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 )
Yeah, not only 2.5 tools, but I regret a bit that most people seems to forget that zbrush is an entire illustration program.
I remember during the beginings of 2.0 there was much more illustrations…
3D sculpting is in fact a very small part of zbrush…
But its out of topic 
Seb that is exactly what i was saying, i remember those days, and i think with some modification to layers and more painting tools zbrush could return to being a stronger app without the need of photoshop.
I think ZB has its very strong place. MB is nowhere (yet) compared to ZB, brushes are uncomfortable, etc. I have completely different feeling when working with ZB, a lot smoother, finer, etc.
Pixologic has to listen to the studios, they working with, end of course the key beta testers. But I think they’ll do their best.
@ Kasperle
I just love your comment.
That is just so spot on.
I personally could care less that Autodesk buys everything but I do care about what is happening in the US politics.
Looks like there is a major change happening and its a change that will be very expensive for all.
I hope the US voter thinks before they vote for that liberal nut.
Just imagine what would happen if OB got a Kennedy experience and then Biden would be Pres and after Biden dies from cancer (he has it BTW) and then gusee who would be pres - that’s right Pelosi !!!
GEEEEZZZZZZ - that is really scary!
Keep the world free and vote McCain.
PS Message for the Moderator - do not censor this message dude and show some fair and balanced attitude just for once. This is more important than your prescious little forum!
Whatever happend to competition? What incentive will they have to make improvements and to keep the price somewhat reasonable?
LOL at Kasperle comment. I agree. I aslo don’t think monopolies are a capitalist phenomenon. Capitalism is about competition.
You’re right. It’s not a capitalist phenomenon. It’s the inevitable product of ANY social structure with a hierarchy of power/authority. Capitalism is just the dominant present form, and it’s a very successful form of control.
Consolidation is the natural evolution of power. Whenever one person has more social power or authority than another, it also means greater ability to seek more for oneself. It doesn’t matter what the claim is. They’re all social constructs. They’re all illusions which we allow to control our daily lives… royal blood, color of skin, academic recognition, relations with god, or money…
Money works so well because of the way it distributes hope and blame. Supposedly everybody has opportunity to succeed, and if you fail it’s obviously your fault. You just didn’t work hard enough or possess the divine inspiration to create a product, and there’s plenty of rags to riches stories out there to keep us convinced that we could be the next chosen one.
But money is no more valid than any of the other excuses I listed for enforcing self-importance on society. Tons of studies are done concerning wealth distribution and they all point to massive and growing inequality. The easiest statistics to find and quote are on Wikipedia.
“A study by the World Institute for Development Economics Research at United Nations University reports that the richest 1% of adults alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the world total.”
So 10% of the world’s people owns most of the world. This means those 10% of people own the necessities of survival for most everybody else. This means that in order to survive, the bottom 90% of the world’s population must work for the top 10%. This means that the top 10% enjoys the privilege of designing the rules of everyday life for the bottom 90%. That 90% has the freedom to obey those rules, or be cast into a short life of extreme poverty or imprisonment. It doesn’t matter if those rules are designed to enforce the supremacy of that top 10%.
What does that top 10% offer to the rest of the world in return? Very little. They are there for no other reason than they own the means of survival for everyone else. Be it a factory farm, intellectual property rights to medical formulas, or land.
This is called Wage Slavery, and opportunity and competition can hardly be considered features. The only forms of competition are in the Have-Nots competing for the favor of the Haves, and competition between the Haves leading to ever increasing consolidation of power.
These dynamics are consistent across all forms of social hierarchy from Monarchy to Capitalism to Representative Democracy.
I just love this leftist excuse for what is and what always will be.
By what you said you are supporting Obama and that in itself is a big joke.
He will achieve only 2 things. A 2 percentage change in the middle percentiles of society and that will be counterbalanced by the unemployment caused by his taxing the employers of the US and making them become less investive and secondly grow government to point where no one can support it anymore nor live under its impending control.
Your socialist idea is so tried and tested to NOT WORK that it is astounding that a person from the west with all the opportunity you have had to learn about the world still can believe in that garbage.
I am happy that the wealth is spread like it is because at least then there is SOME CONTROL because what you envisage will lead to absolute totalitarian rule or ANARCHY and if that is what you want then YOU ARE MY ENEMY!
Go vote for OBAMA and when you wake up from that nightmare please do not start complaining to us because we will not be very kind to you.
McCain is a good man and will be fair and balanced considering the most leftist version of the hijacked democratic party in history already controls the Senate and the House. VOTE FOR MCCAIN for a FREE WORLD!!!
Message to the MODS = you better not censor this post because this is too important for your petty little attitudes! Allow free speach or be damned!
Stop this arrogant **** here, please. This is NOT a political, but an art forum, you are ranting against the moderators, I’m really surprised that you are not banned yet.
This thread is about Autodesk acquiring Softimasge, and I don’t think that it has any business with Obama and McCain (neither to our local “heroes” Gyurcsany and Orban)
Taking a side step back on topic…
If it is true that Autodesk plan to create one new 3d app that “does all”, what about all the people who’ve spent years learning either Max, Maya or XSI? It won’t be very nice to find out all that knowledge is redundant, and for what good reason apart from corporate strategy? Then theres the extra cost and teething problems a brand new app will bring.
If they do cull one of the big 3 apps, which one will it be? All have good workflow and can produce top results so what criteria will they use?
Either way I think its very bad that Autodesk has been allowed to gobble up most of the market. I can’t imagine they will continue updating all 3 apps, but there we are, it will probably forced upon us whatever they do.
That is a bit rich dude.
What? Are you an Obamabot that cannot stand an opposing opinion?
And since you are in Hungary - BOSSAMEG and FRANZBA to you dude.
PS How dare you suggest that I be banned when all I did was respond to another person’s obvious political comment.
What are you ? The DEBATE GESTAPO?
ZBrushCentral is NOT the place for political grandstanding.
I have deleted the political posts that have been made in this thread, and will close the thread if they continue.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Only 35 million to buy XSI?
If Softimage sold the program for the same price Zbrush goes for. Would it be crazy to say that they might have made more money?
I know this is a niche market.
3,000 dollars is a lot of money.
I wish there were Commercial and Non Commercial Licenses options for all of these 3d programs.
I know Educational Versions exist for far less, but some people are not in school, and all they want to do is learn the program to build a portfolio, and they can’t afford the Commercial price.
The Educational Version is not possible for them, and yet they would still be using the program for the same intended Educational Purpose.
XSI had a Foundation for 500 bucks. That’s pretty the same as ZBrush price. But, while XSI offers a complete solution, ZBrush doesn’t. XSI is a modeler, animation, simulation, renderer, etc. software, ZBrush offers illustration and 3d sculpting.
Softimage has been sold, because Avid suffered great losses on video editing market, and doesn’t want to spend money on 3D (even if it was profitable). Avid needs all resource on its main area.
XSI Essential 7.0 for 2995 bucks is a good price, it has ICE, has MR as native renderer, has an excellent polygonal modeling toolsets, and so on. I’m sure that the price invested will return within short time.