[jo]

You have gotten several licenses for free, which you have been able to profit from for almost two years

You should remember why those licenses were given for free...

Ciao, Gio

[simmsimaging]

I did not get any licences for 1/2 price. I understand that you see the additional 3 render node licenses as a freebie, but I didn't really see it that way. My point is that at least *some* render node licenses should be built-in to modern pricing structures, and even more particularly for an engine that needs them more than almost any other out there.

I really think this is a big mistake.

b

[Fernando Tella]

... My point is that at least *some* render node licenses should be built-in to modern pricing structures, and even more particularly for an engine that needs them more than almost any other out there.

I really think this is a big mistake.

b

+1

[nicole]

Hi everyone,

Dollar pricing is only available to people located in the Americas. People located in all other countries get Euro pricing.

I think our upgrade policy is clear: You can upgrade as many (or as few) of your current licenses as you wish. It is possible to upgrade version 1 Standard licenses to version 2 Rendernode licenses, provided you upgrade at least one version 1 Standard license to a version 2 Standard license.

After the release of version 1.5 of Maxwell Render, all existing licenses were converted to 4 due to a change in our licensing policy: it accounted for changing from a per-2CPU licensing scheme to a per-machine licensing scheme.

Thanks,

Nicole

[jo]

Why was at the time "all existing licenses were converted to 4"?
Was it because new quadcore processors were just to be released and the old "4" was intended for 1 machine with 2 dualcore processors?

Ciao, Gio

[Polyxo]

You have bought the software initially at half price

...and had to carry the risk of buying pre-release - software.

This is the first paying upgrade since Maxwell appeared, unlike other software companies that charge you every 10 months

I would never ever use such software.

You have gotten several licenses for free, which you have been able to profit from for almost two years

My calculation was without the free licenses, Mihai.
I estimated my needs in advance - Idid not expect to get something for free.
And as Jo states -we got them for free for reasons nobody likes to recall...

Forget about these free licenses for a moment:
Thing is that one could run a 12 people Design office with what I originally bought, all with Maxwell installed.
Each of these was a Editor-Node and could be used for scene setup and rendering. Over night one could use their Cooperative power.

Even if I had payed the full price of 895€ per license a newly setup network like described would have cost me far far less (2685€) than
upgrading the existing set with the same amount of Editor seats (4140€). And: Everbody who updates to render-nodes deFacto loses value.
Render-Nodes can not get reconverted to Full Licenses.

I can imagine that it is difficult to make a new pricing scheme - but here something clearly went wrong.

[simmsimaging]

If this is going to be the policy then I cannot see myself upgrading any licenses. 1 is virtually useless for typical deadlines (I'm sure the devout will disagree, but by all accounts speed is the number one stumbling block for the wider community to adopting Maxwell so I know I'm not alone in this view) and the other option is flatly overpriced. This policy is short-sighted IMO.

I'm sorry it's going this way - I was getting excited about the possibility of re-integrating Maxwell into production, especially with modo.


b

[nicole]

Hi Brett,

Yes, this is the upgrade policy: every Maxwell Render license holder is free to buy the version 2 upgrade, or keep working with version 1.x.
As we have shown in our v2 announcements, speed has been vastly improved in Maxwell Render, and that combined with improvements in hardware makes it more than useful for typical deadlines. Pricing of our upgrades is according to industry standards.
Some Maxwell Render users got the "plus one" license to "reward" them for buying the Beta and to "make up" for certain errors committed at the time. With the release of V1.5, all licenses were converted to 4 each to account for changes in the hardware industry - not due to any errors committed but simply a change in licensing policy that turned out very beneficial for the majority of our users. These free and extra licenses do NOT extend to V2. You can now upgrade any number of licenses you want.

Thanks.

Nicole

[simmsimaging]

Hi Brett,

Yes, this is the upgrade policy: every Maxwell Render license holder is free to buy the version 2 upgrade, or keep working with version 1.x.
As we have shown in our v2 announcements, speed has been vastly improved in Maxwell Render, and that combined with improvements in hardware makes it more than useful for typical deadlines. Pricing of our upgrades is according to industry standards.
Some Maxwell Render users got the "plus one" license to "reward" them for buying the Beta and to "make up" for certain errors committed at the time. With the release of V1.5, all licenses were converted to 4 each to account for changes in the hardware industry - not due to any errors committed but simply a change in licensing policy that turned out very beneficial for the majority of our users. These free and extra licenses do NOT extend to V2. You can now upgrade any number of licenses you want.

Thanks.

Nicole

Hi Nicole.

I'm not trying to be obstinate, but let's be honest: NL has been saying Maxwell is fast enough for production from the get-go, so I have to take that with a grain of salt. Whether or not V2 will be 'fast enough' I highly doubt, because even non-biased renders need co-operative type strategies for typical use. You just can't dictate what is 'more than useful' from your end, it has to be determined by the production workflows at the user end, so there is no real answer to this just yet.

Regardless, can you explain how your pricing is in agreement with industry standards? I pointed out 3 or 4 examples that include 10 nodes *at minimum*. I just don't see how you can justify that statement, and this is where I think you guys are a long way off base.

All this said I have seen these things tend to go and I don't expect to see any changes to your plan. I think that's too bad as this is a time when you guys could make a serious leap forward in the market.

Thanks /b

[dmeyer]

No renderer will ever be "fast enough."

[Mihai]

One license used to entitle you to run on four machines. If you now buy one license you can run just one.

This is the wrong assumption One full license has always been able to run one single machine. Nothing has changed here. You are in fact asking to upgrade the licenses you got for free, for free. Say you bought one beta license, which got converted to 4 at no extra cost:

Forget about these free licenses for a moment

Ok, so before V2, you paid 895 x 3= 2685€ + the €400 beta license= 3085€
You now have 4 licenses incl. the beta one.
You now have to choose whether to upgrade all full licenses. This would cost you an additional 1580, total paid so far in this case = 4665€
You also have the option of upgrading 1 to full and 3 to nodes. Additional cost 980, total so far in this case = 4065€

What you really paid so far and if you choose to upgrade 1 to full and 3 to nodes:
400 + 980 = 1380€

Or if you chose to upgrade all to full:
400 + 1580 = 1980€

So I wouldn't neglect the fact that you have been using these 4 full licenses for 2 years, which you only paid for 1.

[simmsimaging]

Mihai - are you guys really *looking* at your bottom lines? Who is going to pay that kind of money? Seriously - who?

b

[NicoR44]

No renderer will ever be "fast enough."

25fps would be good

[dmeyer]

No renderer will ever be "fast enough."

25fps would be good

I want to do high speed shots in 8k res with motion blur and 100 million polys in realtime. Rendering on an iPhone.

[Mihai]

Mihai - are you guys really *looking* at your bottom lines? Who is going to pay that kind of money? Seriously - who?

b

I don't know It's not for me to say how the license policy should be decided. 3D companies dropped their prices to 1/10th for certain products, this didn't necessarily mean you told your clients your work will now be 1/10th the price. That's my personal view on it.