZ worked on the Budweiser "Fetch" commercial using Inferno.