Autodesk and Epic Team Up to Streamline Autodesk-to-Unreal Workflow

Autodesk and Epic Games Team Up to Streamline Autodesk-to-Unreal Workflow with FBX

GAME DEVELOPER'S CONFERENCE,SAN FRANCISCO, March 11, 2010 - Autodesk, Inc. and Epic Games, Inc. have collaborated to provide greater connectivity between Autodesk's art creation and animation tools and Epic's Unreal Engine 3, using Autodesk FBX data interchange technology. Autodesk FBX 2011 offers a faster, more streamlined workflow for transferring content created in Autodesk Maya 2011 and Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 software into Unreal Engine 3 - helping boost production efficiency and preserve creative intent.

"The streamlined interchange of 3D assets between Autodesk art creation tools and Unreal Engine 3 is the result of a long-standing, productive relationship between Autodesk and Epic Games," said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. "The Autodesk FBX file format is a robust standard for rich 3D data exchange within the games community. With this streamlined workflow, FBX should be the first choice for developers using the powerful Unreal Engine 3 when it comes to transferring art from Autodesk software."

New for Unreal Engine 3 licensees and Unreal Development Kit (UDK) users is an FBX importer that enables game developers to import FBX files created in Maya or 3ds Max directly into the Unreal Editor. The importer automatically breaks files down into assets in the Unreal Editor, such as level of detail (LOD) information, animations, character meshes, character rigs, and models. In addition, if a 3D model is updated in 3ds Max or Maya, a new FBX file can be imported into the Unreal Editor where the assets will be automatically refreshed.

"Working with Epic Games, we have taken the once labor-intensive task of importing 3D content into a game engine and turned it into a one-click workflow," said Marc Stevens, Autodesk vice president, Games. "Autodesk software and middleware is designed to integrate into a wide range of games pipelines. We are working in cooperation with leading games companies like Epic to help improve the connectivity between our tools and their engines - making game authoring simpler and more efficient."

About Unreal Engine 3

The award-winning Unreal Engine is known for cutting-edge graphics and its best-of-breed toolset. Unreal Engine 3 maintains those features in addition to multi-core processor support, Xbox 360Â® and PLAYSTATIONÂ®3 optimizations, massive world support, and a highly mature tool pipeline. Unreal Engine 3's consistently evolving toolset is designed to accelerate developers' productivity for PC and console games, visualization applications, training simulations, and linear animated content. Additional information on Unreal Engine can be obtained through the Unreal Technology Web site at http://www.unrealtechnology.com.

About Epic Games

Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and cross-platform game engine technology. The company has created multiple, million-selling, award-winning titles in its "Unreal" series, including "Unreal Tournament 3" for PC, PLAYSTATIONÂ®3 and Xbox 360Â®. Epic's "Gears of War" won over 30 Game of the Year awards, and the sales of "Gears of War" and "Gears of War 2" have eclipsed 11 million units. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the three-time consecutive winner of Game Developer magazine's Best Engine Front Line Award, was the 2008 Hall of Fame inductee and won Best Engine again in 2009. Unreal Engine 3 has also been recognized as the number one game engine by Develop magazine. Additional information about Epic can be obtained through the Epic Games Web site at http://www.epicgames.com

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software to help customers experience their ideas digitally before they are built. Fortune 100 companies - as well as the last 15 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects use Autodesk software tools to design, visualize and simulate their ideas to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation for competitive advantage. For additional information about Autodesk, visit www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, Maya and 3ds Max are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Epic, Epic Games, Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Unreal, Unreal Development Kit, Unreal Engine, and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

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