Autodesk Inc. today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Kynogon SA, the privately held maker of Kynapse artificial intelligence middleware. Kynapse has been used to develop more than 65 big game titles, including Alone in the Dark 5, Crackdown, Fable 2 and The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Kynapse gives characters spatial awareness, enabling them to realistically navigate digital environments. In addition to video games, its is widely used in computer simulations. The product will complement Autodesk’s HumanIK, a middleware solution that provides in-game, full-body inverse kinematics and retargeting for characters that interact realistically with their environments.
‘The acquisition of Kynogon extends Autodesk’s leadership in game development and simulation technology,’ comments Marc Petit, senior VP of Autodesk Media & Entertainment. ‘The future of video games is about more believable characters and environments. Due to the increasing complexity of video games, developers are adopting commercial middleware solutions such as Kynapse and Autodesk HumanIK to improve game play and to stay on time and on budget.’
The acquisition is an important step in Autodesk’s goal of providing end-to-end game development solutions. The company’s existing offerings include 3ds Max and Maya for modeling, animation and rendering; MotionBuilder for character animation; Mudbox for digital sculpting; and Autodesk FBX for data interchange. To learn more about Autodesk’s game development solutions, go to http://www.autodesk.com/games. More on the Kynogon acquisition, go to www.autodesk.com/kynogon.
