what do you think abbout alias bronze / silver / platinum membership

[MasonDoran]

just another business scheme...there are enough free internet tutorials out there to make up for it anyways.

-also, working in a production environment is worth an entire college education. That way you learned tested techniques and learn to be fast.(and get payed)

[djx]

How do you like this payed membership system?
Im not sure. It sure felt like a demotion after paying maintenance each year, since powerAnimator days, and now I find I have only "bronze" membership status all of a sudden - which is free to anyone. Obviously there is maintenance and then there is MAINTENANCE. I guess thay need to make more money to make better tools to make more money.

The sample DVD I received with maya 6 - the mentalray tutorials - is of such poor quality - all the screen shots are too blurry to read properly and the tutor's accent makes the lessons hard to follow (no offence intended here. He would probably find my accent just as strange). The information presented would possibly be very useful, but I found it almost inaccessible. I was very disappointed.

On the other hand, I once received some mentalray tutorials from Alias as part of an email survey they were doing to get some feedback. These were well presented and easy to follow. They lacked some depth, but it was obvious they were extracts from some more extensive document.

I would like Alias to provide full access to its knowlege base and online tutorials for bronze members and charge extra only for more personalized service like one-to-one phone or email support.

[Dr. Ira Kane]

I don't think alias is going the right way with this membership, simply they should encourage new ppl to learn their app, not charge them for this, i doubt that many ppl will pay for those tuts, i will not.

[NileshXYZ]

I agree, with above. Alias should be open source resource for people who have already paid for the software, to keep the customers learning more and what not.

on the other hand they do have the 3D 101, and thats all i would need, i hope they come out with the other parts of it, animation, dynamic etc..

[onkelandy]

I think it's kinda stupid way to promote your software. But what the heck. I think the Alias Learning Tools, Forums and other independant Forums are enough to learn.

We have maintenance here an I can easily access silver membership stuff. DJX -> should be the same with you, isn't it?

[beaker]

mimo8: They announced this at AGUA about a week and a half ago.

djx: If you have full mainenance it is called "Platnium" which has full access to everything below it(including silver).

[djx]

onkelandy and beaker: Thats interesting. My boss pays the maintenance. I will make inquiries as to what "level" it is. When you say "full" maintenance, you make me think that we must have something less - hence the bronze, not silver or platinum. We always get the program updates, but as far as I know, nothing else. It is many years since I logged a support call.

For me, this forum plus highend is like platinum, so Im still happy whatever the status.

[francescaluce]

also where's the gold memership..?? :)






ciao
francesca

[beaker]

djx: you can also purchase per incedent maintenance.

[Kabab]

If you recieve the version updates you have full maintance.

[rock]

SoftImage simply wants more users and Alias wants less - if only because it likes the current status quo. The tutorials from Alias are few - the Learning Maya series should be all free. Things, momentum accumulating quietly over time, can then change in an instant. XSI Foundation at $495 is almost break even when you consider that you get 6 learning DVDs and a few manuals. Just buying the Learning series books from Maya almost approaching past half way price of Foundation.

[pixelmonk]

Im not sure. It sure felt like a demotion after paying maintenance each year, since powerAnimator days, and now I find I have only "bronze" membership status all of a sudden - which is free to anyone. Obviously there is maintenance and then there is MAINTENANCE. I guess thay need to make more money to make better tools to make more money..
not sure how you only have a Bronze membership if you pay yearly maintenance. I'm platnium because of it.

[pixelmonk]

I agree, with above. Alias should be open source resource for people who have already paid for the software, to keep the customers learning more and what not.

on the other hand they do have the 3D 101, and thats all i would need, i hope they come out with the other parts of it, animation, dynamic etc..
It is "open source" based on how you purchased and what you purchased.

[CIM]

SoftImage simply wants more users and Alias wants less - if only because it likes the current status quo. The tutorials from Alias are few - the Learning Maya series should be all free. Things, momentum accumulating quietly over time, can then change in an instant. XSI Foundation at $495 is almost break even when you consider that you get 6 learning DVDs and a few manuals. Just buying the Learning series books from Maya almost approaching past half way price of Foundation.

No, Alias is the one with the large, established group of users, while Softimage is trying to capture some (more).

[frilansspion]

I cant believe they skipped gold and went straight to platinum! cool-word-hungry trend-whipped bitches they be! arr--

Oh. And I do think the whole system sucks. Everything educational should be free. (except drugs. but maybe beer should. free beer freebee frisbee! argh. Im glad its friday) Just look at Softimage! the tutorials on their site is free!
But I guess there are no alias execs cruising this thread, are there?

[mimo8]

ok peoplez!

I waited a bit to give my response and took a closer look on my Alias Silver Membership before I give a comment on it now.

What does it offer:

Some tutorial, that are really good done and informative, but perhaps nothing that you wouldnt find on any other online source.
A Silver users online gallerie that is absolute ridicolous, cause there are only three users logged and their links to their images are broken ... thats poor.
And as a add on they give you a pizza knife set, no joking, they give you a free subscription to two online magazines (Animation Magazine and Game Developer)
I haven´t´checked them out yet cause I was too lazy to fill out their forms.


Alias also advertises that a silver membership gives you great industrie contact
Membership allows you to become part of a larger community of 3D software users. ... no hollywood firm called me till now.


that was my review, but here comes the big critique.
If you sign up for a monthly contract it warns you that you will automaticly continue it, if you should not cancel it till 7 days before its ending. bummer!
Ok I said ... I want to be carefull and I will sign out emediately, so I dont forgett in 20 days.
Then I had to click arround on the alias page to find a hint WHERE to sign out. It didnt give me a online form but just a email adress of their service center and some international phonenumbers. to save my phonebill I wrote an email to the alias costumer center and asked them to please cancel my membership. the reply came today, I have to call one of those numbers to get out of the contract :argh:

all this doesnt give me the feeling of a firm that earns their money with highend 3D software, but of a rip off insurance company that tries to fraud old grannies.
I allready sent this critique to alias, with the link to this thread here and I will go to a nightshop now to call that phonenumber and hope they let me get out of the deal today.


perhaps this kind of contracts are normal to many online support services and this is just new to me. but honestly, when I buy some tutorial on simplymaya than I dont have to fear to get a bill for next month aggain.

sorry alias but this is the wrong way. answering softimages priceattack with such kind of costumers support will not bring too many new clients

[mimo8]

I have to confess that this alias service is brandnew. they also have a forum "hosted by alias certified instructors" what has 0.0 users and threads at the moment.

there is another service included described as following "Coming in September 2004, these blogs feature industry experts and Alias product specialists writing about their work!"

two features that CG-talk offer to thousands of users for free for many year with a vrey high quality ... so also this doesnt convince me or help me to get out of this contract as easy as I slipped in.

[DJ-Prismatica]

I think that these paid memberships are a waste of money. But did anyone notice the maya mentor thing? Seems kinda interesting, especially if it's free. I have a mac and that version isn't out yet but I think I'll check it out when it is available.

[mimo8]

thats true ... maya mentor seems interesting - a maya integrated tutorial programm, very sophisticated and for free

but I think its for the very basics

[beaker]

No it's not free. It is part of the silver membership.

[MunCHeR]

OK I'm a sucker, I just paid for silver membership and in the rendering tutorials section I find a tutorial by ben cowell of shading and rendering a mini cooper( yeah its a fantastic tutorial, great job ben) but its available over at 3dtotal.com absolutely free.So what exactly are we paying for? free tutorials is not what I expected to find.
Spannerhead membership is what it should be called.:shrug:

MunCH

[Splin]

Btw MunCHeR, speaking about that particular tutorial. I find it really funny that before Alias started this system, that same tutorial was completly free in Alias community tutorials section. Plus it is available on authors web page too of course. We will see how their plan turns out..but right now I dont belive into it much, that just aint cool.

[MunCHeR]

actually Splin shortly after posting I realised it was in the "bronze" catagory DOH, however some of the "silver" are really old tutorials that were free, I was hoping for a bit more info on using mental ray shaders and such since the user docs arent the friendliest things to understand, hope they improve the quality of some of them soon and explore more "new" areas as in related to 6.0.

Cheers

MunCH

[BillSpradlin]

I think one thing a lot of you forget is that Alias is a business first and foremeost. What is one of the top priorities of any business? Making money. No one said you had to purchase these memberships but they are available to anyone who wishes to spend the money. There are plenty of other resources available for those that are interested, I can name at least 3 sites that have more information on them than the Alias memberships provide. That could change however in the coming months as Alias adds resources to those memberships. Nevertheless, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to be complaining about these memberships at all. If you were running a business wouldn't you always be trying to think up new ways to make money? Of course you would. I think that is why maybe most of you are taking such a negative outlook on this as you haven't had first hand experience running a successful business.

I think it's a great thing that they are offering these memberships for those people who wish to pay for them. I would much rather have the option of paying for something useful as opposed to not having that option at all. I would wait a few months for the memberships to be developed more as right now I personally do not think that they have anything to offer that you cannot get for free elsewhere.

[MunCHeR]

Thats a very good point Bill, I guess I'm just frustrated with the mental ray learning curve, all these new nodes in the hypershade and battling to get good "understandable" information on how to use them, the maya documentation is kind of dissappointing and the tutorials are pretty neolithic (I guess I mean not much in the way of tasty hints and good workflows) I would expect some half decent tutorials to get you started with your newly purchased software, not having to forkout more money for what are mostly basic tutorials, the making glass tutorial is kind of rediculous, its totally aged, and used to be available free of charge, no dielectric material to be seen, but like you say this is all just new and I hope things improve because it seems to be a rather disappointing start.

MunCH

[PeterRuschel]

Hey there,

I just got my (one-year)-SilverMembership as part of a so called "Productivity-Pack" that was offered along with my purchase of Maya 6. The ProductivityPack was 100Euro and included 6 Learning-Maya Books and 6 Maya Learning DVDs. IMHO that's a petty ok Deal.

To activate the Silvermembership I had to leave my CreditCard Info - that's weird, since I already had payed for the whole thing... I just hope they're not going to auto-extend that subscription and charge it on my card then... that would suck so bad.

About the silverMembership itself: So far the content and the service that's provided right now is not worth the money to me. (well, even though I kinda got it in a cheap package-deal).
But maybe the content will grow by the time... hmm. Let's hope.

I'll call my maya-lady on monday to find out what this is all about.

best regards,
Peter

[csven]

i noticed this when it came out. having just come off full maintenance it was of interest. what i read didn't interest me.

what i'd like is a "Gold" Maintenance for people who aren't looking to upgrade. tbh, Maya 5 Unlimited has all the tools i need right now. since i use another 3D app (for CAD), keeping up with new versions and features hasn't been my strong suit. i don't need learning support, i need time! so a $1200 or $2000 annual maintenance (i forget which) to give me more tools i really don't need, and online help i don't need, is a waste imo. in a couple of years i can almost buy a new license (esp if prices keep dropping).

the one thing i DO need is assurance that, should my NIC go bad, i can get a new license without a huge headache. right now my understanding is i'd have to pay back maintenance to get a license relocation. that royally sucks. i'd be more than happy to have a Gold plan that was like insurance. no upgrade, no need for tutorials, not even a bunch of support i probably won't use.... just a way to keep my current license healthy.

[ASWDesign]

This is simple stupid, Alias | Wavefront are sell really good software, but at expensive prices but with there package being up theere with the best it can compete, Now the only way they could get money for the product is for people to buy it, which means that people would have to be trained in the product to buy it or see the the advantage it has over other 3D pakages and see why its perfect for you or your company, and with that down it comes to demo reels that companys would buy multiply licences, which more money for them.


But now Alias has "I would say" Covered up one problem but did it with another problem, yet its a smaller problem its still a problem, they have covered up there money problem with a greed profit problem for money with Memberships to see the tutorials for there products, which you have to pay for they are getting money from to soruces (Products, and tutorials) and tutorials cost them nothing to make so theres a Plus for them, But now they are limiting the custormers learning steps, with a exter cost which they have to pay to get the tutorials to learn, as the maya pakage or studio tools pakage wasn't enough for the student but now you have to pay for Product,Tutorials and if they were at school for the product thats not cheap to, this will disintrest alot of student from going to learn there pakage in the first place, and over the long run other companys and software like 3d's Max, lightwave will be getting more students because its cheaper and theres not alot that differs from pakages.

It might be doing Alias grate now because there raking the money in but in the long run they wont be raking in anything but bank loans to get out of debt because they have no students.

Also this will dent there company in another big way coming to the subject of "Piracy" Student will download the pakage there tutorials and still view other tutorials online, instead of wanting to contribute to further there pakage and make it better they wouldn't be more happy then download it and Rip ALIAS off like Alias is RIPPING THE CONSUMER.

ASW

[BillSpradlin]

I'm sorry but I seriously doubt Alias is "raking in the cash" through these memberships. By your logic then, Alias should offer their training DVD's, Books, Seminars, Master Classes etc free to the public or whoever wants them. Why are you not including XSI, Discreet or Newtek in this because they are just as guilty of offering training DVD's, books etc about their product, all at a price of course. The tutorials and whatever else is offered through these memberships also fall into the same category as DVD's, Books and so forth, they are just in a different medium. It still takes time for someone to write up a tutorial and test it to make sure it is working, time that someone has to pay for.



As far as what you were saying about students etc I can only vehemently disagree. A student is receiving professional training on a product through an institution that employs people who already have experience with the product, no matter what it is. So that isn't going to effect students in any way. With a 5 second Google search you can find more Maya tutorials for free that what is offered through these memberships. I really don't see that your arguments stand any ground whatsoever.



If you can't afford training from an institution there are a plethora of books and websites to get you started. Not to mention this board where there is a broad spectrum of users available to answer questions and help you out. Good luck.

[ASWDesign]

Alias is doing a big mistake here lets face it, yes there are millions of tutorials out there and they are free, then why is alias charging the consumor for theres?

As you said there are DVD's Master classes Etc that people have to pay for, but we are talking like 2000 dollars for a anual silver member shit to view "Section's" of these DVD's and masterclasses and then if we want the full this WE HAVE TO BUY IT? Thats just ridiculous, www.digital-tutors.com (http://www.digital-tutors.com) Over Kits and tutorial like maya offer, we dont have to pay for there short tutorials only there kits, what makes Alias tutorial so much better? they might have made the program but im sure alot of people are sharing the infomation that there trying to share for a price where people like www.digital-tutors.com (http://www.digital-tutors.com) are trying todo the best they can in keeping the prices down.

If someone bought MAYA and are willing to get intuition for the software, so they have oready folked out 17,000k depending on where you go, what makes alias think that they are going to pay another 2 - 3k more just toget there tutorials when theres heaps out like you said, a student doesn't have 2-3k to throw around just to learn he has oready spend 10-20k.

ASW

[csven]

where are you getting your price numbers from? and what currency?

[mark_wilkins]

right now my understanding is i'd have to pay back maintenance to get a license relocation. that royally sucks.
Untrue. They'll relocate your license for a $150 fee even if you're not on maintenance, and if it was because of a system failure they'll often waive even that.

-- Mark

[csven]

thanks Mark. great news. of course i'll be happy never to find out....

[pixelmonk]

I cant believe they skipped gold and went straight to platinum! cool-word-hungry trend-whipped bitches they be! arr--

Oh. And I do think the whole system sucks. Everything educational should be free. (except drugs. but maybe beer should. free beer freebee frisbee! argh. Im glad its friday) Just look at Softimage! the tutorials on their site is free!
But I guess there are no alias execs cruising this thread, are there?
who cares?

[pixelmonk]

Untrue. They'll relocate your license for a $150 fee even if you're not on maintenance, and if it was because of a system failure they'll often waive even that.

-- Markmine was free.. I went through my local reseller

[pixelmonk]

Alias is doing a big mistake here lets face it, yes there are millions of tutorials out there and they are free, then why is alias charging the consumor for theres?

As you said there are DVD's Master classes Etc that people have to pay for, but we are talking like 2000 dollars for a anual silver member shit to view "Section's" of these DVD's and masterclasses and then if we want the full this WE HAVE TO BUY IT? Thats just ridiculous, www.digital-tutors.com (http://www.digital-tutors.com/) Over Kits and tutorial like maya offer, we dont have to pay for there short tutorials only there kits, what makes Alias tutorial so much better? they might have made the program but im sure alot of people are sharing the infomation that there trying to share for a price where people like www.digital-tutors.com (http://www.digital-tutors.com/) are trying todo the best they can in keeping the prices down.

If someone bought MAYA and are willing to get intuition for the software, so they have oready folked out 17,000k depending on where you go, what makes alias think that they are going to pay another 2 - 3k more just toget there tutorials when theres heaps out like you said, a student doesn't have 2-3k to throw around just to learn he has oready spend 10-20k.

ASW
If there are tons on training materials on the net, why do you care what Alias has on their website? They're obviously not losing any money or customers by this. They know other companies like Gnomon and DT are out there, yet they still keep with their pricing structure. If they know... and you know.. why are people still bitching like girls about this?

[Kabab]

Ok how about we set the facts straight!

For $149(USD) per year you get.

· In-depth tutorials
· Real-life, project-based learning materials
· The Maya Mentor interactive, learning environment plug-in
· Weblogs from experienced Maya users
· 30 days of personal assistance using these materials
· Bonus Maya Learning Tools DVD and/or industry magazine subscription when you sign up.
· and more!
+ more

For $1299(USD) per year you get.

· Priority access to all software upgrades and updates
· Telephone, e-mail and online support with New weekday and weekend hours of operation as of September 2004*
· New! Interactive Online Case Management (as of September 2004*)
· New! License Flexibility – priority Maya licenses transfers (same or different operating system) -- at no extra charge.
· New! Alias Insider Technical Solutions and Knowledgebase -- priority, online access to information on technical issues, reported bugs, workarounds, recommended workflow and more.
· New! Maya Silver Membership -- complimentary Maya Silver membership gives you more learning opportunities.
· And more!

That means every new version of Maya that comes out you get it seems like pretty decent value to me..

[onkelandy]

The actual "Productivity Pack" is a way it should work all the time:

100 $ for 6 books, 6 DVDs and one year Silver Membership. I think that's fair.

[ASWDesign]

If there are tons on training materials on the net, why do you care what Alias has on their website? They're obviously not losing any money or customers by this. They know other companies like Gnomon and DT are out there, yet they still keep with their pricing structure. If they know... and you know.. why are people still bitching like girls about this?
Well, we are not bitching like girls on this matter, we are just concerned and dont think its fair that alias are putting price tags on small tutorials and still charging the same for there DVD kits nothing more nothing less, im sure someone who payed the member ship will give them to me for free, i dont know if thats piracy or not but really 2k for a bunch of tutorials and still pay for DVD kits...Please, get a clue Alias get a clue, and not the kind of clue where you charge people for a limited tutorial range.

ASW

[Kabab]

That 2K includes free Maya upgrades! so when Maya 7 comes out you get it for free!!! what other tutorial website can provide that (legally)?

Also you get real support as in the engineers at Alias answer your questions within a short period of time with a answer.

[Splin]

Bitching or not bitching but in my opinion it shows very good where Alias is going with this. In another thread they were discussing if Alias should compete with XSi price drop. XSI is in right path with this. They are 3d software developer and they are worried about their users base. Trying to find every imaginable way to make the learning curve easiest for new users. But what does Alias do. Seems like they are not interetsetd about new users at all, with every move trying to make more and more money as possible. Like a high credit bank what is meant only for millionares. I mean, from student point of view their moves pretty much sucks. App is priced relatively high if compared(sry again XSI pops up) plus the services what by all means could be free, they also have a price tag. For high end users it doesnt matter anyway, they dont care how much Alias asks, for a good support they'd give out anything. They already have respected position, basically they dont care. But what should do a small student?!
If you get my point of view, this ignorance in long distance is pretty bad for a bussines imho.

[Quizboy]

Let's not forget that Alias was just purchased by KKR the Big Poppa of leveraged buyouts since the 1980's. We're talking a strict chop it and shop it financial firm here with no interest in filmmaking or digital art or creativity. This new pricing scheme was recently implemented so I think it's not coincidence. Falls perfectly in line with the recent buyout events that they would immediately start trying to find ways to bump up the bottom line at Alias whatever the cost to the commnity.

[MasonDoran]

the videos i HAVE seen from alias are terrible anyways.....at least in comparison to the gnomon vids.


and there is also Digital Tutors and the 3d Buzz vids that although are not as professional as Gnomon....have proven more valuable then the Alias vids.

[Als]

This is not really the problem.
I feel cheated on every aspect of what this suppose to be.
First of all I need to get subscribed on two magazines.
I didn't get even email about it, no info whatsoever.
Later I realised that one of the magazines is only for US clients,
which is really not right either, and it wasn't as easy to notice.
So far no word from Alias about it.
Not to mention that many links are broken, that maya mentor was not
even there when it started, and it's really just for newbies anyways.
Plus all the tutorials are on flash, so can't be downloaded to check it
in your free time, but need big download every time you want to use those.
Again, I can't ask money back, which they note on the web site
explicitly, so... DO NOT BUY THIS!
This is really HUGE mistake, my enthysiasm gone down the drain.
I bought a lot of learning tools with hard earned money, but I see this
as xmass gift to sales dept.


Al

I think one thing a lot of you forget is that Alias is a business first and foremeost. What is one of the top priorities of any business? Making money. No one said you had to purchase these memberships but they are available to anyone who wishes to spend the money. There are plenty of other resources available for those that are interested, I can name at least 3 sites that have more information on them than the Alias memberships provide. That could change however in the coming months as Alias adds resources to those memberships. Nevertheless, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to be complaining about these memberships at all. If you were running a business wouldn't you always be trying to think up new ways to make money? Of course you would. I think that is why maybe most of you are taking such a negative outlook on this as you haven't had first hand experience running a successful business.

I think it's a great thing that they are offering these memberships for those people who wish to pay for them. I would much rather have the option of paying for something useful as opposed to not having that option at all. I would wait a few months for the memberships to be developed more as right now I personally do not think that they have anything to offer that you cannot get for free elsewhere.

[tozger]

Maya is my fav app, but i have to agree with most of you here Alias is moving to dark side. Those tutorials were all free before this silver bronze whatever stuff cam up. I got really excited when i saw in depth tutorials and etc writen on the info page for silver medal winners followed with a dissapointment seeing that all those in depth tutorials are not sth you can not find for free. I didnt expect this cheap way of making money from such a professional company.

Some of us have knowledge of Maya who will not pay for a tutorial unless it has a topic

" This is how exactly Warrior Robots were modelled,textured and animated with their dynamics setup in the City of Zion in Matrix" or " Creat Ultra Realistic Nuke explosions with maya fluids in depth step by step tutorial "

Because everything else you can find for free... I also want to point out same sort of problem with Mental Images, There is not even a forum on their website for MRay but a mailing list. No tutorials, They have to open up to their followers also. We will not pay for cheap tutorials but willing to pay for Hardcore ones. There are people who works in the industry on CGTALK, like ILM, WESTWOOD you name it, tell us how you make those insane effects step by step, SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE...

ps. personal request
I want to know how do they make those massive battle scenes in LOTR and MATRIX ... I did read all the articles about them but we WANT DETAILED INFO

[Splin]

Dont confuse native stand alone Mental Ray with how Maya, XSI & 3DSMax have found a way to integrate it for "artists". Stand alone users know how to use it in production houses, and as such. Mental Images is not responsible to educate you as a Maya user, it is up to Alias.

[beaker]

Maya is my fav app, but i have to agree with most of you here Alias is moving to dark side. Those tutorials were all free before this silver bronze whatever stuff cam up. I got really excited when i saw in depth tutorials and etc writen on the info page for silver medal winners followed with a dissapointment seeing that all those in depth tutorials are not sth you can not find for free. I didnt expect this cheap way of making money from such a professional company. As it was already mentioned earlier in this thread, most of the old tutorial are under the bronze membership which is free. Most of the silver material is new content.

Because everything else you can find for free... I also want to point out same sort of problem with Mental Images, There is not even a forum on their website for MRay but a mailing list. No tutorials, They have to open up to their followers also. You must have missed these two books that MI has for sale on their site: http://www.mentalimages.com/2_1_3_literature/index.html

There are people who works in the industry on CGTALK, like ILM, WESTWOOD you name it, tell us how you make those insane effects step by step, SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE...Most of us are busy working trying to pay the bills. We like to have a life outside cgi. Many people in visualfx answer questions people ask and that is enough. If you want more then pony up some money.

I want to know how do they make those massive battle scenes in LOTR and MATRIX ... I did read all the articles about them but we WANT DETAILED INFOThe best bet is to goto Siggraph, VES, CGfestival and read the articles in magazines like Cinefex. You have to remember that much of the work on giant films like the Matrix is all custom written plugins and scripts, shaders, etc... Using a multitude of 5-10-15 different software packages. 25-50 people can contribute to a single shot that is on screen for 30 seconds. There are way too many steps to write out everything in detail just so you can know how it was all done.

I'm getting really sicks of all this me, me, me, gimme, gimme, gimme, I want, want, want shit! Have some respect and don't expect everyone to just give you everything on a silver platter. VFX artists were not put on this planet to serve YOU!

[mark_wilkins]

VFX artists were not put on this planet to serve YOU!
Really? Maybe that's why they keep laughing at me when I tell them otherwise... :)

-- Mark

[NUKE-CG]

Yeah, Beaker, go get me a coffee, white.. 2 sugars, and a dirty magazine, cheers. ;)

(This thread needed comic relief)

Make enough noise boys, and Alias will fix it, they've been in business long enough to understand mutual respect, trust me.

[elektronaut]

these memebrship thing is not that amazing... i mean... it should be a normal AND a costfree service of alias. why should i pay extra for tutorials when i buy the software. and the tutorials are not that better than free-tutorials.


marco.

[shamonsflame]

Amen! I agree that Alias should not charge for their tutorials. I was very frustrated when I went to their site and found that out.

[TFarrar]

I just dont like it. Makes it feel like the end of Maya.

[nastx]

I agree entirely with beaker, most of the old stuff has been flagged as bronze. All the new stuff is flagged as silver membership. They have a bunch of tutorial about things you will not find on the web. Most of the tutorial you can find are related to modeling and texturing/lighting or some more common stuff like that. You should check out the last tutorial. Its about something you never hear but are very useful they give you tips and trick to get your job done fast and well.

About the magazines deal, you can see it when you complete the form that Game Developer is only for US and Canada so you CAN'T use it as an argument since you know in advance. And there should be a reason to that, you sincerely think they did that on purpose? The reason is Game Developer is a physic magazine it's not an online subscription and they are not shipping outside Canada and US.

Now the gallery, ITS BEEN NOT EVEN 2 MONTHS its started let the time to people to put there images.

Maya mentor is a very good idea, at the moment they are only doing tutorial for beginners but once again people are NOT informing themselves before talking because there is a wishlist in the discussions for USER TO USER where you can share what you would like to see implemented in Maya Mentor in the future. Maya Mentor is a NEW technology so let the time goes and fix it but now anyways it is working pretty fine for me. I can't wait for the next tutorial packs. I read on their forum that the reason why the OSX is not out is because they had to rebuild it from scratch because it is not entirely working the same way.

Most of the users are NOT buying Maya but are using PLE BEFORE they buy the programs. The full platinum memberships is more for professionnal use. There is one major feature that you guys didn't realize how usefull it is and worth more than the tutorials themselves. They have a forum exclusively for silver member supported by the Learning support groups hosts. Which are very talented artists. Some of them are Maya Certified teachers.

Here is their bios:
http://www.alias.com/eng/community/discussions/silver_hosts/index.jhtml

Once more thanks Alias for bringing all those good services for so cheap.

[pixelmonk]

Amen! I agree that Alias should not charge for their tutorials. I was very frustrated when I went to their site and found that out.
There are free tutorials that come with your software.. they're on the CD. They used to be in book format when ALias was shipping manuals with their software. DId you forget Salty? It's easy to forget the stuff that comes bundled with your installation CD. I've also received 3 FREE DVDs over the course of the past 3-4 years from Alias, bundled with my upgrades. We can all bitch and moan what Alias hasn't done for us.. but what about what they have done? What about the other venues for getting FREE training on Maya, like 3DBuzz and learning-maya.com.

I guess it's easier to bitch than it is to think up something positive.

[thrasherstudios]

Bitching aside, I have for the most part found Alias training leaves alot to be desired. I have purchased many Alias DVDs some are excellent, but for the most part I was usually dissapointed in the content. To me it seems Alias has the means, through various contacts in the industy and people that work directly in the the development of Maya, to provide some sick content, I mean really show off some incredible techniques, give their customers something to smile about.

Look at what Gnomon is doing with its Analogue series of DVDs, they have actual concept artists that have worked on films like Star Wars and the Matrix explaining their techniques and of course the content on the Digital Series kicks ass as well. I guess that is my point here, the quality and time spent on Alias books and CERTAIN DVDs doesn't go the extra mile like Gnomon does and I guess I expect that they should.

Don't get me wrong though the Kolectiv DVD series on Visual Effects that Alias put out a few years ago was top notch. But to me that just points more to the skill and care taken by the guy at the kolectiv to do it right then to Alias having a high standard in the content they put out, the guy at the Kolectiv could have done a half as job and Alias would have most likely put it out there.

And this also leads us into the cost that Alias places on their training, its just to high, when compared to the cost and content from other business like Gnomon. I never have felt cheating by anything I purchases through Gnomon, where Alias on the other hand... :sad:

So to me this as been Alias's track record so far, and now they have this new program for learning techniques with Maya. I just hope they raise the bar a whole lot in the quality of there content, start showing things that will inspire us, stop holding back the goods.

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