The renderer needs to maintain compatibility with multiple DCC applications and hardware platforms.
Maxon has announced that its GPU-based renderer, Redshift, is now available as a subscription-only product. Maxon believes that as Redshift is constantly being updated and optimized, all customers should be running on the latest version in order to get the best customer experience. The company says that pricing for annual subscriptions will be comparable to the current annual maintenance cost. If a user doesn’t convert to a subscription, their Redshift license would be locked in on the last build published before the annual maintenance agreement expires.
In April 2021, Maxon had announced the availability of Redshift for macOS including support for M1-powered Macs and Apple’s Metal Graphics API. Maxon CEO, David McGavran said that providing support to Mac user community had been their priority since Redshift joined the Maxon family in 2019. Redshift is available for both Intel-based Macs and M1-powered Macs.
Maxon also announced support for OpenColorIO v2 with the release of Redshift v3.0.46 in June 2021. OpenColorIO v2 offers comprehensive color management for studio pipelines and makes it easy for users to achieve film-like results via ACES color space. Redshift v3.0.46 also supports the ability to choose colors within a color space in those host applications that already support OpenColorIO.
Maxon says that with Redshift going on subscription, the company is trying to provide designers and artists with performance/quality balance in production. To handle subscription licensing, Redshift website and forums are migrating to Maxon. Redshift users will be able to fully manage their account, subscriptions, extend maintenance agreements (if applicable) through their MyMaxon account and access the Redshift forum on Maxon.net.
The Maxon press release follows:
Friedrichsdorf, Germany – Maxon, developers of professional software solutions for motion designers and visual effects artists, today announced that Redshift, the company’s blazingly fast GPU rendering product, is now available as a subscription product. Designers using Redshift with Maxon’s Cinema 4D, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, SideFX Houdini, Foundry Katana and Blender can now get started with Redshift or add additional render power for half the price.
Offering Redshift via Subscription powers ongoing development and work to maintain compatibility with multiple DCC applications and hardware platforms, including Nvidia’s CUDA, Apple Metal and Apple Silicon. Redshift’s functionality and performance is fully dependent upon third-party hardware and software solutions. In order to maintain compatibility with the latest hardware, drivers and host application updates our Redshift development team is constantly updating, optimizing and ensuring stability. In order to provide the best customer experience, Maxon believes all customers should be running on the latest version.
Subscription pricing is comparable to the former Annual Maintenance cost. New customers and existing customers who want to expand their license counts will enjoy the new initial subscription pricing. The sale of perpetual licenses has been discontinued, but existing Annual Maintenance Agreements will of course be serviced and are renewable up to August 31, 2023.
Teams subscriptions are available for larger workgroups at an additional cost. These include dedicated training and support as well as online management and distribution of licenses via the Teams Dashboard. Teams Floating and RLM floating license models are also available.
Redshift customers with questions are encouraged to visit the Redshift subscription FAQ or contact our sales and support teams.
