Ahh ok that makes sense. Iām in the US.
Guess Iāll just be a little more patient. 
C4D Customer Service has gotten weird
interactiveBoy
#10
@Infograph Iām definitely tracking what youāre saying.
Truth be told, I didnāt feel like R21 offered anything exciting or āmust-haveā for my workflow. I had some personal expenses that prevented me from renewing the MSA at the time, and I justified NOT doing it because of the new subscription plan. Itās the first time in years I felt like I didnāt HAVE to upgrade or renew because itās all moving to subscription anyway, which buys me some time. I can just wait until thereās a must-have reason.
Iām realizing though that itās a complex universe, having software from various vendors that has to work together.
I wanted to jump on DEM Earth soon, but to take advantage of the new version 4.xx I must have R21. Same with Redshift. I still use it in R20, and most of the features are there, but to take advantage of the nodal material spaces, I need to have R21.
Itās only a matter of time before plugins no longer support R20.
So in hind site, Iām seeing it was less about renewing or moving to subscription due to some desired feature, and more about maintaining compatibility not only with plugins, but with others that I do C4D work with and for.
I wonāt make any more scene about this - that really wasnāt my intent. In the grand scheme of things itās not a big deal.
Iām just afraid if I get in a tight situation again and have to cancel a subscription then thatās it and I lose access to my files, plugins, etc.
I do a lot of work, but only a small percentage of it is 3D. So itās a tough pill to swallow, being held to a subscription.
Again Iāll say āit is what it is!ā
Hopefully Iāll hear from them soon and see what my options are.
Jops
#11
interactiveBoy if you want to keep your r20 be carefull with any special deals offered. You might loose your R20 License and as you lost your R19 license with the upgrade to R20 you might loose the license for any perpetual license.
So get some % off for subscription for being R20 licenseholder (and loosing that) might be not that much of a good deal.
infograph
#15
I totally understand where youāre coming from.
There are two of us who own the company and while I stopped the MSA a few releases ago my partner kept our second license up to date so we have R20.
Itās a relatively stressful business swapping software especially after such a very long time. McGavran will be banking on many thinking itās easier just to swallow the unpalatable situation of Subscriptions than go elsewhere. I donāt blame anyone coming to that conclusion, work is stressful enough without adding to it.
One thing I wished I had done was to prepare for the eventuality that C4D went t*ts up. I wish Iād had an escape plan and had been learning a.n.other DCC to make the transition when necessary. Iād give anyone that advice for free.
The Fear of Losing Files is what makes the Subscription offer such an insidious proposition. Walk into it with your eyes open and make sure you export your models or animations as files that can be read from other software. No company should ever have the power to own your own IP because you either choose not to continue with Subs or more worryingly if you, for whatever reason, can no longer to afford your Subs. I refuse to give any company that domain over me or my company unless theyāre paying me!
There will be many who think whatās all the fuss about Subs and not give a single fā¦
interactiveBoy
#16
That is very welcome news. I look forward to talking to someone at Maxon about my options!
Jops
#17
Last time we talked you told me, that ātransition dealsā will transition the perpetual license into a subscription and as it is a transition the perpetual is not valid afterwards. Was this just for R21 perpetual?
interactiveBoy
#18
Jops I do seem to remember that they were saying that it applied to R21. For those that did the MSA to get R21, they could get a deal on subscription by cashing in the perpetual and getting 2 years of sub for about the price of one year of MSA. Or something similar to that.
My situation is different, so Iām curious to know what my options will be.
And I wouldnāt feel comfortable doing something that would make me lose r20. At least Iāll always have that to fall back on should I need it.
dmcgavran
#19
If you got R21 via MSA and want to transition that for an extra discount you can by handing in the perpetual. There are also discounts where you donāt transition. Of course if you were on MSA the last version you got was the one you own.
Cheers
Dave
Jops
#20
Thank you Dave for clarification. I am sorry to bring this up when ever I see that people unshure about discounts and subscription. I consider this to be a very serious thing because with perpetual updates (like it always was) you just hold a license for the last version. and when you loose this in a transition to subscription you have no perpetual left what so ever.
interactiveBoy I hope you get a good deal 
best regards
Jops
cmyk
#21
And, just in case anyoneās wondering what that tweet wasā¦
āU haVe been heardā¦ā
Note the capped letters.
infograph
#22
Isnāt this just old news dressed up as new news?
We were told after the R17 debacle that UV tools and body paint were being worked on only no one saw fit to release anything.
I never see messages like āOK weāve heard youā as anything other than disingenuous. Frankly, it wouldāve been impossible for Maxon to be oblivious to the cacophony of requests for updated UV and painting tools over the years.
Weāve heard youā¦in this case translates as, weāve finally got round to it. Nobody hold their breath thoughā¦
sartana
#23
Jeez, cheer up. Is there anything they could say on that front that would make you happy?
For my part I missed the significance of the capitalised letters and just thought Dave was getting down and funky with the kool Gen Y kidz by rocking some emoji speak. But if heās hinting UV goodness then - just a hunch - youāll be seeing something good on that front in the next update or so. Otherwise why hint at it right now?
The mind boggles at what sort of saucy memes theyāll be posting when they want to hint at updates to Bodypaint.
infograph
#24
Cynical marketing should be met with cynical responses.
Anyway, itās high time I left this forum. Who do I contact to have this account closed?
interactiveBoy
#25
Donāt leave! You are actually very knowledgeable in C4D, and Iāve seen you help a lot of people on here. But I guess if youāre leaving C4D behind and moving on to greener pastures, I can understand why youād want to just drop this forum.
Regarding the cynicism: It has literally been YEARS since Bodypaint and the dreaded UV tools have been left to rot. I understand the cynicism. I let my cynicism get the better of me when I started this thread, but I do think itās interesting to hear about othersā situations and how they handle transitions like this, which is why I wanted to be open about it.
For what itās worth, I asked about what my options were for perpetual and none were given. That doesnāt mean they donāt exist. I just think those days are basically over, and Iād have a steep price to pay to get R21 in perpetual form since I missed the MSA renewal - again, I think thatās really bad customer service, but their game, their rules.
Since I missed the MSA opportunity, my only real option to continue with C4D is through subscription. They do have a tolerable price for initiating a subscription if you missed the boat with an expired MSA.
Iām not posting it here because every case is different, and I donāt want to misinform.
sartana
#26
Haha, Daveās four word good-news tweet counts as ācynical marketingā? Infograph, cheer up mate and then get over yourself while you do it, itās nearly Christmas. Hopefully once you leave youāll spare your next online haunt the moody bitter sulks you seem stuck on here.
infograph
#27
Very kind of you to say that but the more I read the BS from Maxon reps the more Iām becoming irritated by it. I can make a more positive contribution in the Blender community.
Iām sure Iām getting in the way of people like Sartana from helping with usersā technical questions. I have yet to see Sartana make a positive contribution so perhaps theyāll step up and stop shying away from making a positive contribution here.
Merry Xmas and have a prosperous new year everyone. If any of you do find yourselves getting all Blendercurious Iām Infograph on BlenderArtists, donāt be a stranger.
Cheers and bye. 