A 3D platform for studios with industry-standard DCC-trained teams

A familiar workflow for studios rethinking their licensing line.

Kimiyaa is built for studios whose artists are fluent in Industry Standard DCC-style hotkeys, interface and workflows — and whose finance teams are running the math on annual subscription costs again. We work with you to evaluate fit before any commitment.

Structured pilot High-touch onboarding Local AI option Compatibility-first design
Option 1
Stay on your current DCCYour current toolchain
Subscriptionrenews annually
Option 2
Switch to Blender®Free, but a different toolchain
Freewith retraining time
Option 3
Pilot KimiyaaFamiliar workflow, structured pilot
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A screenshot carousel for quick inspection of workspaces, tools, and pipeline touchpoints.

The market context

Why studios are looking, in 2026.

You didn't search for an alternative because Industry Standard DCC is bad. Most teams searching are doing so because their finance, hiring, or compliance situation has shifted. Three of those shifts:

Licensingline items
Annual subscription costs are under fresh scrutiny.
For studios billing in non-USD currencies, multi-year licence renewals carry real FX exposure. CFOs are asking what they used to leave to studio heads — and the spreadsheet question is sharper than it was three years ago. See our pricing methodology →
Talentretraining cost
Switching DCC tools is genuinely expensive in artist-time.
Different shortcuts, different rigging logic, different muscle memory. On a 50-person team, retraining onto an unfamiliar toolset is measurable lost output. Most studios who attempt a wholesale migration quietly back out partway through.
NDAworkloads
Cloud-AI features don't fit every contract.
A growing share of studio work carries client confidentiality requirements that prohibit external cloud uploads. Studios with this exposure need a creative AI option that runs on local hardware — not a cloud-only one.
Formatflexibility
Output requirements are increasingly platform-mixed.
More briefs specify open-source-friendly delivery formats than three years ago. Studios that can serve both traditional and open-format pipelines reduce the work they have to decline at RFP stage.
An honest comparison

Industry-standard DCC vs. Blender® vs. Kimiyaa.

No hidden footnotes. The trade-offs studios actually weigh, written down. Pricing detail and methodology lives on the pricing page.

  Industry-standard DCCCommercial · incumbent Blender®Free · open source KimiyaaPilot in evaluation
Per-seat licence cost Subscription (see methodology) Free Lower than commercial DCC by design → pricing
Pilot terms Standard subscription Free Structured pilot · terms by application
UX familiar to industry-standard DCC-trained artists ✓ Native Different conventions Designed for familiarity
Reading .ma / .mb files ✓ Native Import only, lossy Compatibility-first design · scope published per pilot
MEL / Python script handling ✓ Native Rewrite required Compatibility roadmap · evaluated against your scripts during pilot
Onboarding time per artist Already trained Significant retraining Designed for fast onboarding · measured per-pilot
Pipeline integration Established May require adjustments Standard exchange formats first · USD, FBX, Alembic
Open-format output Export ✓ Native First-class
Generative AI features Cloud-based Plugin ecosystem Optional · local / on-prem deployment available
Client IP confidentiality Cloud AI = uploads No default cloud Air-gappable deployment · client IP can stay on your network
Pricing predictability Per published commercial terms Free Locked at signing for the pilot term
Pilot support Paid tiers Community High-touch · direct from our team
Apply to pilot →
On the savings question

Pricing methodology, not a live calculator.

We've intentionally moved specific cost comparisons off this page. Quoting a competitor's licence price as a live, sliding figure is the kind of presentation that can mislead — even unintentionally — when published prices change region by region and term by term.

Instead, our pricing page publishes our own pricing structure and explains, with sources and dates, how it relates to current commercial industry-standard DCC pricing. If your finance team wants to model your own scenario, that page gives you the inputs to do it cleanly in your own spreadsheet.

See pricing methodology →
Designed around your existing team

What we've designed Kimiyaa not to disrupt.

A industry-standard DCC-style platform built for studios is only useful if it minimises disruption to the things you already have working. Our design priorities, in order:

Workflow
Hotkey, shelf, and outliner familiarity.
Designed so a industry-standard DCC-trained artist's day-to-day muscle memory transfers as much as possible. Specific parity is verified and reported during pilot.
Files
.ma and .mb compatibility.
Reading existing scene files is a first-order design priority. Scope of compatibility for your specific files (references, asset libraries, complex rigs) is established up front during pilot, not promised in advance.
Scripts
Your Python and MEL footprint.
During pilot intake we evaluate your scripts against the platform and tell you, honestly, what runs as-is, what needs adjustment, and what's on the roadmap. No hand-waved blanket promises.
Plugins
The plugins you actually rely on.
Rigging and grooming priorities are published per pilot in a compatibility matrix you can review with your TDs before any commitment. Specific plugin support is named, not implied.
Pipeline
Your downstream toolchain.
Standard exchange formats — USD, FBX, Alembic — are first-class. Houdini, Nuke, Substance, render-farm steps see standard data shapes from upstream.
Bench
Your freelance bench.
Your contractors keep working in whatever tool they prefer. The pilot is structured so existing freelance arrangements aren't a blocker.
How a pilot is structured

Phased, evaluated, and reversible.

Switching production tooling is a risk decision before it's a creative one. A Kimiyaa pilot is structured so the risk is bounded and the off-ramp is real.

  1. ScopingWeek 0
    Before any installation, we walk through your scripts, plugins, and a representative scene with your TD. The output is a written compatibility note specific to your studio — what's expected to work, what isn't, what's on the roadmap. No surprises later.
  2. Pilot setupWeek 1
    Standard installer for Windows / macOS / Linux. We work alongside your team to connect Kimiyaa to your asset server, render farm, and version control. Your existing DCC licences continue to run alongside the pilot — nothing is taken away.
  3. Real-task evaluationWeeks 2–4
    A small set of artists run real tasks on a live shot — modelling, animation, sim, whatever your studio actually does. We observe, log issues openly, and fix or document each one. Productivity expectations are agreed in writing.
  4. Decision pointMonth 2 onward
    By the end of the pilot, you have your own data — observed onboarding time, observed compatibility, observed throughput — to decide whether and how to scale. Not our marketing material, your own measurements.
What a pilot looks like, in practice

Bounded scope. Honest reporting. A real off-ramp.

Before you sign
A scoping call and a written compatibility note. We look at what you actually use — scripts, plugins, scene complexity — and tell you in writing what we expect to work and what we don't. Before any commitment, before any installer.
During the pilot
Your existing toolchain keeps running in parallel. A Kimiyaa pilot does not require you to switch off your current licences. Production work continues; evaluation work runs alongside.
If it doesn't fit
You stop. We document why. Pilot terms include an explicit off-ramp. We'd rather have ten studios who run honest pilots and two who continue, than ten who feel locked into a tool they're not sure about.

A note on the offer.

We're not going to make pricing-and-terms claims on a marketing page that we wouldn't be able to substantiate to a regulator. Pilot terms are commercial — they vary by studio size and scope, and they're shared in writing during the application process. The pricing page publishes our standard structure and methodology.

Pilot questions, answered

The questions a TD or studio head will ask.

How is this different from just adopting Blender®?

Blender® is excellent, free, and improving. The cost most studios face when adopting it is artist retraining time, and the rewriting of industry-standard DCC-era scripts and rigs. Kimiyaa's design priority is to minimise that retraining and rewriting work for studios whose teams are already fluent in industry-standard DCC-style workflows. It is not a Blender® replacement and we don't position it as one — Blender® is a peer in the comparison above.

What if my pipeline breaks?

The pilot is structured to surface that risk in week 1, not month 12 — which is why scoping happens before any installation. Standard exchange formats (USD, FBX, Alembic) are first-class, so most downstream Houdini / Nuke / Substance / render-farm steps see standard data. Where your specific pipeline has bespoke handoffs, those are evaluated up front and either confirmed working, scheduled, or declared out-of-scope before the pilot begins.

Will my industry-standard DCC scripts (MEL / Python) actually work?

The honest answer is: it depends on which scripts. During pilot scoping, we evaluate your Python and MEL footprint against Kimiyaa and produce a written note — what runs as-is, what needs adjustment, what's on the roadmap. We'd rather you read that note before you commit time to evaluation than rely on a blanket marketing claim.

What about the plugins my team relies on?

On the application form, list your top five most-used plugins. We respond with which are supported today, which are scheduled, and which we won't be supporting. That answer comes before any commitment — not after. We don't make blanket plugin-compatibility claims because plugin compatibility depends on plugin version, OS, and pipeline integration, and we'd rather get it right per-studio.

How long does an artist actually take to be productive?

Onboarding time is something the pilot measures — we don't claim a fixed number on a marketing page. The platform is designed to minimise it for industry-standard DCC-trained artists, but the actual figure for your studio depends on your specific scenes, scripts, and workflow patterns. The pilot reports the observed number for your team.

What's the pricing structure?

Our standard structure and the methodology behind it are published on the pricing page. Specific pilot terms are commercial and shared in writing during the application process. We don't post final-form pricing here because the pricing page is where it can sit alongside its sources and dates, and that's where regulators, journalists, and procurement teams expect to find it.

Can the AI run on-prem? Our client contracts forbid cloud uploads.

Yes. The optional generative-AI features have a local / on-prem deployment option, so client IP can stay on your network. There's a cloud option available if your contracts allow it; the choice is per-project. This is one of the more common reasons NDA-bound studios start a pilot with us.

What if it doesn't work for my studio?

The pilot is structured so the off-ramp is real and the existing toolchain keeps running throughout. Specific exit terms — including any commercial implications — are written into the pilot agreement, not promised on a landing page. Read the terms before you sign; the only commitment we'd ask you to make on this page is to start the conversation.

What's the catch?

The catch is the catch every young software company has: we don't have a decade of edge-cases worked through our QA. That's why scoping is rigorous, the pilot is bounded, and the scope is written down before installation. If something specific to your studio doesn't translate, we want to know in week one — not month twelve.

Apply to pilot

Start with a scoping conversation.

Send us the basics about your studio. We'll respond from a real person on the team — usually within 48 hours — with our standard pilot terms and a scoping call slot. No commitment from this form; it's a conversation starter.

By submitting this form you consent to us contacting you about a pilot evaluation. See our privacy notice for how we handle the information you share.

Scoping before installation Standard pilot terms shared in writing Existing toolchain runs in parallel
Questions a form can't answer? Email us directly: info@kimiyaa.ai — we read these.
Who we are

Kimiyaa is built by Kimiyaa.ai.

Kimiyaa is built by Kimiyaa.ai.

Address: BLDG NO 5,SHOP NO 8 DAULAT NAGAR, CO-OP HSG, THANE EAST, Thane, THANE, Maharashtra, India, 400603.

Kimiyaa is independent. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Blender® Foundation or any third-party DCC vendor. References to third-party tools on this site are made for comparison and compatibility context only.

Read more about the team →