Brazil Test...

[Connie Jacobs]

First off, I apologize for offending anyone here at CGArchitect. I believe my comments were misconstrued.

 

I visit this forum on occasion to see what people are doing and saying. Almost every time I have come here, I do a search on brazil and fully 70 to 80% of the posts come from people using the crack of brazil. I see them ask and get support and complain of bugs that I know to only exist in the crack. I've seen several professionals post images in the gallery created by the crack, even listing their client's name with it. I know you all want to believe that most CGArchitect registrants are above this and most probably are, but most of the posters that post about brazil are using pirated copies. It's simply the cold hard facts.

 

Last night I visited the forum and saw more of the same. If you walked a week in our shoes you would understand our frustration.

 

When I saw the original post to this thread--a nice image by a new customer I thought, how delightful. But as is common here, the followup posts turned into a vray vs brazil thread. I mean, here's nice image and the guy is asking about other brazilians who are here and it turns into a "brazil is too slow" discussion. It was insulting to the artist as well as the other brazilians who lurk here (and there are hundreds of them as I see in the studio listing). I mean, if I used brazil, why would I post anything here? Why would I ask advice or seek contructive crits if it's only going to turn into a vray thread?

 

I apologize to Rick in particular for giving the impression I thought he was a pirate. That was bad judgement on my part. I was mixing my sadness of the artist's topic getting derailed as well as the frustration I felt from my seeing the rampant piracy on the forum just before I read this thread. I shouldn't have done that. I do stand by the fact that the public test is not a legitmate way to test 1.0.

 

As for evals, we've set up 30-day evals for almost anyone who emails us and asks for one. If some have not received a reply, I apologize. We get hundreds of emails a day and some may slip thru the cracks. I encourage you to try emailing sales@splutterfish.com again if you have not received a reply.

 

We have not set up a publicly available full-featured demo for many reasons. We are still a small company and as such we do not have the resources to manage this currently. Brazil is one of the most popular max plugins out there. A demo requires special license code, and a support system that allows us to help and focus our attn on serious inquiries while not inadvertently wasting our staff supporting pirates. I think it's fairly common that as a product gets more differentiated, public downloadable demos are less common. Most of the professional development tools I use that are in a similar price range also require that I register with the company first before a trial is given.

 

Our current system is if you get an eval thru splutterfish, you get the full attention of a registered user for 30 days. And this no small thing. We're offer more than the standard web board support. We have helped people at all hours of the night, even weekends when rendering emergencies arise (license server craps out for instance). We've looked at files and given personal online training. This is why we don't simply put a link and say, "download, you're on your own."

 

If you find your work is better suited towards one tool or another then by all means, use that tool. Most professionals however, will find that they need one tool for one job and another for another job. I stand by the fact that Brazil can handle those more challenging projects better than any other renderer (high poly, animation, realism, special lighting, etc) and as one gains more experience with Brazil (use of photons, accelerators, custom shaders, etc), it can easily be used for fast everyday-work as well. Brazil can cover the full range of needs. But I understand, it's not for everyone and luckily unlike a short time ago, artists have choices.

 

Connie Jacobs

SplutterFish

 

PS....

 

On a personal note...

 

The other partners of Splutterfish come from a film/broadcast background and Brazil is borne from that mindset.

 

When we first started selling the Brazil pre-release, we were surprised at the number of arch viz guys who bought. I got to know several of them quite well, worked with some of them thru the beta, solving problems and such. I developed a strong feeling for these people and focused on their needs. The irony is that I have always been the champion (and continue to be) for the arch viz community at SplutterFish--pushing for features and bug fixes that virtually only benefit the arch viz professionals. One guy mentioned that I should listen to the criticisms (the valid ones). Well I assure you I do and I act upon them.

 

So perhaps this is why I am taking this stuff personally and I know I'm smarter than that.

 

[ May 21, 2003, 04:30 PM: Message edited by: Connie Jacobs ]

[kunstraum.tv]

70-80% ? wow....didn´t expect that. connie, i really can understand your frustration and that you think that brazil ist the best choice even for architects. at some points brazil IS the best renderer on the market. the artist must know what he wants and then make his choice. i didn´t want to start a discussion brazil vs vray. i´m just convinced by vray as you are by brazil..that´s all. and i think the market is big enough for both. and as i see vray has the problem with cracked stuff, too. that´s really a shame and i can understand you very well at this point.

[Ernest Burden III]

Connie

 

You're still doing it.

 

Almost every time I have come here, I do a search on brazil and fully 70 to 80% of the posts come from people using the crack of brazil...most of the posters that post about brazil are using pirated copies.

Perhaps I wasn't clear before. WHO is using an illegal copy of Brazil? Do not say 75% of our posts are from pirates and not back it up! You didn't say 'a lot of post I read on the web about Brazil' you said 70 - 80% of the post HERE. If you are going to make public accusations when private means were available to you, then you should expect to be specific: WHO are the 75% of people HERE? You opened this door. Now put up or shut up.

 

I see them ask and get support and complain of bugs that I know to only exist in the crack.

Now that's an interesting point. Can you please give us a list of the bugs that only exist in the cracked version (there is only one?) and for comparison, a list of the bugs in the commercial software?

 

I was mixing my sadness of the artist's topic getting derailed as well as the frustration I felt from my seeing the rampant piracy on the forum just before I read this thread.

There you go again.

 

The cold hard fact that you must face is that what you are doing by posting these angry messages--like most anti-piracy measures by software vendors--is doing little or nothing to deter hackers and warez users. They can beat any system you put in place. They take it as a personal challenge. But you do deter and obstruct legitimate customers, and possible future ones--like me. I'm rather tired of taking heat for the actions of others when all I do is pay what a vendor asks and try to make a living.

 

Oh,and by the way--I do not always register every piece of software I buy. With on-line systems it's pretty easy, but I'm not in a database like the one you check against every post here for all the programs and hardware I buy. Some people use aliases here, too, some have Brazil at work, or use it at a friend's studio. So they would be able to make informed comments without being in your database and still not be a criminal.

 

OK, speech over. I've got work to do, so its back to the VERY fast raytracer of Lightscape for me.

[Paul Griger]

Originally posted by Connie Jacobs:

First off, I apologize for offending anyone here at CGArchitect. ...I apologize to Rick in particular for giving the impression I thought he was a pirate.

that's appreciated.

 

And it's good to know of the 30 day trial offer.

 

Originally posted by Connie Jacobs:

I do a search on brazil and fully 70 to 80% of the posts come from people using the crack of brazil. ... I know you all want to believe that most CGArchitect registrants are above this and most probably are, but most of the posters that post about brazil are using pirated copies.

That is a bit tough for me to swallow. Either to believe the truth of this or to believe the facts you are using. Just a tough pill to swallow for me w/out hard facts. But I'm not looking for names. And some have pointed out that their screen names or registered names at CGA may not be the same as the one registered at Splutterfish for whatever reason.

 

 

Bottom line is that I have always been impressed w/Brazil renderings. It's sad that piracy robs hard working companies of their profit margin, especially the small ones.

 

best,

 

paul

[Tony]

Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!

 

This woman must be living in the twilight zone where there are no consequences for your words or actions.

 

And please, don’t try and convince me that her last post was not an insult directed at this forum and it’s members. I can read too! Hey, I can even comprehend what I’ve read.

 

Oh my God, does this mean I have to leave this forum and be banished to hackers hell, or worse, the splutterfish forum.

[Jeff Mottle]

As this thread is turning into a flame war and is not contributing constructively to the site, I'm closing this thread.