Not that soon, is the short answer. Rhino 5 was released in late 2012 and there has been some anticipation that a Rhino 6 release would follow in 2014. Some of the speculation is due to a post by Brian Gillespie, Rhino Product Manager, where he sets out a potential goal of 1-2 years for each Rhino release. The point being that timeframes greater than that are considered by many to be too long to wait for major product enhancements. However, since outlining that goal in July 2013, there hasn’t been any significant news of any post-Rhino 5 releases.
Mcneel operate a generous and inclusive programme of beta and WIP (work-in-progress) releases. It is at the WIP stage that the OS X version of Rhino 3D has remained for some time. At the time of writing, there is no initial WIP release of Rhino 6 for Windows. This means that given development typically runs through dozens of WIP releases before the final beta stages and then release, that we are still a long way off. Right now, we might speculate a mid-2015 release of Rhino 6 – if WIP releases begin in the next few months.
McNeel Development Process:
- Work-in-Progress (WIP) builds include prototyped new ideas and technologies. WIP builds (often called Alpha releases) are not production ready, and some ideas and technologies may never be released. All Rhino 5 users are invited to get involved. Your feedback at the WIP stage has the most impact on the design of the features and enhancements.
- Beta: Once most of the core changes are finished and tested, beta builds are released. The beta builds should be production stable but may not have all the features or user interface finished.
- Final: We release a new version only when the beta users tell us it is ready. Beta users are informed when we have stopped development and have released Rhino 6 to production.
So, if you need to make some progress today, we’d recommend purchasing Rhino 5, with all it’s great features, and enjoy the potential features of forthcoming versions through the WIP releases. Don’t forget, only Rhino 5 license holders will have access to development releases of Rhino 6 when it does arrive.