Publishers and developers licensing Unreal Engine 3 now have access to a production-ready solution for dynamic in-game character animation, as well as 3D navigation and spatial reasoning.
"Epic constantly pushes the technology behind Unreal Engine 3, and working with renowned partners like Autodesk is critical to providing our licensees with best in class development tools," said Dr. Michael Capps, president of Epic Games. "Autodesk is a leader in 3D design software for games, and we are pleased to welcome them to the Integrated Partners Program."
“Autodesk is working to help game designers create the most realistic characters possible,” said Michel Kripalani, director of business development, Games Technology Group at Autodesk. “Believable characters have life-like movement and can navigate their environments intelligently. Integrating HumanIK, along with Kynapse, into UE3 makes it much easier for publishers and developers to achieve this level of realism, which is demanded by gamers today.”
Optimized for next-generation platforms, Autodesk HumanIK middleware consists of a run-time, full-body inverse kinematics (IK) solver, as well as a run-time retargeting engine for characters of differing size, proportions and skeletal hierarchy. HumanIK allows animators and game designers to alter animations on the fly, letting characters interact dynamically and realistically with their environments. HumanIK has been licensed for several titles including Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed, as well as Electronic Arts’ Def Jam: Icon, FIFA Soccer 07 and NBA Street Homecourt.