Autodesk, Inc. has
completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Skymatter
Limited, the New Zealand-based, privately held developer of Mudbox 3D
modeling software. On August 6, 2007, Autodesk announced an agreement to
purchase Skymatter's assets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
This acquisition expands Autodesk's offering for the film, television and
game market segments, while providing additional growth opportunities for
other design disciplines, such as 3D automotive and industrial design.
Mudbox has shaped photorealistic creatures for the blockbuster film King
Kong, as well as upcoming films The Golden Compass, Fred Claus and
Inkheart.
"Mudbox is complementary to the Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya software
products, providing our customers with an additional suite of tools for
modeling, prototyping and detailing," said Marc Petit, senior vice
president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "When Mudbox launched two years
ago, it became an overnight success in the media and entertainment
industry. It has a powerful brush-based modeling workflow and is renowned
for its robust toolset and user-friendliness, making digital sculpting easy
for both traditional sculptors and digital artists. As part of the Autodesk
product line, we plan to accelerate the pace of Mudbox innovation."
Skymatter founders Andrew Camenisch, Dave Cardwell and Tibor Madjar have
joined Autodesk's Media & Entertainment business. Madjar commented, "Mudbox
is a perfect fit within Autodesk. The company is in a unique position,
providing the leading software for design and entertainment industries.
Andrew, Dave and I look forward to scaling the growth of Mudbox with
Autodesk. Our priority is to continue developing a standalone version of
Mudbox. We will also work to achieve greater interoperability between the
Mudbox toolset and 3ds Max and Maya."
Post your comments below
