Autodesk has introduced a new animation store for 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design 2013, which began shipping today. The store can be accessed from the 3ds Max products to provide a simplified 3D animation workflow that allows users to search, customize and purchase motion clips without leaving the software.
Powered by Mixamo, an online character animation service for 3D professionals, the Autodesk Animation Store offers hundreds of characters and more than a thousand editable animations for 3ds Max Biped and CAT characters. The content is aggregated from top-quality providers, such as aXYZ design, Original Force, Winking, Radiance and China West Coast.
"At Autodesk, we are removing technical barriers to creativity by providing more iterative streamlined workflows, and offering powerful creative tools like the Autodesk Animation Store," said Ken Pimentel, Autodesk director of product management for media design. "The animation store is a great resource for users who don't have the time or expertise to create quality 3D animation from scratch.
Now, broadcasters can quickly assemble an animated clip in response to today's news, and casual game companies can reduce production time by licensing motions targeted to their game and characters. Architects can also use the service to license animated characters in order to more easily populate architectural visualizations."
Motion clips in the animation store are automatically applied to the Biped or CAT control rigs. They can be customized in real-time and previewed for free in the 3ds Max scene, so users can quickly test multiple animations on a given character and see how the motion will perform before making a purchase. After purchase, users can take advantage of 3ds Max software's support for animation layers to non-destructively edit the animations as required.