Autodesk buys Solid Angle, makers of the Arnold image renderer
Design software firm Autodesk on Monday said it plans to acquire Solid Angle. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Solid Angle is best known for developing Arnold, an image renderer for 3D animation and other visual effects. The technology has been used in the production of effects-heavy films including "Ex Machina" and "The Martian", as well as the HBO series Game of Thrones.
Autodesk plans to offer Arnold as a standalone renderer for both Autodesk products and third party applications including Houdini, Katana, and Cinema 4D on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Both of Autodesk's 3D modeling platforms, 3ds Max and Maya, will continue to support other third-party renderers in addition to Arnold.
"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," said Chris Bradshaw, SVP of Autodesk Media and Entertainment.
Autodesk has been keenly focused on bolstering its cloud and hardware portfolios over the last few years. In December, Autodesk rolled out Forge, a project aimed at fueling development for cloud-based technologies with a bent on Internet connectivity.
At the base of the project is the Forge Platform, a Platform-as-a-Service offering that offer open APIs and SDKs to software developers at small and large organizations alike.