Motionbuilder 7.5 would not upgrade standard version

#1

Hi all, just come off the phone from Autodesk/Alias. I have been trying to upgrade to Motionbuilder standart 7.5 but I was informed that Autodesk is not going to contnue with the Standart and only sell the Pro version.

Sad for all of us who used MB standard since version 4. Still, a chance to move to Messiah Animate now. Man it is getting expensive working in 3D…

#2

Damn, I had a feeling those Autodesk rats would pull this. Oh well, no reason not to keep on using v7 (or in my case, v.6.x).

#3

Yeah - too bad. V7 is pretty good, and works well with Cinema. Oh well - maybe Cactus Dan will benefit from this news? I’ve been looking over his new stuff pretty closely.

Brian.

#4

Damn, I had a feeling those Autodesk rats would pull this. Oh well, no reason not to keep on using v7 (or in my case, v.6.x).

it is funny but that was the reason I rang up Autodesk UK, I wanted to upgrade to 7 and they told me why not go to 7.5? But when they rang north america they said no go! Now I am waiting to see if I can upgrade to 7, which might still not be possible, I have 6 also.

#5

I can’t say that I’m surprised. I think Alias wanted to kill it earlier. I just upgraded to 7 a couple of months ago, so I guess I’m lucky…

#6

I’m not sure if it is wise to upgrade to 7 when it seems to be a dead end. Unless you want to go Pro of course. It’s a shame that such a great companion to C4D gets killed. Time for an “inhouse” solution from Maxon!

odo

#7

this is a bummer but i heard a few studio managers grumbling about how ‘close’ the standard version was in features but so far away in price. perhaps autodesk will review the pricing structure and offer a decent upgrade to pro offer ???

#8

Yep, I guess its down to Credo-Interactive’s Life Forms and Messiah Animate now.

#9

messiah aint gonna be in the running if youve running macs

#10

Hi.

You just confirmed my suspicions… that they were going to kill the Standard version when I saw the their webpage…

Did they mention if the 7.5 will be available for Macs as an Universal application…?

Any idea how much to “upgrade” from 7 standard to 7.5 pro (if any)… ?
Way overkill for me really… but just to know the figure…

Thanks!

#11

Do those morons know that the standard version is what brought it to the keyframe masses.

Kaydara’s Film Box was priced like the pro version and was only used by a small number of mocap studios. Talk about one step forward, two steps back!

Doh!

#12

Autodesk is where good software goes to die.

#13

I had a fealing they would axe MB or at least morph it into something totally different. Seems like they got most of MB in character studio anyways.

Not to highjack the thread, but how is Messiah’s c4d plugin these days? I remember it was unstable as heck in the 1.5 era.

Anyone actually using this now?

I used messiah a couple of times and loved it, but couldn’t get a stable connection between c4d and it, so i just concentrated on getting and learning CD’s plugins.

I wouldn’t even think of using MB or Messiah if c4d’s viewport was faster.

#14

>Seems like they got most of MB in character studio anyways

I use both. They aren’t close in terms of speed or features when it comes to NLA (story is much more advanced at this point).

#15

Clamping onto this thread. Surely Autodesk will offer something to appease the MB Standard masses and retain what surely must be a large part of their user base…cheap upgrade to Pro version? New pricing structure? Crossgrade to Maya? I echo concern about getting a Universal version for OSX.

#16 
Now that is truly *NOT* a serious alternative.
I still consider Life Forms the app with the worst of all interfaces---
an interface from below hell.
The rest is stable and working but really nowhere in the league of MB.

More like a trip back in time, to the dinosaurs of software–

THis is bad news, unless Autodesk lowers price for MBpro upgrade significantly---
but looking at Autodesk general pricing policy, I have little hope.
I have upgraded to 7 already( so i think I can survive for some time), the update to 7.5 does not really look like a must-have (but i thought that about 7 too and have to admit the many unspectacular changes added up to a decent boost).

But what when i buy my next computer, 64 bit and stuff–

*Sigh*
Company mergers--you have to love them.

“With only the best for our customers in mind, we fire the employes and discontinue the development of the fine products we just bought, because less choice means less headache for our most respected customers.”
Olli

#17

You know they’re asking over $4,000 for MB 7?

#18

I know-- sounds like a joke, doesnt it .

but wait:
“includes one year of Autodesk Platinum Membership.”
if that aint worth it I dont know— yumyum—

Guess I have to put my hopes for the future on Maxon then-- go Rex, bite!

#19

I had a good laugh at that one!

#20

That is a bummer , but kind of expected:rolleyes: Another option that should be considered (although may be seen as evil on this forum) is to use XSI as a companion app. Like MB, it has a stock rig, NLA functions and fast opengl (though not MB speed)…as well as fantastic skinning and of course the rest of a high end app. With the upcoming 5.1 update including point oven export, it should be a doddle to get animation into C4d.

I use the two apps, but have favoured MB for character work. Now with the double whammy of MB standard dying and XSI getting PO export, I know which direction I will be persuing!