That's great news! And perfect timing for my RPG project, too. I just hope the ~250$ / year price remains available for the next 4-5 years.
I feel like the ~250$ price per year is actually quite competitive to the perpetual licensing system they used to have. Since you always get to use the latest version. Whereas with the perpetual license, I used to use an old version for many years. Thanks Blender, for being a competitor that's free, I guess.
Sounds nice... on paper. I'm skeptical though. Autodesk has rarely seemed concerned about those "in the middle."
If you're a big studio then they got your back. You're their bread and butter. If you're a student then they're more than happy to comp you a license. You're their future meal ticket. However, there's that huge in-between group that they don't seem to fully understand.
For a company that's been in the business of building 3D content creation software for about 30 years, one has to wonder why they'd be so quick to leave money on the table. Worse than that is the thought that they would somehow see the crippled LT versions as appropriate entry points for hobbyists, indies, and low volume freelancers.
It would seem to me that the only reason for the current Indie initiative is to both make an appeal to the growing number of Blender users and to put a stop to the EDU license abuse, a problem that they created and perpetuated.
In all of this talk of Maya Indie, one also has to wonder what their plan is for Maya LT. That's the real elephant in the room. Do they keep on selling that hobbled edition which, incidentally, actually costs more than Maya Indie? Do they transition current LT users to Indie? After all, there are a bunch of Maya LT users who are at the beginning or mid-way through 3 year subscriptions.
What do they do with LT and its user base? I have a hard time imagining that they'd continue supporting it when it actually costs them money to do so. Maya Indie isn't a different program. It's the same old Maya with a different license. Abandoning LT and switching the user base over makes more sense, imo.
If Autodesk somehow decides to keep LT going then it only shows that they STILL have no idea how to handle this middle group of users between students and studios.
Honestly? I'd be very hard pressed to plunk down any money for Maya Indie when there's still so many unknowns. Maya Indie might be the gateway toward getting with the program and going industry standard, but Blender's future is far more secure. 3dsmax/Maya Indie seems like an experiment and anybody who signs up will just be the guinea pig. Until Autodesk provides some real answers, I'd be hard pressed to entertain their offering.
My guess is this has been a test to see how viable it would be to phase out Maya LT entirely. It was a stupid idea to make it from the very start. It takes a lot of time and money for them to maintain an alternate version of the software, and the people using LT aren't likely going to move up to paying 10x as much later on for the full version. That hobbled feature set has probably done very little to mitigate pirating as well, and plenty of other software get by perfectly fine offering the full software to indies with only a license restriction based on earnings. The people who would try to lie about their earnings are the same people who would just pirate it for free instead. And no one making over 100k a year, or whatever the restriction is, would risk their entire career over a few grand a year. Creating a hobbled version just costs them more money without any reasonable return.
So they're out in more countries now and they added more clarifications on the license terms:
• You create and sell
digital products and have been approached by a games company with annual
revenues greater than $100,000 USD to provide them with an asset
(whether off-the-shelf or custom built). You are paid a fixed price for
the ‘product’ delivered. In this case if your revenues are less than
$100,000 USD, so you can use Indie. Examples of assets can be 3D models,
textures or even rendered images.
• You are approached by an
architectural company with revenues of over $100,000 USD to work as a
freelancer creating a visualization for them. You are paid an
hourly/daily/weekly rate till the project is done and the assets belong
to the company – in this case you cannot use an Indie licence.
I'm a little confused about using it for game art though; if you're a freelancer (with your own registered company), tick all the income boxes, but you're working full time helping a company with game assets, are you legible? Is the difference hourly pay versus pay-per-asset? Or is the difference related to the IP rights of the models you're doing? Some terms just seem to contradict themselves there
The difference appears to be whether you're paid for a product/service or paid for your time.
This makes sense, you're effectively acting as an employee in the second case and therefore come under the licensing requirements of the company paying you.
So it depends on how your contract is worded? Whether it specifies that you work 20 days/month for their project or whether you deliver assets (like 3d models)? I'm not sure what pay "for your time" means from a legal standpoint. Also they keep saying being paid for "a" product. Effectively if you're delivering more products like 3d assets full-time for a company, without an end-date (we have these kind of contracts here), isn't it exactly getting paid for your time or work-for-hire?
So they're out in more countries now and they added more clarifications on the license terms:
• You create and sell
digital products and have been approached by a games company with annual
revenues greater than $100,000 USD to provide them with an asset
(whether off-the-shelf or custom built). You are paid a fixed price for
the ‘product’ delivered. In this case if your revenues are less than
$100,000 USD, so you can use Indie. Examples of assets can be 3D models,
textures or even rendered images.
• You are approached by an
architectural company with revenues of over $100,000 USD to work as a
freelancer creating a visualization for them. You are paid an
hourly/daily/weekly rate till the project is done and the assets belong
to the company – in this case you cannot use an Indie licence.
Don't quite get how the second use case is any different from the first, both are end products that you're selling (flat rate or hourly contract) and in either case you could be an employee or an independent contractor. How is the first okay for use and the second is not? Makes no sense. (Though I've yet to meet an architecture visualisation firm that actually even uses a license lol)
Had not noticed this at all or even received any email from Autodesk about it. I would have expected to, being a Maya LT customer for the past couple of years. It's definitely a lot cheaper than LT when you add up the yearly cost, however I cannot seem to find any information about what it...actually... is? Is there a comparison chart vs LT or what's the difference? Is it literally just full maya with income restrictions?
Edit: Did a bunch more research and it looks like it's just the full version of maya with some revenue caveats to make sure you aren't making more than 100k on your project. Pretty neat. I also noticed that LT is a similar price when paid yearly. I probably should have been paying yearly... D'oh.
Wondering what the future will hold for LT though, if it's going to stick around or be woosh'd within the next couple of years.
Your annual gross revenue from creative work must be less than 50 000 EUR/year.
You may not use the license on any project valued over $100,000 USD
This is just another bad joke from Autodesk! How does a company "value" its project? How does it know it will make more than $100,000 USD? If they undervalue their project and after release make more than $100,000 USD should you change your license? Or vice versa? This is so STUPID !!!
the limit per year depends on your country. I think it's a shame that here in Eastern Europe, with 500E/month average salary, 3dsmax costs 2200E/year, while the limit is 50.000E/year. the regional pricing is whack
the limit per year depends on your country. I think it's a shame that here in Eastern Europe, with 500E/month average salary, 3dsmax costs 2200E/year, while the limit is 50.000E/year. the regional pricing is whack
Okay ... rechecked again and seems that german speaking part of europe ( like austria where i'm lcated ), the limit is indeed €100K for me as it seems
Personen mit einem Bruttoumsatz aus kreativer Arbeit von weniger als 100.000 EUR/Jahr.
Sie dürfen die Lizenz nicht für Projekte im Wert von über 100.000 USD verwenden.
Nur ein Lizenzabonnement pro Benutzer oder Unternehmen
Das Angebot gilt in den folgenden Ländern: Kanada, USA, Mexiko,
Brasilien, Österreich, Belgien, Tschechische Republik, Dänemark,
Finnland, Frankreich, Deutschland, Ungarn, Italien, Niederlande,
Norwegen, Polen, Portugal, Russland, Spanien, Schweden, Schweiz, Türkei,
Vereinigtes Königreich, Bulgarien , Kroatien, Zypern, Estland,
Griechenland, Irland, Lettland, Litauen, Luxemburg, Malta, Rumänien,
Slowakei, Slowenien, Island, Liechtenstein, Australien, Indien,
Neuseeland, Singapur, Japan, Korea, Malaysia und China.
So if you make under 100K USD a year for a studio on a contract who is not sure what the game is valued at...what are you supposed to do? I guess its fine if the game makes under 100K USD total, but what if it makes 101K USD? Do I then have to go back to Maya LT or buy a full Maya license?
Thats not a problem if you deliver only minor assets to the project.
I am a freelancer and I’ve been contracted by a studio that makes over $100,000 USD in gross revenue. Can I use 3ds Max or Maya Indie?
If the contracting company has contracted you to deliver a specific digital product (such as a model or rendered frame) that is valued less than $100,000 USD, you may use 3ds Max or Maya for indies users.
Thats not a problem if you deliver only minor assets to the project.
I am a freelancer and I’ve been contracted by a studio that makes over $100,000 USD in gross revenue. Can I use 3ds Max or Maya Indie?
If the contracting company has contracted you to deliver a specific digital product (such as a model or rendered frame) that is valued less than $100,000 USD, you may use 3ds Max or Maya for indies users.
What if Im delivering about 90% of the assets in the game? If thats the case, then does it go by year or the overall value? Because over the course of working for them under contract for a couple years, I would be making more than 100k USD from them. But in a one year span, I would be making under 100K USD.
The way Substance does it for their indie license, is quote "If you are a freelance and not working in your client's office and/or on a machine provided by the client you can use the license tier that corresponds to your yearly revenue."
As long as yearly, you're making less than 100K and overall, the project made you less than 100K (like all the invoices for that studio put together) AND all income from your creative work is still under 100K you can keep using the indie version. After you break the 100K barrier for that project (or income from "creative work") you have to get the full version. That's what I understand of it
As long as yearly, you're making less than 100K and overall, the project made you less than 100K (like all the invoices for that studio put together) AND all income from your creative work is still under 100K you can keep using the indie version. After you break the 100K barrier for that project (or income from "creative work") you have to get the full version. That's what I understand of it
And this is all yearly, correct? Like all the invoices put together for the year? Because I’m paying for the license on an annual basis, I would assume this would all work on a yearly basis. Overall the project will make me more than 100K, but that’s after a couple of years. I think that’s the main thing i need cleared up.
I will make under 100K for all my creative work for the year, but overall the project itself after a couple years or more will have paid me more than 100K total.
I bought 3dmax indie this summer and it just collects dust on my pc. Right next to decade old permanent version. Mostly due to confusing license terms . I tried to get some clarification form Autodesk support and got nothing but same worded cryptic 100k "project" phrase plus "they don't suggest any legal advises".
But even If they would do make it clear and simple I am afraid that being using 3d max most of my professional life I am no more feel at home there. Evry minute spent there I think how much more convenient it would be in Blender.
Replies
https://www.reddit.com/r/Maya/comments/extlc0/is_maya_indie_renewable_at_250/fgfjn31/
I just hope the ~250$ / year price remains available for the next 4-5 years.
I feel like the ~250$ price per year is actually quite competitive to the perpetual licensing system they used to have.
Since you always get to use the latest version. Whereas with the perpetual license, I used to use an old version for many years.
Thanks Blender, for being a competitor that's free, I guess.
If you're a big studio then they got your back. You're their bread and butter. If you're a student then they're more than happy to comp you a license. You're their future meal ticket. However, there's that huge in-between group that they don't seem to fully understand.
For a company that's been in the business of building 3D content creation software for about 30 years, one has to wonder why they'd be so quick to leave money on the table. Worse than that is the thought that they would somehow see the crippled LT versions as appropriate entry points for hobbyists, indies, and low volume freelancers.
It would seem to me that the only reason for the current Indie initiative is to both make an appeal to the growing number of Blender users and to put a stop to the EDU license abuse, a problem that they created and perpetuated.
In all of this talk of Maya Indie, one also has to wonder what their plan is for Maya LT. That's the real elephant in the room. Do they keep on selling that hobbled edition which, incidentally, actually costs more than Maya Indie? Do they transition current LT users to Indie? After all, there are a bunch of Maya LT users who are at the beginning or mid-way through 3 year subscriptions.
What do they do with LT and its user base? I have a hard time imagining that they'd continue supporting it when it actually costs them money to do so. Maya Indie isn't a different program. It's the same old Maya with a different license. Abandoning LT and switching the user base over makes more sense, imo.
If Autodesk somehow decides to keep LT going then it only shows that they STILL have no idea how to handle this middle group of users between students and studios.
Honestly? I'd be very hard pressed to plunk down any money for Maya Indie when there's still so many unknowns. Maya Indie might be the gateway toward getting with the program and going industry standard, but Blender's future is far more secure. 3dsmax/Maya Indie seems like an experiment and anybody who signs up will just be the guinea pig. Until Autodesk provides some real answers, I'd be hard pressed to entertain their offering.
It was a stupid idea to make it from the very start. It takes a lot of time and money for them to maintain an alternate version of the software, and the people using LT aren't likely going to move up to paying 10x as much later on for the full version. That hobbled feature set has probably done very little to mitigate pirating as well, and plenty of other software get by perfectly fine offering the full software to indies with only a license restriction based on earnings. The people who would try to lie about their earnings are the same people who would just pirate it for free instead. And no one making over 100k a year, or whatever the restriction is, would risk their entire career over a few grand a year.
Creating a hobbled version just costs them more money without any reasonable return.
https://makeanything.autodesk.com/maya-indie
This makes sense, you're effectively acting as an employee in the second case and therefore come under the licensing requirements of the company paying you.
Item 14 on the page explains it pretty clearly
How is the first okay for use and the second is not? Makes no sense.
(Though I've yet to meet an architecture visualisation firm that actually even uses a license lol)
If you sell the company a product eg. 50 models you can use indie
If you sell them your time eg. 50 days you can't use indie
Its pretty similar to the way tax works (or is supposed to) for self employed Vs employed workers in the uk.
Even if it wasn't, it's their product- they can choose whatever license arrangement they want
Edit:
Did a bunch more research and it looks like it's just the full version of maya with some revenue caveats to make sure you aren't making more than 100k on your project. Pretty neat. I also noticed that LT is a similar price when paid yearly. I probably should have been paying yearly... D'oh.
Wondering what the future will hold for LT though, if it's going to stick around or be woosh'd within the next couple of years.
- Your annual gross revenue from creative work must be less than 50 000 EUR/year.
- You may not use the license on any project valued over $100,000 USD
This is just another bad joke from Autodesk!How does a company "value" its project? How does it know it will make more than $100,000 USD? If they undervalue their project and after release make more than $100,000 USD should you change your license? Or vice versa?
This is so STUPID !!!
How the hell can they translate the $100k threshold to €50k ?
I do not remember that being 50k in europe when they launched it few months ago
Amen to that!
I am a freelancer and I’ve been contracted by a studio that makes over $100,000 USD in gross revenue. Can I use 3ds Max or Maya Indie?
If the contracting company has contracted you to deliver a specific digital product (such as a model or rendered frame) that is valued less than $100,000 USD, you may use 3ds Max or Maya for indies users.
The way Substance does it for their indie license, is quote "If you are a freelance and not working in your client's office and/or on a machine provided by the client you can use the license tier that corresponds to your yearly revenue."
A carpenter has also to pay for his tools.