"Vray registered legal users list" AKA "Lets make life harder for warez monkeys"

[simmsimaging]

I've thought a lot about this as well. Given that I'm not a software developer I assume there are many factors that I am totally unaware of, but I think spending a lot of money and time on anti-piracy is probably a lost cause. If the software is desirable it will turn up in a torrent sooner or later.

My suggestion would be to consider selling Vray for a lot less money, so *some* pirates would turn over, and charge a membership for access to the support and forums. For me, that has been just as important as the software. Probably wouldn't fly with the user base though

/b

[glorybound]

we'll all be running software through the cloud, you watch and see. The 3DS max server will talk to the V-Ray server...

I'm sure the pirates think they are doing a good thing; steal from the rich and give to the poor, just like Robin Hood. 3DS MAX cost $3,495.00, which is more then some people make in a year. Some people go to school, learn on the school's computer to get their foot in the door, but school has become astronomically expensive. In the illegal users heads they steal the software, learn how to use it to get their foot in the door, and the boss will buy a legal seat of the software when they get hired.

[MoonDoggie]

Recent innovations (over the past 5-7 years) in creating mostly functional "non-commercial" software is doing good things in this regard for the up side. Also educational licenses are affordable as well, these are good steps in the right direction.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Bobby:
you can buys MAX for 3.500? Lucky you! Our prices here are 4.700!!! Hows thats sound? )))
We have two licences for which were paying subscription which is not cheap either considering the updates are so crap

I am not bothered if someone uses pirated soft to learn and once he starts making money, he buys it...Thats fine with me. People have to start somehow.
The problem really is that once those people find out, they can get away with it easily, they dont bother their soft is stolen.
There are no means to hunt those people down probably....
Here in Czech be have BSA. They can only come to check your soft upon being alleged by someone together with some proves. They cant do just random checks. So the process of uncovering the dodgy freelancers is very slow (if any).
Load of people here work in a way that they have a small office with PC and Blender on it to show to authorities they use lagal stuf, but at home, they have a beast with VRAY, MAX, SOFTIMAGE, MAYA, ZBRUSH, MUDBOX, NUKE, OCTANE, MARI etc....

[instinct]

Here in Czech be have BSA. They can only come to check your soft upon being alleged by someone together with some proves. They cant do just random checks. So the process of uncovering the dodgy freelancers is very slow (if any).

Erm...and you find that a BAD thing? Wait till a freelancer (that is angry for whatever reason), or a competitor (for "business" reasons) sends these guys over costing you a lot of money and time...to prove that you are not guilty...Microsoft has a weirdo part in their EULAs that allows this. Which leads to our IT spending a lot of time proving we are legit instead of maintaining our infrastructure...thank you, but no thank you.

This goes along with the way DVDs and BluRays are set up nowadays. Shitloads of warnings and anti-piracy ads, followed by non-skippable trailers sometimes. I payed Money to see the film. I don't need to watch your ads, nor do i need to be threatened by a stupid FBI warning. And then these hassles are removed for the people pirating the movie. Thank you again, but no thank you again.

If the anti-piracy measures do nothing but hassle the legit customers, than they serve no purpose, hurt your case and cost a lot of money.

Kind regards,
Thorsten

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

instinct:
NO, i dont find its a bad thing....i surely dont want anyone hold me off from working just check out our studio and discs for no apparent reason, BUT on the other hand, the only thing that prevent people from going rogue is faithfullness and THAT is today very scarce

what i criticize and what made me write this post is that todays "pirates" can produce very high quality work and some of them even have very good and reliable services so they can compete very well.....but we cant compete with them when it comes to pricing for apparent reasons.
so how can you make yourself "better" to justify the higher pricing?
Legal use of soft?
nope...stating that youre using legal soft will earn you nothing (respect amongs faithfull customers maybe perhaps)
Quality?
nope....today the quality is so high that some of the customers dont recognize the differences and go for the better price
Speed?
no....i have some offers from China for a guy that can do massive projects within a week for 500 bucks!!!....so he puts our production in the pocket
Service and Global recognition?
perhaps yes, but this will cost you big bucks and loads of time

So yes, i have to agree with someones reply here....its a lost fight.....but it surely doesnt mean i cannot get angry over it when i ve put som much effort into builting something thats productive, yet legal.

[andybot_cg]

Martin,
For the sake of argument... Maybe you are spending too much time and money on what you do. The other software out there (Modo, Blender with cycles, Sketchup with so many quality rendering plugins, etc.. the possibilities continue to expand) keeps improving and makes it easier in legitimate ways to do better work more quickly. Also, as others have mentioned on various threads, clients seem to generally put speed, customer service, and price above quality.

Andy

[AJ Jefferies]

Focus on your own work instead of trying to hunt down warez users. This is a battle you cannot win.

I 100% agree with this. Software developers have a hard enough time shutting down pirates, if you were to do the same it would become your personal Moby Dick

[glorybound]

upgrades are happening faster and faster, and legit users have a hard enough time upgrading legit software. I can't imagine trying to find cracked versions of all my plug-ins, that I would use to run my bogus company. Or, heavens forbid, that a bogus plug-in screws up my computer. This is a risk that I'm not willing to take, and it shouldn't be a risk that a client shouldn't have to worry about.

[peterguthrie]

Good point Bobby!

[lukx]

Good point Bobby!

I can't quite agree. Even the plugin makers have problems to keep up with new max versions
Example itoo plugs. Ok we got rail and forest for 2013 but still in beta

[glorybound]

but at least you have a voice. If something doesn't work you can contact them, for the most part, to get help. The reputable ones have good support. What made me mad was when I paid good money for a plug-in, and got no support, and a run-around.

I can't quite agree. Even the plugin makers have problems to keep up with new max versions
Example itoo plugs. Ok we got rail and forest for 2013 but still in beta

[lukx]

yes this is true guys form Itoo are awesome !

[stevesideas]

Im not worried by any users using pirated software. If they are charging low rates and using pirated copies I can guarantee you they don't provide a service comparable to a professional legit user. It is not just about the software they use but the whole package (as a company). Clients may not care what software people use, legit or not, but they will only use someone once if they don't provide a top service. That is the thing that any company/freelancer needs to address to remain competitive and beyond the reach of amateur users pretending to be professionals.

Also, you'll find a lot of hackers/coders doing cracks etc for any popular software these days. There are a lot of clever people out there so stopping piracy I would say will always be almost impossible to control.

[lukx]

Steve oh you would be surprised what service some of those guys provide. The guy from China, Martin mentioned is doing big scale archvis for 500$ in 5 days and it's on very very very high level ! Believe me!