Autodesk Motion Builder 7.5

#21

Well, it sounds like you want to spend 10,000 pounds to learn a piece of software. A piece of software that has a version for free for learning.

:shrug:

#22

Hey MotionBuilder Users,

    My name is Curtis Garton and I’m the Autodesk Product Manager for Autodesk® MotionBuilder™ software.

This post addresses certain speculation circulating since the launch of MotionBuilder 7.5 software with regard to the MotionBuilder Standard product.

As of the MotionBuilder 7.5 release, Autodesk will continue to develop the MotionBuilder Pro product, now called Autodesk® MotionBuilder™. The product road map for MotionBuilder has not changed as result of the Autodesk acquisition of Alias. MotionBuilder continues as a stand-alone application, specializing in real-time character animation, and supporting the FBX® interchange file format. There will be no future updates to the MotionBuilder Standard product.

Please be assured that significant information was gathered, and carefully reviewed and considered in making the decision to discontinue the product. The decision was made with the best intentions for the MotionBuilder product and its future success in mind.

    Discontinuing the MotionBuilder Standard product was not intended to alienate the MotionBuilder user base. Rather, the intent was to align a product configuration that’s sustainable and provides focused resources to develop new, innovative and exciting additions to the MotionBuilder product.

With this change, we are extending a migration program to existing MotionBuilder Standard users who wish to upgrade to MotionBuilder 7.5. The program will be open to all users of MotionBuilder Standard versions 5, 5.5, 6 and 7. The cost of this migration program is $1995 and includes one year of Platinum Membership (a $695 value) which qualifies you for upgrades of the product at no charge. Platinum Membership provides you with a number of services, including Hotline support, access to training materials and Interactive Training Sessions. This migration program will run until August 18, 2006.

As for FBX, Autodesk is dedicating even more resources into the development of the format. Moving forward, the plug-ins and SDK will evolve at a significant pace, particularly since FBX provides interoperability between MotionBuilder software and third-party applications, as well as between Autodesk Maya® and 3ds Max® software. Make sure you update your plug-ins!

I hope this letter provides some insight into the decision to discontinue the MotionBuilder Standard product. I look forward to continue working closely with the MotionBuilder community and am very excited about the great things to come!

Cheers,

  

  Curtis Garton

  Product Manager – MotionBuilder

  Autodesk Media and Entertainment
#23

Thank you for the response.

#24

Yes, thank you for the response. This clears everything up and will allow users to make informed decisions regarding other potentially useful software.

Unfortunately, alienate the hobbyist user base is precisely what Autodesk has done. Regardless of the special pricing, it is way over what the average hobbyist (IMO) will be willing to pay.

It’s a shame to say - and I do hate to say it - I hope that Autodesk loses lots of money as well as decreasing the Motion Builder user base dramatically and eventualy has to revisit this decision. Of course by that time other software will hopefully have filled this void.

As the saying goes… Only Time Will Tell…

Megalodon

#25

oooooh what a great deal. I can get the whole CInema 4d XL bundle for that price.

Messiah for $295.

Hey leave it to Autodesk to make 3d and all relative creative software out of the hands of common people.

I bought Motionbuilder at 495 when it came out. Now we have to pay almost 2 grand?

Yup leave it to evil corporate companies such as yourself to alienate folks.

I mean even evil companies like Dell, HP, Compaq, Sony are at least trying to make things avaialable for everyone

Dell for example has the high end computer systems for $4,000 and up, then they have something with relatively great features for mid range and then the $299 dollar special. They are getting computers into peoples hands, not keeping it for the elite few.

That’s why I never bought your products anyways. You only serve the elite. Go ahead and make your money. That’s your perogative but just realize your just like any other evil corporation don’t try to act nice, if you are gonna be evil, just do it. Don’t act like your offering a good deal or something. Just be forthcoming… We made a descision to to buy Motionbuilder, migrate it to our program, dump the little guys, and make more money charging big studios because they can afford it. Do we care about the user base existing, heck nah, you guys are pennies and what do you do with pennies? Forget you even have them.

Just like I ain’t going to act like I’m doing you a favor buying your product or not buying it. So don’t act like your offering a good deal in comparison to what people bought it for in the first place.

May all your software turn to warez. May all the studios move to XSI, Lightwave, A:M or anything else. May Microsoft buy you out and stick you on the shelf. May you have a low profit quarterly earnings and your stock plummet.

LOL, okay it’s not that serious, lol. I’ll just move on and animate with what I have.

#26

What next?

Autodesk is going to buy Adobe and add a zero to every price
Photoshop? $698? Well based on our analysis and user information I think that $698 could have an extra zero at the end $6980.

Yeah that is more like it.

Zbrush…$498, based on our significant gathering of information and intensive research, we have found that Zbrush needs an substantial change in price structure

$4980. Our analysis has pointed that our customer’s will be well pleased with this substantial change in pay structure. Our intention is not to alienate the user base but to, oh heck with it
hopefully to make more money.

Autodesk, please do us all a favor, please stay away from all our favorite apps. I would be better off in Microsoft’s hands.

#27

He Flog… now wait a minute… Photoshop at $6980? Nah, they’d keep the price down to $4995! :slight_smile:

I could probably pretty much afford the $1995 - but I NEVER will because of this tactic. It really is a slap in the face to the average user, even though they try to sugar coat it.

Future success? Best of luck - you stranded MANY standard users and say it will bring a better product. Unfortunately it won’t be a better product for MOST of us here since MOST of us won’t pay even that “special” reduced price.

It really is a sad day.

Megalodon

#28

How much you want to bet we won’t be hearing from them ever again. They came in with their prewritten schpeel about blah blah blah for the future.

I just hope they stay away from all my favorite products.

Curse be they, may all their software turn to warez, lol, that cracks me up

#29

Is this upgrade free or is it a payed upgrade? I have a 7 pro copy and was thinking about upgrading but I do not have a platinum membership so can’t access the download page.

I am not a big fan of Autodesk and I don’t want to pay 700.00 a year for a platinum membership just so I can get point upgrades. Looks like I need to migrate to another animation package.

#30

As for FBX, Autodesk is dedicating even more resources into the development of the format. Moving forward, the plug-ins and SDK will evolve at a significant pace, particularly since FBX provides interoperability between MotionBuilder software and third-party applications, as well as between Autodesk Maya® and 3ds Max® software. Make sure you update your plug-ins!

read this as:
“We will change the FBX format so that it will be incompatible with all programs other than Maya and 3DSMax”

Thanks for clearing up this and reconfirming our concerns.
The pricing is a major miscalculation and I doubt that there is any other reason than burying a product that is cross-platform and not maya/Max only and thus benefits the competitors-- waitaminute— wouldn’t it it benefit the customers— ah-- forget those suckers, lets play monopoly.

Olli

#31

…and just so happens to cost 4 times the amount you’d get from selling the std package.
No, sorry, all this is corporate speak. As others have said, this move will make people look seriously at other packages, it may not have been your “intent” to alienate a whole group of MB std users, but by the same token, it’s clear you felt they either had to upgrade or move on.

Colour me as one of those moving on, not that you’d give a rats rear section, as I’m only a ‘little guy’ anyway.

It was so read and considering the track record so far, anyone who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.

#32

where is Curtis now?

#33

Has anyone ever switched the OS that their Motionbuilder Standard license runs on? I want to go from OSX to PC in light of recent developments, namely

  1. There will never be a Mactel version of MB Standard
  2. I can use Bootcamp to run my existing copy of MB 7 on Windows at full speed on a Mactel laptop which will be my next workstation purchase.

I see that I have the installer for both platforms but I don’t know wether my existing codes will work on Windows.

I’m sure other Motionbuilder Standard users on OS X will be thinking about the same option.

#34

Hey Blur1,

Your best bet is to check the MotionBuilder forum at Autodesk. I’m sure that there must be many more users that frequent there that could answer your question. Then again…

Megalodon

#35

Yes it’s a support question really, contact reseller etc. Will check out the forum, I have the bookmark right here…

#36

i have motoin bulider 7.5 and i can say 7.5 is amazing . you should see

#37

Foundation version of XSI - $495 US (has animation/rigging, full modelling and rendering, cloth and particles)

Upgrading MB Standard to Pro - 2000 grand ?!?!?

Uh…yeah.

By alienating the hobbyist/student, they’ve effectively stunted the user base growth.

What should have happened is Pro becoming the cost of Standard. Why? Because the features that were in Pro, for the cost differential, SHOULD have been in Standard. The Pro version just shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

If the full-suite was available for about $2000, I could see people adapting. However, the ONE thing, and they’ve been riding on this for long time, that keeps the package in existence, is real-time playback.

Every package out there, with the exception of MB, lacks this vital production tool. If MB loses this, or one of the other developers picks this up (XSI? Lightwave? Messiah? Cinema? Houdini?) , who wouldn’t jump ship? If I had full real-time playback in ANY of those packages listed, I know I would.

Let’s call a spade a spade. MotionBuilder is an animation package; a small part in a bigger pipe.
XSI is a suite (of which, animation is a part of).

Fundamental differences and yet the price-point difference for each is HUGE! There is no justification, other than cash, to sell MB for 5,000k, to any student/hobbyist/studio.

#38

helo, anyone knows what studios are using Motionbuilder? I have been using Maya but not Motionbuilder to implement characters and animations to the game engine, could anyone give me some comparisions please I would really appreciate it.

Thankssssssssss
red carrot

#39

Hi all, weve been using motionbuilder for years in our games company, i think its getting a bit of unfair stick in the above posts, as a proffesional package i pretty much find it indispensible, we deal with hundreds of animations, some hand keyed and some motion captured, motion builder allows us us to deal with all these animations and utilise them between different rigs and characters in real-time quickly and effectively.

I cant speak for the casual user, but as a proffesional package its streets ahead.

#40

I don’t think ANYONE here has anything really negative to say about the software. But THAT’s not the point. The point here is it’s somewhat obvious that AutoDesk is JUST out for the buck and essentially leaving all (or most) of the hobbyists using the standard version behind. Essentially we are screwed.

I wish you nothing but continued success with MB Pro, but I have nothing nice to say to AutoDesk and hope that they find out that they’ve made a HUGE mistake in screwing over (YES, screwing over) those of us using the standard version.

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