Charging for render nodes

[vlado]

Then it would be best to email us to sales.software@chaosgroup.com and see what would be the best thing to do.

Best regards,
Vlado

[trick]

So if I want to upgrade a single v2 license to v3 with 11 rendernodes that's gonna cost me 700 euro. Well, I really can live with that
BUT:
If I decide to buy VRay for Sketchup, Modo, Cinema4D, etc, can these rendernodes be used for ALL VRay licenses, or do I need to buy 11 rendernodes for all other Vray plugins ?
What will be future upgrade pricing for these 11 rendernode licenses ?
Do I have 11 rendernodes for both Backburner AND Distributed rendering ?

[GLASS-CANVAS]

The new pricing is a poor decision by Chaos Group. I suspect it will drive many people to using a pirated version of VRay, to the point where they will be making less money from licences than with the current model.

I realise you are running a business, but I would highly recommend you think about changing the number of bundled render licences to at least 3 per copy.

[FSGFX]

its still super cheap compared to renderman... :d

[vlado]

its still super cheap compared to renderman... :d

Hm, I would not even dream to compare V-Ray to rman; they are totally different beasts.

Best regards,
Vlado

[notamondayfan]

I just have a quick question regarding upgrade pricing ....


At the moment I'm a freelancer with 1 workstation, and 1 render-node, so the "V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max User license + 1 V-Ray Render Node 3.0" for 300 euros would be fine for now, BUT if in the future I buy additional render-nodes, could I upgrade to "V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max User + 6 V-Ray Render Nodes 3.0" for an additional 200 euros, or would I have to purchase "5 V-Ray Render Nodes 3.0" for 300 euros?

I'm tempted just to pay the 500 euros for the license + 6 nodes to be future proof, but would like to know either way anyway.

Thanks,
Dean

[vlado]

I just have a quick question regarding upgrade pricing ....


At the moment I'm a freelancer with 1 workstation, and 1 render-node, so the "V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max User license + 1 V-Ray Render Node 3.0" for 300 euros would be fine for now, BUT if in the future I buy additional render-nodes, could I upgrade to "V-Ray 3.0 for 3ds Max User + 6 V-Ray Render Nodes 3.0" for an additional 200 euros, or would I have to purchase "5 V-Ray Render Nodes 3.0" for 300 euros?

I'm tempted just to pay the 500 euros for the license + 6 nodes to be future proof, but would like to know either way anyway.

Thanks,
Dean

It would best to email us to sales.software@chaosgroup.com - the guys will be able to give you more accurate information for your specific case.

Best regards,
Vlado

[fingerindustries]

its still super cheap compared to renderman... :d

So what?!! I don't get this comparing lark - yes it is cheaper but still more expensive than I was paying before. I just don't get why one license has one render node, ok, kill the unlimited if you want, but at least give us 3/5/10 nodes per license *something*. And stop comparing products!

[instinct]

So what?!! I don't get this comparing lark - yes it is cheaper but still more expensive than I was paying before. I just don't get why one license has one render node, ok, kill the unlimited if you want, but at least give us 3/5/10 nodes per license *something*. And stop comparing products!

You did not really read all replys, did you? There are bundles for 6 and 11 nodes respectively. If you take a close look and actually contacted sales you would prolly realise that the price increase is FAR less dramatic then you might think.

For example the update from 1 existing 2.0 license to 1 3.0 GUI and 6 Renderslaves is 500 Euros. Compared to 400 Euros for the standard 1.5 to 2.0 upgrade and you get 6 slaves. I really fail to see how this licensing change would put Chaos anywhere even remotely near Adobe or Autodesk. That's just ridiculous.

Regards,
Thorsten

[fingerindustries]

I don't think its 'ridiculous' to be upset about a price increase and having to pay more!
If I buy one license I get one render node included for 300 Euros.
If I buy one license and want 6 render nodes its 500 Euros...
SO I have to pay more now, where as before it was included - I don't understand why you are all defending them?! They saw a chance to make more money out of nothing - easy pickings we are...

[fingerindustries]

And of course after that, every new workstation or render server I buy costs me an extra 250 Euros! (or a bit less if I get a bundle but I normally only buy one new machine at a time)

[rivoli]

They saw a chance to make more money out of nothing - easy pickings we are...

they don't make money out of nothing, they make money out of a product they develop and sell. to rephrase a previous comment: chaos is not a charity either, I guess. and I guess costs for maintaining and develop a software can go up over time, and it was never something they had to do, to give unlimited render nodes for free. I have no clue about the reasoning behind this choice, but I guess they thought it over, and were surely expecting this to happen, but probably just couldn't afford to go on with the previous licensing system.

[instinct]

I don't think its 'ridiculous' to be upset about a price increase and having to pay more!
If I buy one license I get one render node included for 300 Euros.
If I buy one license and want 6 render nodes its 500 Euros...
SO I have to pay more now, where as before it was included - I don't understand why you are all defending them?! They saw a chance to make more money out of nothing - easy pickings we are...

Please re-read my reply. I did not state it was ridiculous to be upset. If you want to be upset, go ahead. I said the Adobe and Autodesk comparison was ridiculous. And i stand by that because i think it is. There is NO subscription whatsoever, there is no forced 1 year release cycle or anything alike. You get a lot more bang for the buck. You get kick-ass support. And the list goes on forever.

Secondly if you go back and re-read please note that i never said you are not paying more. I just said it is nowwhere near as dramatic in my eyes. And again If you get a single license it is actually CHEAPER than before. There is NO making money out of nothing. There is an ever growing userbase and support is still EXCELLENT. There are more developers now and a lot of things are getting a lot better.

Again, you are free to be upset if you want. But this is NOT the moral issue you say in my eyes. And calling Chaosgroup greedy and and not customer oriented feels just weird to me.

I rest my case because with all due respect it seems to me you are not trying to discuss, but to vent.

Regards,
Thorsten

[vlado]

I don't think its 'ridiculous' to be upset about a price increase and having to pay more!

You are perfectly right to be upset and I completely understand that; nobody likes price increases for any reason. But we certainly do not consider our users to be "pickings", easy or otherwise. It is a business deal - we write software for you, and the purpose of that software is to allow you to render images. Hopefully the deal works out for both sides, but when it doesn't, there is that. If we want to keep the development of V-Ray moving forward, we have come to a place where we don't have a choice but to ask users to pay for the render nodes, like so many other software vendors are already doing. You could say that we were perhaps foolish not to do that in the first place and perhaps you would be right - changing that now creates a lot of troubles for everyone.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Donald2B]

I had a much more involved post typed, but ended up deleting it. Thorsten is a much better wordsmith than myself and stated it in a much better way.

ChaosGroup is the GOLD STANDARD of support. Thanks to Vlado for posting so I could easily look up his post count. 22,835 posts! That's a LOT of help for free! I can't tell you how many times he has saved me! I won't mention any other companies, but I just had to pay a LOT of money to actually talk to someone only for them to tell me that it's not their problem and I should just "figure it out"!

Below, I quoted most of Lon's earlier post regarding the new licensing structure. Take note of the third paragraph, 3ds Max was the ONLY unlimited render node license for VRay. All the other software versions have limited licenses for render nodes.

I assure you that the new policy for render nodes is something we put a lot thought into, and we understand that moving away from free unlimited render nodes is a significant change, but it's a necessary step to continue to deliver a top quality product with the highest level of service and support.

We’re dedicated to providing the highest value possible with our software and we've worked hard to keep our pricing competitive with a variety of upgrade and bundle options, allowing users to only pay for what they need.

Historically, V-Ray for 3ds Max has been our only product to include free unlimited network rendering plus 10 distributed rendering nodes. V-Ray for Maya includes 10 and 10 respectively, and V-Ray for Softimage includes 5 and 5. As we look towards a future that includes the advent of cloud computing and universal/ cross-application V-Ray assets, it’s important to introduce a single, universal policy for all render nodes. This is why new universal V-Ray Render Nodes 3.0 will be compatible with additional V-Ray host applications.

For productions that need to scale up and down on a per project basis, we’ve also introduced flexible monthly and annual licensing options as well.

Our customers are paramount, and we assure you this is an essential change for a sustainable business model and for the future V-Ray roadmap.