Home General Discussion

Autodesk re-structuring and slashing 1,200 jobs

polycounter lvl 8
Offline / Send Message
Mant1k0re polycounter lvl 8
Max is dying!

Seriously though, I thought this statement from the new CEO is very interesting:

“Right now we are in the bottom of our transition to subscription,” he said, where revenue will decline and bottom out before it moves back up. Revenue should start to increase in 2019"

This move seems to be a direct consequence of the transition to a subscription model for their products. I don't have enough business-savyness to figure if his statement about revenue bouncing back up in 2019 is anything more than PR bs - it's from earning call after all. But I'm interested in hearing what other Polycounters think about it.

Replies

  • Zack Maxwell
    Offline / Send Message
    Zack Maxwell interpolator
    I think it's kind of funny that everyone decided to immediately copy Autodesk and hop onto an anti-consumer business model that, from the sounds of it, may have been a financial failure.

    The 1200 people getting fired thing is pretty dark, but not surprising coming from Autodesk. As far as I know, they let large numbers of people go pretty regularly to avoid paying them more.

    -Edit- Wait, did Adobe do it first? I think I'd have a better grasp of his sincerity if I knew how successful Adobe's transition was.
  • Mant1k0re
    Offline / Send Message
    Mant1k0re polycounter lvl 8
    That's the curse of being a listed company, the first year you take a loss or you release an unsuccessful product, you "must" let people go as a way to not see your share price plummet. The only thing keeping me from cheering at this potential sign that subscription model is failing for them is the thought of those 1,200 employees families. Nice announcement just before Xmas, too :(
  • JordanN
    Offline / Send Message
    JordanN interpolator
    They'll be switching to loot boxes like everyone else.

    All your modeling tools will come in the form of a 0.003% drop rate.
  • Kwramm
    Offline / Send Message
    Kwramm interpolator
    no surprise. in meetings with Autodesk their staff would always outnumber us 4:1 for unknown reasons. I never figured out why they would bring all those guys along.

    Joking aside,... they have been restructuring for a while. About 2 years ago a lot of Chinese Autodesk devs lost their jobs for the same reason. Something subscription something something....

    Mant1k0re said:
    I don't have enough business-savyness to figure if his statement about revenue bouncing back up in 2019 is anything more than PR bs - it's from earning call after all.


    I think I just found the company whose financial statements I will analyze for my MBA accounting assignment :)

  • Joopson
    Offline / Send Message
    Joopson quad damage
    Grimwolf said:
    anti-consumer business model
    Do you mean the subscription model?

    I think it's way more complex than you make it seem, by calling it "anti-consumer".

    In some ways, absolutely it is anti-consumer. You never own the software, and if you stop paying you lose access. I'm not sure how long old version are supported, but if for some reason you need an old odd version number, it wouldn't surprise me if they just say "You're out of luck. Just use the newest versionz~ we don't offer the old ones anymore."

    On the other hand though, I'd argue it's way more consumer friendly than it used to be. They used to require huge one-time payments for that year's version of the software. At least now, you get the new versions so long as you stay subscribed. Even if the monthly fee is still wicked high, too high, it does make the software more accessible than the one-time-fee model. It brings autodesk software to the masses, without quite as many users needing to pirate it.


    My heart goes out to those who lost their jobs. Sucks, horribly. Especially this time of the year. Wishing them all a soft landing, and quick rebound.
  • Mant1k0re
    Offline / Send Message
    Mant1k0re polycounter lvl 8
    Kwramm said:
    I think I just found the company whose financial statements I will analyze for my MBA accounting assignment :)

    Now that's a paper I'd like to read for sure!

    Joopson said:
    At least now, you get the new versions so long as you stay subscribed. 
    Right, but doesn't that also mean they don't have to try harder with each new release because they don't have to convince people to upgrade anymore? As a modeler, the only reason I upgraded from 2016 to 2017 was performance on heavy models, I'm still looking for a reason to upgrade to 2018 as of today.
  • Toku
    Offline / Send Message
    Toku polycounter lvl 6
    Yep Autodesk stocks tanked yesterday after their earnings report. I am not really a fan of their business practices, from what I have gathered they buy up any promising IP and assimilate it into the Autodesk model of big business which means corporate politics, backscratching, opening "administrative" offices  all over the world yet neglect to fix fundamental issues in their modelling applications like spline transform information in max, working pivots which suddenly freeze or taking 8 years to add quad chamfers even though some dude coded it on scriptspot for them.  If they tried to add value to their product they probably wouldn't have needed the staff they had to lay off in the first place
  • lotet
    Offline / Send Message
    lotet hero character
    Joopson said:
     It brings autodesk software to the masses, without quite as many users needing to pirate it.
     Im not sure where I read this, but If I recall the number of pirated copies have increased substantially since they started the subscription model.
  • Kwramm
    Offline / Send Message
    Kwramm interpolator

    Joopson said:

     I'm not sure how long old version are supported, but if for some reason you need an old odd version number, it wouldn't surprise me if they just say "You're out of luck. Just use the newest versionz~ we don't offer the old ones anymore."

    3 versions back are supported, from what I remember when talking to AD. And yes, otherwise you're out of luck. Which is very annoying when publishers want to make HD remasters and their original pipeline and assets are in Max 9 or Maya 8.5
  • Bellsey
    Offline / Send Message
    Bellsey polycounter lvl 8
    I think there needs some perspective here. Autodesk is a big company with many divisions and thousands of employees.
    The media & entertainment division (M&E) is one such part and the bit that most of us will be more familiar with due to its products - Max, Maya, Motionbuilder, etc. This division and products account for less than 10% of Autodesks total revenue. This is not big secret and can easily be viewed in their annual reports.

    While its easy to come down on Autodesk, there's alot of very good people working there are are genuinely trying to do the best they can for the end users like us. People can choose to believe that if they want but its true. I know this because I was one of them and was at Autodesk for over 7 years. Personally I would stop worrying and thinking about Autodesk will do, I used to see this alot and still do on threads like this. Too many people try and speculate and guess what's going on and in my experience I've never seen a speculation that was completely true.

    Spare a thought for the people who have just lost their jobs a few weeks before xmas.
  • RaptorCWS
    Offline / Send Message
    RaptorCWS polycounter lvl 11
    Mant1k0re said:
    Kwramm said:
    I think I just found the company whose financial statements I will analyze for my MBA accounting assignment :)

    Now that's a paper I'd like to read for sure!

    Joopson said:
    At least now, you get the new versions so long as you stay subscribed. 
    Right, but doesn't that also mean they don't have to try harder with each new release because they don't have to convince people to upgrade anymore? As a modeler, the only reason I upgraded from 2016 to 2017 was performance on heavy models, I'm still looking for a reason to upgrade to 2018 as of today.
    not really they still have competitors releasing similar products at a lower price they have to compete with. instead of convincing people to upgrade they have to work hard to make sure their product is a better value than the competitors.
  • Mant1k0re
    Offline / Send Message
    Mant1k0re polycounter lvl 8
    RaptorCWS said:
    not really they still have competitors releasing similar products at a lower price they have to compete with. instead of convincing people to upgrade they have to work hard to make sure their product is a better value than the competitors.

     You've got a point here!
  • Kwramm
    Offline / Send Message
    Kwramm interpolator
    RaptorCWS said:
    Mant1k0re said:
    Kwramm said:
    I think I just found the company whose financial statements I will analyze for my MBA accounting assignment :)

    Now that's a paper I'd like to read for sure!

    Joopson said:
    At least now, you get the new versions so long as you stay subscribed. 
    Right, but doesn't that also mean they don't have to try harder with each new release because they don't have to convince people to upgrade anymore? As a modeler, the only reason I upgraded from 2016 to 2017 was performance on heavy models, I'm still looking for a reason to upgrade to 2018 as of today.
    not really they still have competitors releasing similar products at a lower price they have to compete with. instead of convincing people to upgrade they have to work hard to make sure their product is a better value than the competitors.
    In marketing there's the concept of switching cost, which are costs which prevent consumers from substituting one product with another. Your product may offer more value, but if the switching costs is higher than that extra value, consumers won't switch. In 3D those are: costs for re-training or re-hiring art staff for the new package, cost for adjusting or replacing your tools and pipeline, time for rollout, training, etc., cost of demoralizing the max or maya fanboys - i.e. internal resistance to adoption.

    At least in entertainment AD should have a good position. Although I bet their cash cow really is CAD & Co. and that's where the focus is.

    Not only that, which package can seriously replace Max or Maya? Most switches I hear of in AAA studios are non-switches as far as Autodesk is concerned. It's ditching Max for Maya or vice versa.
  • VelvetElvis
    Offline / Send Message
    VelvetElvis polycounter lvl 12
    Kwramm said:

    At least in entertainment AD should have a good position. Although I bet their cash cow really is CAD & Co. and that's where the focus is.

    Not only that, which package can seriously replace Max or Maya? Most switches I hear of in AAA studios are non-switches as far as Autodesk is concerned. It's ditching Max for Maya or vice versa.
    Here's their revenue by division, https://www.statista.com/statistics/416285/revenue-of-autodesk-by-segment/

    Media and Entertainment is 138.9 million and Architecture, Engineering, Construction is 880.9 million

    There is no way Max or Maya is on the chopping block, but I can't say I'd be surprised if they did end up cutting one in the near future. This is a corporation after all.

  • Toku
    Offline / Send Message
    Toku polycounter lvl 6
    Bellsey said:
    I think there needs some perspective here. Autodesk is a big company with many divisions and thousands of employees.
    The media & entertainment division (M&E) is one such part and the bit that most of us will be more familiar with due to its products - Max, Maya, Motionbuilder, etc. This division and products account for less than 10% of Autodesks total revenue. This is not big secret and can easily be viewed in their annual reports.

    Anything I say regarding the corporation is presumptuous as I have not worked there, And I agree that there are definitely a lot of people working there who are innovative and have good intentions. However, Even if such a small amount of revenue is generated from the M&E Division, almost all their products and services stem from the same tree which is surface/material modelling, where they have been playing "catch up" with smaller products for the last decade. I am gonna go out on a limb here and say that the fact the A&D/CAD applications have such a high user retention and return is because there are a huge amount of businesses willing to pay extortionate subscription fees for the "industry standard".

    While there are still glaring issues with their products AD must be aware of, They leave them out so that can patch them further down their roadmap, It creates a cash-cow which they can constantly milk because they are pretending to add value each release, Which is exploitative business practices typical of a market leader, Corruption like that is rife across all areas of industry,MY gripe is that they really have stagnated development of their products to the point where it interferes with the creative process and I have to always be on the lookout of a new application to use for a tool which AD should be able to integrate quickly into their pipeline. 
  • Larry
    Offline / Send Message
    Larry interpolator
    Seems to me they have a solid base in architecture so they are experimenting with the rest. I think its pretty obvious that people who were exploiting their current subscription 'window'  were not real customers, hence this move will show them who their real customers are. For the gaming industry, many studios have already started changing to less powerful (in my opinion) packages but more benefitial for small studios. 

    This move might be a turning point which will split the industries, stating that autodesk is clearly made for architecture purposes, and polish their products towards that, maybe merging maya with 3ds sometime in the future. I mean, other programs are already beong used in many studios already.
  • PollySong
    Offline / Send Message
    PollySong polycounter lvl 14
    I work at a big architect firm and the cost of software is getting ridiculous because of autodesk. We're pretty much stuck using Revit and AutoCAD, but it a decent competitor to Revit were to pop up they'd switch in an instant. No love for AD there.
  • Bellsey
    Offline / Send Message
    Bellsey polycounter lvl 8
    Some software is expensive and probably always will be, but it's not entirely fair to single out Autodesk here. They share a market place with the likes of Dassault, Siemens, Bentley Systems and they all charge what some might consider to be high prices, but It costs alot of money to write, build and maintain software. Many are willing to pay the price because it can literally save them millions, so it's a relatively small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.
    Is that a justification for charging high prices? well that's a matter of opinion. But I think it highlights that different industries have different business models and requirements, and one size doesn't always fit all.

    Personally I'd be cautious of assuming or making vague accusations of corruption or deliberately slowing development for profit. I certainly didn't witness anything like that and the amount of compliance that I had to go through was insane.
    But when it comes to features and development, ones mans trash is another mans treasure. While many people demand innovation and features, the same amount want nothing new and only bug fixes. Trying to appease both people can be literally impossible.
    I don't agree with view that software like Max/Maya haven't moved on in the last 10 years, they have massively. Granted they might not have the features you want but its unfair to say stagnated, because they haven't. They've had a lot of work done and some of which isn't trivial and has taken years to be complete and ready for release.
    I'm perhaps being biased, but I too also expect to see some positive progress with software as I've a dept and pipeline to think about, I'm perhaps a little more forgiving as I've been inside the collective.

    But back the recent news, Autodesk (and their competitors) have been investing heavily in cloud and they've probably staffed up heavily to do that in order to changed their systems. That's been a multi year transition and now they're hoping to enter a growth phase (as their statement suggests), they looking to trim off some fat. that they can't sustain.  They also announced earlier this year they they would stop selling their games middleware. Wouldn't surprise me if they also look at retire some more product too.
  • ZacD
    Offline / Send Message
    ZacD ngon master
    Meh. Fuck Autodesk.

    /Salty former Softimage user
  • Bellsey
    Offline / Send Message
    Bellsey polycounter lvl 8
    ZacD said:
    Meh. Fuck Autodesk.

    /Salty former Softimage user
    Understandable as a Soft user. And many are still (and always will be) stuck on that second stage of grief.

    fyi, I was a softimage employee and went through acquisition and EoL until eventually I was made redundant, so yeah I know the pain and where the bodies are buried so to speak. 
  • Joshua Godwin
    Offline / Send Message
    Joshua Godwin polycounter lvl 4
    It seems with the price Autodesk charges for things that people might start switching to other programs. I'll be interested in seeing if more small studios start adopting Blender. Already a few have. It seems as more professional work is done with Blender the more development will be put into making it fit with other pipelines and therefore allow for wider adoption.

    Right now I'm working in the education field and developing curricula using Blender. If the next wave of students start learning stuff like Blender due to the fact that it is free and they can actually afford to play with it in their own time then we might see Maya loose some of its industry standard value.

    Idk, just some random speculation.
  • radiancef0rge
    Offline / Send Message
    radiancef0rge ngon master

    Already a few have.
    Source please. 

    Right now I'm working in the education field and developing curricula using Blender....we might see Maya loose some of its industry standard value.

    Why? This is simply not true. You're putting your students at a distinct disadvantage. Legacy tools, new tools and tech determine pipeline not someone who used blender because it was free in college. Unbelievable. 

  • Zack Maxwell
    Offline / Send Message
    Zack Maxwell interpolator

    Already a few have.
    Source please. 

    Right now I'm working in the education field and developing curricula using Blender....we might see Maya loose some of its industry standard value.

    Why? This is simply not true. You're putting your students at a distinct disadvantage. Legacy tools, new tools and tech determine pipeline not someone who used blender because it was free in college. Unbelievable. 

    Really? You're being naïve to think that not a single small studio has adopted blender. Common sense alone says that's probable.
  • Bellsey
    Offline / Send Message
    Bellsey polycounter lvl 8
    My advice to students would be that no matter what software you choose, be prepared and willing to adapt and learn other stuff. I would expect an education establishment to keep pace and understanding with the industry they're serving and train students in tools and techniques that are a known and agreed industry standard. Love them or hate them, Maya and Max are known standards and teaching students Blender on the hope and gamble that it will become more widely used is risky. 

    There are factors here that are beyond your control and influence. Blender is by no means bad software and I admire the work the foundation does because it helps keep Autodesk, SideFX, The Foundry etc honest and on their toes. But Blender isn't currently dislodging the likes of Maya, Max, Modo and Hondini from pipelines not from the people and studios I know.
    Open source and free software has obvious attractions, but it's expensive to maintain, on top of any additional tools and plugins that you may also use.
  • RaptorCWS
    Offline / Send Message
    RaptorCWS polycounter lvl 11

    Already a few have.
    Source please. 

    Right now I'm working in the education field and developing curricula using Blender....we might see Maya loose some of its industry standard value.

    Why? This is simply not true. You're putting your students at a distinct disadvantage. Legacy tools, new tools and tech determine pipeline not someone who used blender because it was free in college. Unbelievable. 

    This. I've never met anyone who has been at a studio looking to switch to blender. The cost is not something studios and big companies worry about. Companies buying a ton of seats most likely get a major discount, and have a point of contact for any issues for customer support. Replacing their autodesk products would also cost the company time and money retraining their staff and building new tools for their pipeline. 

    Autodesk does have to keep improving their software, but the price of the licenses isnt something most places even worry about. And why learn blender in college based off the sole reason that its free? Autodesk offers their products to students for free as well. And when I  was in school they didnt even check if you were a student. they would accept any email address. You just could not sell any of your work you made with it. Which is fair, besides the majority of student work isn't sell-able anyways.

    And ive talked to people at  quite a few indie studios who cant afford more than one seat of max or maya, and the majority of their teams use modo. but they still have one seat of max or maya for assets they receive either from contractors/asset store, or for animating.

    But I would have to agree teaching your students blender because its free is not helping them. If their portfolio is just as good as the person using max they may lose out to the person using max since they wont be able to hit the ground running.
  • radiancef0rge
    Offline / Send Message
    radiancef0rge ngon master
    Grimwolf said:
    You're being naïve 
    Actually no, I just asked for a source for this assumption. 
  • Zack Maxwell
    Offline / Send Message
    Zack Maxwell interpolator
    Grimwolf said:
    You're being naïve 
    Actually no, I just asked for a source for this assumption. 
    Yeah, but for what reason? It won't help anyone's argument; it's the kind of thing that most people would assume is true anyway. There's probably more than "a few" small studios using Blender. I've personally heard of at least two a while back, though I can't remember what they were called.
    The only reason someone would ask for sources on something like that is if they're either just being a dick and trying to hassle the person, or for whatever reason they just refuse to believe it.
    A "small studio" could include five people earning a total of < 100k a year. It's not uncommon for groups like that to use free software from the very beginning.
  • Joshua Godwin
    Offline / Send Message
    Joshua Godwin polycounter lvl 4
    @radianceofOrge @Grimwolf @Bellsey
    Haha, there might have been some confusion. I'm not teaching college. This is elementary - high school after school stuff (And a lot of  the decisions are made due to cost). Yea I don't know of any colleges teaching Blender right now. What I do see are people picking up Blender on their own because it's free and pretty decent at this point (fyi I picked up Blender first before learning the industry standard stuff like Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, etc.) Some artists in different countries that maybe don't have as much money are also using it and getting pretty darn good.

    The other one is Modo. I don't really have any experience with Modo but I am seeing some pretty cool features for stuff like modular modeling.

    All I was saying is that things like Blender and Modo might be picked up more and start to see smaller studios adopt that instead of Maya. I doubt the large studios or any studio with an already well established pipeline will switch in the forseeable future though.

    In terms of sources for Blender based studios. The first two that come to mind are Theory Animation and Tangent Animation

    Both are not massive and started pretty recently I believe. But before that I don't recall any real professional work being done in Blender. Now I'm seeing at least a few things pop up here and there. I seem to recall seeing a Blender based game studio recently but I can't remember who it was.

    Again for all the haters :smile: this is just random speculation and a thought that crossed my mind since starting this education job.
  • thomasp
    Offline / Send Message
    thomasp hero character
  • Joao Sapiro
    Offline / Send Message
    Joao Sapiro sublime tool
    It seems with the price Autodesk charges for things that people might start switching to other programs. I'll be interested in seeing if more small studios start adopting Blender. Already a few have. It seems as more professional work is done with Blender the more development will be put into making it fit with other pipelines and therefore allow for wider adoption.

    Right now I'm working in the education field and developing curricula using Blender. If the next wave of students start learning stuff like Blender due to the fact that it is free and they can actually afford to play with it in their own time then we might see Maya loose some of its industry standard value.

    Idk, just some random speculation.
    please dont. You will simply make them have to learn Max\Maya\Modo since its what most studios pipeline are tailored to...

    You surely understand that the percentages of studios that use blender as their main pipeline packages seem to me very small (altho i am basing this on my professional experience so i only got "word of mouth" as a basis to what i state, i dont know what the "official" stats are ). I would advise not to cripple your students professionally even before they start. I would recomend teaching an industry package and maybe a sideclass to transport that same knowledge to blender.
  • sacboi
    Offline / Send Message
    sacboi high dynamic range
    @Joshua Godwin
    I see no harm future career aspirations or otherwise, exsposing your elementary level students too an OSS framework such as Blender supplimented with MODO. Utilised in tandem pretty much a powerful ad hoc pipline any which way you'd tend to look at it and that's said as a long time Blenderite since 2.4xx days. Now each package will most certainly compliment the other's workflow for whatever course curriculum you may have in mind teaching however the industry standard for the moment at least is firmly skewed towards ADSK's suite of apps.
  • Larry
    Offline / Send Message
    Larry interpolator
    It seems with the price Autodesk charges for things that people might start switching to other programs. I'll be interested in seeing if more small studios start adopting Blender. Already a few have. It seems as more professional work is done with Blender the more development will be put into making it fit with other pipelines and therefore allow for wider adoption.

    Right now I'm working in the education field and developing curricula using Blender. If the next wave of students start learning stuff like Blender due to the fact that it is free and they can actually afford to play with it in their own time then we might see Maya loose some of its industry standard value.

    Idk, just some random speculation.
    please dont. You will simply make them have to learn Max\Maya\Modo since its what most studios pipeline are tailored to...

    You surely understand that the percentages of studios that use blender as their main pipeline packages seem to me very small (altho i am basing this on my professional experience so i only got "word of mouth" as a basis to what i state, i dont know what the "official" stats are ). I would advise not to cripple your students professionally even before they start. I would recomend teaching an industry package and maybe a sideclass to transport that same knowledge to blender.
    He said he is teaching this. Teachers do not teach whatever they like, but what they are told to teach. It is not in his power to teach whatever he wants and certainly he is not the one who makes the "tailoring"
  • CreativeSheep
    Offline / Send Message
    CreativeSheep polycounter lvl 8
    If Autodesk is shedding Jobs due to restructuring and minimum wage increasing in some states and provinces across North America (that's when you want communism) then Maya should be more affordable; odd are it won't.
    It's what you know, if you're comfortable with Maya; then odds are you'll stay with it, if you are or changed direction to say Blender or Modo then you'll use either in your workflow. 
  • Blond
    Offline / Send Message
    Blond polycounter lvl 9

    Already a few have.
    Source please. 

    Right now I'm working in the education field and developing curricula using Blender....we might see Maya loose some of its industry standard value.

    Why? This is simply not true. You're putting your students at a distinct disadvantage. Legacy tools, new tools and tech determine pipeline not someone who used blender because it was free in college. Unbelievable. 


    Mmm..not completely true... I think it depends of the level of education we are talking about.
    I mean if it's like a 3D full paid college program, of course using Blender is not a good idea since it doesn't prepare and teach you the main tools used in the current filed but if it's introductory teaching to the magnificent world of 3D and CG, Blender is a great for this.

    Back in my final years in high school, I had an introduction complementary class of 3D and we were using MilkShape... :D

    Also, the program shoudnt matter...I learned Maya at college but ended up using both 3dsMax and XSI SofitIMage in my professional experiences....

    I mean its gonna take more time to readapt yourself to the program workflow but the knowledge is still there, even for modelling...
  • EarthQuake
    Take your finger off the trigger guys, nobody claimed that zero studios use blender.

    Chris rightly pointed out that Blender accounts for a very small percentage of the professional sector, and teaching courses in Blender rather than Maya or Max at the university level would absolutely put the students at a disadvantage vs schools that teach industry standard stuff. This is 100% true.

    The fact that one or two studios someone may have heard of are using Blender is absolutely moot. This is about getting students ready for a very competitive job market. Learning blender will likely teach many of the fundamental concepts, but again, it puts them at a distinct disadvantage for an entry level position. This is verifiable fact, not simply an opinion, all you need to do is look at the hiring posts on Polycount, ArtStation, etc, and pay attention to the software requirements.

    As far as elementary-high school courses go. I think Blender is a great introduction to the world of 3D modeling. We're not talking about undergrads dropping $40k per semester, we're talking about kids learning about a topic that they may or may not have any real interest in pursuing. That's great, and I applaud Joshua for getting that together. Chris assumed we were talking college level education, and in that context he is 100% on point.

    Joshua: Autodesk offers educational licenses, and you could probably put together courses based on Max/Maya without much expense as well. But again, just the fact that you're putting in the effort to do this is really cool.
  • dur23
    Offline / Send Message
    dur23 polycounter lvl 19
    Bellsey said:
    ZacD said:
    Meh. Fuck Autodesk.

    /Salty former Softimage user
    Understandable as a Soft user. And many are still (and always will be) stuck on that second stage of grief.

    fyi, I was a softimage employee and went through acquisition and EoL until eventually I was made redundant, so yeah I know the pain and where the bodies are buried so to speak. 
    I want so badly for someone to have lifted the source for xsi and release into the wild. 
  • Joshua Godwin
    Offline / Send Message
    Joshua Godwin polycounter lvl 4
    @EarthQuake Thanks for the info on the educational licenses. Yea I think they might do Maya for high school and the more advanced levels. The curricula for high school are not made yet so it would be an in the future kind of thing, but I'll be pushing for Maya  when it comes around to it.
  • Alex_J
    Offline / Send Message
    Alex_J grand marshal polycounter
    I use educational version of autdodesk products currently.

    All they ask is where you go to school. You get to use pretty much any of the programs for free for three years, and you can't sell your work.

    I am a student and use the educational license products within the terms of agreement, and I am not advocating cheating the system, but perhaps if you write to autodesk you might get permission to use educational licenses for your high school kids?

    Not that there is anything wrong with blender, but they will have to learn one of the autodesk programs sooner or later it seems. If you can learn it for free, why not?
  • spacefrog
    Offline / Send Message
    spacefrog polycounter lvl 14
    Just a quote that supposed to come from Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost himself:

    Non-maintenance perceptual-license customers are "not our customers" because they don't give us money anymore, says .@andrew_anagnost. Small customers are most unhappy with subscriptions:"If you don't see value in subscription, you should probably find another software solution"


  • Joao Sapiro
    Offline / Send Message
    Joao Sapiro sublime tool
    spacefrog said:
    Just a quote that supposed to come from Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost himself:

    Non-maintenance perceptual-license customers are "not our customers" because they don't give us money anymore, says .@andrew_anagnost. Small customers are most unhappy with subscriptions:"If you don't see value in subscription, you should probably find another software solution"


    the source for those claims doesnt seem to be anywhere to be seen , if you click the tweet and see the chain where someone asks "did he really say that", the source of that tweet replies with

    "He expressed a similar sentiment during a quarterly conference call with financial analysts. Otoh, he welcomes pirates as new customers, and counts students as customers, who pay him nothing."

    So i would avoid reading onto sentences where you cant reach the source\context of them
  • thomasp
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    “if they don’t see the value we say is coming”

    Lol... "please spend hundreds of dollars per month now, on stuff we promise will be there in future". yeah... okay...
  • .Wiki
    Offline / Send Message
    .Wiki polycounter lvl 8
    “if they don’t see the value we say is coming”

    Lol... "please spend hundreds of dollars per month now, on stuff we promise will be there in future". yeah... okay...
    In a videogame this is called early access... or season pass.
  • Colecoisdead
    I'm actually switching to Lightwave, Modo, and Blender. Autodesk screwed me when I bought Softimage XSI before they took it over, and to find out it was discontinued made me feel like I wasted time. No longer supporting them, unless I have to work with one of their programs for work. Luckily I have enough experience with Maya to catch up quick if I needed. But, for now I'm going to follow some advice I got from the Art Director of the Deus Ex Games: "Learn more about Art, and worry less about programs." That's where it counts. 
Sign In or Register to comment.