Products: The Foundry Sparks

When word went out late last year that Autodesk had refused to renew its development license after a 12-year relationship with visual-effects software developer The Foundry, a flurry of website pundits jumped on the news. Bitter comments on graphics forums hinted that the code connection was turned off after The Foundry purchased Digital Domain's Nuke compositing app (considered competitive with a number of Autodesk products including Flame). Who could believe San Jose-based Autodesk, with sales of nearly $2 billion a year, could find tiny, London-based The Foundry any real competition?

Fear not, faithful users of The Foundry's popular Sparks plug-ins for Autodesk products: By late January, contracts had been signed, wounds healed, and all seemed back on track between the two companies. Turns out, though, that you had to act fast to take advantage of those $1,000 fire-sale prices announced for Furnace and Tinder, and $500 for Keylight. Prices went back to their original amounts after Feb. 14.