Getting started with Autodesk's APIs

Autodesk has a wide range of products that expose Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), to the point that it can be a bit overwhelming for developers new to our products. A great place to look for introductory information around developing with Autodesk software is the Developer Center on Autodesk.com: http://www.autodesk.com/developer From here you will be able to navigate to individual Developer Centers for a number of our products, some of which I’ve provided direct links to below: http://www.autodesk.com/developmaya (Maya) http://www.autodesk.com/develop3dsMax (3ds Max) http://www.autodesk.com/developmotionbuilder (MotionBuilder) http://www.autodesk.com/developfbx (FBX)

Each of these Developer Centers contains a collection of resources that you, as an Autodesk developer, can harness to implement software based on an Autodesk platform, integrated with Autodesk product or service, or containing Autodesk component technology.

For instance, the Maya Developer Center contains the Maya Python API Training Webcast Archive, the training material my team uses when training aspiring Maya Python developers around the world (note C++ developers would benefit from the training as well since the Maya C++ and Python API are almost a 1 to 1 match). These Developer Centers also contain information on how to access the various developer-related documentation that ship with our products and SDKs.

Aside from offline learning resources, you’ll also find links to the discussion groups and to the Autodesk Developer Network, should you need to get support from other members of the Autodesk development community or directly from Autodesk.