Discreet Acquires Unreal Pictures

Discreet announced that is has acquired Unreal Pictures, developers of the award-winning character animation tool, character studio. This transaction brings in patents and core character studio technology that allows Discreet to further advance intuitive character animation.



Renowned Unreal Pictures’ research software scientists Dr. Michael Girard and Susan Amkraut, along with developer Michael Zyracki, will join Discreet. This team of engineering veterans will work with Discreet's core animation development teams, located in San Francisco, Calif. and Montreal, Quebec. Available as an extension to Discreet’s 3ds max, character studio allows artists to create advanced character animations, simplify complex animation tasks, and seamlessly incorporate motion capture data into animation production workflows.



"Together our two organizations are better positioned to fulfill our common vision of making character animation accessible to a far broader range of users," said Girard, president of Unreal Pictures. "We are thrilled to join the Discreet team and to bring this exciting technology to its next frontier to the benefit of our customers."