Archive notice: This article was originally published on 30 March 2020. Pricing, eligibility and availability are historical.
Blender’s continuing success seems to be having a positive effect on future licensing models from certain companies. As most of you will surely remember, Autodesk launched the pilot programme for the Indie versions of 3ds Max and Maya last year—but only in five selected countries: the USA, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. Germany was unfortunately not included. Unlike the Light variants available here, the Indie licence has no feature restrictions. Autodesk has now confirmed that this licence for 3ds Max will be available worldwide. Chip Weatherman announced this during a Q&A session in the live webinar for the new 3ds Max 2021 release. (You can find the passage at 1:58:35).
At a price of around US$250 per year, the Indie version is, as usual, aimed at artists with annual revenue below US$100,000. An exact timeframe for the worldwide release has not yet been given. However, we assume that there will be new information no later than the end of the pilot programme. As soon as there is news, we will inform you on our news page!
Further information: Autodesk Indie website
Und es kommt auch für Maya… wurde im Forum bereits inoffiziell angekündigt :)