A match made in heaven.
Earlier this morning Adobe announced the purchase of Oculus’ 3D VR sculpting app, Oculus Medium.
Originally released in December of 2016 alongside the Oculus Touch controllers, the popular sculpting/modeling/painting tool has been used on numerous high profile projects, from the production of AAA VR games like Archangel: Hellfire, to the development of concept art for various feature films. Of course, the app has proved immensely popular among amateur creators as well, resulting in a sizable catalog of user creations.
“Adobe is one of the world’s leading creation software companies, and they’re committed to providing best-in-class 3D and immersive tools for artists, including Adobe Dimension and the Substance tools suite,” states Oculus in a blog post. “Medium joining the Adobe family brings both new talent and technology to Adobe and solidifies Medium’s position as a premier sculpting application and professional tool.”
This past November the company launched Adobe Aero, their own proprietary AR development platform which allows users to convert existing Photoshop, Illustrator, Cinema 4D, and other 2D and 3D projects into AR. Since its release, creators have utilized the platform to bring various 3D models created in VR to life in augmented reality. With the acquisition of Oculus Medium, it appears as though Adobe is looking to establish its own immersive ecosystem.
Oculus states that despite the change of ownership, Oculus Medium will remain free to those who activate their new Oculus Touch controllers via the Oculus Store.
However, this purchase does raise some concerns for the future of the 3D modeling app. After the launch of CS6, Adobe began pushing its subscription-based model in the replacement of individual ownership. “Nothing is changing for you today,” states Oculus in the tail-end of the post. Could this mean an eventual subscription-based pricing model for Medium in the future? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Oculus Medium is currently available on the Oculus Rift/Rift S for $29.99.
Feature Image Credit: Oculus, Adobe
