MJV

A sale to a new user represents a new user to Mason, which Mason should be happy to have. They didn't used to charge this fee and now they do, and the fact that the software is tied to a server is the main reason they can.

I could see the "rent to own" concept in software licensing to eventually become a thing, as it's a clear incentive that adds value to each payment the licensee makes and rewards them for longtime customer loyalty. and on a very human level, lets retirees retire with dignity. But it's obvious that the industry is not there yet.

Maybe you didn't mean this, but I interpreted the literal meaning of this to mean that you want every combination possible to be seen in the sequence, and no combinations seen more than once, and that the animation should stop once every single combination has been seen, with no combination occurring more than once. That's not nothing and seems like kind of a math problem, but maybe you didn't mean all that.

I bought my first version of Cinema years ago from another user. Maxon did not make me pay for a license transfer and I was still able to upgrade the license with no problem. The reason they do it now? I'm not sure but I think as someone said in the other thread, because now they can?

The rants mostly trace back to subscription though, so that's all on the new management. It's entirely likely the old management would have to have done the same thing, but the key is they never got to that, with the result that R20 is as far as I know the last version under the old management, is not subscription, and is the last version that users could truly own. (Anything tied to periodic server reactivations is NOT ownership! imo) R20 is the gold standard currently available Cinema version in existence, and represents the EOL for Maxon and Cinema 4D as we knew it. I personally consider R20 the finished version of Cinema 4D, or as far as old management could get to finished before passing it on to the next stewards . Everything that comes afterward is Maxon's second life. I don't see any reason for perpetual users to buy new every version. Just use the versions you have now until Maxon is finished with the rewrite, and then when you can't stand to not have what's new any longer, then consider buying a new version, if it's even available in perpetual. If it isn't, there should then be a decent market for the last perpetuals in existence, unless the lawyerly written ULA prevents selling them (because with server activation required, the choice to sell or not is not the owner's any more, another reason to hate server anchors.)

Your feelings are completely valid here, I wasn't saying otherwise. I was just surmising what Maxon could be thinking from the facts before us.

Thanks that's it. I never turned the GI on. Oops! But even if I had known I probably wouldn't have bothered. After seeing unbiased path tracer I never wanted to use GI again, even though I intellectually understood that it could be faster or preferable in the right skilled hands.

I'd like to see how you make Octane direct lighting look better than Redshift. I have Octane but haven't explored it much because I'm so in love with the path tracer unbiased render, but when I did explore the Direct Lighting I thought it kind of was rubbish, so maybe I was missing a setting. ??

I think people are over analyzing things. As I see it, Cinema 4D is a service now, and that service is providing software that is always kept up to date and working to the highest standards, a service people will pay for. They don't really want permanent licenses out there, and have therefore priced them out accordingly. I think Maxon has made it pretty clear their roadmap from here on out is all Scene Nodes all the time, until everything currently possible in Cinema is converted to Scene Nodes. So what possible incentive could Maxon have to spend any resources adding or improving features that they are actively working to make obsolete with new and vastly more versatile Scene Node driven features. Cinema 4D is in a rebuilding mode and have been pretty up front about this. It's up to users to decide if the software as offered meets their current needs enough to go along for the ride.

To be clear, there are 6.28319 radians in a circle, and 2.4 radians is the golden angle. I explore that topic a little in my last tutorial, which is pretty old now:

I didn't know Per Anders left. That is indeed ominously bad news. Maxon seems to have a long track record of letting their best programmers leave, the very negative impact of which I've seen over and over. It seems like they hire someone with a specialty, let that person add the new feature which is their specialty, and then when that person is finished, let that person go, the result of which is that there is no one left who knows how to keep improving on the original programmer's work because that person is gone, so his or her work is thereafter barely ever touched or improved upon, the result being that the feature becomes somewhat of an orphan and nothing is ever updated or improved upon, as we have seen over and over again.

I agree. I hate databases that rename and scramble the files so that the owner no longer has ownership of their own files.

A bold statement for a cow. 😉

Software is not dance classes (which are frequently sold in packages of n). You can't practice on your own without software in the same way you can practice dance moves on your own without a dance instructor present. The really insidious thing about all this though is that it tracks employees time place and performance and participation data to a very invasive degree. It's really obtrusive.

Did you guys see this? Autodesk Tokens. 🤣 At least Maxon hasn't gone this off the rails, close as it is!

Those selection examples in one of the videos above look pretty juicy though, and available immediately, so I wouldn't necessarily consider it not a feature yet.

Yes, I've always liked this site but used to consider it a sort of CGTalk light but then got burned out on forums in general (because of CGTalk) for awhile, but I am really enjoying the new more comprehensive coverage of other DCCs and their relation to each other as well as to Cinema, and the overall organization and responsiveness of this site. Well done! And I have a Rookie badge now. 😄

Yes, Capsules allow nodes to work with the old object manager, but with none of the speed and improved handling ability as of yet. But nodes and capsules do give the user a great deal of flexibility and power to create that exists nowhere else in Cinema, so in that respect I think it is very valuable to have during the interim, and will allow users to learn and incorporate nodes into the their workflow even if they don't yet deliver on their full promise.

Yes, I really could not believe this. We are all media professionals. Appearances matter!! We work in an industries where appearances mean quite a lot. With the pandemic well into its second year, everyone has had ample time to acquire a decent webcam and make their backdrop somewhat presentable, even if not a perfect 10 on Room Rater. Instead it all reminded me of zooming with the grandparents who aren't quite sure how everything works or where to look, or if the thing is even on. The whole thing was just shambolic. And personally, I don't get any joy or excitement of anticipation from 15 minutes of commercials. Do they think because many of us make commercials that we also like watching them? No one in their right mind likes commercials. Just get to it already and spend the extra time showing what's new or something.

I like the new icons. I think they are both easy to read and stylish. I also appreciate the ability to make interactive menus. I always use my own custom layout so the layout change is only inconvenient to me when doing tutorials and I have to use to the default one. That said, the new layout does have some good changes such as putting the items you need closer to where you usually need them. This mirrors some of my own layout preferences, so I think this layout is something people will quickly get used to and like. Capsules are a nice addition as it allows some of the power of nodes within the current architecture, and will give users a taste of the strengths (but notably not the speed) of nodes and how to use them without waiting for the 3-4 years the full transition is still likely to require. The track tools also look very nice. All in all not as bad as the initial reactions here would indicate, but also nothing to get super excited about either, except for the fact that progress is being made even if very incrementally.

There are many free youtube videos which explain exactly this, so maybe look there first and then come back if you have a specific problem.

I think having sub-forums is useful to future viewers who will appreciate the categorization, but are cumbersome for more active/live viewers who just want to see anything that's new without digging any deeper.

I wish I had learned about Octane sooner. I would have joined up day one if I had known how blazingly fast and beautiful it is compared to the render engines native to Cinema.

3D DCC Death Battle Only the strong survive!

I just saw this thread for the first time. I had a similar idea that I pitched to Maxon many years ago (2004) and never thought I would see it not just brought to life for real but also so beautifully done and with so many other good additions that I never even would have dreamed to ask for. Really great work! Am sorry to hear that you didn't get the kind of support for it that you were hoping for. I wish Maxon would buy this from you and make it part of the native package. Below is the gif I made to illustrate my idea back then: