Autodesk discontinues Softimage

Autodesk has confirmed the rumors that were already reaching us since the end of February, announcing that Softimage 2015 will be the last version of its 3D modeling and animation software.

Softimage was founded in 1986 by filmmaker Daniel Langlois and went public in 1992. In the following years, it would pass through the hands of different companies, the first being Microsoft in 1994. In 1998, Avid decided to acquire the software and finally sold it to Autodesk in 2008.

Softimage 2015 is expected to launch on April 14 and while support will be available until April 30, 2016 (for subscription customers), no new system developments will be offered.

The company does not want to neglect its subscription customers, so it is offering them a free migration that will allow them to use Softimage together with Maya or 3ds Max until the expiration date. Once it arrives, users will have to choose whether to switch completely to one or the other, or stay with the latest version of Softimage.

Autodesk says this decision is part of a strategy to devote more attention and effort to fewer products.

With this discontinuation also comes a drop in prices. The Ultimate Entertainment Creation Suite collection drops from $8,395 to $6,825; the subscription cost is now $1,090, down from $1,395 previously; and finally, the standard version remains at $5,775 but the Premium has been discontinued.

Softimage standalone licenses will not be available after March 28th.

Here you can see a document with details about the last days of Softimage. In case your question is not on the list, a live Q&A session will be organized on March 17th. You can register via this link.