Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 Posted by Jim Thacker

Autodesk unveils new M&E Industry Collection

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Autodesk has announced its Media & Entertainment Industry Collection, a new bundle deal for its DCC software, including 3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox and MotionBuilder, plus key cloud services.

The collection supersedes Autodesk’s old Entertainment Creation Suites, which are being retired on 31 July, with the new deal launching the following day, 1 August 2016.

Same core software as the existing Ultimate suite, plus cloud services
The new Media & Entertainment collection is one of three Industry Collections that Autodesk has announced, the other two covering the AEC and product design markets.

In content, it’s pretty similar to the current Ultimate edition of the Entertainment Creation Suite, bundling all of Autodesk’s current DCC tools: 3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox and MotionBuilder.

Users also get access to online services: Character Generator, reality capture and 3D scanning platform ReCap 360 Pro, cloud rendering via A360, and 25GB of online storage.

No Softimage, but cheaper than any existing suite
The new Industry Collection omits Softimage, which Autodesk discontinued as a standalone tool in 2014, but which is still available as part of the Creation Suites.

And unlike the Suites, you don’t get the option to have just 3ds Max and the other tools, or just Maya and the other tools: you have to take both core applications.

However, at $2,040/year, it’s cheaper than the existing suites, which have an SRP of $2,310/year for the Standard versions (either 3ds Max or Maya, plus the other tools) and $2,730/year for the Ultimate version.

(As you might expect, given Autodesk’s move to subscription-only licensing earlier this year, the Industry Collection is rental-only: there’s no option to buy a perpetual licence.)

As with the Creation Suites, the new Industry Collection will be available to rent on a monthly, quarterly, annual or multi-year basis, although at time of posting, only the annual pricing had been announced.

Options to switch or remain on maintenance
If you’re an existing user of a Creation Suite, you will be able to switch to the new Industry Collection from October 2016 if you’re already on a subscription; but not if you have a perpetual licence.

However, perpetual licence holders will be able to renew their maintenance plans “for as long as they wish” after sales of Creation Suites cease at the end of July.

New multi-user access options
Autodesk has said that it will also offer multi-user access to the new Industry Collection, “priced approximately 30% more than single-user access, with annual and multi-year term lengths”.

Multi-user access enables licences to be shared on a central server, rather than being locked to individual users; and remove the need for the software to connect to Autodesk’s licence server every 30 days.

It also enables three named users to gain access to the cloud services included in the Industry Collection.

Read more about the new Media & Entertainment Industry Collection on Autodesk’s website

Read Autodesk’s FAQs for the Industry Collections