Autodesk has declared the 2015 version updates of its 3D animation tools such as 3Ds Max, Motion Builder, Maya, Softimage, and Mud box. It declared the accessibility of the 2015 Entertainment Creation Suite for 3D animation and VFX.

Maya LT 2015 is targeted at small game studios, and has cloud integration for Drop box and Autodesk 360 files, substance material integration, and Unfold 3D, which generates UV maps from 3D models. It has the extension releases of Maya LT 2014, like support for MEL scripting, a send to Unity workflow, uncapped polygon export to Unity, the capability to export models or scenes up to 65,000 polygons in the FBX or OBJ formats, Human IK and IK Handle Animation, and Boolean operations on polygon geometry.

3-Ds Max 2015 integrates ShaderFX in addition to performance improvements, an overhauled scene explorer, Python scripting, and point cloud dataset support for capture sessions, plus Active Shade support for NVIDIA's mental ray renderer.

Motion Builder has gained a Microsoft Kinect plugin, and follows Focus and Animatable Depth of Field camera options. It comes with a library of 100 common animations that can decrease unneeded work.

Autodesk Mud box 2015 software features streamlined mesh refinement for retopologizing and new Sculpt Layer and Paint Layer groups for organizing and identifying specific layers in complex scenes. The release has advanced interoperability with Maya 2015, an enhanced texture export and updating workflow, new caliper tool and support for Intel HD graphics 4000 on compatible Windows 8 operating system hybrid tablet and Computers.

The Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite has been improved in various areas, mostly adding fresh links among Maya and Mud box for image plane matching, exchanging Ptex and multi-tile UV textures, and sharing Blend Shapes. Game developers have received tools such as the Beast 2015, HumanIK 2015, and Game ware Navigation 2015, and Scale form 4.4.

Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, Entertainment Creation Suites, and Maya LT are available in two configurations such as a perpetual license or desktop subscription. Details and license buying options are available thru www.autodesk.com.