Thank you for at least being able to tell us that. also im sure many of us would just like to say, since this software. no. COMMUNITY means so much to us, we’ve all been heated and touchy over it, we just don’t want to see something many of us have worked so hard for brought down to nothing suddenly. we, well i can’t speak for everyone, but i know I myself have said some things i regret, but its all out of fear and despair… and some anger, certainly. but we ALL hope for the best… of course im sorry you’ve probably had to sit here and read us complaining every day as well. either way, just wanted to add my two cents about that as well…
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I couldn’t have said it better, @Julian_K !
The ‘Maxologic’ take-over has been on my mind ever since my jaw dropped when reading that news.
As a 3D industry veteran I can clearly remember how I reviewed the first ZBrush version for a Dutch computer magazine many years ago. Back then I didn’t really know what to think of the 2.5D approach, but it was immediately clear to me that the coding level was top-notch.
In the years that followed I remained faithful to 3ds Max, but always kept an eye on the intriguing developments of ZBrush, gradually developing the 3D sculpting medium.
Once ZBrush 4R7 was released, I had become very eager to jump on the ZeeBee bandwagon for an exciting creative ride.
Every time a major ZBrush upgrade was released for free again, I wondered how the company could stay alive like that.
I’m also an avid Blender user since 2012, when 3ds Max went the subscription way, and next to the Blender Foundation, Pixologic was the only other developer / publisher that kept my full sympathy, not only because of their lack of profit greed, but mainly because of their grandiose tool and the sympathetic atmosphere, both at the side of the developers and the side of the users / artists.
Looking at the facts up to now, the take-over by Maxon does not elicit trust in the future of ZBrush. Maxon quickly switched to a subscription-only model after taking over Redshift, and the subscription prices of C4D, Redshift and other Maxon products are way too high for a small-scale freelancer like I am.
I’m now hoping for one of these possibilities:
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Perpetual ZBrush licensees will remain respected and will keep being able to upgrade once a year for a reasonable price (comparable to what you need to pay to upgrade Keyshot for ZBrush), in stead of having to switch to a subscription-only pricing model.
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If ZBrush becomes subscription-only, I dearly hope the subscription price will be reasonable to hobbyists and small-scale freelancers. My personal maximum monthly budget for a ZBrush subscription would be $ 20, but preferably less of course.
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A third option I’d definitely find interesting to consider is an Indie license for a combined C4D and ZBrush package, with a yearly price not much higher than that of Maya Indie: currently $ 280. But I consider that to be very unlikely, although it could be a strategic blow to Blender, Max and Maya.
However, if Maxon turns out to take full advantage of the take-over for maximum profit gain, then for the time being I will probably keep using the last ZBrush version covered by my perpetual license, but sooner or later I’ll completely switch to Blender, Nomad Sculpt and/or 3D-Coat, although it would break my heart to leave ZBrush, its sympathetic developers and the creative community behind.
The bottom line: I really hope Maxon and Pixologic will soon release reassuring info to the loyal ZBrush user base.
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I Really doubt the sub cost would be $20 dude… its not even $20 before they merged with Maxon… unless they’re able to negotiate it being lower since they’ve got more money behind them, but the $40 sub price that will likely stay, if not go even higher if Maxon tries to Shove some other program in there with it. (that none of us want) Worst case, don’t just move on JUST to Blender, keep the current Version of Zbrush and use that, they literally cannot take it away from you. its yours. and will most likely work for for 10+ Years or more without any Fan Patches or Bug fixes from Windows “Fixing” things in its Operating System.
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I’m afraid so too. 
There’s another thing that might prove to become a hurdle for me:
When I bought ZBrush 4R7 I was still working with macOS. When I returned to a Windows PC, the license was transferred by Pixologic, but with the message that the switch would only be possible once.
I’m now seriously considering a return to macOS, and wonder if that rule still stands, forcing me to buy ZBrush again, or having to go for a $40 subscription.
Does anyone happen to know if that would be the case?
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No idea about that, ive never used a Mac. but its worth asking of course.
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Have you upgraded your license to ZBrush 20xx? With the release of ZBrush 2018 all licenses became dual platform. You can run it on either platform – or even have it activated on both at once.
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That’s great, thanks Matthew! Yep, I’ve upgraded to every new release so far.
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Hi @Aurick,
Thank you for your reply about people who purchased within 12 months before the 29th Dec '21, and I’m sure those customer willl be very relieved to hear that they wil get the contractually obligated 12 months of updates.
Even if you canot give full details, is there any reassuring news you can give us longer term users who may have purchased before those 12 months, that there will be some upgrade path, some future for us (speaking for myself as a hobbiest rather than making money from using ZBrush professionally, hopefully one that won’t require paying 25%+ of a new whole perpetual license per year), but I realise you can’t give specific details yet?
I’m sure you can see people are worried, and as someone who has supported this community for much longer than I have been here, I totally believe you and your team/colleagues do want to tell us more, do want to reasure us, but you want to make sure all news is correct, so there cannot be any misinterpretations or misunderstandings making things “worse”. Remebering the old '84 Dune movie, “A beggining is a very difficult time”. By that I mean this realy can’t be an easy time for you guys, and I know you are trying to do what is best for people here as much as changes allow for.
But please, if enough is worked out with Maxon that EULAs could be changed and published publically a week ago, saying a few words of reassurance will help more than just me realax and fear the total worst.
As someone who was burned, and then priced out of the market by the Autodesk buyout of Softimage/XSI, maybe I’m being overly paranoid or sensitive, but it is still a bad memory of the “takeover” that this could be, without us as users knowing anything otherwise.
Anyway, enough of that for now, thank you for your time in considering any reply, and more than that, thanks to you, @Pixolator, @PixoPaul and the whole Pixologic team (past and present) for all the enjoyment (and occasional mild frustration trying to wrap my head around things) I have had using ZBrush ever since I was totally blown away by the ZBrush 3 announcment video and ordred it a few days later!
Even if everyones worst fears come to pass (and I do have more faith in the Pixologic team than to believe that entirely), thank you all, it has been a blast!!
Simon
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I don’t have a good feeling about that, always these changes…
if that goes like the change of the forum, it now looks like the impersonal artstation there are barlely any community talks between the users like in the past, smaller problems shouldn’t be posted anymore, always soon a big wave, pardon ticket, there is hardly any contact between the old users and I also have to look at third-party software, what should I do with Blender or other??? Nobody asks for opinions anymore and I bet it will get worse with the takeover of Maxon.
Is there a very minimal chance that the comments here might still be able to rescue something, is there a glimmer of hope…?
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Maxom might be a very good company but they are not a private company, so their goal is to maximize profits above all for their investors. So for sure there won’t be any more free upgrades and anything that is not cost effective will be eliminated. Just my humble opinion. The reason I loved Pixologic so much is because it was a small company that made amazing software and kept getting better and better and gave the users so many resources and tutorials and they made us all feel they actually cared for us the artist community. It was an extraordinary feeling in today’s world where companies just want to squeeze every penny out of you. I feel like I’ve lost part of my family…
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Did anyone see Follygon’s “Hot Take” on Twitter? saying that (Most of the people complaining about the Merger with Maxon are people who have “No Skin” in the Industry) and more or less we should just be happy with, and take what Maxon gives us? its people like him that are the reasons crap like this happens in the first place. so if im a Hobbiest who does 3D prints and sells them for extra money, or i print Miniatures or something, i don’t got a Youtube channel with THOUSANDS of Subscribers, i don’t deserve updates to a Program i paid ALMOST 1K for??! i swear Youtube must make people into INCREDIBLY Egotistical Jerks, as if Pixologic doesn’t have people feeling Scared and Separated from the Community enough, one of the people who runs their discord and other social media outlets is out there telling people to “Be happy with what you got, not like your worthy of an update anyway” in so many words. absolutely infuriating. first we had articles about us saying we “DEMAND” Free updates, and now this? what in the hell is going on since 2020? its like the world is burning down and everything/one i loved or looked up too is just turning Evil and only for themselves.
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@Gremlin, I hadn’t seen that, thanks. While I agree with some of what they are say, I totally have to say they are mistken about some of it too. “Once you own the piece of software, you own it. It can’t be taken away from you. You simply won’t get free updates forever and ever.”
If that were the case I could still use Softimage XSI 6, but Autodesk will not allow for it to be activated. So computer I had it on has long since died, and I can’t do anything. I mean, I’ve no idea if it would even work on Win 10/11, but I have no way to find out. If I built a “retro” Win 98 computer with hardware from the time, Autodesk still won’t reactivate it.
I don’t know what Maxon’s policy is, but I certainly know I was bitten by the Autodesk takeover of Softimage, and that’s making me concerned now.
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Yeah, he is totally mistaken about that “once you buy it, its yours forever” i mean, plus if they stop updating it and call it “Zbrush Classic” its gonna be worthless before long, cause no updates or Bug Fixes = Only a matter of time before it won’t even WORK on Windows or Mac.
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Here is what may happen. Original Zbrush team would be sick of the Maxon way, and quit, and start something new, and continue where Zbrush ends. Cannot wait for that to happen.
I will pay for that. Well if I could afford it.
Thanks for the original Zbrush team for creating a great software, and really doing something for the little people like us.
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You know dude, that HAD Crossed my mind. cause Maxon didn’t buy Pixologic, they bought the ASSETS to Zbrush. so that could happen. id love to see what the Team at Pixo could do with an Engine from THIS decade… that would be pretty incredible.
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It seems that many of the words had lose it’s meaning. Like “perpetual”. I get that if we don’t get free upgrade after a certain period of time, but I should still able to use the software forever. Okay, it’s still early days, but I am not too optimistic about what is going to happen. Hopefully, I am wrong about that.
The whole definition of profit is too narrow in my opinion. Again, I really do wish that someone out there had started working on a new, more awesome software that I will pay and enjoy for a while. At least until the same cycle start over again.
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Even after announcing the take-over, this statement was still showing on the store page:.
The un-official policy should have been removed when the talks between Maxon and Pixologic started.
This was very misleading for new buyers…
Under the Consumer Protection Act 2007, advertising is seen as misleading if it involves false, misleading or deceptive information that is likely to cause the average consumer to act in a way they might otherwise not. Advertising may also be considered misleading if important information that the average consumer needs to make an informed decision is left out.
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I Agree, but the Pixologic team is very small, it was probably just accidentally left up. don’t be too mad at them about that, dude. everybody misses things here and there. i mean, i agree it’s bad, 100% bad… but i doubt they left that up on purpose after the talks with maxon started and maxon said no free updates. i mean, they’re just asking to get sued like that, so nobody in their right mind would leave it up on purpose lol
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I bought my licence in October, saved for it, bought it because they never charged for updates.
And now this.
I’m so pissed off about it.
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Never even heard of Follygon, but that take of " bought software is forever yours" is so stupid, I don’t even care to know who that is.
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