Autodesk's upcoming upgrade policy changes

[Valtiel]

I need something clarified regarding this. I'm receiving conflicting information from Autodesk's statements on the matter and my local reseller and am wondering if anyone else has done some investigation.

 

According to Autodesk's own page on the upcoming changes to their upgrade policy, by Feb 1 2013 then releases 6 years before the current version are eligible for a 30% upgrade discount. This is important for me because I'm on Max 9 (2007) with no currently available non-subscription upgrade path and I will have a very narrow window to take advantage of the new pricing knowing that Feb/March is often the timeframe that Autodesk releases new versions. Assuming Max 2014 isn't announced before or simultaneously with the new upgrade structure, I should be able to do this and I figured this to be very straightforward.

 

However... I called Cansel Ltd., one of my local resellers, to verify this and maybe even get a slip of if 2014 were to be released before Feb 1. The representative I spoke to said that 2007 and older were not eligible for upgrade pricing on the old or new policies and I was basically as SOL in Feb as I am now. So unless they were indirectly telling me (being under NDA about new releases) that the current version in February would be 2014, their statement conflicts with Autodesk's. I wasn't too impressed with the...uh...clarity of the representative as they seemed to be making statements about the year 2000 version (whichever that was) when they seemed to mean 2007. So I'm not 100% certain this representative really understood the new policy themself.

 

Is anyone else on Max 9 and/or savvy on this issue?

[John Dollus]

Have you tried the autodesk store rep directly 1-855-872-7703?

''At the next product release , the simplified Upgrade option would be available to customers with releases 2008 to 2013."

[Scott Schroeder]

Why are you on Max 9 still? If you've lasted that long, just stick with it. You've let the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 releases go. Why the rush to go to 2014?

 

For clarification, Max 9 was released waaaaaaayyy back 2006. After that, they started to name them by year. So 2007 saw Max 2008, etc. Remember, Max is one year ahead of the current year.

[Josef Wienerroither]

Regarding the release schedule for 3ds Max 2014:

I really doubt that the current version of Max as of February 2013 will be 3ds Max 2014. As far i remember, new version always were announced arround March and available arround April. You simply can check that following the below link, where Ken Pimentel ( who has now a different role BTW) announces Max 2013 at March 28th. I'm 100% that Autodesk is unable to shorten the existing release cycle by even only a few weeks ...

http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/ken/3ds_max_2013_announced

[Valtiel]

Hey John, no I haven't spoken to an Autodesk rep themselves. They seem to prefer that customers speak to resellers these days. It is something I'll look into.

 

I'm not so much interested in the release date of 2014 because I want to upgrade to it, more that I actually want to avoid it; Even under the most favourable interpretation of the new policy I can be sure that I won't have an upgrade path to 2014. I want to get into 2013 before it's too late.

 

While I don't see much fiscal or practical sense in spending thousands over the years to stay current given that 3D's only supplementary income for me, I do like to stay pseudo-current largely for plug-in compatibility. Many new and recent plug-ins cite Max9 as the oldest supported version of Max. Knowing that every release makes more work for the plug-in's creator to support more versions, I know that it won't be long before Max9 is out of their lists. As for the core program per se, the cumulative features and changes to Max since 2007 are a much more compelling migration than any single year's innovations.

 

Scott: I've been a student again (2 undergrads now >_

 

I'm hoping that Autodesk and the resellers keep an equal measure of either actual release dates or named years. So 9's official 2006 release is 6 years from 2013's official 2012 release. Equivalently, 9's extrapolated 2007 named year is 6 years from 2013.

 

Fingers crossed. On the up, I spoke to a different reseller who reasoned that I would be eligible for a discounted upgrade so long as I did so before the March release of 2014.

 

Thanks for the responses, folks!

[Frosty]

Isn't there a way to upgrade your student license to commercial? Much of the software I've used over the years have allowed this.

[Scott Schroeder]

Isn't there a way to upgrade your student license to commercial? Much of the software I've used over the years have allowed this.

 

There used to be a one time upgrade from student to full for on the cheap. Now that has changed depending on which student version you have. As far as I know, if you have the newer student versions where the license renews every 12-16 months, you are NOT eligible for the upgrade discount. However, I think they still kept the actual single person student version upgrade.

 

So if you are at a University that allows you access to the Autodesk Student website where you can get any title with a educational license, you are not eligible. If you buy a single student license as an individual from a reseller, then I think you are eligible.

[Valtiel]

Yeah, actually that's how I acquired my commercial license of 9 originally. It was a commercial migration from a purchased student license of that same version. Saved me nearly 1500$ at the time IIRC. The student version of 2011 Des I'm working with right now is one of their 3 year free "trials" for verified students. I can't find mention anywhere that the purchasable student licenses are still eligible for commercial upgrade/migration prices but that would make sense otherwise there would be no reason for them to offer such priced licenses. Looks like they (or at least Studica.ca here in Canada) is only doing that with the suites. So I reckon even a migration discount would still cost more than 70% of Max by itself.

 

:/