SAN FRANCISCO, March 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Game Developers
Conference -- Autodesk, Inc., (Nasdaq: ADSK) has announced new versions of its
two runtime technologies for the game engine -- Autodesk HumanIK 4 animation
middleware and Autodesk Kynapse 6 artificial intelligence (AI) middleware.
Autodesk's high-performance middleware solutions are flexible,
production-proven and backed by solid support. The products have been adopted
for at least 100 triple-A titles, including "FIFA 09" and "Warhammer Online:
Age of Reckoning."
"Autodesk middleware products offer a solution to common runtime
challenges, allowing development teams to concentrate on the creative work
involved in authoring amazing new gameplay experiences," said Marc Stevens,
Autodesk vice president, games. "For example, HumanIK helps to alleviate the
burden of large clip libraries by enabling procedural motion adaptation, which
reduces the number of clips animators need to produce and maintain. With
Kynapse, programmers can avoid the development time and costs involved in
writing custom runtime solutions for universal AI issues, like spatial
awareness."
Autodesk Kynapse 6: Put the Brain in Your Game
Autodesk Kynapse middleware is a leading AI solution for game development
and real-time simulations. With this middleware, developers can conveniently
breathe life into games with characters that have spatial awareness, dynamic
3D pathfinding capabilities and team coordination.
Kynapse was recently adopted by Mythic Entertainment, an EA studio, for
"Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning." "The huge world of 'Warhammer' meant we
needed a very robust pathfinding solution," said Matt Shaw, CTO. "Our entire
player movement system is built around enabling players to go wherever they
are capable of reaching. Autodesk Kynapse gave us an algorithmic exploration
solution that enabled our AI-driven actors to path with the same constraints
and freedom as players."
Kynapse 6 delivers new features that make it easier for game engineers to
integrate the software and get results.
-- Remote Debugger: The new remote debugging tool enables users to
inspect the state of the game variables, with an interactive 3D view
of the debug information. Users can also record and replay sequences,
while retaining access to the data in the recorded files
-- New 3D Pathfinding Technology: The "flat" pathfinding technology
introduced in this release offers simplified data generation
workflows, more flexible runtime data streaming, and the ability to
add new paths on-the-fly at runtime
-- Improved MMO support: Data resources and runtime services can now be
shared across multiple Kynapse worlds, improving support for Massively
Multiplayer On-line games
-- Enhanced Dynamic 3D Pathfinding: With improved CPU performance and
granular control over memory consumption, characters can more easily
avoid dynamic, movable obstacles
-- Hierarchical 3D Pathfinding: Characters can now plan paths that span
the entire breadth of huge maps, even when those maps cannot be loaded
in their entirety. The path is first computed at a low level of
detail, and then refined opportunistically when more detailed data
becomes available, keeping memory usage within set limits
For more information about Autodesk Kynapse 6, visit
www.autodesk.com/kynapse.
Autodesk HumanIK 4: Believable, Runtime Character Animation
HumanIK animation middleware frees animators from having to produce every
possible animation clip by procedurally adapting existing character animation
to game environments at runtime. Also, the technology's runtime retargeting
enables developers to reuse banks of animation on characters of completely
different scales and proportions. As a result, development teams can save time
for more creative challenges.
Furthermore, HumanIK enhances animation systems by enabling characters to
interact more realistically with the game environment. Characters place their
feet correctly, climb walls and pick up objects, even when the game
environment changes. With fewer gameplay constraints, HumanIK helps to bring
games to life with more believable and immersive character animation
experiences.
The latest release -- Autodesk HumanIK 4 -- delivers a User Guide and a
new set of examples, integrated with the Trinigy Vision game engine. It also
improves knee response to ankle rotations. For more information about HumanIK
4, visit www.autodesk.com/humanik.
Platform Support and Availability
HumanIK 4 is now available. Autodesk anticipates that Kynapse 6 will be
available during spring 2009. Both middleware products are optimized for
PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii video game and entertainment consoles,
as well as PCs running Windows or Linux. Kynapse is also optimized for the
PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PSP game consoles.
About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the
manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets.
Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the
broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital Prototyping solutions to help
customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies
rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world
performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance
quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk,
visit www.autodesk.com.
Autodesk, AutoCAD, HumanIK and Kynapse are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the
USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks
belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter
product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not
responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this
document.
(C) 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
Contact: Brittany Bonhomme, 416-874-8798 / Karen Raz, 310-450-1482
Email: brittany.bonhomme@autodesk.com / karen@razpr.com
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