Kaydara Inc. has announced its first middleware solution for game developers, HumanIK | Middleware, a character animation and rigging technology. With HumanIK | Middleware, game developers will now be able to easily embed the character animation technology found in MOTIONBUILDER directly into their game engine. The new product will be available in the second quarter 2004.
"Game developers are continually being pushed to create more realistic games, for less time and money," said Michel Besner, president of Kaydara. "With HumanIK | Middleware, game developers will be able to improve their games and productivity levels by using a single character animation rig and behavior across the entire production pipeline."
Key benefits to HumanIK | Middleware include:
* Flexible Character Definition: Biped/Quadruped template allows for any character to be defined in a unified way, independent of bone structure (from 18 to 178 bones including fingers, toes, multiple bones spine, etc.).
* Animation Reusability: Motion banks provide you with the ability to reuse your animation on different characters, independently from skeletal structure, size and shape.
* Improved Animation Quality: Full control over IK (full body or individual body parts) with over 100 animation parameters that can be adjusted in realtime. This improves interaction between multiple characters and the character's ability to grab props, and eliminates feet sliding.
* Increased Productivity: With the ability to pre-visualize character behavior right inside of MOTIONBUILDER, what users see in their animation tool is what is seen in the game. This also allows users to easily adjust characters during the game development process without destroying any animation previously created.
* Seamless Integration with Kaydara FBX: The integration between MOTIONBUILDER and HumanIK | Middleware is made possible by using the industry standard file format FBX. Kaydara's FBX file interchange format is a powerful format for 3D data that allows users to quickly and easily transfer their 3D assets and media from MOTIONBUILDER into their game engine.
Kaydara is a leader in the development of realtime 3D animation software solutions for the entertainment industry. Kaydara's product portfolio serves a vast and varied range of clients in the TV, film, game development, and Web content industries, including Sony Computer Ent. of America, Midway Games, Acclaim, Mainframe Entertainment, Capcom and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Kaydara is headquartered in Montréal, Canada, and has an international presence with sales offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.kaydara.com.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
