http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=12022457&siteID=123112
With regard specifically to ZB, I wonder how this will affect us?
On other boards people are mentioning possible improved interoperability between XSI and the other Autodesk apps.
For a couple of versions now it seemed as if XSI and ZB developers worked together to make these two apps work better together.
So now that AD has XSI and Mudbox, I wonder what impact will this have on ZB and XSI interoperability?
From recent events I think that zbrush will lose in the long run, unless pixologic step up starts to take things seriously. Here I am thinking of broken promises, ambiguous announcements, miscommunication with the end users, chaotic releases etc.
I hope that pixologic will manage to do that, because apart from the UI, Zbrush is so much better than Mudbox - also zbrush has a mac version, mudbox dont.
This is so depressing.
Autodesk was always powerful…now that they own the top 3 production packages, they are completely omnipotent. They can destroy any other ancillary 3d production app at will by either not supporting it, or actively interfering with its compatibility.
For me its not a question of whether they will try to buy Pixologic, but rather whether they will simply destroy zbrush now in favor of Mudbox.
SoftImage blew chunks after the initial V6 came out…
No tears here…
Lemo
OH, My God!!!:evil:
“There can be only one…” Colin MacLeod from the clan MacLeod
well I hope autodesk don’t mess this up.
they have a great chance to accelerate the 3d industry here, but I’m finding it hard to be optimistic about the chances of this happening.
I mean on the bright side we should get better integration between XSI/maya/3dsmax
but then again does that out way the chance that XSI could loose its uniqueness which makes it so good and ZBrush compatibility dropping only to be replaced with mudbox
only time will tell i spose
Monopoly anyone? What do we have left…(feal free to add) C4D, Houdini, Blender, Carrara… the crunch continues…
Modo is looking promissing, but yeah it can look like monopoly, but still no where near …
Look at the bright side, XSi get to live on - avid could as well just had fired the bunch - end the whole product
How did they get this past the antitrust authorities! There’s no competition now, I can see them mothballing one of the apps as well…
All I have to say is PLEASE pixologic. DON’T sell out to autodesk. Stick it to the man!! The industry needs variety. With autodesk buying every app they can decide the retail price. We’re royaly screwed if that happens!
The only reason max and maya had a price drop was because xsi was cheaper. Its over now…
Yeah, totally! Please don’t sell out, if this goes then we’re soon gonna be buying our groceries from Autodesk 
Stay unique!
They dont need to buy Zbrush to destroy it now. All they need to do is make sure that the top 3 production apps dont work very well with it, as opposed to MB, which will of course work seamlessly.
yeah this is getting crazy. once autodesk buys these they seem to make no improvements they add like 2 tools a year and update it every year its the stupidest thing ever. im with these guys… please dont sell out zbrush. they can have mudbox.
i agree that it sucks and could spell problems for zbrush, but one option is zbrush to change its current plan of being more 3d oriented and change to another type of application, i mean if they added more 2.5d tools it could be like painter is to photoshop.
ZBrush is totally unique and will always draw a special crowd as long as it remains that way… 2.5D is the founding paradigm of the software the way I see it, and nobody else in the industry has bothered to touch that concept
however, I can see ZBrush falling out of mainstream use for your average 3d animation pipeline
at this point I don’t see myself ever buying an autodesk product… the capitalist inevitability of power consolidating into fewer hands gains more momentum by the day and it disgusts and horrifies me… not that consolidation in the 3d graphics industry is so appalling, but it’s a global trend across all industries… and when some industries consolidate, it DOES produce horrifying effects
I just don’t want to feed any leviathan if I can avoid it… I’ll be making a serious effort to learn Blender a few months from now
Unified field theory of everything!
I am so glad that finally we are on the road to a single product that does it all!
GREAT!
It’s hight time because in a few days time we will have a single United Socialist States of America under a single dictator and so it is only right that the freedom of choice as to which program we use is also removed.
All fits in perfectly.
Welcome to the NEW US. A land of huge government, huge oligarchic companies and NO DIVERSITY and NO COMPETITION.
I bet the liberals are really happy now and planning a huge victory party.
Lets see what they feel like in a few years time.
The CHANGE is here people - now enjoy it!
Autodesk has not any rival left from now on. I hope this does not mean that they are going to upgrade applications in every decade
I agree with spaceboy412, i like the 2.5D tools and i hope pixologic improve it in the release zbrush 3.5 or Zbrush 4. Zbrush is unique software it’s like combination of 2D and 3D software, the pixol technology is unique and i think zbrush is the only software that can create images that have editable depth, lightning, material (2.5D). I hope pixologic stay unique and don’t sell out your amazing software to autodesk. I hope pixologic improving 2d or 2.5D tools in next release, 2D/2.5D tools it’s very usefull for 3d/2.5D Illustrator and i hope more improvement on the lightning, material and rendering on next zbrush release, so i don’t need other application to render 
. Can’t wait to see the new feature on zbrush 3.5. (Excuse my english :o )