Facebook announced that Adobe — the company behind industry-leading creative tools such as Photoshop, Premiere, and Substance—acquired Oculus Medium, tool VR-sculptures.
Oculus Medium was launched back in 2016, along with Touch controllers and motion was considered initially as the study of how VR can be useful outside of games and entertainment.
3D modeling on the computer, as you know, in the abstract compared with the physical medium; with a unique, individual perspective and input VR, Oculus decided to make a tool for “modeling”, which will be more like working with clay in the real world than drawing primitive shapes with the mouse.
At the time of starting Medium consisted of a number of tools for the creation and formation of three-dimensional volumes. The model can also be painted using spray paint. The application supported the export models, so they can be improved in other common tools for 3D modeling and texturing, and eventually use in productive projects, such as games and movies. Oculus continued to develop the app because the potential of VR for this kind of modeling work became more and more obvious. Secondary update 2.0, released in 2018, improved performance, user interface and tools.
Today Facebook announced that Adobe has acquired the Medium; the acquisition price was not disclosed. Adobe promises “continuity in how [existing user] get access to the tool and get acquainted with it”; it remains available in the Oculus store and will continue to be free for new activations Oculus Touch.
What Medium is next?
Adobe says “can’t wait for the collaboration with the community, to support and improve Medium”, so, at least externally, the company signals that it is not just the acquisition of talent in order to attract developers to other projects Adobe. Rather Adobe says it plans to unite the team Medium team Substance for “collaborative work on 3D tools for the next generation” (America’s army is a 3D tool, widely used by game developers, which itself was acquired by Adobe in early 2019). It seems that Adobe wants to make the functionality of the Medium part of the wider proposals of the company’s 3D modeling.
In the announcement distributed by Oculus, a Medium team calls this a “new Chapter” for the tool and says that users should “keep an eye on new features, improvements, and other developments that will appear in Adobe in 2020, as the Medium continues to evolve.”
Who wins?
At least from the outside it really looks like a win-win for Facebook, Medium and Adobe. Medium has demonstrated itself as a unique and powerful creative tool, but this kind of product is quite far from the main business Facebook; the ultimate potential of the Medium, may have been strangled by a lack of interest on the part of the parent company, and in the worst case Medium — as Oculus Story Studio—could be minimized, and is doomed to extinction. Instead of letting this happen, Facebook has found a way to let go of the project.
The whole business of Adobe, on the other hand, is to create tools that enable artists and creators to create great work. While the company is in photography, videography and printing, in recent years, she clearly was aware of the potential in 3D and are actively working in this direction, creating new tools—such as Dimensions and Aero—and making acquisitions of companies like Mixamo, Allegorithmic, and now Medium. Adobe Medium can find a home where he will be able to reach their true potential of becoming the main part of the pipeline of 3D production, not a niche application VR.
How about a Quill?
The news of this acquisition can not pay attention to the Quill, another owned by Facebook tool VR Art with origins very similar to Medium.
Although they seem similar on the surface, the Medium focuses primarily on clay sculptural approach to 3D modeling, while Quill borrows more from art illustration, painting and animation (although this is ultimately a 3D tool).
Quill was not mentioned in the announcement of the acquisition Medium, but it is hard to imagine that Quill is not in the same position in relation to Facebook (a company that does not seem interested in helping Quill to reach your ultimate potential as a powerful creative tool). In any case, the acquisition Medium, it seems, paved the way for some serious discussions about the future of the Quill, and quite likely a similar spin-out tool and commands in 2020.
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