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Products: Autodesk Media and Entertainment

Aug 1, 2005 2:36 PM, By Dan Ochiva

3ds Max knows where your assets are

As more productions employing 3D graphics and animation turn up in theaters, TV, and game machines, keeping track of all that artwork takes up more of a creative's time. Moreover, reusing parts of projects is crucial to keep costs down and shorten turnaround time.

With the release of 3ds Max Version 8 at Siggraph this month, Autodesk Media and Entertainment offers its solution: Vault. This data management system, integrated into the new release, builds on a product that AME's parent spent the last few years developing for its ubiquitous AutoCAD program.

By pulling all character information into a central database, users can track changes, show scene dependencies, and share projects in Autodesk's DWF format, which allows anyone to view files via a free viewer.

Other new features include improved biped construction and movement via a rewritten IK and new biped F-curve animators developed by IK pioneer Michael Girard; support for a wider range of motion-capture data files; and pelt mapping, which is said to reduce painting and texturing of 3D characters from hours to minutes. www.discreet.com

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.