GamingBolt spoke to Autodesk industry marketing manager for games Wesley Adams about Stingray and its more defining features, how it will work with upcoming technologies like VR and even the potential with DirectX 12.

"You can make changes in the Stingray editor and see the changes updated on your connected devices almost instantaneously."

Stingray made some interesting waves (no pun intended) when it was announced at GDC Europe. Can you provide some information on the engine for those unfamiliar with it?

Wesley Adams: Stingray is based on the core technology of Bitsquid, one of the newest engines available. This means it’s written to be flexible, lightweight and has a native 64-bit architecture. We talk a lot about Stingray being “data-driven,” which means it’s much easier to make changes to a game in development and see the results, without re-writing and re-compiling the engine or project. For example, you can create a live link from the Stingray editor to the game running on multiple target devices and see how it plays. You can make changes in the Stingray editor and see the changes updated on your connected devices almost instantaneously. We spend a lot of time talking about the efficiency of our connected art and engine workflow, and Stingray will also help artists, designers and programmers of any skill to create, iterate, test and review stunning visuals and gameplay faster.

Tell us about some of the latest graphics options that Stingray allows developers to incorporate into their games.

Wesley Adams: Stingray is built around a physically based renderer. The data-driven nature of Stingray means that the renderer is very flexible and can be modified easily. In fact, it is essentially a plugin to the engine so developers can swap it out for their preferred renderer if they wanted to.

In addition to the physically based renderer, Stingray has a high performance reflection system, advanced particle effects like light particle and Beast for global illumination and texture baking.

Stingray also does a lot of post-processed visual effects: screens-space ambient occlusion, horizon-based ambient occlusion, advanced temporal anti-aliasing, bloom, tone mapping, motion blur, depth of field, chromatic aberration, lens distortion, vignette and color grading.

Stingray will be a multi-platform engine which seems to be the buzzword for game engines these days, supporting AR, VR, AAA consoles and mobile platforms. What motivated the desire to see this through, even as tech like AR and VR are yet to take off?

Wesley Adams: Augmented and Virtual Reality can provide extremely compelling gameplay experiences when done right. It’s almost like a dream coming to life after waiting many years. It’s supporting creative and adventurous game makers who want to take the first explorative steps into this new world to be able to make something completely new.

Currently, Stingray supports deployment of projects to the Oculus Rift DevKit 2, and it ships with a VR template to help developers get started building their VR experiences. We are also working with other hardware partners to build support for additional devices, but aren’t able talk about them publicly yet.

How are you making sure that Stingray will maximize the potential of PS4, Xbox One and PC hardware?

Wesley Adams: With Stingray’s advanced physically based rendering and lean core architecture, we are pushing the limits of the platforms while maintaining great speeds. We will continue to push the boundaries of each of the platforms in a unique way, from VR to cloud based compute.

"There is a significant gap between the various tools that game developers use, and the largest gap is often between the artistic tools and the game engine."

What is the stance on cloud computing at Autodesk, especially following the reveal of Crackdown 3, and how will engines like Stingray fit into a cloud-based environment in the coming days?

Wesley Adams: One of the unique positions we are in with Stingray is that we built it with cloud in mind. In fact, Stingray has an HTML5 based UI using a client server model for its data and viewports. Going forward, we will continue to build tools around the cloud and compute for the editor and game logic.

Stingray’s code base allows for changes to the engine and renderer without requiring access to the source code. How does this compare to other engines like Unity 5 and Unreal Engine 4 in terms of the flexibility it offers developers?

Wesley Adams: Stingray was designed to be very flexible, meaning we don’t assume the kind of games you will make. The engine is lightweight and extremely modifiable for both source code or non-source code customers. It’s currently the most flexible option because of the choices the user is given to extend the toolset.

The connectivity to Autodesk 3D is another approach that seems to place Stingray above other engines. Can you tell us more about it?

Wesley Adams: There is a significant gap between the various tools that game developers use, and the largest gap is often between the artistic tools and the game engine. Many of our AAA customers spend a lot of money and time building custom tools, pipelines and workflows that try to bridge the gap between their tools. This lets them make truly customized workflows. What we are trying to do is bring similar workflows to smaller teams who simply cannot create the workflows themselves.

One of the main aspects of the workflows with Stingray is the single-click asset update function between Stingray and our 3D tools. Once an artist loads an asset, they can see it in Maya LT, Maya, or 3ds Max, and then also see it in Stingray. When they make changes in either tool, they can then click a button and the assets update in the other tool; the workflow works both ways. The artist can then see the 3D asset in the context of the level, with the correct materials, lights, and animations all applied. This makes the artistic iteration time much faster.

Next, you can live link the cameras between your 3D tool and Stingray. If you move the viewport camera in Maya LT, for example, the camera follows the same movement in the scene within Stingray. Again, this allows for much faster artistic evaluation and iteration.

Significant for texture/material artists, you can use ShaderFX to create physically based materials that can be transferred between 3ds Max, Maya, Maya LT, and Stingray. You no longer have to re-create your materials in the engine and hope they are right; you just create them once and transfer them to Stingray.

Today’s consoles rely heavily on engines that support multi-threaded architectures. Unity 5 has already begun making strides towards that. Will Stingray also have this support? What other ways will it take advantage of today’s current gen hardware?

Wesley Adams: Stingray was built in the modern era; we developed the engine in a multi-core environment and it takes full advantage of that.

"Game makers can simply subscribe to Maya LT or Stingray, build as many games as they want for as many platforms as they want, make as much money as they can, and they do not owe Autodesk extra payments."

What are your thoughts on DirectX 12 and its features, especially when used in conjunction with today’s engines? How will Stingray work together with the API in the coming years?

Wesley Adams: Yes, DX12 is important to use and we plan to take advantage of the perks as we continue to push physically based rendering.

In light of game engines taking a free approach to distribution, what benefits will Stingray offer for its price?

Wesley Adams: Stingray will be available for $30 US MSRP per month, but the more interesting way to get Stingray will be as a part of a Maya LT subscription, at no extra cost. Maya LT subscriptions are $30 US MSRP per month and with Stingray, we don’t have any kind of artificial feature set limitations for different versions, and there are no royalties. Game makers can simply subscribe to Maya LT or Stingray, build as many games as they want for as many platforms as they want, make as much money as they can, and they do not owe Autodesk extra payments. We think it’s a very fair price for serious developers who are looking at multi-platform development and want a very predictable way to manage their costs. Additionally, if you get Stingray with your Maya LT subscription, there’s no extra fee, so you end up getting a great 3D tool and the engine together.

What is the current goal with Stingray? What are your plans for gaining a foothold in an industry that’s almost completely dominated by a select few companies?

Wesley Adams: Our goal with Stingray is to bring powerful art-to-engine workflows to smaller development teams that don’t have the resources to build custom pipelines. The technology behind Stingray is so flexible and lightweight that it will really grow over time, and we need the gaming community’s feedback to help make it a better game making tool. We think that, with time, we can offer workflows that can’t be beat.

And, Autodesk is obviously looking into other, non-game industries, like Design Visualization. We think there is great potential to help designers better communicate their architecture, engineering and construction ideas to clients by using a real-time rendering solution like Stingray. This can let you walk around a physical space and understand it, as opposed to just looking at 2D renders.

What game titles have been published using Stingray?

Wesley Adams: “Gauntlet,” developed by Arrowhead Studios and published by Warner Brothers was released in September 2014. “Helldivers,” developed by Arrowhead Studios and published by Sony, was released in March 2015.

Autodesk has launched the Autodesk Maya LT 2016, the latest release of its 3D animation and modeling software for professional indie game developers. This comes on the heels of them previewing their new Stingray Game Engine at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Stingray, which was built using Bitsquid technolofy that Autodesk acquired last year, itself has received an exceptional technological demonstration at GDC, showcasing and highlighting a variety of features that lend it more power and give creators access to more flexoble tools:

• Simultaneous Platform Deployment: A live link between Stingray and multiple target devices allows game designers to evaluate their game simultaneously on multiple platforms;
• Integrated Workflow: A more efficient pipeline to export 3D content;
• Modern Data-Driven Architecture and Powerful Rendering Capabilities: A data-driven core architecture makes it easier for a user to change the look of a game without having to rewrite and re-compile the engine.

Stingray, therefore, promises to be a powerful and flexible set of tools for game creators. “Bitsquid has been a part of the Autodesk family since the acquisition last summer and both teams have been hard at work to update, improve and add features to the engine,” said Martin Wahlund, CEO, Fatshark. “We are excited to announce that we are actually using the new Stingray engine to build our upcoming ‘Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide game.’”

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more information.

GamingBolt caught up with Brandon Foster who is the Games Industry Expert at Shotgun Software to know about the tool. Check out his response below.

Rashid Sayed: To begin with can you please tell us a bit about yourself and the company you work for?

Brandon Foster: My name is Brandon Foster and I’m a Pipeline Producer for Shotgun Software. I’ve worked in both production and technical artist capacities in game production, feature animation and VFX. Shotgun has been around for nine years and provides production tracking, review and approval, and pipeline tools for those industries, and more.

Rashid Sayed: What are the kinds of questions or considerations game developers put forward when they approach you for solutions?

Brandon Foster: Development, especially on larger titles, is all distributed now, whether it’s in a studio with multiple locations, or a collaboration with external vendors. Studios often want to know how they can manage those efforts all in one place, without needing separate systems and production pipelines for each location. Shotgun helps to unify that process so everyone is working and communicating together in the same ecosystem.

"When communicating through Shotgun, your conversations are always within the context of what you’re working on. That back and forth discussion between an artist and his/her supervisor about a particular asset will be associated with the asset in Shotgun so it’s always easy to find."

Rashid Sayed: Can you tell us how your solution is different from some of the other competitors in the market?

Brandon Foster: At Shotgun we recognize that each discipline within the studio needs a different set of tools to do their work. For example, when you try to force artists to use the same tools producers use to do their jobs, it causes frustration and does the artists a disservice.

We’ve been developing features and views within Shotgun with the needs and preferences of these different disciplines in mind. Artists have very visual ways to browse and manage their assignments and feedback. Producers have more data-centric tools that allow them track progress and manage the overall schedule. Since all of this information lives in the same database, everyone is always looking at the same, up-to-date data, in a way that’s relevant to them.

Rashid Sayed: How is Shotgun more effective and faster than using email to communicate among project teams?

Brandon Foster: In two words, context and organization. When communicating through Shotgun, your conversations are always within the context of what you’re working on. That back and forth discussion between an artist and his/her supervisor about a particular asset will be associated with the asset in Shotgun so it’s always easy to find.

This is true for all communication such as reviews, task updates, or check in data. I can look at any given thing I’m tracking within Shotgun (like an asset) and quickly see its entire history — every conversation or review note ever submitted, all in one place. There’s no need to go digging through countless, contextless emails.

Rashid Sayed: How does using Shotgun help track deadlines and avoid missing them?

Brandon Foster: Shotgun does this in a couple of different ways, depending on your role at the studio. Content producers like artists and developers have a clear set of assignments in their My Tasks app, which shows them an up-to-date list of what work they need to complete, by when. With the Shotgun Inbox, it’s also easy to stay on top of work being done by collaborators, so they’re always abreast of new checkins and changes.

Producers and managers who are more concerned with the big picture have additional tools at their disposal. They can create filter-based views of the schedule to easily display information like: What is overdue? What needs to be finished this week? Who on my team is overloaded? With live and up-to-date information in Shotgun, producers can spend more time managing their teams, and less time gathering all the intel they need to make key decisions.

"Shotgun accelerates game development by providing tools to make everyone at the studio more efficient with their time. Even small things here and there add up to a huge savings over an entire development lifecycle."

Rashid Sayed: There are so many considerations clients may have when they’re looking for production management solutions. Should they be locally hosted or online etc.? How do you work together to give them an optimum solution?

Brandon Foster: While our preferred, and most widely used service is hosted, we’re more than happy to work with our clients to ensure we’re meeting all their needs.

Rashid Sayed: How does your tool help accelerate game development?

Brandon Foster: Shotgun accelerates game development by providing tools to make everyone at the studio more efficient with their time. Even small things here and there add up to a huge savings over an entire development lifecycle.

Features like Screening Room (Shotgun’s web based media player) allow artists and supervisors to review work quickly and effectively. The Inbox makes sure important information doesn’t go unnoticed so blocked artists can quickly get back to work when they see the checkin they’re waiting for arrive.

With the Pipeline Toolkit, Technical Artists have a framework to streamline much of the repetitive operations artists have to do within their DCC apps like Maya or Photoshop. Checking out the right file, doing their work, and checking it in for review can be done with a couple of button presses. We’re working on productizing a full set of these general-use applications to help studios avoid having to reinvent the wheel.

When you spend less time keeping the production organized, you’re spending more time where it really matters: producing the creative and technical content that goes into the game.

"Shotgun is committed to solving the problems studios face in production every day. Our company comprises professionals who have worked in a wide range of positions across multiple industries."

Rashid Sayed: Can you describe the various filtering, organizing, and UI tools that are most useful to game development pipelines?

Brandon Foster: One of the features our clients have been most happy with is Shotgun’s high degree of customization. The software comes predefined with a number of default entities for tracking (Assets, Levels, or Shots for cutscenes), however the schema is flexible enough to let you define just about anything.

For example we’ve had clients define a weapon entity so they could track all the unique specifics for all the weapons going into their game (weapon class, ammo types, and a bevy of mods like different compatible sights, stocks, and magazines). They could then quickly search and filter on that data, e.g. “Show me all weapons which can use this type of sight, but aren’t unlocked until character level 5.”

Also, many of the pages within Shotgun can be customized to show the data, which is most important, so views and reports aren’t cluttered with unnecessary information. Clients have enjoyed this flexibility, as they can define how they want to work, and how they want to digest all the information they need.

Rashid Sayed: Is there anything else you want to tell us about Shotgun Software?

Brandon Foster: Shotgun is committed to solving the problems studios face in production every day. Our company comprises professionals who have worked in a wide range of positions across multiple industries (Games, Animation, VFX). We’ve all been there, and have experienced the same production pains that our clients do firsthand.

Since Shotgun’s inception we’ve built our tools collaboratively with our clients to ensure they are production ready, right out of the gate. We are committed to continuing that ethos, so our clients can focus on what they do best — creating inspiring entertainment.

GamingBolt spoke to Wesley Adams who is the Games Industry Marketing Specialist at Autodesk to know about the company’s latest offerings in video games middleware, cloud gaming and more.

Ravi Sinha: When people think “Autodesk” they often envision architectural design and engineering. But Autodesk has been a forerunner for development in games. Can you tell us about the various products Autodesk offers for development? Also, what are some upcoming games that will use Autodesk in their development? 

Wesley Adams: We’re really proud of our lineup, because we believe that we offer tools for any kind of developer – whether you’re making the next blockbuster, AAA title or indie hit. Most people know our full toolbox of animation software for the creation of pretty amazing looking characters. Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max have been part of the creation process for games like Beyond: Two Souls and Thief.

Recently we introduced a product specifically for professional indie game makers called Maya LT. It has all of the right features for smaller studios, and is even available on a pay-as-you-go plan.  It’s less than a year old, but we’re seeing some great developers really take to the tool. For example, Barking Mouse Studios used Maya LT to create their award-winning iOS title Lost Toys.

Our Gameware line also gives developers what they need to create the backbone of their games, such as Scaleform for engaging UI, like mini maps, HUDs and weapon wheels, and Autodesk Navigation to help design smart NPCs.

"The answer to the realism question goes far beyond just lighting. It isn’t really about the realism, but whether your tools can help you achieve your artistic vision. That being said, Beast does let artists bake physical-based global illumination data light maps, shadow maps, and point clouds."

Ravi Sinha: What is the current direction for next-gen development with Autodesk? Many developers have proclaimed the brilliance of the PS4’s unified memory architecture and criticized the Xbox One’s eSRAM. But how is Autodesk gearing its products up for the next wave of game development? 

Wesley Adams: Since game development for new platforms always precedes the public announcement, Autodesk has been preparing its products for next-gen game development for some time.When the Xbox One and PS4 launched, our tools were ready to be compatible with the new systems. Increased power also means that developers will be pushing their games to the next level, and as tool providers, we strive to enable developers to be able to do what they want with their development pipelines by keeping the tools as flexible and extensible as possible. Our tools have been used in the creation of games likeRyse: Son of Rome and Killzone: Shadow Fall.

Ravi Sinha: How important will realistic lighting serve to become in the coming years? For that matter, what kind of lighting scenarios are potentially possible on next gen consoles with Beast? 

Wesley Adams: The answer to the realism question goes far beyond just lighting. It isn’t really about the realism, but whether your tools can help you achieve your artistic vision. That being said, Beast does let artists bake physical-based global illumination data light maps, shadow maps, and point clouds. So, you can simulate realistic lighting with Beast without killing the performance of your game.

Next-gen is definitely pushing player expectations to the max for every graphical trick developers have, including lighting. In response, I expect to see certain developers strive towards hyperrealism, but I suspect that some developers will explore other ways of delivering graphically beautiful experiences to players as a way to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Ravi Sinha: We’ve heard before that some factors, like realistic facial animation, is pretty independent of the CPU clock speed of both next gen consoles. But what can you tell us about artificial intelligence, particularly that offered by Autodesk’s Gameware Navigation 2015? How does the increased power of the PS4 and Xbox One, along with PC, affect this and what does it make possible as compared to previous generation hardware?

Wesley Adams: Even before the Xbox One and PS4 arrived, we were seeing some impressive AI. Think about Ellie in The Last of Us. These companions weren’t a handicap and not only helped the player, but were really the basis for the emotional attachment to the game. With more power, I suspect we will see AI becoming more interactive and a larger part of the narrative; there is also a big trend towards larger game worlds filled with more independent background characters.In Navigation 2015, we introduced some features that will really help in these areas.

A new Hierarchical Pathfinding algorithm helps AI-controlled characters find good routes through super large levels,so they don’t suddenly veer off course unnaturally.On the animation side, Navigation supports animation-driven locomotion, so that AI entities can auto-correct their movement through the level; the AI system calculates a path, compares it to the animation library available, and auto-corrects if the computed path doesn’t fit available animations.

"The interesting trend in mobile is that devices are on a much faster evolutionary curve than traditional computers and consoles were. They are obviously building off decades of R&D, but it’s interesting that we see comparisons of mobile device power to the first space shuttle or even a last-gen gaming console. However, it’s not just about graphical power, but a reduced barrier of entry to publish games."

Ravi Sinha: Software seems to be flowing in an interesting direction with relation to hardware. While more powerful GPUs like the NVIDIA GTX Titan are being introduced, it’s still taking a while for most games to really warrant all that horsepower. What is your take on the situation?

Wesley Adams: It’s interesting to me that, in the past 10 years we’ve really started seeing more hardware that isn’t immediately outdated upon release. Compared to the early days of PC game development, where we struggled to even have scrolling game levels, it’s cool that we can grow into new hardware so that games feel nicer and newer, even as better technology is created.With every innovation it takes time for developers and artists to fully take advantage of all the new power. As software providers, one of our main goals is to try to anticipate developer needs.

A lot of the time, it comes down to making our tools flexible enough to be customized or integrated into in-house level editors or design tools. The AAA games being released today were started years ago, so when you see Eidos Montreal’s Thief pipeline built around 3ds Max or Guerrilla Games’ modifications to Maya for Killzone Shadow Fall, these developers were looking ahead at what they could do several years ago. So even if the hardware seems overpowered for a player today, a game developer is already stretching what is possible for something they won’t release for another 2-3 years.

Ravi Sinha: Speaking about mobile, how has Autodesk contributed to development in the mobile sector? With increased power of mobile CPUs, such as NVIDIA’s upcoming Tegra K1, what can be made possible in the coming year with Autodesk Gameware?

Wesley Adams: The interesting trend in mobile is that devices are on a much faster evolutionary curve than traditional computers and consoles were. They are obviously building off decades of R&D, but it’s interesting that we see comparisons of mobile device power to the first space shuttle or even a last-gen gaming console. However, it’s not just about graphical power, but a reduced barrier of entry to publish games.

I mentioned Maya LT earlier, but that’s only our latest push into the mobile and indie space. A few years back we also introduced the Scaleform Mobile SDKto provide a more accessible set of tools for building 2D games on mobile devices. It’s definitely something we’ve been keeping an eye on for a while. As hardware and software capabilities increase,future mobile and indie games will become more engagingwith deeper stories and better visuals. It’s important that we give huge power and graphical capacity to the crowd that needs it, while also improving accessibility and usability of our tools for new indie game makers.

Ravi Sinha: One of the biggest announcements from GDC 2014 was the announcement of Maya 2015. The latest iteration has some impressive features for modeling. Besides that, what is the one big feature that you think artists/developers appreciate the most?

Wesley Adams: For both Maya 2015 and Maya LT 2015, we introduced a couple of really important new tools. Geodesic Voxel Binding is a new skin binding method that produces really good results even if the mesh isn’t perfect, like overlaps, or isn’t watertight. We also integrated a completely new set of UV tools based on the Unfold3D technology. It can do UV unwraps of really complex geometry really quickly, and then it has several visual feedback systems to help the artist tweak and refine the UV map. Both of these changes aren’t what gamers typically think about when playing a game, but they are very important in the creation of game assets.

In Maya LT 2015 we also added integrations to Dropbox and Autodesk 360 cloud services, so you can open assets from those services from within the Maya LT UI, make modifications, and then export back to the cloud. We’re also excited about the ability to use consumer apps with Maya LT. Autodesk has a free app called 123D Catch that allows you to use your iPhone or iPad to take a real life object and turn it into a 3D model-all just using the camera on your device. For example, you could take a Catch of your pet, export it into the cloud or even Dropbox, and then import it into Maya LT as a game asset. If you’re just starting out, it’s a very easy and low-cost way to generate assets.

" I think that cloud-based gaming is almost certainly the future at this point. The tech world sort of swings back and forth between local computing and a “client” computing model, but I think we’re almost there for gaming, technologically."

Ravi Sinha: How do you think developers will take advantage of Maya on next gen consoles? Do you think with the combination of the latest iteration of Mayaand these next gen consoles, character modeling will go a level up? 

Wesley Adams: Developers have already been taking advantage ofMaya and 3ds Max for next-gen work for quite a few years, now. Since AAA games take a long time to make, we’ve had customers working with previous versions of our software: customizing, tweaking, and building in-housetools for a while now. The 2015 releases of Maya and 3ds Max definitely bring some important updates to the table for AAA developers.

Much like with the last generation of consoles, I think we will see studios learning how to best leverage the new technology over the course of its life cycle, and graphics will keep improving, whether it’s from increased poly count or some other artistic technique. I think we’ll really see more photorealistic characters by the end of the cycle.

Ravi Sinha: Autodesk has had much support in AAA game development but what is the company’s stance on indie games and development, especially given the recent rise in popularity for the same? Have there been efforts to support indie developers as companies like Unity usually do? 

Wesley Adams: We’re big believers in the indie market, which was a big reason behind the development of Maya LT. The product is really geared specifically for professional indie game makers. It starts with great, production-proven software, Maya, and then refines it to be very tailored to what indie developers need.

Since launch, we’ve listened to the community and added in features they said were needed, like a better workflow with Unity, MEL scripting, better UV tools, Dropbox and Autodesk 360 cloud integrations, an integration for using Substance Designer materials -and this is just the beginning!

Ravi Sinha: It’s often been said that the future of gaming will rest with Cloud computing with rumblings that this could be the last generation of physical consoles. What are your thoughts on the potential of Cloud computing at this point, especially with Microsoft’s Azure seemingly augmenting the console’s power while Sony’s PlayStation Now brings game streaming to the PS4? 

Wesley Adams: I think that cloud-based gaming is almost certainly the future at this point. The tech world sort of swings back and forth between local computing and a “client” computing model, but I think we’re almost there for gaming, technologically. One thing to consider is broadband availability in certain parts of the world. It will come down to a business decision for hardware manufacturers as to how they will still capture the non-broadband market with products that require a continuously high-speed connection.

I’m guessing that as this generation starts to age, even high speed mobile devices will have propagated enough to serve as hot spots for people with no landlines. On our side, Autodesk has already made some neat inroads to putting tools on the cloud, in web browsers on Amazon servers with the help of OTOY. We also have Autodesk 360, which you can use to store files in the cloud and share them more easily with your team. So the cloud is coming, both on the player side and the development side. I’m pretty stoked about it.

Ravi Sinha: There are plenty of next gen engines like Unreal Engine 4, REDEngine 3, id Tech 5 and much more dominating headlines. How will Autodesk take advantage of these engines, and in your opinion, which offers the best possible range of features for development?

Wesley Adams: You know, this question comes up a lot, and it’s always tough to answer whether one technology is better than another for AAA development. The main reason is that you need to assess your creative team and see what they are comfortable using. If they can make a great game with tool “A” instead of tool “B”, then why switch if it causes a new learning curve? One our side, Autodesk is trying to make the tools flexible enough so that people can use whatever engine or complementary tools they want. So we offer scripting, APIs and SDKs to let people customize as much or as little as needed to get their game made.

On the indie game maker side, we’ve recently added a feature called “Send to Unity” that, as its name implies, lets you export assets from Maya LT directly to a Unity project folder. This is kind of unique in the indie space, since pipelines aren’t really as complex or customized as in AAA. Indies also don’t necessarily have a “tools guy” who creates custom tools all day, so if we can make little things like easier, it’s a big deal for indie developers.

Autodesk’s Maya is a software application used to generate 3D assets for use in movies and game development architectures. In order to know more, GamingBolt recently got in touch with Wesley Adams who is the Games Industry Marketing Specialist at Autodesk.

Given that Maya has been around for a while, we asked Wesley how will developers will take advantage of it on the PS4 and Xbox One and whether the the combination of the latest iteration of Maya along with the new consoles result into superior character models?

“Developers have already been taking advantage of Maya and 3ds Max for next-gen work for quite a few years, now. Since AAA games take a long time to make, we’ve had customers working with previous versions of our software: customizing, tweaking, and building in-housetools for a while now. The 2015 releases of Maya and 3ds Max definitely bring some important updates to the table for AAA developers,” Wesley explains.

Wesley believes that similar to last gen, the best looking games on PS4 and Xbox One will come at the end of the console cycle. “Much like with the last generation of consoles, I think we will see studios learning how to best leverage the new technology over the course of its life cycle, and graphics will keep improving, whether it’s from increased poly-count or some other artistic technique. I think we’ll really see more photorealistic characters by the end of the cycle,” he said.

Do you agree with with Wesley’s views? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

This is just a snippet of our interview with Autodesk and we will have more in the coming days.

Microsoft have claimed that the power of the cloud will eventually make the Xbox One more powerful. To back up those claims they even demonstrated the technology at the recent Build 2014. The demonstration can be seen above.

GamingBolt recently got in touch with Wesley Adams, who is the Games Industry Marketing Specialist at Autodesk. For those not aware about Autodesk, the firm specializes in developing tools for 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. They provide a range of software for games development like Maya, Gameware Navigation and more.

It’s often been said that the future of gaming will rest with Cloud computing with rumblings that this could be the last generation of physical consoles. We asked Wesley about his thoughts on the potential of Cloud computing at this point, especially with Microsoft’s Azure seemingly augmenting the console’s power while Sony’s PlayStation Now bringing game streaming to the PS4.

“I think that cloud-based gaming is almost certainly the future at this point,” Wesley believes.

“The tech world sort of swings back and forth between local computing and a “client” computing model, but I think we’re almost there for gaming, technologically. One thing to consider is broadband availability in certain parts of the world. It will come down to a business decision for hardware manufacturers as to how they will still capture the non-broadband market with products that require a continuously high-speed connection. I’m guessing that as this generation starts to age, even high speed mobile devices will have propagated enough to serve as hot spots for people with no landlines, ” he further stated.

Autodesk themselves are actually working on cloud service of their own which allows compute intensive processes to be completed in a few minutes instead of days along with multiple cloud services for multiple projects.

“On our side, Autodesk has already made some neat inroads to putting tools on the cloud, in web browsers on Amazon servers with the help of OTOY. We also have Autodesk 360, which you can use to store files in the cloud and share them more easily with your team. So the cloud is coming, both on the player side and the development side. I’m pretty stoked about it,” Wesley stated.

Note: This is just a snippet of our interview with Wesley Adams and we will have more in the coming days.

Autodesk has revealed that Maya LT 2015 will be heading to Valve Software’s Steam, delivering a set of animation and modelling features to various gamers, devs and artistes. This will allow them to create their own assets to either use in existing Valve titles like DoTA 2 or create the same for their own games.

Autodesk games solution director Frank Delise stated that, “The Valve community is unique because it includes a very engaged mix of both gamers and developers working together to mod titles and generate content. We hope Maya LT will further that creative spirit and help a Steam user of any skill level to create high quality 3D game assets. We’re engaging with the community on day one by participating in forums, answering questions and offering custom tutorial content for DoTA 2 fans. We can’t wait to try new things with the community and see how they push Maya LT to its limit and beyond.”

Developers who purchase Maya LT will receive a full commercial licence which makes for assets to be available on PC, consoles and mobile platforms. It will be made available on April 22nd for $50 monthly in select countries.