Clint Milby
In interesting news today, we’ve seen a “strategic alliance” officially form between Adobe and Maxon. At first, I’ll admit I was a bit confused. It seemed to me that these two were direct competitors. However, I realized the obvious: Adobe doesn’t have a 3D solution. When we talked to Maxon at the San Francisco Supermeet this past January, their rep even mentioned that Adobe and Maxon tend to play nice as it is. Due to their already “friendly” status, and Maxon filling a hole in Adobe’s workflow, this could actually be a match made in post production heaven.
I personally look forward to seeing how this collaboration pans out, as this sort of team up seems to be rare in our industry.
Here’s the word from the press release:
Today, March 19, 2013, Adobe Systems Inc, and MAXON, the developer of CINEMA 4D, a leading 3D animation software for film, broadcast, motion graphics professionals announced they have entered into a strategic alliance and will collaborate on technology that provides creatives in the motion graphics and visual effects industry with new levels of digital media content creation. As part of the alliance, both companies are expected to collaborate and engineer a pipeline between After Effects and Cinema 4D to give users a seamless 2D/3D foundation.
“Adobe After Effects’ has a 20 year history of setting the standard for motion graphics and visual effects software,” said Steve Forde, senior product manager for After Effects at Adobe. “Collaborating with a market leader in 3D graphics programming like MAXON, will further accelerate how After Effects users create rich engaging experiences.”
“CINEMA 4D is a leading 3D solution, and the one Adobe After Effects users have come to know and love because of its real-world 3D capabilities,” said Harald Egel, co-founder and CEO, MAXON Computer GmbH. “We look forward to continued collaboration between our programming and marketing teams to ensure that the interoperability of our software products makes a positive impact on artists seeking to easily and fully integrate 3D into their production pipelines.”