Maxon looks like a new Adobe in sleek unified rebrand

Among creative software ecosystems, Adobe's Creative Cloud is probably the most complete and recognisable. In contrast, Maxon has some outstanding software, but you might not have noticed that they belonged to a single company.

That's changing as the developer rebrands its Maxon One suite of apps under a unified identity. New logo designs present the software as a single family, and the package is being pitched as a complete ecosystem for every stage of creation. It now looks like a Creative Cloud for 3D work, with ZBrush for digital sculpting, Cinema 4D for 3D design, visualisation and animation, Red Giant for motion graphics and VFX, and Redshift for GPU rendering.

The company's also launched a raft of product updates across those programs, including GPU-accelerated simulations in Cinema 4D, ZBrush sculpting on iPad and procedural clouds for creating photorealistic worlds in Redshift. These look set to keep the tools in our guides to the best 3D modelling software and the best animation software.

Maxon One finally looks like a cohesive brand

Maxon One unifies Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Redshift, Red Giant, and Maxon Studio in an integrated platform with compatibility with other tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud and Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve. Maxon says this allows creators can build, animate, render and finish their projects without friction.

To better communicate that, it's unveiled a unified product logo system and modular design language to connect all of the tools in the family, presenting them as a cohesive ecosystem with clarity and consistency.

The aim was for each logo design to be visually distinct but also clearly part of the same family. Each has a simplified geometric design on the same hexagonal surround but a different colour to allow for quick recognition while fitting into the brand architecture.

The modular framework helps ensure the logos retain clarity at smaller sizes and across digital platforms, while a reimagined typography structure introduces hierarchy and balance across the system.

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Maxon One product updates

Along with the rebrand, product updates announced today include streamlined asset, lighting, and material workflows for game developers and virtual production teams in Cineware for Unreal Engine, support for Cinema 4D modifiers, enhanced texture tag controls, and automatic material instance creation to help keep scenes accurate and flexible from import to final output.

Cinema 4D now has GPU-accelerated art-directable simulations, and a new AI search that operates entirely locally makes finding Capsules, assets, textures, and presets easier, with faster and more precise results. Maxon Studio streamlines video and broadcast design with Red Giant effects and customisable templates, enhanced with embedded assets and reusable Capsules.

For sculptors and 3D modellers, ZBrush (above) has added Python scripting and 3D printing to iPad. Surface Noise has got an upgrade with a refreshed UI design, per-noise resets, alpha transforms, and full undo/redo support. There are UI improvements in ZBrush for iPad and upcoming UV editing and hard-surface modeling updates will extend versatility further.

For VFX artists, Redshift introduces new tools for photorealistic and stylised environments. Texture Displacement (above) delivers faster, interactive previews with minimal subdivision; Scene Units ensure materials match real-world scale; and the new Procedural Clouds and Sun & Sky system make it easy to add atmospheric depth to a scene.

While Adobe's known for its industry-standard tools for image editing, vector graphics and video editing, Maxon One has emerged something of an equivalent in its completeness for 3D modelling and animation, visualisation and VFX.

Maxon One costs around $1,265 / £1,045 per year per licence. There are also bundles with Adobe After Effects and/or Adobe Substance 3D.

If you need a device powerful to run your software on, see ours guides to the best laptops for 3D modelling and the best laptops for animation.