Autodesk Inc. has completed its acquisition of nearly all assets of Skymatter Ltd., the privately held, New Zealand-based developer of Mudbox 3D modeling software. Neither side has disclosed the terms of the transaction, which was first announced in August. The acquisition expands Autodesk’s offering for the film, television and video game market segments, while providing additional growth opportunities for other design disciplines, including 3D automotive and industrial design.
With its brush-based modeling workflow, Mudbox has been used to shape photorealistic creatures for Peter Jackson’s blockbuster King Kong remake, as well as the upcoming big-screen 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,’ comments Marc Petit, senior VP of Autodesk Media & Entertainment. ‘When Mudbox launched two years
ago, it became an overnight success in the media and entertainment
industry. 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. Among their top priorities will be the development of a standalone version of Mudbox, and achieving greater interoperability between the Mudbox toolset and Autodesk’s 3ds Max and Maya. For more information, go to www.autodesk.com/skymatter.
