Maxon acquires forger
Maxon has acquired forger, VFX artist Javier Edo’s veteran digital sculpting app for iPad and other iOS devices. Edo himself joins Maxon as principal software developer.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. forger itself remains available for sale.
One of the oldest iPad sculpting apps, and still one of the most powerful
First released in 2011, forger is one of the oldest dedicated sculpting apps for the iPad.
It provides a core set of sculpting brushes that will be famiilar to users of desktop tools like ZBrush, including Standard, Clay, Smooth, Move, Pull, Flatten, Polish, Inflate and Crease.
Users can sculpt either with a stylus – forger supports the Apple Pencil – or via the multitouch interface.
Other key features include sculpting layers, masking, face grouping, a LazyMouse-style option for smoothing freehand strokes, symmetry, automated retopology, and basic vertex painting.
The app has been regularly updated since its release, and supports current VFX production standards, importing Alembic files and exporting USD files, in addition to older formats like OBJ and STL.
Nearly a decade after its release, and despite the appearance of newer rivals like Nomad, it remains one of the most powerful mobile sculpting apps, and has outlived tools from large developers like Autodesk.
Bringing development experience with ‘desktop-class’ sculpting tools to the Maxon products
Maxon’s blog post announcing the acquisition describes forger as a “desktop-class sculpting application”.
The toolset certainly seems like a good fit with Maxon’s main destkop application, Cinema 4D, whose own sculpting tools haven’t been updated for some time now.
Javier Edo, whose resume includes work as a TD at Double Negative and as a R&D developer at animation production company Passion Pictures, joins Maxon as principal software developer.
“We love the fun and immediacy that forger’s workflow on iPad offers for sculpting and painting. We look forward to exploring what more it can bring to our users,” said Maxon CEO David McGavran.
“Javier is a respected programmer who has dedicated himself to developing tools that expand and enhance the everyday needs of production artists, and we’re thrilled to have him join the Maxon team.”
Pricing and availability
forger 1.7 is available for models of iPad, iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 13.4+. It costs $9.99.