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 BioGraphic Technologies Announces AI.implant Version 2.5 Posted by: amigo
Source: DMN
Date: Sat Sep 18 2004
BioGraphic Technologies, the leading provider of AI-based 3D tools and engines for games, film, television and simulation, today announced version 2.5 of AI.implant, its multi-platform AI software for dynamic pathfinding, crowd animation and character logic which includes a C++ SDK and/or exporters for 3ds-max and Maya. This major new release of AI.implant contains a number of significant enhancements, including a next-generation blind-data enabled navigation mesh path-finding architecture, a vastly expanded tool set and substantial gains in authoring and run-time performance. In addition, BioGraphic is segmenting the AI.implant for Games product into three separately purchasable modules: Navmesh generation and editing, Dynamic pathfinding and Decision logic.
"The feedback we're getting from our customers, game developers in particular, is that dynamic pathfinding in large and urban worlds is where the action's at," said Dr. Paul Kruszewski, CTO and founder of BioGraphic Technologies, Inc. "As a result, we've focused version 2.5 of AI.implant on deeper pathfinding technology and breaking out the different components of pathfinding so it can be used by more developers. These changes will benefit all of our users."
Powerful new features
AI.implant version 2.5 includes a number of significant new features that both accelerate and extend AI functionality. They include:
Dynamic pathfinding: Building on the navmesh architecture introduced in version 2.0 of AI.implant, all pathfinding via navmeshes is now dynamic. In a move to enable developers to create fully constructive and destructive worlds, navigable space can now be blocked and unblocked dynamically to simulate events such as road blocks and collapsing walls. As well, AI.implant now takes into account character width relative to paths, so that a large character will not necessarily choose the same path as a small character. Finally, with the optimization of the underlying architecture, overall pathfinding has become more efficient in terms of memory usage and CPU time.
Blind data on mesh objects: All mesh objects-the MeshBarrier in particular -can now hold arbitrary amounts of "blind data"-user-defined named data which can be specified on a per-cell or a per-vertex basis. A very powerful addition to AI.implant, blind data opens up a world of possibilities including the ability to query the world from decision trees, to influence pathfinding and to achieve other forms of spatial-based reasoning. For example, a series of cells can be tagged as "a sidewalk" and the pathfinder can be told to keep the character on the sidewalk. Or a cell can be tagged as a weapons depot, and the character's behavior programmed to trigger a reaction to load up on munitions when near such a depot.
Sharing of geometry: With AI.implant V2.5, navmeshes do not require their own separate geometry. AI.implant can utilize existing level geometry already created for physics or rendering resulting in significant memory savings and in improved overall performance. Furthermore this geometry can be dynamic.
AI.DE: AI.DE is a complete AI development environment. Visualization now features a new point and pick interface which greatly simplifies the visual debugging of a scene; tighter integration with the AI.explorer in 3ds-max and Maya; more flexible camera options; hardware acceleration for large mesh objects; and representations of waypoints, paths, and MeshBarriers. Finally, selecting one or more objects in the AI.explorer will now highlight the selections in the visualiser.
Increased scripting support: The AI.DE scripting dictionary has been greatly expanded to provide more power and expression than ever. A number of commands related to navmeshes and blind data have been added to take advantage of the newfound appearance of these functions in the SDK. In addition, scripting can now be used as an effective tool to allow blind data to influence decision-making.
New product modularity for game developers
BioGraphic is also pleased to announce a new product structure for the game development community. BioGraphic is now making it possible for developers to license only the technology they need. Developers can now license the following core AI.implant functions separately:
- Navmesh generation and editing tool
- Dynamic navigation (pathfinding) engine
- Character logic (decision trees, finite state machines, scripting) engine
Developers interested in learning more about this new pricing scheme should contact BioGraphic Technologies' sales team via e-mail at [email protected] or via telephone at (514) 844-5255.
Availability
AI.implant 2.5 is available now for Alias Maya and Discreet 3ds max as well as the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms. Current customers and evaluators have already been sent instructions for downloading the latest version of the software. Those people not currently evaluating AI.implant are invited to visit www.biographictech.com/products.html where they can request an evaluation copy of the product.
About Biographic Technologies
Based in Montreal, BGT BioGraphic Technologies, Inc. develops and sells best-of-breed artificial intelligence (AI) software under the AI.implant brand to game developers such as Midway and Sony Computer Entertainment, special FX and animation studios such as Lucas Film and NHK, and military simulation developers such as KMW and FATS. These digital content creators use AI.implant to add brains to virtual characters, thereby increasing product quality and decreasing development cost and time-to-market. The innovative excellence of its core technology has won the company prestigious awards such as a Game Developer Magazine FrontLine Award for Innovation in Game Development.
Related Links: Biographic Technologies website
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