[3] Currently[update] developed by Autodesk, Mudbox was created by Skymatter, founded by Tibor Madjar, David Cardwell and Andrew Camenisch, former artists of Weta Digital, where the tool was first used to produce the 2005 Peter Jackson remake of King Kong.
Mudbox was developed by Skymatter in New Zealand as the founders David Cardwell, Tibor Madjar and Andrew Camenisch were working on The Lord of the Rings at Weta Digital circa 2001.
They created the software to expand their own toolsets, and Mudbox was first used as a complete product in the 2005 film King Kong.
Simple poly primitives can be created from within Mudbox, facilitating the creation of busts, props, terrain, etc.
In Mudbox 2010, an application programming interface (API) was introduced via a software development kit (SDK).
Mudbox's interface includes menus, tabbed windows, tool trays, keyboard shortcuts, and can be customized to a limited extent.
On February 15, 2014, Canadians Andrew Camenisch, David Cardwell and Canadian-Hungarian Tibor Madjar were honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for scientific and technical achievement on the concept and design, along with Csaba Kőhegyi and Imre Major, two Hungarians educated at Debrecen University, for implementation of the Mudbox software.