Apple to Buy Newtek?
Quote:
NewTek to Make Major Announcement at Macworld SF
We have embargoed information on a major announcement from NewTek Inc. the makers of LightWave 3D. The company does not have a booth this year at the show but will be hosting a press event at a San Francisco hotel. Stay tuned...
NewTek to Make Major Announcement at Macworld SF
We have embargoed information on a major announcement from NewTek Inc. the makers of LightWave 3D. The company does not have a booth this year at the show but will be hosting a press event at a San Francisco hotel. Stay tuned...
Got this off www.Architosh.com
Well, of course the news could be about Lightwave version 8! But Newtek don't have a stand at Macworld... They could be cutting costs.
If there was one 3D package that would fit like a glove with Apple's workstation strategy...then Lightwave might be it. History on the Mac. Capabable package, fantastic rendering. Well supported on Web and plug-ins.
Max would be too much work to port. Maya? Maybe...but SGI may want too much money for it. Cinema? Doing well by themselves. Still growing...
Lightwave?
Its popular presence in the TV graphics production would fit with Final Cut Pro. It's the no.2 3d app. Very popular in America.
With Max entrenched as no.1, Cinema (at no.3) and closing in fast...maybe Newtek will throw in the towel and accept an offer for a buyout from Apple?
Brad and the other founders of Lightwave have moved on from Lightwave to other things.
What could be so secret that it had to be 'embargoed' by Architosh?
Pulling the Mac version..? I doubt. Version 8? Common knowledge.
Lemon Bon Bon
Comments
Choice is good, but in this case Apple would elbow quality 3D's like Maya and Cinema in the corner, so IMHO some would be forced to abandon the Mac market because it's no longer profitable.
It happend with FCP (Premiere). There it was not a real problem because of the large quality difference and because Adobe is Windows-centric now (and big enough).
The video market is different. Not sure about the 3D market, though.
What do you think ?
Just curious, but where did you get your info about Max, Lightwave and Cinema being 1, 2, 3?
Originally posted by ast3r3x
I don't see how it would be that bad. I mean in the case of Premiere, it became unprofitable for them because it sucked so much, and because of how good FCP was. If apple has their own software, it isn't really a matter if other companies giving up because they can't compete, it is whether they want to try and compete. If apple has software that is leagues better, then it should be up to companies to improve theirs to be better, not give up because someone else's is better. That is why Premiere sucks and will continue to do so. Between soundtrack, livetype, FCP, and everything else, that blows Premiere out of the water.
True, but before there was FCP, we only had Premiere. Nothing much else. There was no choice, except the high-end Avid.
With 3D, there's many choices and everyone got his favorite. Look around and watch the battles fought between fanatic Lightwave, Maya, Cinema or Universe. They would hate it if their program be EOL'd on the Mac. And the Windows world has plenty ...
Originally posted by BigBlue
True, but before there was FCP, we only had Premiere. Nothing much else. There was no choice, except the high-end Avid.
With 3D, there's many choices and everyone got his favorite. Look around and watch the battles fought between fanatic Lightwave, Maya, Cinema or Universe. They would hate it if their program be EOL'd on the Mac. And the Windows world has plenty ...
Well if the program was good it wouldn't be EOL'd. Those people would continue to use it and if it was good, others as well. The thing with Adobe was that it sucked in comparison. They didn't want to try and compete though, so they packed up and left. I don't know many people complaining that they left because FCP was and is a better choice. I guess more developers are a better choice in the long run, in case apple would slack with FCP and it would loose it's edge, but it doesn't seem to be doing that, and hopefully never will.
This announcement could be LW8 or the merger of Newtek and someone else besides Apple.
Apple would do much better right now to purchase Discreet's Desktop Video apps. Combustion/Flint/Inferno etc would strengthen Apples Digital Video Platform immensely.
Money be damned if Apple purchases a 3D App they need something stellar like Maya couple with Renderman from Pixar. Newtek doesn't have anything comparable to that combo.
If Apple were to buy any 3D company I think it would be Alias. Seeing that Alias now derives about 1/3 of its business from the Mac platform and that Apple has hired some of Alias's people in the past. (See Article 1) (See Article 2)
Alias is still perceived as the de-facto standard for high-end 3D (for good or bad) and its interface is much more "Mac like" than Light Wave's. Don't get me wrong LightWave is a great app, but I don't think it makes as much business sense to Apple as Maya does.
So, if Apple were going to buy anyone why wouldn't they go after the company with one of the best track records, better name recognition and the largest install bases of any 3D app out there.
- G in the S
Originally posted by Barto
nothing says hit count whores like "embargoed information"
MOSR sprang to mind when I read that phrase.
I have now heard from several high level sources that Alias is up for sale. In the past I paid these roomers little attention, but seeing the economic status of SGI, and knowing the sources I tend to believe it this time. (Please don't ask the source because I can't tell you)
Are there people moving in to your house that you're trying to ignore? If you want some help I could come over there and kick them out.
1. There will never, ever, EVER be a 3D "iApp."
2. If Apple does buy some 3D platform, it will be to support their video tools, and they would likely retool and repackage the product both under the hood and the UI to fit this purpose. 3D apps are just so complex and are IMO usually too flexible, trying to be all things to all people. I doubt Apple would approve of that approach. You might see it for a first release, but subsequent ones would tailor the app for the pro strategy.
3. Lightwave doesn't do very good rendering compared to many if not most other packages IMO. The global illumination/radiosity solutions are arguably the worst for any such product. Besides, there might be more incentive to tie in Pixar's Renderman for that aspect.
4. Maya and maybe some other mid-range tools from Alias would probably be a better purchase. Politically and from a marketing perspective, it would make a bigger splash. From what I know of Lightwave, Maya probably has more tools, and caters more towards video and graphics than NewTek's stuff. It's already a plug-in architecture, scriptable (could be big tie-ins there), plays very nice with Renderman, etc.
While I hesitate to say that it's worth Apple's money to but Alias altogether, I can be swayed. I do think the really high-end stuff there would probably be more than Apple needs or wants, but those Alias people are probably an attractive bunch to bring on board (at least those they haven't taken onboard already).
5. I could more easily see Lightwave dropping Macs, being bought out by some other player (Bentley perhaps?) or something quite anticlimactic.
Originally posted by LudwigVan
MOSR sprang to mind when I read that phrase.
Got it in one!
The next major release of LightWave...version 8, is mostly plugin based. There are no major core changes in the product. You can tell just by looking at the videos on the site and what is being offered in the new version.
For the most part, Lightwave is a dead product, on any platform. There is still a large install base but a lot of that base is slowly moving away from Lightwave, and going to either Maya or Cinema 4D on the Mac/PC and also the XSI on the PC.
It would be extremely stupid for Apple to buy Newtek. There are too many other good packages out there on the market that are helping them.
Apple created FCP because Premiere wasn't cutting it. Apple bought Nothing Real and Silicon Grail to bring Nothing Real's Shake to OS X faster, and because there was no "high-end" film compositing applications on the Mac, and finally because they wanted to have one of the most amazing dev teams working on their compositing package. Oh, also they hired the original dev team that created the first version of combustion. No matter what anyone tells you, After Effects and Shake DO NOT compete. The compositing market and the 3D market for Apple are two totally different things.
That is just my 2 cents about it all.
At MacWorld we will have a press suite in the SF Marriott, and William will be there with other NewTek staff giving press one-on-one demos and Q & A on LightWave 3D 8. My query on who is attending is because we will also have a small reception for users on Tuesday at 4:00 PM. Space is very limited, but we do still have a few spaces available, so contact me if you'd like to attend.
From Chuck Baker of NewTek
http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthre...5&pagenumber=2
NewTek's Emmy®-Winning 3D Application To Migrate to Apple's Xcode Development Environment
The roadmap will migrate LightWave 3D to Apple's Xcode development environment and transition the application from Carbon to OS X native.
I wonder if that means it will by OS X only (Mac Wise) or will it become a Cocoa.app?
http://www.newtek.com/news/releases/01-06-04b.html
Also ...
Although I don't agree completely some contend that Carbon is fully Mac OS X.