Autodesk Maintenance prices to increase

[luceric]

I don't know much about the subject, but I always thought that rent-only authoring software was less of a big deal in CAD, because of stable file formats and the nature of the work. In entertainment, we have to be careful to not accumulate important assets in obscure proprietary formats.

[Daniel Brassard]

I don't understand what is the point of article Daniel Brassard posted. For a start it doesn't even consider ownership.

The point of the article is to provide another point of view and/or perspective to the conversation. It follows older articles by the author on that subject (click on the Autodesk filter button, there are some interesting articles by this author). I did not provide my own take on this as each unique situation has its own solutions.

http://schnitgercorp.com/2015/09/04/qui ... erpetuals/
http://schnitgercorp.com/2016/02/03/aut ... ructuring/
http://schnitgercorp.com/2016/11/30/aut ... es-change/
http://schnitgercorp.com/2017/02/07/aut ... -step-ceo/

and this one from Bentley, a major AD competitor (who offer traditional and subscription, also new owner of E-On software)

https://www.bentley.com/en/perspectives ... de-program
https://www.bentley.com/en/about-us/new ... de-program

The AD struggles with traditional and subscription is not unique. Dassault Systèmes, another AD competitor, is having the exact same issues:

http://schnitgercorp.com/2016/04/21/ptc-ds/

It shows that even in the major AD investment sector, the pressures to perform and show profit is very high. Clients are worried and/or dissatisfied of the "service " model and not quick to move to the subscription for many reasons. Shareholders are worried about the bottom line. These are very competitive field.

The M&E sector comes with its own challenges (fixed length projects where stable pipelines is a must, backward compatibilities and the need to open older files and assets, up and down in personnel and software needs, industry specialisation vs all around solutions, new technique based on research and trends, etc.). You may be seeing the end of the old dinosaur, all around, closed box software. The industry is changing, the demand is changing with it. Companies that have build solution around the old requirements, if they are not quick to adapt, will slowly or quickly die. Remember "Commodore" or the "Amiga"? The wrong business move and your are out of the picture (pun intended).

[Daniel Brassard]

rent-only authoring software was less of a big deal in CAD

Partially true, there is also the aspect of manufacturing and highly specialised equipment where a change in software can have a very costly impact in that sector of the industry. Many manufacturers require stable software platforms and hate recoding their tools because company X decided to change something that break their code. Most likely they stay behind one or two version just to make sure their code is stable. Sound familiar?

[MauricioPC]

The M&E sector comes with its own challenges (fixed length projects where stable pipelines is a must, backward compatibilities and the need to open older files and assets, up and down in personnel and software needs, industry specialisation vs all around solutions, new technique based on research and trends, etc.). You may be seeing the end of the old dinosaur, all around, closed box software. The industry is changing, the demand is changing with it. Companies that have build solution around the old requirements, if they are not quick to adapt, will slowly or quickly die. Remember "Commodore" or the "Amiga"? The wrong business move and your are out of the picture (pun intended).

The problem I see with the VFX sector at least, is that it's already running on almost bare minimum profit. If that continues and prices rises, I can see a good amount of small to mid sized studios closing shop and the bigger ones changing the staff, paying less or making the artist work more.

Business wise, since Autodesk answers to the shareholders, makes sense. But to also create bad publicity isn't a good idea ... or it wasn't and today nobody cares anymore.

[gaboraa]

Wow! That's a huge loss for those who bought multiple new licenses last year like we did!
I didn't expect they would change their maintenance policy and prices so soon!! I should have suspected that Autodesk would screw us again.

Resistance is futile...

[Daniel Brassard]

But to also create bad publicity isn't a good idea

And that is probably the biggest weakness of AD. Their actions does not match their words. They keep changing the goal post.

And Now, for Something Completely Different:

It's a gooooal ...

Nope, it's five feet short, too bad. I have a solution for you, why not rent my super-duper ball, better that the old one for a fee higher than buying a ball. You will surely make more goals with that ball.

Your new ball barely meet regulations and it plays weird.

Yes, but cool players like my new ball which make it standard. It's the mostest, bestest, newest on the market.

I'll buy your new ball.

Unfortunately, rental is the only option. I don't make enough money selling a new ball. I have to recoup the development cost of the new ball. But hey, see the advantage, I own the balls so I'll give you a new ball every time you rent.

Well, I'll keep the old ball then.

Sure, you can play with the old ball but sooner or later your ball will deflate. If you want air, you will have to pay for it and there is no warranty that the air pump will fit your old ball. But hey, why not renting my new super-duper ball.

But the rental of the court include the air.

For now, but I am changing the agreement and air will now be extra and for a limited time only. After a while, I'll raise the price of it as I see fit.

Your courts are full of bumps and holes.

Yes, but those are features that you pay with your rental. It make the play more challenging. If you want a flat court, that will be an extra rental fee only available to paying customer as an update to my super-duper ball. Why would you like to play on a boring, easy court anyway. The thrill, the challenge of not knowing when you will hit a bump, what a fun game.

That's more frustrating than anything, I'll go play in another court.

Sure, go ahead. Sooner or later I'll buy that court as well and you will have to pay to use it.... and/or I may close the court. You may have the option to upgrade to my new super-duper ball for a limited time only.

Farewell then, we all decided to play elsewhere. We don't need your balls and courts.

Sooner or later you will come back to me, I own all the balls and courts in The Area. (evil laughs)

Not necessarily, their is a free open field near my house. Bye!

Come back, come back, I'll give you a discount ........ come baaaaack ...............


This is the End (The Doors)

[Rez007]

I don't know much about the subject, but I always thought that rent-only authoring software was less of a big deal in CAD, because of stable file formats and the nature of the work. In entertainment, we have to be careful to not accumulate important assets in obscure proprietary formats.

This is a big point. I hope Pixar/ILM are making great strides with their USD (Universal Scene Description) file format. Then, that will alleviate a lot of headaches because you can then move entire scenes around to what software suits you best.

@Daniel, you make goods points and I do see the other side of the issue as well. I would not mind signing into Autodesk's system and having my latest version stay perpetual, if I stop paying. However, that is currently not an option with Rental.

Currently, both models (Maintenance and Rental Subscriptions) have some of the exact same influences. One, prices for each model can be adjusted to whatever Autodesk wants, and both models have the exact same software issued. Assuming Rental is going to bring the best super version ever released...unfortunately, there is just no track record for that anywhere. And once you are in Rental, you are in. Will it help decrease piracy, yes it will, and I am all for that. So, if that is a main concern for Autodesk, I don't see why they cannot open perpetual usage at the end of Renting. (Assuming one has paid enough into the system to qualify for that.)

(I know that you are not directly implying that renting brings the best super version ever in your analogy, as that would be what Autodesk is implying now. I am not taking a dig at development in anyway. I like Autodesk and its people, everyone from their company has always been very nice to me. I am just saying...don't I already own the exact same software, that they now want me to rent to get the same thing I would get anyway...?)

This would be a different issue if I was walking directly into Renting from the get-go. But, when people make a large purchase up front and have been loyal for a long time - then pushed to rental, that is a big deal. That is why if I go to Houdini and rent for $200 per year, then that is fine because I am aware of that from the beginning. One (1) year of Maya rental (new subscription) can pay for seven (7) years of Houdini, and one year of reduced price (newly offered deal) of Maya rental, can pay for roughly three (3) years of Houdini.

All-in-all I just wish there wouldn't be so much uncertainty, because I am sure all of us Softimage users have been experiencing turmoil for years now...

[Daniel Brassard]

You make good points as well Rez007

I decided not to throw all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. Houdini Indie is a good fit for me at the moment and I have enough left to invest in Zbrush and/or RedShift. Playing with 4R8 at the moment, waiting for the upcoming Z5 to buy.

H16 has brought new tools and enhancement to justify the jump this year, it was worth the wait. The VDB solution in H is fun to play with, man I wish it was native in Softimage.

I still have access to C4D, Softimage, 3DSMax, Mudbox and Maya so no lost there but its going to be old pretty soon.

Mantra, Renderman, Mental Ray and Arnold for rendering capability is good. RedShift soon will add capabilities.

Blender for fun, and I am set.

I did let my maintenance contract go this year and although I was contacted to "upgrade" to rental, the offer is too little too late. I am in a happier camp with SideFX at the moment and the economy allowed me to afford new tools. The decision came as a relief actually. It was a good run but it was time to decide where I needed to go and put my time and effort.

A jack of all trade and master of none!

[Rez007]

...
A jack of all trade and master of none!

Believe it or not, I think that is the safest route - being versatile where ever you can.

[Bullit]

I don't understand what is the point of article Daniel Brassard posted. For a start it doesn't even consider ownership.

The point of the article is to provide another point of view and/or perspective to the conversation. It follows older articles by the author on that subject (click on the Autodesk filter button, there are some interesting articles by this author). I did not provide my own take on this as each unique situation has its own solutions.

http://schnitgercorp.com/2015/09/04/qui ... erpetuals/
http://schnitgercorp.com/2016/02/03/aut ... ructuring/
http://schnitgercorp.com/2016/11/30/aut ... es-change/
http://schnitgercorp.com/2017/02/07/aut ... -step-ceo/

and this one from Bentley, a major AD competitor (who offer traditional and subscription, also new owner of E-On software)

https://www.bentley.com/en/perspectives ... de-program
https://www.bentley.com/en/about-us/new ... de-program

The AD struggles with traditional and subscription is not unique. Dassault Systèmes, another AD competitor, is having the exact same issues:

http://schnitgercorp.com/2016/04/21/ptc-ds/

It shows that even in the major AD investment sector, the pressures to perform and show profit is very high. Clients are worried and/or dissatisfied of the "service " model and not quick to move to the subscription for many reasons. Shareholders are worried about the bottom line. These are very competitive field.

The M&E sector comes with its own challenges (fixed length projects where stable pipelines is a must, backward compatibilities and the need to open older files and assets, up and down in personnel and software needs, industry specialisation vs all around solutions, new technique based on research and trends, etc.). You may be seeing the end of the old dinosaur, all around, closed box software. The industry is changing, the demand is changing with it. Companies that have build solution around the old requirements, if they are not quick to adapt, will slowly or quickly die. Remember "Commodore" or the "Amiga"? The wrong business move and your are out of the picture (pun intended).

An article that don't consider ownership case is not valid for the current discussion, because that is the main issue. The fact that is Bentley is irrelevant, most industry wants to rent because that way they don't need to improve often and makes your projects captive.

[luceric]

An article that don't consider ownership case is not valid for the current discussion

I don't know, I don't think it was an article that was hard to understand. There are telling their clients to not waste time hoping that Autodesk will change its mind about perpetual licenses, and instead figure out which of the three options they'll take. (sit, rent or leave).

[MauricioPC]

That is indeed correct. Autodesk don't give a crap what you and I think. They'll move forward and you can follow them or leave them.

I'm hoping some studios might start considering other options, but I guess the industry is so f*cked right now that this is the smallest of problems. :/

[Mathaeus]

But to also create bad publicity isn't a good idea ... .

Obviously they have a great talent here, while I think it's not only AD, they also have a legendary players on board, let's say Maya ability to implement anything just close to be usable, while 'pleasant' seems to be unknown word for them, both...
Anyway as a sort of laboratory rat of new rental age, well at least only for home use for now, there's my third year of Houdini Indie and first year of Maya LT, and I'm planning to renew both... I have selfishly to admit that I don't feel bad at all ( well after third update of Maya LT 2017 ). Maya LT is unbelievable strong software for affordable price, can do a lot what no one else can do except big one, thing like motion re-targeting from anything to anything, playback speed, new nice UV options in update 3. On another positive side, it releases me of 'beauties' like MASH, particle cache blending from stone age, xgen and others. Unfortunately it releases me from nCloth too . Output that sells is FBX, not proprietary mlt file, which makes 'no access' fear, more or less irrelevant. After all I could ask someone to else to export, what I have on HD.

Imho worst thing for individual or small shop, it is to run into cost beyond possibilities, also being practicality unable to actualize the all features of 3d monster, and then, instead of admitting the defeat, running into hope of better future.

Negative aspect of rental age seems to be a sort of banalization, or Jack of all trades, master of none style. If certain software does not fit you just go with another one. ''Mastering'' or solving complex problems became an almost unknown, old school category.

[MauricioPC]

Hey Mathaeus,

So you are quite happy with Maya LT.


So far for me is Houdini (because I really like Houdini) and I'm still deciding on a modeling package. Maybe Maya LT might be a good idea for VR? I played with Hololens for the first time this weekend and I loved it!

[Mathaeus]

Hey Mathaeus,
So you are quite happy with Maya LT.

''happy'' is too strong word imho, that will working if we will have about twenty 3d in offer, which is not case. Let's say I spent most of ''transition time'' with Houdini and Maya LT, now probably there's time to stick only with these two, forgetting others.

Can't say anything smart about Hololens.

[Rez007]

Unfortunately, there is a negating of the fact of previous ownership, and that is big deal. Walking into rental from the very beginning is one thing and fine with me, because you know that upfront. Investing tons of money and then being forced to rent the same thing you already own, is the crux of the situation.

That would be like paying for a home in full, and keeping up with all yearly taxes. Then the State says, give us your home back and you can now rent for slightly less than your yearly taxes...however with the caveat of, if you don't pay your rent, you get evicted and all your property in your house is ours to keep.