Autodesk Stingray is a professional 3D game engine and real-time rendering tool known for its exceptional interoperability with 3ds Max and Maya. Originally developed as the Bitsquid engine before its acquisition and rebranding, it serves as the technological foundation for major titles like Helldivers 2 and Warhammer: Vermintide 2. While Autodesk officially ended active development in 2018 to focus on partnerships with Unity and Unreal Engine, Stingray (version 1.9) remains a notable piece of software history, celebrated for its lightweight data-driven architecture and ability to handle complex rendering tasks on Windows systems.
Key Features
- Live Link Interoperability: Establishes a real-time connection between the engine and Autodesk 3D modeling tools, allowing artists to see geometry and texture changes instantly in the game view without exporting files.
- Data-Driven Core Architecture: Utilizes a unique structure where the engine processes data separately from code, enabling faster loading times and easier management of massive asset libraries for open-world projects.
- Flow Visual Scripting: empowers designers to create complex gameplay logic and event triggers using a node-based interface, eliminating the need to write raw code for every interaction.
- Physically Based Rendering (PBR): Integrates advanced shading and lighting systems, including Autodesk Beast, to produce photorealistic visuals essential for high-fidelity architectural visualization and gaming.
- Lua Scripting API: Provides a flexible and lightweight coding environment for developers who prefer text-based programming to build custom tools or modify engine behavior deeply.
Use Cases Use Cases This engine is primarily relevant for game development historians and modders maintaining legacy projects or analyzing the tech stack behind specific hits like Helldivers 2. It also served architectural visualization specialists who required rapid iteration between building information models (BIM) and interactive VR walkthroughs before the industry shifted toward Unreal Engine workflows.
Autodesk Stingray stands as a testament to the potential of specialized, data-focused engines, offering a distinct workflow that prioritized artist efficiency and seamless tool integration on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 platforms.
Version 1.9.1494.0 — August 2017
- Added physically based light entities with new controls for color temperature and IES light profile support, allowing for more realistic scene lighting.
- Introduced a Favorites feature in the Asset Browser, enabling users to mark and quickly access frequently used assets.
- Improved workflow with a new live-sync capability that automatically updates assets in all connected engines as they are modified in the editor.
- Added support for debugging project Lua code directly from the Visual Studio Code editor.
- Updated the Capture Frames plug-in with a new extensibility interface to support additional video codecs.
- Included experimental support for Microsoft HoloLens, including a new project template and a raycast option for double-sided mesh detection.
- Enhanced interoperability with updated DCC Link plug-ins for Maya 2018 and Maya LT 2018.
- Fixed navigation generation issues by allowing specific physics actors to be excluded from the navmesh.
