Autodesk, Inc. today announced Autodesk MotionBuilder 2009 software, the latest version of its real-time 3D character animation solution for games, film, and television projects. The 2009 version offers high-quality visualizations within the 3D viewport, an intuitive toolset for real-time simulation, and expanded scripting capabilities for tighter pipeline integration. MotionBuilder 2009 will be showcased at the Autodesk booth (#501) during SIGGRAPH 2008, at the Los Angeles Convention Center Aug. 12-14.

"Autodesk MotionBuilder 2009 is one of the most significant releases of the software since its inception," said Marc Petit, Autodesk's Media & Entertainment senior vice president. "This version includes improved workflows for technical directors, as well as an increased focus on interactivity with capture, simulation and high quality rendering in real time. It lets animators be more productive, and puts total creative control into the hands of directors and cinematographers."

"Autodesk MotionBuilder has long been one of the most powerful and reliable character animation tools on the market -- both for keyframing and motion capture processing," said Petr Mores, senior animator at Crytek GmbH, and MotionBuilder beta tester. "As an animator, I love the new rigid body physics and Rag Doll solvers in the 2009 version, which help to perfect a multitude of movements that would otherwise be quite painful to capture realistically. Technical directors will also be happy to see the new Python script editor and ability to create custom UIs, which will allow them to fully integrate MotionBuilder into pipelines like ours."

Animators now have the ability to perform rigid body dynamic simulations inside the software, giving them a more efficient workflow for producing realistic animations. Support for real-time collisions prevents interpenetration of characters, objects and other scene elements. This is particularly useful for those looking to efficiently edit 3D animations involving characters interacting with objects. Also, the addition of a Rag Doll solver allows users to perform simulations dynamically, such as a character falling and hitting the ground. Artists can control the behavior of their character easily by layering animation on top of this simulation, for increased realism.

MotionBuilder 2009 enhances support for industry-standard digital content creation applications, so that both technical directors and developers can integrate the software into a production pipeline and bring data across, quickly and accurately. The Python scripting language now includes a full script editor with syntax checking and command highlighting, which enables technical directors to create custom tools and scripts more efficiently. Enhanced support is also available 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.