Maya + 3DMax, DAZ + Bryce + Hex2, Poser and Vue are back to back deals wise.

I remember a comment made in 3D World Magazine about, How Many 3D Applications can the industry realy have / support.

For a few years there looked to be a new app every week, but now things are getting real tight, lower prices, open source applications everywhere, and this kind of thing is going to increase.

And some of your fav apps probably wont be here any more in a year or twos time,

thoughts, questions, fears, hopes?

I doubt that this will affect FREE programs, such as Anim8or, so I don't see any problem there.  As for Maya Unlimited, the big studios will probably insure that that stayes supported, since that's the one they use for THEIR animation.
I find Poser Pro to be about as complicated as I can manage, so I don't really care what happens to later evolution of this app.
David P. Hoadley

Actualy as the pressure ramps It may well change things for opensource, probably for the better.

Remember that Blender was origionaly a comercial app before going to opensource, some other comercial packages may go the same way, heck Hex2 is only 2$, I suspect more may follow.

Look out for MODO!

I hadn't realized that Discreet bought out Maya. That's a bit more earthshaking than DAZ buying Carrara because Max and Maya are top 3D applications. There's still Lightwave, Truespace, and SoftImage, so it's not like it's the end of the big 3D applications.

... and Cinema 4D, Houdini, Shade, Vue,.... :D

I'm quite sure the big apps aren't going anywhere for a relatively long time.  Autodesk is a very wealthy company, judging from the profits it's earned annually before acquiring Alias for over $100 million.  Most of the applications under it's umbrella will probably endure.

I think 3dsmax, if anything, might be the one application at risk here in the long run.  Now that it's parent company also owns Maya (which is arguably a better app), Autodesk may eventually dissolve 3dsmax and integrate some of it's key features into the Maya architecture (it's PFlow system and subD modelling tools come to mind), or combine the best features of both apps into an entirely new core.  Autodesk already has 3dsVIZ, which is geared toward the arch/VIZ industry, so they could continue to dev that application, and getting rid of Max wouldn't hurt them much financially.  Then again, there's SO many 3rd party companies out there that depend on the 3dsmax plugin architecture for their entire business, I wonder if Autodesk would have the balls to kill that.

I'm a 3dsmax user myself, so I'm hoping my speculations are TOTALLY off, but it just seems like eventually, somewhere down the road, this could happen.

As for low-end or mid-range 3d applications like Poser, etc.  They should continue to thrive, unless/until the open-source scene forces the high-end industry to cut prices more and more, and eventually "choke out" the smaller software vendors.  :unsure:

ACK!! I hope not. I just watched a video of someone who made a model and was setting up the textures to put it in a game. And he was using MAYA.

URK!!

No wonder you need a team of people for that app. Just to put a texture on a model, you have to click all over the place. And know how to script, and pull stuff out of scripts, and do this and do that.

Granted it is a powerful app, but does it have to be so complicated?

And some of the digiterati look down their noses at Poser. Sheesh!

"Look and weep Poser Mortal for I have mastered the expensive and elusive mouse/hand/scripting technique and not suffered (much!) from madness nor finger cramps! Cringe and bow before me!"

Max I can deal with. Lightwave is just on this side of me getting it (again loads of plugins. That could be the offputting thing.) I like what I have seen of Modo, but that could also expand into this uber-scripting thing. ZBrush is another app that would take some getting used but i like it for some strange reason. I have to really, really, really sit and play with Blender, and Wings, and Anim8or, and my new toy Hexagon2 (soon as we clear up the Wacom thing!)

Hm, I'm not saying these amalgamations are good or bad only that they are happening, the point made about how many apps are still out there actualy points back to the origional question.

How many 3D / CGI applications can the industry / community support, this stuff costs big $ to develop, and as has been pointed out open source is challenging the comercial products in some areas.

I just dont see the current variety surviving, some things are gonna go or get swallowed by bigger fish, for better or worse.

But I hope for the better