Maxwell renderer update announced

[kingouto]

Nextlimit released some more info on the update...

LICENSING

New Standard License policy:


With the release of Maxwell Render 1.5, Next Limit Technologies is changing its licensing policy in a number of areas, the first being with standard “full” licenses.

Standard licenses will now have NO CPU or Core restrictions, Maxwell Render 1.5 licenses will be issued per machine, irrelevant of how many CPU cores the machine has. As hardware improves and multicore machines move into quad-core, dual-quad-core, ´octo-core´ and beyond, these changes will not affect or restrict the way Maxwell Render works – Maxwell Render will take advantage of all the cores available on each machine. Performance of Maxwell Render will be dependant on the hardware being used, not restricted by the license.

Standard licenses come with the complete feature package of Maxwell Render Engine (MXCL), Maxwell Studio (MXST), Maxwell Material Editor (MXED) and all available Maxwell plug-ins to users´ favourite 3D design and CAD software.

Pricing of Maxwell Render Standard licenses has been maintained at 895 euros or $995 or ¥118,000

New RenderNode licenses

Next Limit is introducing a new Maxwell RenderNode license which is aimed at those users who are using their own extra machines as nodes for increased rendering speeds and capacity.

These new Node licenses will give users infinite possibilities for expanding the number of machines used in their personal renderfarms. Each Node license will adopt the new ´per machine´ approach with no CPU core limit on that machine, and there are no limits to the number of machines that can be connected through Node licenses.

Each user will be expected to purchase one Standard license before purchasing additional RenderNode licenses.

Maxwell RenderNode licenses will be priced at 295 euros or $395 or ¥49.770 each.
What about my current Maxwell Render licenses ?

Added bonus for existing customers !

Because there are many existing Maxwell Render customers using multiple single-core or dual-core machines within the old “4 CPU core” restriction, we cannot introduce a new policy that will disadvantage them in any way. So we have turned this on its head and given an added bonus to existing customers.

Maxwell Render 1.5 will recognise existing licenses as 4 Standard licenses (in other words: 4 machines) – each existing license that you own will be usable with up to 4 machines, regardless of how many CPU cores are on each machine. For most existing customers it means you will not have to buy more licenses for some time as you upgrade the number and capacity of your machines.

Special 1.5 launch promotion – 3 RenderNode licenses free.

From the launch date until the end of June 2007, Maxwell Render Standard licenses will come with 3 free Node licenses.

Each new user purchasing between the launch of Maxwell Render 1.5 and the end of June 2007 will be able to take advantage of this offer which will allow them to use Maxwell Render on up to 4 machines for the same price as one Standard license.

Site Licenses:

Next Limit is keen to provide software and licensing solutions which are flexible and provide larger organisations with the tools and support they need to use Maxwell Render in their workflows, irrespective of numbers of users, machines or licenses.

If you have plans to purchase multiple Maxwell Render licenses for a large network, or want to discuss how to best implement Maxwell Render in your organisation, please contact www.nextlimit.com/sales_support (http://mhtml:{3C910692-8146-4C12-8BD3-8041140823D6}mid://00000014/!x-usc:http://www.nextlimit.com/sales_support)

Commercial RenderFarms:

Next Limit wants to support the development of commercial renderfarm services that can provide contracted and ad-hoc additional rendering capacity, and other rendering services. If you are a commercial renderfarm service provider, please contact www.nextlimit.com/sales_support (http://mhtml:{3C910692-8146-4C12-8BD3-8041140823D6}mid://00000014/!x-usc:http://www.nextlimit.com/sales_support) to find out more details.

PRICING

To summarise the pricing of Maxwell Render 1.5:

· Standard Full license (per machine): $995 / 895 euros / ¥118.000
· Additional RenderNode licence (per machine): $395 / 295 euros / ¥49.770
Special Launch promotion from launch date to end June 2007:
· One standard full license plus 3 free RenderNode licenses: $995 / 895 euros / ¥118.000
· Site Licenses and Commercial Renderfarms: contact www.nextlimit.com/sales_support (http://mhtml:{3C910692-8146-4C12-8BD3-8041140823D6}mid://00000014/!x-usc:http://www.nextlimit.com/sales_support)
* These changes will come into effect with the actual release of Maxwell Render 1.5

MAXWELL RENDER 1.5 FEATURE LIST

In addition to the features and enhancements that we have already revealed, Next Limit is pleased to announce the following additions to the feature list for Maxwell Render 1.5:

New Features:

XSi plug-in:
Alongside the release of Maxwell Render 1.5, a new plug-in for XSi 6 for both Win and Linux will be available to all new and existing users. In line with our policy to promote cross-platform use of Maxwell Render, this plug-in will be free to all users with standard Full licenses.

Shift Lens

This camera parameter allows users to shift the film plane up/down and left/right, without rotating the camera. This is very useful in architectural rendering for keeping a 2 point perspective while capturing the entire building in the image.

Blow Up

Render a specific region of an image at more resolution than other areas of the same image for added quality and accuracy.

Z Clip Rendering

This feature will allow cutting of the rendered object with a plane to show the interior of objects without the need to model the edges. Very flexible and very useful.

Vignetting

Vignetting is the darkening effect that happens on real world lenses, especially wide angle lenses. The amount of vignetting is controllable from the MXCL interface.

Improved log system:

Enhancements have been made to the log system within Maxwell Render with more data available to keep track of renders.

A full, detailed feature list will be published when Maxwell Render 1.5 is launched.

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