Maxon Acquires ZBrush [non-blender]
Maxon Computer, most known for its DCC “Cinema 4D”, is on a shopping spree. It has just been announced that Maxon has acquired Pixologic and their powerhouse sculpting software, Zbrush. This is the latest in a series of notable purchases by Maxon, which acquired the “Redshift” render engine in 2019, the “Red Giant” suite in early 2020, and the iOS sculpting app “Forger” in March of this year.
Big news! We are thrilled and proud to announce the next milestone in the #ZBrush story! Pending regulatory approval later this month, we will be joining #Maxon and their software ecosystem! For now, read our announcement at: https://t.co/yYwodar09x pic.twitter.com/SL9Ma5DSL2
— Maxon ZBrush (@maxonzbrush) December 14, 2021
Pixologic announced the news in an statement on their website, stating that Zbrush will be joining the Maxon ecosystem and that, among other things, perpetual licenses are expected to continue.
Check out the full announcement on the link below:
Link
I wish it was fake news. Dammit, Epic where have you been?
sad news
R.I.P. zbrush…
Literally nobody is happy about this, except Maxon subscribers.
ZBrush Cost Before Maxon 700 Hundred Dollar. After Maxon 3000 Hundred
Ewwwwe Saas is terrible. It just continues to make Blender all that more appealing. Particularly supporting Blender. (Hint hint…support Blender everybody. You can (maybe) write it off!)
Innovations and improvements from Max and Maya ground to a halt as soon as they got their flock on a nice maintenance contract. Same for Adobe products. Nice piece of software you’ve got there, it’d be a shame if anything happened to it.
The DCC industry is ripe for disruption again. Blender, Davinci, Affinity – lots of companies bringing a ton of value to the tools. Oddly enough, years ago, it was companies like Autodesk that came along and made 3D affordable compared to companies like Alias Wavefront. Then, they just creeped back to where they were. Expensive per seat, and expensive ‘maintenance’ fees. “You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain”
Capital ruins everything
Really? Do you think Blender would have survived without capital? It was capital that allowed Blender to go open-source back in 2002. Major corporations are helping fund Blender now, with capital. So I respectfully disagree the problem is capital.
The problem is not money, is greed. Affinity and Procreate, their companies earn money but are not greedy. Maxon, Autodesk, Adobe, they are greedy.
Greed ruins everything. No system under the sun ever tried was safe from it.
Because C4D is such a grea—hahahahahah–I can’t even say it with a straight face.
Here’s hoping Blender gets temporally stable GI noise soon. It’s fantastic in almost every other way.
I’ve been thinking the exact same thing, damn isn’t it supposed to be used in animation????
That’s really bad. I’ve used Zbrush since 2017 and now I need to move the whole sculpting process into blender. This maybe is not soo bad but I am more familiar with ZBrush sculpting system. Very sad news indeed. Compared to other software C4D is a kinda joke, can’t imagine what they do with ZBrush software in the next few years…
I adore Blender, but there’s a profound reason why ZBrush + Blender has been a common pairing among many Blender users, particularly in professional circles.
This news saddens me deeply, as I know that the quality and service that Pixologic has always brought to ZBrush will suffer under Maxon.
As I’ve said across various comment sections on the web, I would’ve much preferred if it Pixologic had said, “We need to start selling new licenses for new major upgrades now, moving forward,” than see them get acquired by Maxon.
I longed feared that the seemingly-forever “free upgrades” might eventually catch up to them and customers like myself. Now, the worst is confirmed.
Just goes to show you how important not only Blender as a software is, but as a philosophy, as well. Because if even someone as great and loyal as Pixologic can be bought, anyone can. But Blender, by principle, can never be bought.
I agree with you. I would have welcomed Pixologic if they had decided on a paid update. Their artist-friendly updates and affordable perpetual license prices make it well worth it. However, the license prices for Redgiant and Forger, which Maxon acquired, were disastrous.