To buy now, or wait? (Maya)
polycounter lvl 2
Hello folks, I need some advice.
I've been a 3ds max user for about 8 years now, all that time i've been using educational licenses (though I paid about £2000 when i got my first one, that was back in the days before the free student licenses), and i've recently decided to switch to a commercial version of Maya.
With upgrade pricing being discontinued in January next year, and perpetual licenses getting phased out over the next two years, i'll only be getting a perpetual license once, can't afford subscription on a continual basis indefinitely, and AD don't allow continued use of licenses after subscriptions end (rentals anyway), which rules out me going the subscription route.
I've got two questions here, I already asked one of them in the technical talk section couple of days ago, but got no response (probably because i didn't word it right), so here's my first one:
Should I get a license for Maya 2015 now, or wait until 2016 is released? (which could be the last perpetual version, but we won't know until they announce it)
And here is my second question, the one i asked the other day:
Should i just get a copy of maya on it's own, or go for the standard M/E Creation Suite?
I know some of you reading this will think to yourself "Why doesn't he just go for Modo or Blender?" and i'll answer that now. I've tried to use blender a few times, over that last few years, each time, i got very frustrated, very quickly, its pipeline integration also breaks a lot (the downside of it being opensource), and as for Modo, looking at their licensing Q&A, the procedure for transferring stand-alone licenses from one machine to another (for a system upgrade for example) seems...lengthy, compared to AD.
I've been a 3ds max user for about 8 years now, all that time i've been using educational licenses (though I paid about £2000 when i got my first one, that was back in the days before the free student licenses), and i've recently decided to switch to a commercial version of Maya.
With upgrade pricing being discontinued in January next year, and perpetual licenses getting phased out over the next two years, i'll only be getting a perpetual license once, can't afford subscription on a continual basis indefinitely, and AD don't allow continued use of licenses after subscriptions end (rentals anyway), which rules out me going the subscription route.
I've got two questions here, I already asked one of them in the technical talk section couple of days ago, but got no response (probably because i didn't word it right), so here's my first one:
Should I get a license for Maya 2015 now, or wait until 2016 is released? (which could be the last perpetual version, but we won't know until they announce it)
And here is my second question, the one i asked the other day:
Should i just get a copy of maya on it's own, or go for the standard M/E Creation Suite?
I know some of you reading this will think to yourself "Why doesn't he just go for Modo or Blender?" and i'll answer that now. I've tried to use blender a few times, over that last few years, each time, i got very frustrated, very quickly, its pipeline integration also breaks a lot (the downside of it being opensource), and as for Modo, looking at their licensing Q&A, the procedure for transferring stand-alone licenses from one machine to another (for a system upgrade for example) seems...lengthy, compared to AD.
Replies
I never had any issues with Modo licensing, it was really easy IIRC.
I would be weary of purchasing a perpetual license of Maya knowing that AD will be phasing them out. They likely won't support reactivating your license in the future making a system upgrade very difficult to do.
Personally I and the place I used to work at had nothing but pain from Autodesk licensing.
And they got two XSI devs in the team, who adds some nice animation capabilities (animation layers) and UX experience in new version.
And i'm not gonna touch Houdini Indie, since it's purely subscription-based.
So, should I even bother with Maya, (it just seems to be what everyone is using these days, doubt that'll last though) or should i look into Cinema or Modo?
Not so. I've installed Modo on multiple laptops con-currently with no issues (I just don't run them at the same time). I've had factory resets that required fresh install, still no problems. You can also run Modo as a slave on another box if you require network rendering.
I haven't seen anything from the company itself promoting it in any way as part of a game asset pipeline, and it doesn't seem to be very popular among users in that area either.
Then you must have no internet connection where you live because => http://lmgtfy.com/?q=houdini+engine+unity
or => http://lmgtfy.com/?q=houdini+game+development
And UE4 integration is in the works too.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1590&Itemid=337
https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2926&Itemid=68
https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2208&Itemid=68
https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2923&Itemid=68
And Modo's rigging system doesn't seem as, robust, as maya's, i'm not a rigger by any stretch, it's just that i've really liked the look of maya's new Voxel binding method, it seems really fast and clean.
And as for cry engine, i'm not using that, I have UE4.
Well, I suppose i could get Maya now, upgrade my system next year (if i need to), and IF they turn off the license servers (can't see why they would), i'll just keep using it as long as i can, and in the event i do need to switch, then i'll jump to modo,
Also if you're not a rigger, I'm puzzled as to why you're concerned about the rigging system... I've seen some pretty nice rigs in Modo, though I'm not a rigger myself either.
Oh...so Modo at least is still using the old system...(though i think they're moving everything over eventually), and I don't really need Mari, as i've got the Substance Indie pack, and Painter will eventually support 8K res textures (16k is on their roadmap)
And as for the rigging thing, yes, i don't have much experience with that, but i have thought a few times about giving it a try, though animation is not my strong point.
I actually wouldn't mind paying the desktop sub for full Maya if i knew for a fact that i could comfortably make back at least twice that sum per month, and if the sub price was more reasonable, like say, 25$, instead of 120$, though apparently, that will be coming down once they get rid of perpetual licenses (or was it the upgrades that bit referred to) LT, as it stands is a joke as far as indie goes, sure it's affordable, but they removed the wrong scripting language. And then there's the matter of them locking you out of the software if the payments stop, why can't AD follow Epic's example? Let poeple keep using the software if the payments stop, and just disallow updates. Simple.
That aside, I am starting to look into Modo now, and wondering if Marvelous Designer might be worth a look :P
Well damn, it's not often you're happy to be proven wrong. I need to look into that more.