>> 2011 Evolver Acquired By Autodesk
* Aliso Viejo-based Evolver, the online avatar creation service, has been acquired by Autodesk, the 3D CAD software development firm. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to Evolver, in a note to users of the service, its products Avatara, Evolver, and Evolver Pro have become part of Autodesk. Evolver said that Autodesk acquired its technology to complement the research Autodesk is doing into realistic, real-time human crowd simulation. Evolver’s products are becoming part of an upcoming, Autodesk Labs technology preview for painting crowds into 3D scenes, and will continue to be available to consumers and professionals. Autodesk also said it plans to transition many of the pro features of Evolver’s services to free, for a limited time, but did not spell out long term plans for the avatar software. Evolver was headed by Brian Nilles and was previously known as Darwin Dimensions.