This shouldn't need to be said again, but it appears that it does:
We - the paying customers - really need to get better feedback from the NL development team. Especially as it applies to bugs that we are/have been reporting. Now, the two NL guys on the 3ds Max plugin thread (Mihnea and Bogdan) are really great in getting back with us almost immediately with our issues. I can't speak for the other plugins as to the level of support they are receiving. I can say that I'm very happy with the 3ds Max plugin development team (thanks guys, you are doing a fantastic job!).
Unfortunately, I'm really not seeing the same responsiveness regarding core program issues. In most cases, the only responses - when there are any - come from other users and not the program developers (for both MXCL and Studio).
It would be really,
really nice if we could actually get some sort of feedback once in a while.... At the very least tell us that you are aware of the problem and are working on it.
A "Known Bugs" list for each of the components - compiled by NL - is a must have item, and will let us know what ones you are aware of. This will save us a lot of frustration as we individually come across a bug.
I think everyone is aware that the traffic on these forums has dropped considerably in the last couple of months. This could be interpreted in three ways:
1. The majority of users are happy with what they have so far and are using the existing programs/plugins in their production pipeline.
2. The majority of users have gotten tired of being ignored and have decided to quit banging their head against a wall and have stopped using this forum.
3. A large number of people have jumped ship and have gone back to their old rendering programs (or to newer competitive systems).
Only the first scenario can be looked upon in a positive light - however I think most of us would probably agree that there are too many problems with the existing programs for this to be a viable option. This leaves the other two scenarios, which does not bode well for NL no matter how you look at it.
Therefore, it makes good business sense to
not ignore the remaining people who are still using MR and reporting their findings on this Forum.
Here is a perfect example of what I'm talking about:
After re-reading the thread from Juan regarding the updated plugins for 3ds Max and Maya (
http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=20671 ), I saw that rendering various channels was working again (alpha, depth, etc). However, when I tried to render out a z-depth channel, I discovered that this feature has serious flaws (
http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=21306 ). The only response to this thread was from another user (3dtrialpractice) who stated that he reported this quite a while ago in an earlier version. So, this brings up a couple of questions: Was this bug addressed when it was originally posted, and if it was and is still being worked on, why was it touted as a 'new' feature for the Max plugin when it obviously doesn't work properly? If - for some reason - the original bug report slipped through the cracks, why wasn't the depth feature thoroughly tested before it was included with the latest Max plugin?
Another bug I recently reported had to do with MXCL and memory leakage (
http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=21285 ). As of this posting, not a single person has responded to this thread. Looking down in the forum's basement where the 'official' bug reports are supposed to go, I see that this issue was reported seven months ago, with not a single response or confirmation from NL. What the heck is up with that? Is that really good business? And the "Fixed bugs" thread hasn't been touched in five months.....
It's no wonder folks are getting frustrated..........
.
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))
Have a nice day. 
The Doctor? 
- By Andreas Hopf