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My point was the support in this forum is worth 10X what the software cost to me. I didn't really mean that there should be a subscription for using it.
I said the same exact thing prior to purchasing RT a year ago - and that was one of my reasons for making that purchase, bugs and all. Did you buy RT? Hope the economy is treating you well.
I have a question about Vray 2.0. 12 January 2010 I bought in a Christmas promotion "Vray1.5+RT+PDP Holiday Bundle Pack". Do I have to pay extra 400 euros to have vray 2.0?
I am not a big fan of pages of discussion that circle around speculations but here are my 2 cents. If a subscription model means ChaosGroup can hire one or two more developers to kill bugs and add requests even faster count me in! VRay is a popular render engine and added a lot of features and other 3d packages to the list in the younger past. I know first hand what tool maintenance costs. If VRay is your production renderer of choice chances are you are making money using it, look at this as a reinvestment, an insurance for quality. If you bought RT prior to 2.0 you actively helped the development of the tool, the rest of the community owes you one! With something as complex as what we all do we are all constant beta testers and pay for it (look at Max releases and their issues when they come out). On a side note ChaosGroup could always cut any company i worked for so far a deal. Things work out.
with all the money they'll be making now, maybe we can finally get some presets for lights, materials etc. Also maybe now they can hire a full time person to do proper documentation
I am not a big fan of pages of discussion that circle around speculations but here are my 2 cents. If a subscription model means ChaosGroup can hire one or two more developers to kill bugs and add requests even faster count me in! VRay is a popular render engine and added a lot of features and other 3d packages to the list in the younger past. I know first hand what tool maintenance costs. If VRay is your production renderer of choice chances are you are making money using it, look at this as a reinvestment, an insurance for quality. If you bought RT prior to 2.0 you actively helped the development of the tool, the rest of the community owes you one! With something as complex as what we all do we are all constant beta testers and pay for it (look at Max releases and their issues when they come out). On a side note ChaosGroup could always cut any company i worked for so far a deal. Things work out.
Ansi
The thing I would like to know is can you use the current vray version on the comming Max updates or is ChaosGroup forcing you to pay for ugrades every new Max release?
i.e Max 2012 is Vray 2.0 only and 2013 is 2.** only?
It's funny, but I'd actually see that as a step backwards.
I have to disagree
They need that to get people in the (Vray) software. I was teaching 3d last semester to newbies, and they all went Maxwell or MentalRay, as they do not have to understand the materials, but just to apply it. For experienced user, pre-made materials or presets are not that usefull, but for people getting in, it is soooooo usefull.
In most Architecture and Design Firms I deal with now, less and less are using Vray, cause it is not easy enough. They understand Maxwell, cause they use the premade default material and the generic 100w bulb, easy for the "not 3d software "mind. They use Mental Ray 'cause it is just like Vray, it is free, and it is easier ( their statement, not mine)
I've seen Vray use around me melting like snow in the sun, cause other rendering engines are "easier" ( or they do have presets) , and they are free ( well Maxwell is not free, but it is let's say easier to get a "copy" than Vray)
All that to say that ChaosGroup have a good and huge userbase, but they also need new clients, as any other compagny. So presets are really usefull for the new people getting in and starting to like the product.
I can totally see your point and I'll admit that I'm not looking at it from the perspective of a beginner. That said, even for beginners I would argue that presets can be counter intuitive...
It reminds me of Photoshop - a complex, versatile & capable application. Each new release has a swathe of features intended to automate complex procedures (content-aware fills, automatic selections...etc.) and yet consistantly users get frustrated that they can't get the results they want using these methods - especially beginners. They only get them part of the way & without more knowledge they don't know what the problems are, let alone how to fix them.
So I'm not saying that presets are bad, just that simplicity is subjective
That said, even for beginners I would argue that presets can be counter intuitive...
If you ever tried learning Vray on your own with no outside help such as I did many years ago, it was very daunting. Presets can work one of two ways:
1) Advanced interface (such as we have now.)
2) Simple interface containing presets.
I see no harm in presets as computers are getting faster day by day. The only time you ever really want to "tweak" the settings is for an animation, a high quality rendering, or if time is a big issue. I know VRay fairly well now, but I still spend a decent amount of time in post-process as well as tweaking settings constantly. I'd rather have some of my renderings take longer to process as long as I spent less time tweaking settings and even less time in post. There's a happy balance that can be achieved.
I will say that a lot of artists have switched over to some other software because it enables them to be artists, and have to worry less about the technical aspects. I frankly cannot blame them.
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