[w i l l]

Z-Clip Rendering....... This looks interesting.

[paxreid]

Hi Nicole,
can you please tell me what will happen when v2.0 will be released?
I have 1 license + plusone (I bought MWR in alpha phase), so I assume I can run MWR on 8 PCs: How much I will pay to upgrade to v2.0 to continue to run MWR on all 8 machines?

I didn't send you a PM or an email, because I think this question can interest a lot of people.

Thank you, Gio

Good point Gio...and common sense would tell me that if you have 8 licenses..which most of us do with the plus one, then we will probably be paying for 8 license upgrades with 2.0. This is assuming that you really need 8 licenses. For me, if the upgrade cost is ..say 500 bucks, there is no way I can afford 4 grand for all the licenses. I would probably stay with 1 or 2..depending on my financial situation and need.

Paxton.

[deadalvs]

Z-Clip Rendering....... This looks interesting.

i guess my wish was heard...
http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=19810

and even in a better form !

yay !

[jo]

Good point Gio...and common sense would tell me that if you have 8 licenses..which most of us do with the plus one, then we will probably be paying for 8 license upgrades with 2.0. This is assuming that you really need 8 licenses. For me, if the upgrade cost is ..say 500 bucks, there is no way I can afford 4 grand for all the licenses. I would probably stay with 1 or 2..depending on my financial situation and need.

Paxton.

I just wrote a long post (in italian ) on maxwellrender.it forum (http://www.maxwellrender.it/index.php?o ... 6#msg29676), to explain what I think about the new policy and why I think it is a step back.
I'll try to sum up my opinion (in english ).
When I bought MWR there was the policy of 4 CPUs (and not any strange mutli-core processor was on the market ): the idea was that I could at least run MWR on 2 PCs (with dual processor).
Now (well, next july) if you want to buy MWR and run it on 2 PCs you have to buy 1 full license + 1 render node license. This mean that MWR now is more expensive then before.
Don't tell me that 5 days ago you had only 4 cores: that was really an anachronistic rule!
Everybody here is happy because now we have so many render nodes; but what about the upgrade?
Supposing that I can downgrade one of my full license to a render node license, with the new policy if I will want to go to V2.0 and continue to run MWR on my 2 PCs I have to pay an upgrade for the full license + an upgrade for the render node.
If NL were simply changing their policy replacing the word "core" with "socket" I would have to pay only one upgrade for the full license.
With the new render node policy a big studio can take advantage, but for a small one or a freelance nowadays MWR is becoming more expensive.

My 2 cents, Gio

[misterasset]

...and common sense would tell me that if you have 8 licenses..which most of us do with the plus one, then we will probably be paying for 8 license upgrades with 2.0.

Unless I read the original announcement wrong, you don't have 8 licenses. Your two licenses will now work on 8 computers, regardless of how many cores they have.

[lebbeus]

LICENSING

What about my current Maxwell Render licenses?…
Maxwell Render 1.5 will recognise existing licenses as 4 Standard licenses! Each existing license that you own will be usable with up to 4 machines, regardless of how many CPU cores are on each machine.

[iandavis]

yeah, that's pretty clear. existing license = FOUR current licenses. So we do in fact have 8 licenses (with plusone). Which also means that upgrades will be an issue... but hey, I'm NOT complaining! I've gone from one original license to 8 Maxwell 1.x licenses.

As far as I am concerned there is NOTHING to complain about. NL has come through in a big way for us alpha purchasers. I for one thank NL for their generosity.

As for 4CPU => single machine, Jo, the fact of the matter is that the industry has changed. Single CPUs are really a thing of the past. A single machine now with a quad core is more powerful then any dual CPU (single core) machine you can name. Not to mention that most motherboards don't even support the older slot configs. Dual and Quad core CPUs are the norm now. A single machine makes more sense, and the additional machine license is less then 1/2 that of a full. Since a single quad core machine can outperform almost all of the existing dual cpu single core machines... I'm not sure really what the problem is about. ALSO, next year when quad cores are the sweet spot and octocore is the pricey must have, you will be able to cheaply build something several times faster then any single CPU machine one can imagine. No. The single machine with unlimited cores is exactly what maxwell needs to stay cutting edge. I LOVE the fact that by throwing in a new CoreDuo Quad ($500US) into one of my existing machines (single core) I now will not change my license usage, instead make maxwell even more powerful.

Counting cores was just plain silly, and NL made a sensible move. Two machines would have been better I think... but since you can get dual CPU quad core machines... well... I think MOST people will be pleased with this new scheme. If you have 4 Mac Octo core machines it will cost you less then three licenses to have all four running... that's essentially 32 CPUs... so how exactly is THAT unfair?

[jo]

so how exactly is THAT unfair?

You don't get my point.
When I bought MWR it was planned to run on 2 PC; now only on 1.
This is less.
And don't tell me about how fast is today a dual-quadcore related to an old dual xeon monocore: I know this... But think about that also other render engines can use dual-quadcores ...
NL just adapt their policy ti the real world going forward technology.
And also remember why alpha purchasers got so many license...
I hope not to seem to rude...

Ciao, Gio

[Boris Ulzibat]

so how exactly is THAT unfair?

You don't get my point.
When I bought MWR it was planned to run on 2 PC; now only on 1.
This is less.
And don't tell me about how fast is today a dual-quadcore related to an old dual xeon monocore: I know this... But think about that also other render engines can use dual-quadcores ...
NL just adapt their policy ti the real world going forward technology.
And also remember why alpha purchasers got so many license...
I hope not to seem to rude...

Ciao, Gio

WHen you bought MR you ciuld run it not on 2 PCs, but on up to 4 cores.
No matter which configuration (4 single/2 duoble/1 quad).
Now you will be able to run it on up to 8 cores (AFAIK it is a maximum pre 1 pc now, correct me please).
8 cores is 2x more than 4 cores.

[iandavis]

your right jo, my response was a bit nippy. I should have added a few friendly faces.

seriously tho, the cheaper render node is very important. Some people on this forum are running 10+ licenses and this move makes that kind of situation much cheaper. Think about those wanting to run a 100cpu(multiple core) render farm?

Old way.
100machine/dual CPU /dual core ~ total cores = 800
required licenses = 200
cost= $200,000US

New way.
required licenses = 1
required nodes = 99
cost= $40,104US

PLUS they are currently giving away 3 render nodes to cover those 'four' CPUs for people in your position.

So as one can see, unless there is something greivously wrong with my math, this is a very, very good thing for professional use of maxwell. It increases it's power/price ratio by a 80%!

If you are current owner... you get at least 4 licenses... 8 if you got the 'plusone'. If you are a new user, buy it now and you get enough maxwell to run on four machines.

am I missing something?

I'm not trying to be rude jo... I just don't understand where there is a problem for your situation. Maybe it's the language thing?

cheers

[Mihai]

You don't get my point.
When I bought MWR it was planned to run on 2 PC; now only on 1.
This is less.

Now (well, next july) if you want to buy MWR and run it on 2 PCs you have to buy 1 full license

If you're going strictly by these numbers it may seem less, but practically speaking and especially for people that will buy a license, it is not a step down. Quadcores have more or less become mainstream and if you are doing a lot of rendering (using Maxwell or not), why would you buy a dualcore when a quadcore is well within reach for even a modest budget.

Besides if you already have Maxwell there is certainly no reason to say you now get less

[aitraaz]

I'm not trying to be rude jo... I just don't understand where there is a problem for your situation. Maybe it's the language thing?

Doubt it

Not to get lost in semantics here, but regarding upgrade pricing for the (eventual) 2.0 :

with the modification of the licensing scheme, 1 single license has now become four licenses, and it will be necessary to upgrade all four license for 2.0?

or is one license now valid for 4 boxes, with an eventual upgrade for only one license? (as opposed to four)

[iandavis]

Aitraaz,

that's a good question. I'm guessing based on the wording in the release that in fact we will need to cough up 4 or 8 upgrades.

The only case where this will be a problem is for people running multiple machines, at which time they will need to upgrade the license for each additional machine.

Which leads to another strange thing. No person would reasonably buy more then a single full license. Is there something that a render node can't do? I'm assuming it's like a daemon which allows the machine to be accessed from the one running the full product? In that case, why would anyone need 8 licenses...

what will be the render node upgrade price... can they be upgraded or will they be like apple quicktime... New version means old version is obsolete.

So, it makes more sense, since the licenses are NOT transferable in any way... to convert our license into a single with 7 render nodes... come upgrade time the upgrade cost will be exponentially lower. I'm guessing the upgrade cost for a full will be something like $300, where a render node is $395. For your other 7 licenses... hmmm.

Any thoughts NL about this whole upgrade issue? I know 1.5 isn't even out yet, and this is really not an issue yet, but I'm simply curious.
in no way complaining over here.

just some thoughts.

EDIT:
"..each existing license that you own will be usable with up to 4 machines, regardless of how many CPU cores are on each machine. For most existing customers it means you will not have to buy more licenses for some time as you upgrade the number and capacity of your machines. "

Ok, perhaps I read this wrong... 'will be usable'. perhaps it stays at 2 licenses... but we have extra special 'four machine' licenses. ??

I bet everyone at NL is saying... HOW CAN THAT BE CONFUSING... well... I know the end result isn't confusing... it's the little details that start to add up. Like if it is TWO uberlicenses then when we upgrade to V2 do we retain that uber status? Lots of questions.... LOTS.

[Mihai]

I'M confused now as well

[lebbeus]

I don't know--seems fairly clear; 1 (alpha-v1.1) license = 4 v1.5 licenses (read a bit more of the beginning part of the sentence from the press release )

as far as upgrading…?? I personally wouldn't expect to be able to upgrade all of my forthcoming v1.5 licenses based on the number of beta licenses that I bought, though that would be cool I'm sure there is time for NL to sort all of that out though since 2.0 is probably a long way off (I wonder how they'll top multilight, glare, z-clip, vignetting control, shift lens, etc. in 2.0?? )