For an indie or small studio they never were & as soon as they took AD money they more likely become just another option with AD arsenal. Is as nobody seems to care about history or the past experiences.
Personally, i got even RedShift scratched off my list. Did test the demo and am ‘meh’, not willing to go ‘5 years back’ with my workflow to save “what really?”
I care more about having Scrambling distance in Cycles & further evolution with Blender…
About BIG Studios… their BIG times are slowly coming to and end…
Meh about what? The significantly faster render times for more than close enough results?
Or did you really test it out and learn the engine before discarding it?
The main developer has said before he was against such technology in favor of better sampling, but perhaps now the direction is purely decided by Autodesk management and its creator doesn’t have much say anymore?
If the above is true, then be prepared for the possibility Arnold’s roadmap to shift toward the realization of buzzwords rather than the tightly guarded, yet high quality algorithms it has been known for. It would be a shame to pour your heart and soul into a product for nearly 20 years and then lose it (but he presumably was aware of that risk when he approached Autodesk).
I had no problem since i know the terminology & tech, so i took it apart in detail and realized i don’t need it. I see it’s advantage for most other DCC apps & production studios but not for myself with Blender, Cycles, Lux, Maxwell, Corona… Would come in handy with Houdini, but also, Octane did stir things up a bit (if free2GPUs turns to be true). Another turn off was how all thing started with Blender integration - since they doubted, it made me unsure about development and it’s future… Nothing special (just hunch from experience), so for time being i rather invest in something else. But i’ll stay ready, watching & open for opportunities.That’s all about my ‘meh’.
Disclaimer - “Don’t use my words & opinion… build your own!”
Single rigger, animator…? Really?