AutoDesk has done it again - Buys SoftImage from Avid

[Lone Deranger]

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=12022457&siteID=123112

I can't stand AutoDesk, they have the same Modus Operandi as MicroSoft. Buy the competition instead of innovation.
I had hopes (albeit slim) that Apple would buy them instead. Then again they passed on Alias a few years ago and killed off Shake, so I guess SoftImage wouldn't interest them much in the age of the iPhone.

 

[motoxpress]

Shake is not totally dead, the technology will live on.

However, I also wish Apple would have picked up Softimage. It sure would make sense considering the empty stall in their proapps barn and the Pixar connection...

-mx

 

[Lone Deranger]

Indeed... Apple works in mysterious ways. On the one hand they seem to have lost most, if not all interest in further establishing themselves in the pro 2D and 3D market. While on the other hand we have Pixar and their huge influence in the field of Digital Artistry.
I really don't see where Apple is going with this....

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Shake is not totally dead, the technology will live on.

However, I also wish Apple would have picked up Softimage. It sure would make sense considering the empty stall in their proapps barn and the Pixar connection...

-mx

Indeed, I really thought Apple or Pixar may have picked up SoftImage for R&D it would have created more competition instead of adding to the Autodesk monopoly.

 

[covisio]

I really don't see who has the muscle to challenge AutoDesk now in the pro 3D arena at the moment. It will take a major shift in concept and technology, i.e. someone to come up with something that blows them out of the water for ease of use and power.
Pro 3D is still one of those increasingly rare sectors that retains a relatively highly skilled user base due to its often technical, almost engineering, approach. It's an approach that turns a lot of people off (I know it did me).
I'm thinking something like SketchUp but with total engineering integrity and accuracy built in.

 

[Cromulent]

SideFX are probably the only major player with a 3D application that can challenge them with Houdini.

Saying that, Blender is going to cause them lots of problems in the future. It really does have amazing features and is rock solid stable.

 

[617arg]

I have been stuck using AutoCAD for years now and am puzzled why it is no longer available on the Mac........it was at one time. Revit was also developed as platform neutral but Mac support was dropped once Autodesk bought them.

A great 3d Nurbs modelling program is Rhino. I just posted last night that they have a beta version of their software available for the Mac.

Please, if you have an interest in 3d modeling, sign up for the beta and help get a great program out there.

My thread about it is here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/594447/

More about Rhino here: http://www.rhino3d.com/

Sign up for the beta here: http://community.irhino3d.com/

It's nice to see a company recognize Mac users and be willing to put in the time and effort to bring a good program to us.

 

[QueenZ]

Us AutoCAD available on Mac too?

 

[Mac Kiwi]

Autodesk now have all the really good top end 3d soft,its game over really for Mac support in time I would say now.


Can someone tell me how they managed to hoover up all the best soft,without breaking some kind of anti monopoly law?


I wonder if they also had a go at buying Zbrush? They own Mudbox also.


Would be nice if Mirai resurfaced and handed them their asses

 

[Cromulent]

Autodesk now have all the really good top end 3d soft,its game over really for Mac support in time I would say now.

Unlikely seeing as about 40% of all Maya sales are for the Mac edition. I think they will just merge them all into one huge package and sell it on all platforms.

 

[arkitect]

A great 3d Nurbs modelling program is Rhino. I just posted last night that they have a beta version of their software available for the Mac.
It's nice to see a company recognize Mac users and be willing to put in the time and effort to bring a good program to us.

Can't agree more.

I have been using the PC version since it came out in 1998. Rhino 3D has been my bread-and-butter app.

I have also been using the Mac Beta since it was released.
It runs really well.

Good to see some support for the Mac from a company that once said they will never port Rhino to the Mac.
How times have changed!

Us AutoCAD available on Mac too?

No.

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Unlikely seeing as about 40% of all Maya sales are for the Mac edition. I think they will just merge them all into one huge package and sell it on all platforms.

Yeah that's what I think will happen as well, 3D Studio MAX and MAYA will merge into one product. If you look at the timeline both products seem to be going in the same directions now so it doesn't make much sense to have two competing products from the same company.

 

[Mac Kiwi]

Unlikely seeing as about 40% of all Maya sales are for the Mac edition. I think they will just merge them all into one huge package and sell it on all platforms.

I hope so but they kill Mac support on contact usually,sans Maya thus far.


From their point of view {hope I am wrong} I think they will just force everyone to use PCs in the 3d dc environment,makes me wonder how closely MS is tied to Autodesk to be honest?

 

[617arg]

I hope so but they kill Mac support on contact usually,sans Maya thus far.


From their point of view {hope I am wrong} I think they will just force everyone to use PCs in the 3d dc environment,makes me wonder how closely MS is tied to Autodesk to be honest?

They must be very close. I have emailed S.J. asking about the AutoCAD situation but haven't gotten a response, like some others seem to get.

This is part of what makes me really want to support Rhino's efforts. Only problem is that I know how to use AutoCAD, and that is what allows me to earn a living. Thus no time to actually learn an alternative........

 

[cube]

And Softimage was originally bought by Microsoft which sold it to Avid for, among other things, Avid stock.

 

[Lone Deranger]

That would make little sense imho. First of all it would require a tremendous amount of effort realigning all the three different core architectures.
I've heard several developers (both Maya and XSI devs) state that not only would this be nigh on impossible, it would be very, very cost prohibitive. The result would probably be quite the Frankenstein app under the hood. The last thing you'd want from a 3D app (one that will be expected to process and manipulate vastly complicated geometric assets) is a cobbled together core. I know I'd probably loathe to use something like that.

Right now AutoDesk can make the most money doing what they've always done. Sit on their products, add useless gimmick features like their Borg viewcube (I dread to see that appear in my XSI 2009 viewport) and charge their annual over the top subscription fees, knowing most of their clients are too dependent on their products to make a quick and clean run for the competition.

Eventually a next generation application will become a necessity as Max and Maya's already ancient cores grow too unwieldy to expand upon any further.
At that point AutoDesk could of course use all the acquired technology and patents to write a next generation application to supplant Max, Maya and XSI.
But I don't see this happen anytime soon, if at all. Redesigning and writing an application as complicated as these three are takes years to do.
Just look how long it took SoftImage to develop XSI to the point where it became just about usable in production and what it did to their market dominance (Maya slaughtered them).
What I think AutoDesk would do instead is doing what they do best. Which is using their anti competitive market dominance to pummel the competition's market share and their stock prices for a few years and snap up the remains for a bargain only to ride that horse out for years until it's made them enough money.
That's their modus operandi.

Unlikely seeing as about 40% of all Maya sales are for the Mac edition. I think they will just merge them all into one huge package and sell it on all platforms.