Bad news for users of the character animation software, MotionBuilder standard (formerly from Kaydara, and then Alias).
Autodesk has axed it.
Now only the pro version will be available, at a cost of over US $4000.
Quote taken from the Luxology forum:
So they claim.
Link to Autodesk website:
http://www.autodesk.com/motionbuilder
Quote from MacWorld review:
“MotionBuilder is priced starting at $4,195.”
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/03/21/motionbuilder/index.php
Well v7 should still provide a good few years of use.
What’s the bet MB standard will be incorporated into the next version of Maya?
wanna bet they have more of these horrible surprises coing up around the corner.
they are opening a big hole for other apps to fill. i can see how other animation software people will definitely try to nail the standart low-mid range priced packages hole they left.
I really hope this isn’t the case (the Autodesk site doesn’t exactly confirm a Standard Edition definitely won’t exist). Been using MB since version 4.0 - I’m not going to pay that kind of money just to go from 7.0 Stanard to 7.5 or beyond.
I believe when version 7.0 came out, the Standard Edition wasn’t mentioned at first - possibly the same is happening with version 7.5?
This post from the Maxon forum:
I’m a bit upset about this.
I bought MotionBuilder standard. I only needed the standard edition. I don’t need the ‘Pro’ features, and am not prepared to pay around $4000 for the pro version.
I wish Kaydara would have held onto it. Their price was low. And if they had a special on you could often get it even cheaper. No more, sad to say.
Hey Beam, why not look into messiah animate? You can pick it up for a very reasonable price and for Character work it really is VERY good. It’s just been upgraded to version 5.4. With Point Oven Pro, it connects really well to Lightwave (and a bunch of others).
Colour me surprised…NOT!
Could see the writing on the wall long ago, that’s why I never upgraded. With each revision, the took something out of STD and put it in PRO. Same with the so called FBX standard, except it wasn’t, and was blocked left right and center so it only really fully worked with their software. Their forums and support were not a patch on Kaydaras too. I’m sure eventually they’ll add a “support” charge to access forums for it so they can stiff people out of even more money.
At least Kaydaras MB5 is good enough for me to continue what I need to do for now.
Alias, taking software out of the masses and putting in the hands of the elite few!
(Can you tell I’m pi**ed off? 
).
I wish Kaydara would have held onto it. Their price was low. And if they had a special on you could often get it even cheaper.
You’re talking my language there! 
edit: I notice they now no longer talk about FBX being a standard for working but a native format.
Yeah? In the light of Autodesk policy, a huge price hike seems more likely.
Prepare to get screwed…:eek:
sucks to hear about MB. but it seemed like it had lost the edge when alias purchased the company and made it part of their product lineup.
wasn’t there the rumour (yeah, well, i know) that autodesk would get rid of maya complete or lift it’s price noticeably? sounds believable because they sure as hell don’t want the film and “high-end” solution to eat into max sales because of the lower license fee.
ah well, back to work…
You people will believe anything… :rolleyes:
Until Autodesk announces that they are discontinuing support for MotionBuilder Standard (which I doubt) I suggest you leave your pitchforks and torches alone.
Note: Autodesk is in the middle of a transition right now. This has meant that they are moving Alias’ site over to their own and still keep as much working as possible. This had already meant that the Community part of Alias’ site was down until Autodesk could get it back up again.
Given this, I would give Autodesk the benefit of the doubt, rather than believe Beamtracer and start screaming “The Sky is Falling!!” :eek:
Get a grip people.
-b
[ul]
[li][left]There just isn’t enough money to be made from low end character animation packages. [/left][/li][li][left]Look at the history:[/left][/li][li][left]Poser- all effort goes into rendering, IK animation features aren’t so good and have seen little improvement. [/left][/li][li][left]Lifeform- great FK poor IK, has seen little animation improvement (editing of rig has seen features added). [/left][/li][li][left]Messiah- most effort now focus on rendering, no support for import/export of rig from base program. [/left][/li][li][left]The only programs that have good development of figure animation are the high-end programs Maya and XSI, with Max as a gaming alternative. What makes a program high-end isn’t just being listed on highend.com but custom scripting for control of program and animation. What makes the cost high isn’t the program cost but the maintenance cost. Max which has a high front end cost is actually one of the cheaper programs when considering maintenance cost. Most people with Maya Complete just skip maintenance and repurchase. For Maya this works because the rigging tools have been so good since version 4. [/left][/li][li][left]How many Maya and XSI users purchase either MotionBuilder, Lifeforms, or Messiah? Probably not that many. AutoDesk has kept Combustion as an affordable program because they sell enough copies, MotionBuilder is a niche product that doesn’t pay to keep in the lower price range.[/left][/li][li][left]I’m not defending AutoDesk, they’re corporate shills who care more about the $ than the customer. I saw a presentation of Maya put on by AutoDesk and the difference from Alias was dramatic, very corporate marketing department driven.[/left][/li][/ul]
I’d say Maya Complete is next, actually. If you get rid of Complete and lower the price of Unlimited you are pushing Maya towards film specialization while still raising the price for the game companies that are using Complete.
I don’t use Max, Maya, Motion Builder but I can say I feel Autodesk bought Maya to level out the 3D market. Of course if I was a Maya user I would be livid, but this is after all a business.
The costs of development vs the gains in revenue have to add up.
If this news is true this will open up niche markets for new developers to fill the gaps. We’ve all seen the influx of innovative new modeling packages. Why not character animation? About the only problem I see is pipelines that act/look more like centipedes. Import/export de jour. The word “Integrated” feels so 1990.
Did you miss the part where someone else said their AD vendor just said it was axed?
Get a pair of glasses, people.
-p