3ds Max 2018

[Alex_M]

Just installed it. Lol, I'm literally facepalming. Another unfinished release (or should I say update).

Should I laugh or should I cry? What features/changes should we be excited about?

1. Removing Mental Ray and adding Arnold is not a feature for me as I don't use it (and won't). Not to mention you will have to buy extra Arnold licenses if you want to do rendering on more than 1 PC. So basically removing Mental Ray is a step back, not an improvement.
2. Adjustable trajectories - nice but I will very rarely use this so don't care about it.
3. Timeline tear-off - don't care about it.
4. MCG improvements - don't care about it, don't use it.
5. State Sets improvements - don't care about it, it's so buggy that I never use it.
6. The new interface, which is heavily advertise as a feature (go figure), is broken and unfinished. Docking is wonky - docked windows won't return to their previous size (before being docked); you can't resize windows such as Layer Explorer, Curves Editor, State Sets etc. if you don't move it around your screen first (LOL!); you can no longer minimize windows (Layer Explorer, Curve Editor etc.) or make them full-screen; if you resize Command Panel (the panel on the far right) black bars appear on top of it, blocking the buttons and other elements.

Pfft... Skipping this comical "release" again. Nothing of substance in 2018. Another 1400 EUR down the drain. Maybe I should have listened and not renewed our licenses this year. We will be staying on 2016.

Just compare the new features list of Houdini 16 and Max 2018. Literally makes you cry.

[glorybound]

I guess they forgot the 4K support!

[FLP]

This does not bode well

[JezUK]

And they want us to pay for this crock of s**** ?

[glorybound]

Apparently, there is a download for the help we need to install, that wasn't included in the installer.

This does not bode well
[ATTACH=CONFIG]37592[/ATTACH]

[viscorbel]

Oh, but we already have paid. They've already got the cash, so they can deliver any piece of crap they want.

I honestly feel like an idiot... fool me once... fool me every damn year.

[glorybound]

We have to totally change the way we think about software. Now, software is a service, like electric or internet. You stop paying for it, you no longer have access to it. AD fired their developers, so they have no attention in developing MAX very much; just rake in the cash as long as they can. Now, it is all residual income, which is the best income to have.

[JezUK]

We have to totally change the way we think about software. Now, software is a service, like electric or internet. You stop paying for it, you no longer have access to it.......

Electricity and Internet are regulated services - who regulates AD ?

[glorybound]

Their investors, of course.

Electricity and Internet are regulated services - who regulates AD ?

[jpmartin]

Soooooo....blender is starting to look better and better. I've been a max user for over a decade, but this irks me. I don't like where they're going with this.

Can we convert our vRay for max licenses to Vray for blender or would we have to buy new ones? Asking for a friend. ha ha.

[rikou]

We have to totally change the way we think about software. Now, software is a service, like electric or internet. You stop paying for it, you no longer have access to it. AD fired their developers, so they have no attention in developing MAX very much; just rake in the cash as long as they can. Now, it is all residual income, which is the best income to have.

What ?
"We have to totally change the way we think about software" Why ??? You're just talking about crappy AD... But if you have a look outside, you know, there are a lot of others products, others softwares, other way to use them etc etc
This is the symptom of the AD "monopoly", only one way to think ... as AD said, we have to...
Come on ! It's no more true today


Every releases are getting worst and you want to be ok with this ?
Because this is the way we have to "think" about software, because software are now a service so this is the way we have to go... ?

[glorybound]

Both Adobe and Microsoft went to subscription based software. My accounting software, which is web-based, is month-to-month. MAX crashes for me at least once a day, which isn't okay, so I just hope they work on stability.

[glorybound]

$1800 a year, for software to make a living using, isn't a problem. The problem, to me, is the stability issues. This should be state-of-art software that is rock solid, but it isn't. Instead of pushing out crap and fix over time they need to only issue things that work. They need to take pride in what they do and they need to be the best at it. Most of the people I know are using MAX 2014 and many use MAX 2016. The only way I can wrap my head around that is to understand that we are leasing software and it is up to the user if she/he wants to upgrade, which could a big deal, depending on your workload and workflows.

[bardo]

Can we convert our vRay for max licenses to Vray for blender or would we have to buy new ones? Asking for a friend. ha ha.

You already own it....

Just ask to access the blender nightly build download page, downlaod the last one and you're ready to render with Vray

[rikou]

$1800 a year, for software to make a living using, isn't a problem. The problem, to me, is the stability issues. This should be state-of-art software that is rock solid, but it isn't. Instead of pushing out crap and fix over time they need to only issue things that work. They need to take pride in what they do and they need to be the best at it. Most of the people I know are using MAX 2014 and many use MAX 2016. The only way I can wrap my head around that is to understand that we are leasing software and it is up to the user if she/he wants to upgrade, which could a big deal, depending on your workload and workflows.

1800$/year IS a problem when you don't have what you should have... You pay for a service that you don't have... I mean.. it's a problem no ? a big problem !
even if you are not take in account the money ... 3ds max is so old, based on a old core... no hope about innovations in a near future, 3ds max (as it is today) can't...That's why it's so refreshing when you open Blender or Houdini, C4D, Modo, etc etc. I suppose, I didn't try yet Houdini, C4D, Modo for the moment !!!

In fact, it's also tricky to not upgrade (it's depend of your job of course) but I'm not sure what would be the answer from AD to people who want to use their perpetual license for the next X years...


Then, with max, you generally use some plugins, their development take in account last version + some few old versions (like Vray, I believe, you can use Vray 3.5 if you have max 2013, the oldest one that could works with Vray 3.5), I understand that but it's a point that you have to take into account if you don't want to upgrade...

EDIT / I forgot to say something, I like 3d max, I use it since the last 2 decades, I like it with his defaults/qualities but I hate the way AD treat 3dsmax and users max community, that's the point