Autodesk, Inc. has completed the acquisition of substantially all the assets of Skymatter Limited, the New Zealand-based, privately held developer of Mudbox 3D modeling software. On August 6, 2007, Autodesk announced an agreement to purchase Skymatter’s assets.

This acquisition expands Autodesk’s offering for the film, television and game market segments, while providing additional growth opportunities for other design disciplines, such as 3D automotive and industrial design. Mudbox has shaped photorealistic creatures for the blockbuster film King Kong, as well as upcoming films The Golden Compass, Fred Claus and Inkheart.

"Mudbox is complementary to the Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya software products, providing our customers with an additional suite of tools for modeling, prototyping and detailing", said Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "When Mudbox launched two years ago, it became an overnight success in the media and entertainment industry. It has a powerful brush-based modeling workflow and is renowned for its robust toolset and user-friendliness, making digital sculpting easy for both traditional sculptors and digital artists. As part of the Autodesk product line, we plan to accelerate the pace of Mudbox innovation."


Skymatter founders Andrew Camenisch, Dave Cardwell and Tibor Madjar have joined Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment business. Madjar commented, "Mudbox is a perfect fit within Autodesk. The company is in a unique position, providing the leading software for design and entertainment industries. Andrew, Dave and I look forward to scaling the growth of Mudbox with Autodesk. Our priority is to continue developing a standalone version of Mudbox. We will also work to achieve greater interoperability between the Mudbox toolset and 3ds Max and Maya."

More information at www.autodesk.com - Image Courtesy of Jonas Thornqvist and Video of Autodesk.