Newbury Park, CA, April 8, 2019 — Maxon, industry-leading developer of professional 3D modeling, animation and rendering solutions, today announced the acquisition of Redshift Rendering Technologies, Inc., developers of the Redshift rendering engine. Redshift is a powerful and flexible GPU-accelerated renderer, built to meet the specific demands of contemporary high-end production. Tailored to support creative individuals and studios of every size, Redshift offers an extensive suite of features that make rendering large or complicated 3D projects remarkably faster than traditional rendering solutions. Redshift is already available as plugin rendering solution for Maxon’s award-winning Cinema 4D and other industry-standard 3D applications.

“Rendering can be the most time consuming and demanding aspect of 3D content creation,” said David McGavran, CEO of Maxon. “Redshift’s speed and efficiency combined with Cinema 4D’s responsive workflow make it a perfect match for our portfolio.”

“We’ve always admired Maxon and the Cinema 4D community, and are thrilled to be a part of it,” said Nicolas Burtnyk, Co-founder and CEO, Redshift Rendering Technologies. “We are looking forward to working closely with Maxon, collaborating on seamless integration of Redshift into Cinema 4D and continuing to push the boundaries of what's possible with production-ready GPU rendering.” 

Redshift has quickly made a name for itself becoming an indispensable rendering solution for respected companies like Technicolor, Polygon Pictures, Digital Domain, DHX, Rainmaker, Encore Hollywood and Blizzard. Noteworthy projects where Redshift has been employed for VFX and motion graphics include Black Panther, Aquaman, Captain Marvel, Rampage, American Gods, Gotham, The Expanse and many more.

Press Briefings at the 2019 NAB Show

At the 2019 NAB Show, both companies will be present to brief the media at the annual Maxon press luncheon, taking place April 8th at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel; 12 noon – 1:00p.m. The event will include an overview and time for a Q&A. (see press contact details below)

Immediate Effects

• Redshift pricing will remain unchanged. Customers can continue to purchase Redshift through their usual channels.
• Redshift is and will remain available for Maya, 3dsmax, Houdini and Katana. The announced development of a plugin for Blender will continue as planned. Additional integrations may be considered in the future.
• Release plans and development for Redshift 3.0 will not be affected.
• Cinema 4D will also continue to support other third-party render engines through its plugin architecture.

The Perfect Strategic Addition

The combination of Cinema 4D and Redshift has already been winning over designers and production companies for many reasons including:

Ease of Use: In the complex world of 3D content creation, Cinema 4D is widely recognized as the easiest of the 3D packages to pick up and learn. Compared to other renderers, Redshift is easy to use, making rendering easier, faster, and more efficient. The combination of Cinema 4D and Redshift will bring an unprecedented accessibility and efficiency to 3D production.

Stability: Both Cinema 4D and Redshift are recognized for their stability and production reliability. In the deadline and budget constrained post production world, stability and performance are an essential component.

Speed: Redshift is a high-performance production-quality renderer that supports biased rendering techniques for incredibly fast, noise-free renders. Cinema 4D is known for its inspiring and efficient workflow. Designers have discovered using the two products together saves time and money and unleashes artists’ creative potential.

Photo-Realistic Results: Redshift is not just fast, it also provides useful features for remarkably photo-realistic imagery. The results are comparable to those rendered by unbiased rendering engines.

Interactivity: Redshift’s RenderView Interactive Preview Region (IPR) allows you to adjust the settings as you work on the scenes with no downtime. RenderView reflects changes to a scene in close to real-time.

Customer Perspectives

“The Cinema 4D community has been behind Redshift since day one. It's sheer speed, production-proven features, and killer integration into C4D have made it an indispensable part of my workflow.”
 - Chad Ashley Creative Director, Greyscalegorilla

 “With Redshift’s robust feature set, ease of use, and amazing rendering speed and quality, Cinema 4D with Redshift have become our CG toolset of choice for almost every project.” 
- Matt Silverman, Executive Creative Director, Swordfish San Francisco

 

FAQ

What happened?

• Maxon has acquired Redshift, a software company headquartered in Newport Beach, CA and best known for developing the Redshift rendering engine.

What is Redshift?

• Redshift is the world’s first, fully GPU-accelerated, biased renderer built to meet the specific demands of contemporary high-end production rendering.

Why did Maxon acquire Redshift?

• Our goal at Maxon is to facilitate the productivity of creative professionals. A crucial element of CG production is rendering. Today, content creation is getting more and more complex fueling the demand for efficient and scalable rendering solutions. The Redshift team brings extensive experience in rendering, particularly utilizing GPU technology.

Why did Redshift decide to join Maxon?

• The Redshift team excel at developing innovative rendering technology. Maxon's infrastructure and resources offer an opportunity for the developers of Redshift to focus on their core competencies and expand their reach into the market.

Did Maxon buy just Redshift or the entire company?

• The entire company has been acquired and all staff have been retained. The talented driving forces behind Redshift will continue to be instrumental in its future development and will work closely with our product management and rendering development team. There are even discussions about expanding the Redshift team.

Will Redshift pricing change?

• The current pricing structure for Redshift will remain in place. You can still purchase licenses of Redshift through their current channels.

What if I already own Redshift?

• Your licensing has not changed, and it is Maxon’s desire to continue serving Redshift customers in the same fashion we have serviced our Cinema 4D community for the past 30+ years.

If I have an MSA (Maxon Service Agreement) will I get Redshift for free?

• The Maxon Service Agreement currently covers existing license of Cinema 4D. Redshift is a new Maxon product and not included in existing MSAs.

Cinema 4D is well known for motion graphics. Will Redshift’s development focus change?

• No! Redshift’s existing roadmap and development plan remain intact. It should be noted that Redshift is already a fantastic solution for motion graphics because it offers an extremely fast iterative workflow and final rendering. Additionally, both Redshift and Maxon are dedicated to serving all existing and potential visual media markets including high-end VFX and all types of visualization.

Will this delay or change plans to release Redshift 3.0 in any way?

• No. If anything, it should help speed up 3.0 development.

What will happen to Redshift support for other 3D applications?

• Maxon and Redshift are committed to continue active development and support for Maya, 3dsmax, Houdini and Katana; as well as the announced plugin for Blender. Welcome to the Maxon community!

Will Redshift be integrated into Cinema 4D?

• Redshift is a separate product which already offers outstanding support for Cinema 4D. Maxon and Redshift will be working closely together to make that integration even better than it is today.

What will happen to support for other third-party rendering engines for Cinema 4D?

• Maxon will continue to provide a robust API and development support for all third-party rendering engines. Maxon completely understand that users have preferences and needs for specific rendering engines, and it’s a great benefit for Cinema 4D to have so many amazing rendering options.

How will this acquisition benefit the media and entertainment industry?

• The combination of Cinema 4D and Redshift will provide an unprecedented accessibility and efficiency to 3D production for large and small production companies.

• Maxon’s development, marketing and support resources will benefit Redshift users of all host applications. Redshift’s support of multiple host applications allows content creators the ability to cross boundaries and combine assets in a single render pipeline.

 

About Redshift Rendering Technologies

Redshift Rendering Technologies Inc. develops production-ready GPU accelerated rendering software. With industry leading performance, Redshift makes the production of high-quality visual effects, animation and motion graphics faster, more economical and more accessible.

About Maxon

Headquartered in Germany, Maxon is the developer of Cinema 4D, recently recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with a Technical Achievement Award. Maxon software solutions are used by creative professionals worldwide to produce VFX for film, broadcast motion graphics, game cinematics, product designs, medical illustrations, architectural and industrial visualizations, and more. Maxon is part of the Nemetschek Group.

 

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Media Contact: 
Vicky Gray-Clark
Ambient PR                                                                                                                              408-318-1980/vicky(at)ambientpr(dot)com