Free version of EnSight CFD 2.0

CEI is announcing the release of EnSight 9.1 and EnSight CFD 2.0. EnSight 9.1 features volume rendering and session files. EnSight CFD is also featuring volume rendering and session files, while adding a Cocoa Mac version. CEI has also created a new website for EnSight CFD, www.ensightcfd.com.

But perhaps the most interesting addition to EnSight CFD 2.0 is a free version. The free version has some limits in file size (number of elements), doesn't read all the same data formats, and has a small watermark on the screen. But other than that, and lack of access to personal support, seems to be comparable to the paid version. See this comparison chart between EnSight CFD's free and paid versions.

The free version seems designed for a couple of target audiences:
- People using other post-processors
- People who want to try out EnSight CFD without first contacting CEI's sales people
- CFD solver software developers, promoting the open EnSight Case file format
- University students and others who are starting to learn CFD

CEI didn't have to make a free version to appeal to their current EnSight customer base since its possible to run EnSight CFD using a current installation and license of EnSight, for no additional cost. Its just a Window > Interfaces > EnSight CFD menu pick. So apparently the free EnSight CFD is not targeted to the current EnSight customers.

How does EnSight CFD compare to EnSight Lite or Standard or Gold?

EnSight CFD still lags behind classic EnSight versions such as Lite, Standard, Gold, and DR in terms of high end features like batch mode, client-server, python scripting, command window, variable field calculator, keyframe animation and such. See this feature list. But according to the marketplace EnSight CFD is pretty comparable or beyond to Fieldview, Tecplot, CFD-Post, Paraview and other applications which have been at the lower level of capability to classic EnSight. And for the price of free it seems worth looking into. If the limits of data readers file formats (EnSight, Tecplot, and Fluent formats) or the 2 million element model size are not a problem for you then you get the best of all worlds, free price and modern, interactive, easy to use tool. If the limits do bother you, then for academic customers the price to remove them is only $400 (which CEI has reduced for the introductory period to only $99). CEI also has special pricing for class and campus licenses. And for commercial and government customers the price is the same as EnSight Lite, which is only $1,600. CEI is taking a page from Apple's $.99 songs on iTunes or $.99 Apps for iPhones believing that when you have something attractive you should also price it well and grab a huge following.

CEI will continue to develop EnSight CFD so that it has some of the features lacking vs classic EnSight over time, and surely will be careful which features are free and which cost money. Obviously they have to make money to stay in business. So expect that the Free and Paid versions get more distinct over time.

It's clear that CEI is pursuing a strategy of serving the whole range of the CFD post-processing market from low end with EnSight CFD priced at free to the high end with EnSight Gold and EnSight DR serving the supercomputing community at $10,000/year. And it seems that CEI has decided to make its free version of EnSight CFD as its lead marketing pitch, maybe TV ads are not as cheap as has been reported in the news.

What do you think? We'd like to hear from you on whether this might cause you to look at the various versions of EnSight.