Autodesk Announces MotionBuilder 2009

Autodesk's MotionBuilder 2009, the newest update to its real-time 3D character animation middleware for games, film, and television projects, will be available for both 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems starting October 2008, the company announced. MotionBuilder 2009 now supports realtime simulations, allowing animators to perform rigid body dynamic simulations inside the software, claiming to optimize workflow for producing realistic animations. Autodesk says the software's support for collisions prevents interpenetration of characters, objects and other scene elements. The company also says it added a Rag Doll solver to enable users to perform simulations dynamically, such as a character falling and hitting the ground. With MotionBuilder 2009's enhanced pipeline integration, Autodesk says technical directors and developers are able to integrate the software into a production pipeline and bring data across. The Python scripting language now includes a full script editor with syntax checking and command highlighting, which Autodesk says makes custom tool and script creations more efficient than with previous versions of MotionBuilder. The company will also offer enhanced support for workflows involving MotionBuilder and the Autodesk 3ds Max software's Biped system, or the Autodesk Maya software's Full Body Inverse Kinematics (FBIK) character rig. Autodesk also says it updated the software's viewport feature to add advanced shader support to real-time renders with the aim of increasing quality in the display. New Normal Mapping CG shader support allows artists to work with existing normal maps created in Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Mudbox software and view them in real-time in the viewport. Furthermore, the Light Attenuation CG shader is designed to increase control over the attenuation and fall-off of their real-time lighting. MotionBuilder also now supports version 2.0 of the CgFX library, so that animators can also use CgFX shader technology.