So I was just browsing through the forum and came across the new VRay 3.0 licensing info: http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/vray3\_beta.html#tab4
Am I understanding correctly that VRay is eliminating free, unlimited render nodes? Now every render node will require a license as well?
Richard
Yep - the cost has been split into interactive license and render node license. The interactive license cost has dropped quite a bit but you’ve got to pay for render nodes now. There’re some really good prices when you upgrade from 2.4 up to 3 where you can buy a pack of 10 render license for €42 (I think) per node which isn’t bad. The overall thing has gotten faster too so you’ll in theory need less nodes.
Wow. That’s REALLY disappointing, I have to say. One of the things that always attracted me to VRay was their no-hassle licensing and unlimited free rendering policy. Now this is much more expensive for us as we have approx 30 render slaves.
We’re still on 1.5 and I was waiting to upgrade to v3.0.
The cost to upgrade our 4 licenses to v2.0 would have been 4x $555.00 = $2220.00
Even without an upgrade it would have cost us 4x $1350.00 = $5400.00
Now I’m looking at 4x $1050.00 + 30x $210 = $10,500.00! And additional charges if we want to add more.
This is REALLY unfortunate. I can see how this new licensing is nice for individual artists but unless I did the math incorrectly, you can see its a major hit for a small studio like ours. I was really looking forward to upgrading our studio to v3.0.
I guess we will have to upgrade to v2.0 and sadly stick with that indefinitely. How much time do we have before the option to upgrade to v2.0 is gone?
Richard
Nope, you’re looking at the wrong pricing. The upgrades on http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/vray3\_beta.html if you go to the upgrade policy gives you the option of an upgrade from 1.5 plus 10 licenses at $1 810 us so you’re looking at $7240. The upgrade from 1.5 to 3 is $980 so you’re paying 830 for 10 nodes or 83 dollars each. The chaos guys understand that there’s a big change involved in this but to make the entire thing sustainable and move forward with the same level of support across a product that gets more and more complex, it needs to be paid for somehow. Two good things are that from now on, a vray 3 render node works across any program be it maya, max, softimage and so on, so if you’ve got multiple programs it’ll support those. Also since it’s a big change of licensing policy they’ve said to get in touch with their sales team and they’ll come up with the best total price for exactly what you need so drop them a mail.
It would be best to email us to vray@chaosgroup.com to get an exact quote on the upgrade; there are volume discounts etc.
Best regards,
Vlado
Dear Richard,
My name is Antonia and I am the channel manager for Canada at Chaos Group.
The following upgrade paths are available for your existing 4 V-Ray 1.5 for 3ds Max licenses:
Option 1:
4 Upgrades from V-Ray 1.5 for 3ds Max to V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max (4*$550=$2200)
4 Upgrades from V-Ray 2.0 for 3ds Max to V-Ray 3.0 for Max + 10 Render Nodes (4*$980=$3920)
Total: $6120
Option 2:
4 Upgrades from V-Ray 1.5 for 3ds Max to V-Ray 3.0 for Max + 10 Render Nodes (4*$1810=$7240)
Total: $7240
The calculation above is based on the assumption that you would like to upgrade all available render nodes (40) and in this case it would be better to upgrade first to 2.0 and then to 3.0.
Let me know if the actual number of render nodes is different and I will provide the exact upgrade cost calculation.
Antonia
Antonia;
Should the purchasing be done through you or a Canadian reseller like Studica.ca?
-Richard
Hi Richard,
You may choose the nearest Chaos Group reseller from the partner locator on our website.
Kind regards,
Antonia
Just to clarify, when you guys mention a render node, you mean 1 rendering workstation regardless of how many CPU’s are in it, right?
-Richard
Yes, this is correct. The licensing does not depend on how many cores or CPUs are in the machine.
Best regards,
Vlado