Hi all.
Im just wondering whats the current price for 3DS Max 3,5,6 ,
and if there is any place to pick up a secondhand copy, form someone who may have upgraded, i have checked on ebay, but i only found books. And how does the price of 3DS Max compare to Lightwave, and Alias|Maya 6.5.
Also I know alias does a PLE edition, does Discreet have a trial or PLE eddition 3DS max?
One last question, do you get a student discount on Discret, Alias software, and if so how much, and what are the requirements.
Bullet - Maya has two versions available. You may want to actually check prices before saying that Maya is cheaper than Max. Maya Complete is cheaper than Max, but Maya Unlimited is much more expensive.
Max has had licencing changes over the last few years, so I can't comment on that. When I bought Max 3.1 ages ago (year 11), I was able to qualify for a student version as my art teacher wrote a letter to say it was to further my studies. They basically needed proof that I was using it for educational reasons.
It is very difficult to get a 'student' licence to Maya as one doesn't exist. They have Commercial and Academic. Academic is meant for institutions and as such you can't buy a single licence. They only sell licences in blocks (I'm pretty sure that the AIE had to buy at least 20 copies at once). Pricing for Maya is fairly difficult as we don't actually have an Australian Alias department. There are three companies in Aus (that I know of) that are Authorised resellers for Maya. You basically contact the mand they will take the American price, convert it, add in GST and delivery charges. They then give you a pricing quote. That means that the strength of the Aus dollar can impact the cost of Maya quite substantally. It is also worth noting that an academic licence to Maya only lasts a year. The commercial licence is life time (like most titles). I deal with Storm FX (www.stormfx.com.au) for all my Maya needs. I suggest either contacting them or even better, Alias to find out if you would be able to purchase an academic version. Just a note that a comercial licence to Maya rounds to roughly be 4k for Complete and 12k for Unlimited.
I have no idea at all about Lightwave licences and how to aquire them. I would greatly recommend talking to Newtek about that. When in doubt, contact the makers, not people on forums. Blaming people on forums when you get busted for wrong licences won't save you :)
HazarD - Most student/academic versions of software don't have limitations feature wise. The main difference is that with student versions, you are not allowed to use the software for any kind of commercial gain (hence why they are also called 'commercial free' licences). That means no freelancing to try to make a bit of extra cash while you study :'( Commercial means that you own it for the time of the licence agreement (life time or yearly as the case can be). You can do with it as you please. Make as much many and generally pimp yourself out to whomever :)
quote:Originally posted by HazarD
aren't the student versions cut down tho ? ie loss of some functionality ?
I bought 3DSMax v3.0 + CS v2.0 for $200 too, the academic version. The difference I found is that you cannot release your work commercially (i.e. make money with your work) withe the academic version. I'm not sure about functionality though. v3.0 is a while ago though [:D]
I bought 3D Studio Max R3 with Character Studio a few years back when it came out. Got it for a student price of $199. I would have been in year 11 then I'd imagine.