Autodesks new licence agreement for education 12 months only? then its rolling each year
Hello
I have a question regarding Autodesks new licence agreement for education being free for 12 months only? (not enough to cover a degree). I have asked on there forums but I thought one of you might know whats going on at Autodesk? It seems like a very strange move?
I have noticed Autodesk have reduced the student licence from being 3 years (enough to cover a degree) to being only one year, and there’s no explanation about whether they will then renew the student licence in a year’s time or let it die and then start charging students every month for it. So it’s a huge risk if we use their software because the student might have to pay for copies for their own computers in the future which is not acceptable as they are under enough financial pressure and there is free software like Houdini and Blender.
I have noticed Autodesk have recently changed their student licence scheme for their software (Maya and 3DSMax are the ones that principally affect our courses). Students can no longer get a licence until they join a university (until now anyone from the age of 13 who could prove they were studying somewhere could get an educational copy of your software). This means that the students who will join us in September will not be able to use Maya before they arrive. We have a requirement that they have to reach a certain basic skill level in the software before they arrive in 3D so that we only have to do a little of the most basic teaching and can move onto more advanced stuff quickly – which is highly beneficial to the students in the long run.
Finally, it seems that you only get warned that your licence has expired after it has expired? is this all correct or have I got the details wrong? I just need to know because if this is correct I have a period over this summer where I can retrain in different software for my courses moving forward so its future proof and a nicer experience for the students.
Any help in answering my questions will be much appreciated.
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I am finding it hard to get my head around Autodesks business model, currently education train people in there software and then they use it in the industry? Now everyone is just going to switch to Houdini and Blender and the industry will have a workforce of juniors saying wheres this tool or that tool POP? DOP? CHOP? SHOP? VOP? ARRAY? and so on.
I did post on their forums - Maya - Autodesk Forum & 3DSmax Autodesk Forum , so maybe its all a mistake and Autodesk will just fix the issue :O I hope so.
Replies
I get the access argument, it's a valid one. However I think people fail to understand Autodesk is a business, like any other. Regardless of the size of their budget, a business is not there to perpetually absorb losses.
Polycount does not condone software piracy. Remember that many of us are working game developers, making software for our salaries. And many more are aspiring to do so. Plus we all want good relationships with our tool developers. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, that doesn't work out well.
Most developers understand that people don't have access at home to the software they use in-house. And many use custom software in their pipeline. So you will get a training period. No one expects a junior hire to be 100% proficient right away, only that you're reasonably experienced using 3d software so you can be trained quickly on their specific pipeline.
I wonder what a student needs to do now to meet "eligibility criteria". I hope it's not an educational email as you only get those at University. This would mean students who arrive for interview will not be able to download the software and we will be training them up from level zero. Normally we have kids that have been using Maya/3DSmax since the age of 13.
FYI - I got a reply on the Autodesk forum, the said these are the changes.
Term length for Educational Licenses
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/simplecontent/content/term-length-for-educational-licenses.html?_ga=2.236381570.2020595051.1590440000-1478136999.1506994186This video helps explain a lot of what I'm thinking.
For what it's worth I'm enrolled at an accredited "actual" University and... I feel like this was kind of a bad time to roll out these changes regardless? With coronavirus, some documentation isn't readily available, and to organize physical replacements for the preferred docs will take weeks. The ones I have access to online don't have a letterhead or lack some other component to be fully verifiable (I guess I'll try anyway and get back to the thread? I feel like its fairly likely this is just to scare off fakers more than really police folks who are in school). I'm also feeling lucky that I have not changed my legal name (for various reasons, it would be very plausible I'd have done this recently); at least I CAN easily get replacements even if its a hassle. I feel like there are better verification systems around these days.
I don't want them to have people willy nilly using the edu licence for paid work for free, obviously, so I get it. But I think it's fair to critique the system and timing they've chosen to go with to combat that, I don't think that's shilling for pirates at all. Being a business and deserving payment for a software or service you provide doesn't mean your business practices are... good, inherently, or that pointing out they might be shitty is biting the hand that feeds you. I do happen to think they were being too loosey-goosey up until now to keep it up indefinitely though lol
The comment about biting-the-hand is specifically about the stealing part, actually engaging in piracy (downloading illegit software, using software cracks, etc.)
I think I can speak for Polycount in saying we do feel that discussion about piracy is definitely acceptable (and should be encouraged, even). Open debate is a healthy thing!
Hello,
I just got an answer from Autodesk in regards to training academies and its not good news unfortunately.
"If your school isn't accredited then you aren't eligible, simple as that.
Training academies similar to an ATC are classed as commercial so they are ineligible unless they recognized by the government as an academic institution."
I am still waiting to hear about schools and colleges, I really hope they meet the "eligibility criteria" or no one is going to be able to use Maya/3DSmax they reach University, this would be a real shame, many kids just innocently (and legally) download Autodesk products and experiment with them to see if they like 3D or not.
That may actually be cheaper for them than policing misuse of a looser educational license policy.
It's still shit though. Why they don't just adopt something similar to the fusion360 licensing setup is a mystery to me