Probably the most frequently asked question at support is “What are the differences between Studio and Indie?”.
We are planning on an upgrade of our website soon (not sure exactly when, though). One of the things that we want to improve/add is, precisely, a comparison chart between Studio and Indie in the home. We already posted here on the blog some sort of chart in September 2019, when Indie was first announced. But while the website is updated, here is an updated version of the product philosophy and the differences between both products.
Common ground
Both products share the same core technology. Because of this, both deliver identical performance and quality. And both share most features, except for those explicitly stated as “exclusive to Studio”. There are no features exclusive to Indie. So, put in other words, Maverick Indie is a sub-set of Maverick Studio.
Summary: Maverick Studio carries all the features. Indie doesn’t carry any Studio-exclusive features.
Maverick Studio
Studio, as the name hints, has been conceived to be a full-fledged virtual photography studio.
It is targeted at product designers, virtual photography professionals, marketing specialists, … or anybody who needs to produce high-fidelity, true-to-life images of a design or a 3D model. That is, people doing industrial design, jewelry design, product design or advertising, …
This being the target, the Studio-exclusive features are those which have to do with:
- Tools for advanced studio illumination.
- Tools to import or manage CAD data (e.g., STEP, IGES, …).
- Connections with CAD/CAM/CAE software (e.g., Rhinoceros, …).
- Tools for model analisis (e.g., cross sections, …).
- Advanced productivity features, such as our command-line batch renderer (i.e., RenderWarrior).
- …and such like.
Some content in the Library included in the installer is also Studio-exclusive:
- Advanced studio lights.
- Measured-data materials.
- Raw chemical elements or industry-specific materials.
- …and such like.
Maverick Indie
The name Indie invites to see Maverick Indie as a light-weight version of its bigger brother Studio.
Our vision since we decided to release Indie is to fill the void in the market for an easy-to-use, low-priced, top-of-the-line quality application for easy and quick visualization of materials and models created in DCC apps, such as Substance Painter, Substance Designer, or ZBrush. So the main target of Indie is creative people doing 3D and wanting to showcase their artwork in the best way possible.
Maverick (both Studio and Indie) provides a well-crafted workflow to import data from Substance Painter/Designer, ZBrush, Sketchfab. And then any material following a standardized PBR workflow. And then any model exported in a regular format, such as .obj, .fbx, Alembic, …
Price difference
A monthly subscription of Indie is 19.99€/mo, while a monthly subscription of Studio is 39.99€/mo. All other pricing options are listed in our shop.
Nothing forces the user to use the product in one way or another. So you can for example visualize products with Maverick Indie. However, some of the advanced features or library content that bring extra comfort or power (i.e., gradient lights) will be missing. And, naturally, if you are a CAD, or a Rhinoceros user, you will be missing the ability to synchronize your data from your host app.
In other words: the difference in price is derived from the difference in features. So, pick Studio if your area of work will require, or benefit from, the extra features. Pick Indie otherwise.
Studio-exclusive features
New features happening as development progresses will follow the same philosophy as described. Existing features not explicitly mentioned here, are common to both products.
- Rhino 5/6 bridge plug-in.
- Native .3dm (Rhino) importer.
- STEP importer.
- IGES importer.
- Renderwarrior (command-line tool).
- Measured data materials/capabilities.
- Raw chemical elements and industrial materials.
- gradient_light map node (and related features).
EDIT: This list was updated on 2020.02.27
EDIT: This list was superseded on 2020.12.29 by the official Product Comparison Chart.