Autodesk has added Golaem, its recently acquired crowd simulation and character layout tool, to the Media & Entertainment Collection, making it available to a broader range of animation and VFX creators.
Golaem has been widely used in the industry for creating large-scale, realistic crowd scenes in film, television, and game cinematics. Known for its intuitive tools and efficient simulation workflows, it allows artists to populate environments with thousands of characters while maintaining control over behavior, animation variation, and layout.
Previously a third-party plugin for Maya, Golaem was acquired by Autodesk in 2024. The integration into Autodesk’s subscription-based M&E Collection means that studios and individual creators no longer need to license it separately. This move streamlines production pipelines and makes advanced simulation tools more accessible across teams of all sizes.
“Adding Golaem to the Media & Entertainment Collection aligns with our goal to give creators flexible, production-ready tools at every stage of the pipeline,” said Diana Colella, EVP of Media & Entertainment at Autodesk. “We want artists to spend less time on technical barriers and more time bringing their stories to life.”
For creators, this addition removes a major hurdle, cost and integration complexity. Now, artists working within Maya can use Golaem’s node-based behavior editor, animation blending, and manual layout tools directly, without switching between systems or managing external plugins.
This change also supports Autodesk’s vision for a more connected and efficient animation workflow. With Golaem now part of a suite that includes Maya, Arnold, MotionBuilder, and other core tools, creators can handle everything from character rigging to final rendering within a unified environment.
Autodesk has confirmed that Golaem development will continue and that existing workflows will be supported. While future roadmap details are still emerging, the inclusion signals a strategic focus on scalable character animation and simulation, particularly as production timelines shrink and demands for content grow.
As animation and visual storytelling continue expanding across platforms, from traditional film to real-time and immersive media, built-in access to robust tools like Golaem gives teams the creative headroom to go bigger without slowing down.
