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Amazon Web Services announced at SIGGRAPH 2022 that Deadline, Draft, Krakatoa, Frost, XMesh, Sequoia, Stoke will now be available for free.
As a reminder, here is a quick description of each of these tools:
- Deadline is a renderfarm manager.
- Krakatoa is a volumetrics renderer.
- Frost is a tool to create particle meshes from multiple sources. These particle meshes are compatible with 3ds Max.
- Sequoia is a point cloud processing and meshing software.
- Stoke simplifies particle simulations for 3ds Max.
- XMesh optimizes animated geometry files ans supports tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, Nuke.
These tools joined the AWS (Amazon Web Services) ecosystem through the acquisition of Thinkbox Software back in 2017. Thinkbox Software was then renamed AWS Thinkbox.
AWS explains that you can download these free tools from the AWS Thinkbox download page on the AWS Management Console (an AWS account is required). More information is available over at AWS.
What’s next for these free tools?
Of course, this kind of announcement can generate fear: sometimes, when an editor decides to provide a tool software for free, this can be the sign that the software is basically dead. AWS tells us this is not the case for Deadline, Draft, Krakatoa, Frost, XMesh, Sequoia, and Stoke. AWS will keep providing support, and dedicated teams are in place. We will of course follow closely upcoming announcements and updates about these tools.
