More about AutoAlias... er, AliasDesk
High End 3D has a good interview with Dave Wharry (VP Global sales and Marketing, Alias) and Marc Petit (VP of Product Development etc. etc, Autodesk) about the future of Max and Maya here. One of the most interesting bits is that they currently aren't planning an Uberversion that combines both packages:
"..."will there be a best of both worlds product... a mayax or maxa?". The answer: At least not in the foreseeable future (product lines are only planned out for 3 years and there is no plan for that to happen during that time). They made it clear and emphasized this point. "we will maintain separate development teams, make no changes to resource commitment, funding the development of each product separately while moving forward. no changes whatsoever."..."
So apparently they are still planning to fully support both packages (at least for the next 3 years). When Max was moved back under Autodesk from Discreet sometime last year, my first reaction was, "Hmmmm, that's odd. I wonder if they plan to make Max more of a visualization and design 3d package, which would be more consistent with the Autodesk name." That was pure speculation then and remains pure speculation, but it does make the purchase of Alias that much more intriguing. They even mention the idea of complementary packages in the interview. Could it be that they will make one package focused on film and games and one package focused on the visualization and simulations market?
Of course this still doesn't solve the immediate problem of Autodesk effectively cancelling Gmax. That's a real kick to the noggin for a lot of folks and one that people are still trying to resolve. There are a variety of free and cheap 3d packages out there, including some that have parity of functionality with Gmax. The big questions are "How long do you support a dead package?" and "If you do change, how do you get all the existing content created in Gmax into the new package as smoothly and painlessly as possible?"
