With the software biz in a bit of a topsy-turvy spin the last few years the question had often been, “which 3D package is Adobe going to buy?” After all, went the reasoning, they had just about everything else, so why not? But the years clicked by and Adobe never made the play.

The new Adobe is different. It is is aggressive like never before in its obscene 3-way race to riches against Microsoft and Apple. And it still hath not a 3D application. And while you may argue that the other two don’t either, they both own platforms, so the business emphasis is understandably different.

What brings all this up is a quiet little event that really didn’t get all that much notice. Another in this season’s graphic magical mystery tours that try to teach with one hand and sell with the other. This one was by longtime 3D developer Maxon Computer to show off their line of Cinema 4D wares called the “Adobe and MAXON Present The Power of Integration Tour”. But what made this tour so interesting, aside from the very nice software itself, was the fact that is was a co-venture with Adobe, who presumably underwrote most of it as well.

This would not be so interesting were it not for the fact that… well, were it not for a few facts:

Adobe just completed an 8-city tour with CS3 (see our coverage elsewhere); Just before that Adobe had major CS3 event and press roll outs, so really, how does this benefit them? Adobe really doesn’t do these co-venture tours, and again, they have enough to sell without hangers-on.

Then there is the title of the tour itself, the “Power of Integration Tour” which is really the big selling point of Adobe’s own CS3 line. Why do you think Adobe would spend millions branding the concept and then go right off and share it with small niche company? Yeah, I wondered too.

It began to dawn on me that I wasn’t sitting in a seminar so much as I was sitting in a focus group. Yes, the moderators asked the normal round of questions, but there will also be a follow-up questionnaire to arrive in our emails later this month. In fact it was just our emails that were confirmed when we entered. “hmmmmm…” you say, and I second that. I can hardly wait to see the questions in the email when it arrives. But as you can tell, I have already jumped to some wild conclusions. And here they are:

Adobe wants to move into 3D and they are looking for the right application to do it with. We know that with rare exceptions they do not develop software from scratch anymore and would have no need to try it with something as far flung from home as 3D. So what applications are out there? Funny enough, they actually own a few 3D apps that they got when they purchased Macromedia. That company used to have “3D Extreme”, “Swivel 3D Pro” and some other properties. But these are all long undeveloped and forgotten.

For an application to fit into the Adobe line it would have to be somewhat easy to use, “approachable” would be the best word. Maxon’s Cinema 4D (C4D) fits that bill, it even has something of an Adobe look right now. Adobe is largely a cross platform company, CD4 fits that bill as well. And it has something else large companies like Adobe like in their prey, market share. After years of trying to find a market, Maxon has really started to hit their stride in the last few years.

So will we see a product next year called Adobe Cinema 4D? I think it’s a good bet, but would guess we see a name change along the way. Doubt me huh? Just remember, I was the one in 2000 to predict Apple would move over to Intel chips and you threw tomatoes at me. The vine grown ones were delicious!