NaturalMotion upgrades Morpheme to 1.3

Natural Motion has been demoing the latest version of its animation middleware Morpheme at GDC this week, showing off version 1.3.

The new version boasts a number of improvements, such as animation sets which allow the creation of multiple characters or LODs; Inverse kinematics (IK) nodes for a range of common tasks; automatic constraint matching for detection of events such as footsteps; support for live debugging of remote runtime targets and a fully scripted user interface.

Also, the tool features for the first time integration with Unreal Engine 3, following on from NaturalMotion’s joining the Integrated Partners Program last week.

"Morpheme has been proven by our users as a robust and intuitive animation solution for developers," said Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion.

"Version 1.3 is even more accessible, offering an unprecedented set of features that shifts the process of animation development from tedious lines of code to an easy-to-use graphical interface, whilst maintaining maximum code flexibility."

EVE Online developer CCP is the latest licensee signed up to use Morpheme, and has announced it will integrate the middleware into current and upcoming unannounced projects.

Thor Gunnarsson, VP of diz at CCP commented: "As a valuable addition to our technology arsenal, morpheme will support CCP’s drive to deliver vivid expressiveness to the avatars populating EVE and beyond."