Why I oppose the subscription model

[strato]

I bring this up again, but I am very much opposed to the subscription model which was introduced some years ago.

It is not the monetary outlay, but the principle of dependency which irks me to no end. I also find this protectionist attitude

to be the greatest hindrance of proliferating this software and its qualities, and it will be the ultimate cause of its demise.

I do have a couple of subscriptions and I will let them expire with no plans to renew in spite of my great affinity to this

program. I also find that most improvements since V12 are simple window dressing, or entirely useless inclusions

of open source libraries for fluids and cloth etc., but coupled to a hopelessly decrepit render engine. Why would one

spend the time waiting when a perfect solution is a click away on Your desktop? AM completely missed its target by not

changing the render engine in the last 10 years or before, keeping its animation and deformation tools the way they are. Currently I work with V13 since it has the ability of switching IK, but the best renders are still only available on V12 which may be a good thing since I still have a net render dongle for it which was about $600 at the time. On the other hand I doubt I will ever render anything out of AM since it is much easier to do a MDD export within the newer versions or with Watanabe"s plug-in out of V10-13. Of course all newer versions will now expire with my subscription and I may just have to learn how to live with it, and may be this will be a new dawn, and may be I am not the only one to experience it, or maybe Martin wakes up or may be I move on...

 

[Rodney]

Rolf,

I must assume you are mostly just getting a rant out of your system. I can sympathize.

I doubt you are open to discussing benefits of subscriptions so won't waste your time stating the obvious except to point out that subscriptions allow companies to know exactly who their current customers are so they can focus their efforts on those customers. Whether you use an old version or a new version of A:M the subscription is the first and best way to support Hash Inc in helping deliver exactly what you want in software. It'll take time. Perfection (or a reasonable facsimile in software) won't happen overnight.

 

If you haven't already done so I'd suggest you put in a report to A:M Reports concerning the issue you are having with IK switching. It may be a known issue already (it sounds familiar) but your insight will provide more information on that feature from the perspective of your particular needs and wants.

 

I've looked at the subscription model (specifically Hash Inc's) from both pro and con vantage points and only found one particular bugbear that stuck to the wall... and even that one can be dealt with by addressing the problem logically.

[robcat2075]

Could you tell me more about the v12 renders being better? I'm not clear on what has been lost since then.

 

I certainly don't regard the cloth we got since then as useless. It works great.