FWIW: John left in 1994 (same year I did) and technically Autodesk had acquired 3D Studio in 1990, though the Yost group was still developing it, so acquired is a generous term. The product was sold through Autodesk's dealer channels. The branding and marketing was all Autodesk.
John had little to nothing to do with 3D studio however, there was a mild competition within the company with two different 3D rendering (Autoshade and 3D Studio) products. I worked on both, moving from AutoFlix development to helping the Yost group test and market 3D Studio.
