Amid the broadcasting tech buzz emanating from the NAB Show in Las Vegas, software giant Autodesk announces it has acquired Solid Angle — the developer behind Arnold, an advanced ray-tracing image renderer for high-quality 3D animation and visual effects.
An efficient global illumination renderer used by more than 500 studios and thousands of independent artists, Arnold has become a preferred tool for high-quality rendering. The technology has been put to use in recent Academy Award-winning films Ex Machina and The Martian, as well as Emmy-winning series Game of Thrones, among other acclaimed features, TV shows and commercials.
“We’re constantly looking out for promising technologies that help artists boost creativity and productivity,” said Chris Bradshaw, SVP of Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “Efficient rendering is increasingly critical for 3D content creation and acquiring Solid Angle will allow us to help customers better tackle this computationally intensive part of the creative process. Together, we can improve rendering workflows within our products as well as accelerate the development of new rendering solutions that tap into the full potential of the cloud, helping all studios scale production.”
Under Autodesk’s roof, Solid Angle’s development team will continue to improve on Arnold, working in close collaboration with its user community. Arnold will remain available as a standalone renderer for Autodesk products and third-party applications including Houdini, Katana and Cinema 4D running on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Autodesk’s 3ds Max and Maya will continue to support other third-party renderers.
Arnold pricing and packaging is unchanged, and Autodesk will continue to offer perpetual licenses of Arnold. Customers should continue to purchase Arnold through their usual Solid Angle channels.
