Sketchrender Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Morning all Does anybody know the release date of max 2012, looks like a serious improvement on the last one. Viewport alone look good. Thank you Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil poppleton Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I hear its in the next couple of weeks, and released on a USB stick. Will wait for the first service pack as they release with too many bugs in the first instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thox Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Our reseller told me it was being released on 24th March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Arbogast Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Good to know. This will be a very intriguing release for 3ds Max, as it seems mainly to do with improving workflow rather than adding lots of new features. The new viewport performance looks like it is going be a huge help for dealing with high-poly architectural 3d models. And from what I've seen, the Slate material editor will be more fully developed, and the Graphite tools interface is improved. If they are able to truly polish up these already-there components, I'll be very happy about that. I do, however, wish that Autodesk didn't use their customers as beta testers. In other words, it would be nice if they would fully develop features/tools such as the Slate editor, or Containers, or Viewport Canvas and release them when those tools have been fully developed with all their intended functionality. Instead, however, as an example Autodesk introduced the Viewport Canvas in the 2010 release and finished the job in the 2011 release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I wish they would cut their subscription price in half and release a meaningful upgrade version every other year. For example, if 2010 had been a combination of 2010 and 2011, it would have been a pretty good upgrade. The same with 2008 and 2009. As it is, I feel I'm paying $500 a year for "almost there" software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenpimentel Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Some would claim that $500/year for a full release, previous use policies, home use policies, subscription advantage packs, and more is cheap - especially when you compare it to the cost of going to Starbucks for a cofee treat twice a week... Anyway, don't want to get into that particular debate. Just wanted to say April 8th is the ship date (or download date more precisely). Watch your subscription account for it to appear. It can take up to 3 days for it to appear if the past is any guide to the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I understand your position Ken, and Autodesk feels obligated to release a new version every year to make us feel like we're getting our money's worth. It is just my opinion that these yearly full upgrades are not what a full upgrade used to be. I also think the yearly upgrade cycle places an undue burden on companies and developers regarding coordination, compatibility, and support. Whether I can afford it or not is beside the point. And don't presume that people don't understand the choice they must make between luxuries and work tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenpimentel Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Yes, this is why we introduced "save as previous version" and we're looking at other ways to minimize version upgrades. We're motivated to make moving to a new release as painless as possible. I know it hasn't been that way always. I think if there was no pain in upgrading, then most people's complaints will fall to the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Thanks for your patience Ken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil poppleton Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 We have subscription for a number of seats. We feel we have to pay yearly to keep in the loop, but we only upgrade every 2 years, with some software just gathering dust in the cupboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Arbogast Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Without wishing to contradict the comments of myself or others, there is one reason why I feel that the yearly partial/incremental upgrades have validity in the near future: The XBR initiative. Release 2010 began a major overhaul of the 3ds Max interface (which I am enthusiatic about). Such sweeping changes are likely to be more palatable to the user community if they are dished out in small yearly doses, rather than all at once. I can genuinely appreciate the tightrope that Autodesk needs to walk in order to bring their XBR plan to completion without alienating their customer base. Regarding the 2012 release, the improved viewport performance cannot get here soon enough. Ken: Thank you for the release date update! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenpimentel Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Yes, this was a big factor in our planning. We envision too much change to hold it all back for one big release or releases. Change has to be digestible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I'd really love to see a Backburner upgrade, there are so many areas in which it could be improved but I don't think it's had any changes in at least 10 years. It would also be tremendously helpful if there were some kind of remote network deployment available for things like hot fixes and service packs. I too feel that the yearly subscription is usually a waste of money, most of the time the upgrades are so basic it's not worth all the hassle, not to mention that your really taking a risk installing it before the first service pack comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenpimentel Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Honestly, you're not going to see us investing in BB. Use Deadline or one of the other commercial tools. BB stands for "Bare Bones" and other than fixing major bugs, there are no plans to change this. We view it as a small utility and is not going to get a lot of attention from us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 That's the exact response I expect from Autodesk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenpimentel Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 It's probably better that we tell you this directly (even if it isn't what you want to hear) rather than you going around thinking we're going to do something about it. So yes, if you expect honesty from us, that is what you got. If instead, you wanted us to drop what we're doing and now work on BB, that isn't what you're going to get. If you feel sufficiently motivated, add your voice/request here: https://autodesk.uservoice.com/forums/80695-publicgeneralfeaturerequests Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I was under the apparently wrong assumption that Autodesk was trying to make Max a better overall product, now that I know that BackBurner is going the way of Lightscape I'll start looking for something better. I find it funny that you even have a BB category in your customer feedback forum, it's pretty telling that the new idea with the most votes is to overhaul BB. It would be a good idea for you to officially post that Autodesk isn't going to waste their time messing with a useless utility like BB any more except for the occasional bug fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenpimentel Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Making max better implies making choices. If enough customers vote for BB to be resourced, then we'll definitely rethink the situation. The problem has been that max is so broad and customers want everything done to it. There is no way to proceed because we have no idea what is important or a priority. That is why we set up this new tool. I'm just saying that BB is not going to get attention until it is a higher priority for customers versus everything else they want us to do. I'm sorry, I don't think I stated this very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) Backburner is vital to my daily workflow and I would not be able to complete my work without it. Maxer, I have a poorly implemented method for using Backburner to update my render farm. It involves sending a job to BackBurner that calls a pre-render Maxscript, that then calls a batch script that runs locally on the farm machine to update the individual computer with installs, plugins, shaders, etc... Let me know if you want it, and I will be glad to give it to you, but it does need the help of a scripting professorial. Are there any scripting pros out there that would like to help improve the method I am using? If so, we can start another thread to work through it. Edited March 24, 2011 by Crazy Homeless Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Travis I'd like to take a look at it if you don't mind, maybe Ken knows of someone who might be able to help us out in this regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) Travis I'd like to take a look at it if you don't mind, maybe Ken knows of someone who might be able to help us out in this regard. Ok, I keep a Max file that is called 'Update Farm.max,' IN the Common tab there is a rollout for Scripts, and it has an option for a Pre-Render script. In that slot I have a path to a Max Script that is called 'Update Farm.ms.' That script is in the ZIP file attached ot this post. It simply contains the following line.. ShellLaunch "P:\Configuration\ChaosGroup\Update Farm.lnk" "" So basically, it calls a Windows shortcut. If I remember correctly, I had to call the Windows shortcut because the MaxScript would not allow me to call a batch script directly. At least I didn't know how to make it work. You'll also notice that it uses a drive letter, instead of a UNC path. I think I had an issue with this also, and needed to use the drive letter in order to make it work. So, the shortcut leads to a batch script that is called 'Update Farm.bat.' That batch file then simple uses batch commands to update the machine. I mainly just use it for XCOPY, but you can run installs, delete files, and do quite a bit of things to the local machine with batch scripts. When I send the job to render in BackBurner I typically set it to run 20,000 frames w/o saving any images just to be safe. It results in a lot of errors, and Backburner runs slow when dealing with it, but it works. Alternately, in the past I have simply placed a shortcut to the batch script in the startup directory so taht it runs automatically when the machine boots. This works, but the machine has to reboot, meaning you can not add plugins or such to the farm on the fly. I also experimented around once with using Windows schedule manager to make Windows call a batch script every 10 minutes to check and see if there were updates. It worked also, but I think it is a bit easier to just do it through BackBurner. EDIT: JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING When I used the batch script shortcut in the startup directory in the past I was able to use it to install new version of Max and Backburner on the renderfarm. You would not be abel to do that with the BackBurner update method because BackBurner can not be running during a Max update. The startup method uses a locally hosted batchscript that simply calls a more complex batch script located on the server. The more complex, though not complicated batch script had command line type of instructions for installing Max updates. Edited March 24, 2011 by Crazy Homeless Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiXeL_MoNKeY Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 That is the wrong way to handle stuff like that. Instead you should use the BB cmdjob.exe to send a per server job that calls a .bat file to handle the file management, etc. By using cmdjob.exe 3ds Max is never launched so it prevents files from being locked or overridden on close. -Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 That is the wrong way to handle stuff like that. Instead you should use the BB cmdjob.exe to send a per server job that calls a .bat file to handle the file management, etc. By using cmdjob.exe 3ds Max is never launched so it prevents files from being locked or overridden on close. -Eric I didn't say my method was pretty or correct, just that it worked. It makes sense to set it up as a command line bb render. This would make it a one click solution which would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevesideas Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 The problem has been that max is so broad and customers want everything done to it. When you say people want everything done to it do you mean people want a max release that maybe doesn't have quite as many new features to incur even more bugs rather than getting max to be rock solid and all the bugs and crashes fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchrender Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Can I suggest to autodesk to ask their resellers to contact all the licence holders in their area to ask if they have a subscription or not and if not why . Anybody I have spoken too in ireland have not updated in at least 2 or 3 years and these are all long term users. it is down to the cost I am 100% sure. If you care about your customers you should help them when they need help. phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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