What happens at the end of an annual license, if you dont renew?

[Morne]

Hi Guys

Like the title says.

When the year is up, can I continue to use the last version I installed, and I just can't update when a newer version comes out (like Itoosoftware's licenses)

or

I completely lose access and my last installed version stops working?

[gadzooks]

Would like to know this as well.

[trick]

Isn't what you're describing just a perpetual license (like Itoosoftware's licenses), which is not upgraded?

[Muhammed_Hamed]

You lose your license if you don't renew your rentral.
Annual license is not a maintenance plan for a bought perpetual license, it is rather rental of software

[ivan.slavchev]

You lose your license if you don't renew your rental.
Annual license is not a maintenance plan for a bought perpetual license, it is rather rental of software

Exacty, if you don't renew it the license will stop working. You can get a new one after that if you forgot to renew, for example.

[hsz]

Wow that is not very cool. At least you should be able to keep the version that you last use before your license runs out like Redshift does, not cool at all. Chaos is becoming the next Autodesk?? Should be better than that

[Neilg]

Wow that is not very cool. At least you should be able to keep the version that you last use before your license runs out like Redshift does, not cool at all. Chaos is becoming the next Autodesk?? Should be better than that

Redshift does not have annual licensing either, they have a flat rate to purchase and an option to continue paying every year for updates. vray does a one off payment and all updates are free. Neither are predatory or much different from one another long term.

This isnt like autodesk forcing people into subscriptions, it's a long term license rental because included in chaos groups customer base are studios of multiple hundreds of contractors which flex in size year over year based on projects. This is for them. If you know you're going to get 2+ years of use out of vray, dont get the annual license.

[hsz]

Right Redshift doesn't have an annual license, but if you run out after a year you keep the latest RS version before your subscription runs out and you can keep rendering (not watermarks). Then If I want to still get an update with Redshift I can pay $250 which is half of the price of the full annual 1-year license. So yes it is different quite different actually.
For what I read here if you pay for Vray 1 year after that you gotta pay again full price or whatever by month or 6 still not the same. And if you do not have enough money to pay you can still render in RS for the Vray it seems that it just stop work completely. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Muhammed_Hamed]

hsz
Before saying Chaos is becoming Autodesk, you need to understand the difference between a perpetual license and a rental license.
You are comparing Vray's rental licnese to Redshift's perpetual licesne, which doesn't make any sense. A Perpetual license you own the sofware, and a rental license is time-limited like the case here
If you don't wanna lose access to your license, then buy a perpetual Vray license.. you gonna own it forever, why would you rent Vray in this case??
If you don't know, Vray is the only renderer that doesn't require any form of subscription or rental. You pay once, you get technical support and all point updates for years and for free.
I have bought Vray Next in 2018 for 700 Euros , and got updates/technical support for over 3 years so far.. haven't paid a dime
Redshift on the other hand(which I own as well) you would pay 500 Euros but you only get one year of technical support/updates only
So for 3 years of updates I would need to pay 500 + 2x 250 = 1000 Euros .. so Vray is actually cheaper on the long run.. and you have life-time technical support for free, you can report issues and get feedback from devs whenever you need. You cannot do that if you are not on a Redshift maintenance plan.

If there is a very affordable perpetual option for Vray, and you care that much about owning your software go for it. Don't expect to own a rental license of any software, this is not how it works.. and most renderers now don't use perpetual licensing (like Vray's) anyways, it is either maintenance or subscription.
Another point is that Redshift development is stuck in a bubble, Vray is better in every way and gets more updates.. They announced RS 3 the same time Vray announced Vray Next, we are at Vray 5 now and they still don't have an official RS 3 yet.. You cannot even test RS 3 without paying lol

[hsz]

I know the difference between rental and perpetual. Still, you are paying basically the same amount of money of 1 RS license which you can use for any software, Houdini, Maya, etc. Now, chaos just announced a Vray collection, which is great but you cant get that perpetual either.
So for example for Houdini which is the only one that I really care, to be honest, I can't get a perpetual license. So there you go. I have a license for Vray 3 Perpetual, btw.

[Muhammed_Hamed]

It doesn't look like you do honestly.
Vray's collection is 15 plugins + VRscans which is worth 490 Euros on its own
It is annoying that Vray Houdini is only rental.. but honestly I understand this decision now. The development for this plugin is quite unique, right now it is the best Vray plugin in my view..even though it is only one years old
Considering what you get for 400 Euros/year I think Vray Houdini is a pretty good deal.
It is not like you are the only one that uses competition products, comparing Autodesk to Chaos is just ridiculous. I've been with both for years, chaos is able to deliver and they offer one of the best CPU renderers in the market. I also use Redshift and I know how it compares to Vray.. and In Max or Maya I prefer Vray's licensing like what I explained.

Whenever Redshift offers a production ready CPU renderer similar to Vray, I will complain about Vray's licensing for Houdini

[hsz]

Well, doubt that RS will get into CPU market. Vray for H is good but I wouldn't call the best integration, neither is RS. Anyway, I know my shit so I do not have to listen to you to tell me that I do not know. I still do not agree that Vray just doesn't work anymore after a year. At least offer a perpetual option.

[Neilg]

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

You are. Vray is $1200 for a perpetual, and $600 for an upgrade. There is a perpetual option for vray and always has been.
You get 4~ years worth of upgrades for free with vray before having to upgrade, and the upgrade cost is around half what it is to buy in new. The numbers are different but it's a very similar structure to redshift - except arguably better, because you once you've bought in once you get another 4 years or so of updates with no subscription. (someone from chaos group can correct me, but i think it's been over 4 years between every version)

You need to ignore the yearly license thing. Redshift doesnt have them either, I don't understand why you are so fixated on those. They will mostly be used by large studios to flex on a per-contract basis. Do you think that's the only way to get vray now or something?

[hsz]

I see I guess not for every plug-in then because for Houdini there is not an option to get perpetual.

I know that I can upgrade my Vray 3.6 version that I have but probably not directly to Vray 5. Not sure though. I have not seen that info anywhere yet.

[Nicinus]

(someone from chaos group can correct me, but i think it's been over 4 years between every version)

You need to ignore the yearly license thing.

It is kind of hard to ignore though. Vray Next came out May 2018, so it is more like 2 years between major releases. The thing is, if you upgrade your Next perpetual to Vray 5, you seem to pay $590, but for just another $100 you could then get Phoenix, VRScans and for example Vray for Unreal. This is a yearly subscription, but cost wise there is a lot of value in the collection if you have use for those tools.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing by any means, but the decision got harder as I'm reluctant to give up my perpetual but find the collection tempting. I for example already subscribe to Vray for Unreal, which theoretically makes this a no-brainer, although I can't say I use it very much. For my use in architectural visualizations I still find the conversion into Unreal to painful to do it unless absolutely needed, and half the time I find myself using Datasmith. Not sure how dedicated Chaos are towards this product either.