Important V-Ray 1.5 announcement

[Long John]

http://www.visualboo.com/misc/vray_error.jpg

LOL

Such things make people love software.

You know this joke "If GM Produced Cars like Microsoft Produces Software"?

In fact it´s more worse, ALL software developer using their customers for betatesting their products.

It is so common, that most people don´t think about complaining anymore.

Ok it´s maybe impossible to write a complex program without bugs but that you have to pay for software that is in some case still not functional is a joke.

You pay for a feature and you get it 8 month later with the n-th update and after getting gray hair.

PS: This rant goes to all buggy Software.


[/i]

[vlado]

Don't pay for it and write it yourself then - maybe then you'll come to understand why this is the case with all software; believe me or not, but if we could write a bug-less program right away from the first time, we would have done so. We don't put bugs in there on purpose just to make your life difficult. On a side note, if you paid for VRay and were unhappy with it, you can always ask for a refund.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Long John]

Sure but who would do my job then?

In todays world you are forced to use one or the other buggy software.

Btw: How comes that most software coder are so unorganized?
You only have to look at their workplaces.

[dbuchhofer]

Cue the 'Make Art' discussions.

What precicely are you trying to accomplish here Long John? Because its looking like all thats happening is you're pissing off the guy you depend on on an hourly basis :P

[Long John]

I promis in my next life i will be reborn as Fanboy, but in this life i prefer the dark site.

[Dusan_Pavlicek]

For any software, there should be moments in time when a stable version is released, the developers saying: it is safe to use this version, it has been tested as much as possible and we don't know of any bugs. Such versions should be released frequently enough so that the unstable beta versions don't get too far ahead of the stable releases. What is the latest official stable release of VRay? (I don't know...)

Proper and up-to-date documentation is almost as important as the product itself. And it is a good policy to make it publicly available so that the potential customers can read it before they decide to buy the software. Unfortunately, this is not the case of VRay.

It is not a good idea to add more and more new features (no matter how useful they could be) when the previous version of the software has not been stabilized enough (that being declared by releasing the latest stable version + documentation). The reason is quite clear: instead of tracing the current bugs, you're adding new ones with the new code. As any program gets larger and more complex, it naturally becomes more difficult to trace any bugs. So any existing bugs should be debugged before adding anything new, not after.

[Long John]

Exactly what i think and what i have written (in my bad english) so often.

But we must be the minority, or the majority is very quiet.

I have nothing against the beta builds.

But after all the time there should be a finished version.
That why im so happy to hear that in May 2004 the featuritis will be cured and we will see stable and polished final.

But like 2 years ago it´s the same game again.
Is it a wonder that some think this is not funny?

And please don´t tell me the new build is the most stable you have ever use. That only cast a bad light on the earlyer versions.

The new build has many bugs that makes it useless for production.

The Ligthmap looks great and the changes to the vray material will help a lot. But ist still a very buggy program.

[plastic_]

The new build has many bugs that makes it useless for production.

What is the latest official stable release of VRay? (I don't know...)

sorry for getting unprofessional but...
are you guys smoking crack, or do you work for cebas?

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

Long John one thing you and the other complainers need to understand is that the buggy release may not be the result of something that Chaos Software has done. Vlado and the other programers have to try and make Vray work with MAX and then the other third party plugins. This cannot be an easy task. The fact that Discreet likes to change APIs and protocol between versions doesnt help. For example, Discreet made changes to some of the net rendering procedures and this effected all 3rd party renderers in MAX 6 that are trying to do DR. Also, I don't see too many of the complainers post a valid bug report so the programmers can fix the "buggy" features. I see Long John has one post about a render effect preview, but there is no step by step reproduction procedure or a sample file that crashes just a this happens some times. You dont even list the version of MAX you are using, your computer specs or anything that can be of help to the programmers. How helpful is that? They are not mind readers.

Just my thoughts.

[mike_kennedy]

The grass is no greener on the other sides though. Ask anyone who beta tested FR and or is waiting for the next Brazil........
Mental Ray, SLLLOOOOW GI
Renderman, SLOOOOW GI.....
Turtle looks cool, but who knows not having used it in production.

[Long John]

The new build has many bugs that makes it useless for production.

What is the latest official stable release of VRay? (I don't know...)

sorry for getting unprofessional but...
are you guys smoking crack, or do you work for cebas?

Answer the question and i will answer yours.

[plastic_]

well i can only tell you about the last unstable version.
it was end of 2002, vray 1.03 or something.
the irradiance map crashed with higher resolutions because of some memory problem with windows xp.

[Long John]

I see Long John has one post about a render effect preview, but there is no step by step reproduction procedure or a sample file that crashes just a this happens some times. You dont even list the version of MAX you are using, your computer specs or anything that can be of help to the programmers. How helpful is that? They are not mind readers.

You are right.
And if i get payed for being a betatester i will spend my time writing detailed bug reports.

Another problem is we still use a old version not the new beta so bug reports from me will not help much improving the latest beta.

[Long John]

well i can only tell you about the last unstable version.
it was end of 2002, vray 1.03 or something.
the irradiance map crashed with higher resolutions because of some memory problem with windows xp.

A very good joke.
All the reported crashes must be payed from cebas then?

Honest, i spoke with a guy who is using brazil 2 weeks ago, he told me he had not a single brazil related crash in 9 month. Except for a material editor bug that could be easily avoided.

I can only imagine how man "report to vlado messages" i got over the last 9 month.

Sorry if i only sound negativ about vray, thats not the case even when it sound like that, but the fanboy attitude is going on my nerves.

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

[quote="Long John"]

You are right.
And if i get payed for being a betatester i will spend my time writing detailed bug reports.

Another problem is we still use a old version not the new beta so bug reports from me will not help much improving the latest beta.

Well I don't think you will get paid to beta test as most testers usually get the privillege of using the software for payment. Also, all good bug reports can be helpful. Whether you are using the latest version or not. The bug may have been something that is still in the code cause no one has reported it. But remember it needs to be a good bug report and not just "Vray crashed". You need to supply system config, MAX version, other plugins being used, and version of vray you are using.