AD going Subscription only Q1 2016

[pluMmet]

Why anyone would want to invest their time in and AD product I'll never know.. Go with something that offers a solid future IMHO

http://www.cgchannel.com/2015/02/autode ... uary-2016/

Autodesk has confirmed that it intends to phase out perpetual licences of its software next year, and revealed more details of its new pay-as-you-go desktop subscription plans.

Who is affected, and who isn’t?
From 1 February 2016, a desktop subscription will become the only way to obtain new commercial seats of most of the company’s standalone entertainment creation products, with the exception of Flame.

However, anyone who owns an existing perpetual licence will be able to continue to use the software – if not to upgrade it – without taking out a desktop subscription; while users on maintenance subscriptions will also “continue to receive corresponding benefits as long as their subscription remains active”.

Students and colleges are unaffected: they will continue to receive free educational licences.

The company will also continue to offer perpetual licences of its Entertainment Creation Suites, which bundle 3ds Max and/or Maya with Mudbox, MotionBuilder and Softimage, after February 2016.

Do the numbers add up for you?
Autodesk first revealed that it intended to move away from the old ‘buy once, use forever’ model of software licensing in a conference call to investors last October.

As we reported at the time, whether this benefits you financially depends on how often you currently upgrade your software.

At present, a desktop subscription for 3ds Max or Maya costs $185 per month or $1,470 per year, whereas a perpetual licence costs £3,675. In other words, by moving to a desktop subscription, you’ll be paying same price as buying a new perpetual licence of the software every 1.65 to 2.5 years.

(For Maya LT, the breakeven point is slightly longer: a perpetual licence costs $795 – the equivalent of 2.2 to 3.3 years’ desktop subscription payments, at rates of $30 per month or $240 per year.)

However, Autodesk has now gone some way towards addressing the concerns of infrequent upgraders like freelancers and small studios, announcing a new three-year desktop subscription, priced at $4,410 for Maya.

Not purely a matter of cost?
If that doesn’t convince you, Autodesk is pitching other benefits for pay-as-you-go. The official news release notes that desktop subscription “offers a simplified installation, management and upgrade experience”.

In a conference call this afternoon, the firm noted that once the new system beds in, it aims to phase out its existing large, once-or-twice-yearly updates to its software in favour of continuous smaller, incremental updates.

Autodesk also “plans to continually innovate and improve desktop subscription products to more tightly integrate them with Autodesk cloud services and reduce file compatibility issues.”

So far, we haven’t found any more details about what cloud services will be available to users of the entertainment software products. We’ll update if we do.

[Rork]

In a conference call this afternoon, the firm noted that once the new system beds in, it aims to phase out its existing large, once-or-twice-yearly updates to its software in favour of continuous smaller, incremental updates.

This alone would made me stay away from AD in the future.....
What happens halfway through production when an update is rolled out? And this update 'fixes' something you're using in production?
No way to go back to the old version, as there is no 'old' install. Just the latest one.
Adobe had it's fair share of mess-ups in the past with this on-going update thingy going on, AD will be no different.

Anything other than AD starts to look better and better. Unfortunately all SI using studios seem to be hell bent in moving to Maya

[MauricioPC]

Well, if Modo 901 and Cinema 4D R17 don't deliver, I'll stay in Max and be done with it.

[luceric]

In a conference call this afternoon, the firm noted that once the new system beds in, it aims to phase out its existing large, once-or-twice-yearly updates to its software in favour of continuous smaller, incremental updates.

This alone would made me stay away from AD in the future.....
What happens halfway through production when an update is rolled out? And this update 'fixes' something you're using in production?
No way to go back to the old version, as there is no 'old' install. Just the latest one.

That comment was not at all about suggesting forced upgrade, it was about not focusing so much about making big extension releases.

[pluMmet]

Well, if Modo 901 and Cinema 4D R17 don't deliver, I'll stay in Max and be done with it.

For you personaly what is it that you need that C4D does not have?

[MauricioPC]

I like two things ... modeling and fx. FX is almost covered with Houdini or maybe even BiFrost in Maya or Max (I believe, hehe).

I like the procedural approach to modeling in Max. You can work in a almost meshfusion workflow with some plugins from Clovis Gay, with very good performance.

I also feel Max works very well in lower hardware (like mine). Lately, I've been spending money on training, so I can't upgrade hardware for a while. So for my rig (AMD 8-core, 16 ram, 550Ti x2), 3ds Max performs quite well.

I love Cinema 4D, I just think some things need to be worked out. People complain PFlow is not multi-thread ... well, so Xpresso. The viewport has some problem with lots of objects (low poly even), the modeling tools are not as solid, and I think Maxon takes forever to release service packs or updates to fix bugs.

One more thing. I tried some MoGraph training ... but even with simple projects and with lots of objects (which is why you would use MoGraph), the viewport starts lagging heavily. Sure ... my GPU is crap, but I can make the same animation (or sorts) with ATK on Max and get a better viewport representation.

And I don't know why (problem hardware related), but Maya was always crash prone on my computer. And I prefer the modifier stack than that history crappy that goes all crazy from time to time.

[pluMmet]

The modeling in C4D seems completely workable to me but there are so many solo Modelers out there I never worry about it anyway.

As far as Viewport Performance it seems to be that they don't use DirectX due to how many Mac users they have....

Here is a good video


Turning off shadows seems to be a big speed bump

And of course using layers to speed things up


And solo mode

[MauricioPC]

The bonus of using Max is that I still find the best for modeling (did a workshop with a senior modeler from Ubisoft and learned a lot), and Max is still used in a lot of game studios. While it isn't my main concern, if a good job opening appears, why not?

Cinema 4D is perfect for freelancing, but in studios or companies it's only used for motion graphics (that I don't care that much about it).

I'm hopeful for R17. The good thing about Cinema 4D is that's easy to pick up. Let's see what 2016 brings and how much the rental will cost. If it's too expensive, Cinema 4D here I come.

[Bullit]

I mostly puzzled how do you say 3dsMax is the best modeler Mauricio. Well compared to Softimage and Cinema4D it isn't in my opinion. With commands spread all over the interface, stuff that only exist hidden in ribbon. You can't even delete an edge just by clicking delete, have to click in remove button.
I have done all tuts on hard modeling by Grant Warwick and it is all tricks that are not clear for someone outside.

[Manticor]

Max has the most modeling tools I agree...but that doesn't make it the best modeller.After trying a lot of other tools.I still think softimage is the best modeller.

[MauricioPC]

Guys ... I can't count on Softimage anymore, since it's eol. For me Softimage is the best modeling, the best rigging, the best animation, the best lighting and rendering tool there is. But since it won't be upgraded anymore, I don't put it in on the comparison.

Bullit ... I don't know. I miss some things in C4D that I find pretty good for modeling. And I hate the ribbon, I think it's the stupidest thing Autodesk ever did. It's slows, it occupies half the screen and it lags. I would greatly prefer a floating windows, like the plugin was before acquisition. But the tools in there are pretty powerful.

As for the modeling workflow ... you may want to watch some of Gavriil dvd on Gnomon. And put Alessandro Baldasseroni in there as well. Watching they work, I'll say I never seen someone as fast as them in Maya, Modo or C4D.

[luchifer]

a little reminder: they are all tools, the modeling software itself isnt slow or fast.

[MauricioPC]

a little reminder: they are all tools, the modeling software itself isnt slow or fast.

Yeah. I know. And by tools, me as an artist feel more comfortable in 3ds Max than Maya or Cinema 4D. So that's that. Just accept what I'll get from Autodesk and move on!

[FXDude]

That comment was not at all about suggesting forced upgrade, it was about not focusing so much about making big extension releases.

Sure, none of this (among other things) is about forcing anything upon anyone.

I guess it can be difficult to consider or accept certain realities,
-and- be able to have a clear conscience at the same time if your one of the main public figures/supporters/spokes people.

So any willful ignorance, selective abstraction, or scarce objectivity comes to no surprise.

[FXDude]

Guys ... I can't count on Softimage anymore, since it's eol. For me Softimage is the best modeling, the best rigging, the best animation, the best lighting and rendering tool there is.

This (sort of reasoning here and around) to me makes absolutely no sense at all, and there would still be more SI jobs while having a much better resolve if a larger portion didn't as readily follow predefined (and pressured) migration paths.

Which makes me wonder how many would accept if asked (or strategically pushed by fear or uncertainty) to jump into a big pile of garbage.

[Nox]

I can't count on Softimage anymore, since it's eol.

Hmm, for me it looks like you change your mind in every post :>

And I hate the ribbon, I think it's the stupidest thing Autodesk ever did. It's slows, it occupies half the screen and it lags.

Just turn it off and bind those tools which you use frequently to hotkeys.

you may want to watch some of Gavriil dvd on Gnomon. And put Alessandro Baldasseroni in there as well. Watching they work, I'll say I never seen someone as fast as them in Maya, Modo or C4D.

Their speed has nothing to do with software it's just years of everyday practice.

Sure, there are some things that could be done faster, for example if you need to repeat some decorative element and align it to path, in Max you just use clone modifier with path deform and voilà! In Modo... well, maybe next time? But anyway, 90% of poly modeling is very similar in different DCC apps.