Unity 2017.2 brings Autodesk integration into the fold

If you’re a game developer or artist working with tools from both Unity and Autodesk, the next update to Unity 2017 comes with some potentially good news for your workflow.

Unity has detailed some of the new additions coming to the full Unity 2017.2 update later this month, and integrating 3DS Max and Maya into the engine is one of the bigger changes on the list.

Early into the Unite Austin 2017 Conference, the two companies announced that they had forged a partnership to better integrate their game development products for the next big Unity update.

Through that arrangement, Autodesk has granted Unity source code access to its Autodesk FBX SDK, something both companies believe will help deliver a streamlined asset sharing and in-game iteration process to artists and devs working with both products. 

While this sadly won’t extend to some of Autodesk’s recently discontinued tools, the upcoming 2017.2 release will introduce improved import and export capabilities for Autodesk’s FBX filetype that extend to support both the Autodesk interactive physically based shader and custom properties.

Additionally, Unity says 2017.2 will come packaged with a number of updates to the Timeline and Cinemachine tools as well as optimized support for ARCore, ARKit, Vuforia, and Microsoft Mixed Reality. The full rundown on everything mentioned during the Unite Keynote can be found on the Unity blog, while the update itself is due out later this month.