Shakeup at Autodesk
 

Cherish those copies of 3DSMax, you might not be getting them forever.

Rumor has it that there's a major shakeup underway at Discreet, the Autodesk digital video division. Discreet makes 3DSMax as well as the industry standard encoding software Cleaner and other software. Rumor has it that Autodesk is going to sell Cleaner, Combustion and 3DSMax to Apple and spin off the remaining product lines.

Apple's been devouring video companies recently, they bought Nothing Real, Logic (an audio company) and a few others.

What does this mean for FIRST? I don't know. FileMaker is also owned by Apple and they distribute their software to every team.

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

Well there is a couple things that could happen...

Hopefully they don't go evil and make newer versions have to be on MACs.

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

I REALLY doubt Apple would ever do that. But then again, it's Apple. So it's a possibility :) If that fails, there are other companies that make 3D animation software. There's Maya, Litewave, and Blender (hurray for OSS).

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

Hey, don't forget Anim8or. ;)

(It's not OSS, it's FREE! Legally!!!!)

I do get the felling we won't get max this season. It's not arrived yet. Is not it supposed to come in a pre-season delivery?

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

3ds MAX 6 has shipped to all paid teams. We got ours about 2 weeks ago, it rules.

See this email blast for more info: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=22547

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

116 got our software this week. I believe that in the past, FIRST sent them out in the order they recived payments.

So watch the mail. :)

Wetzel

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

We have had ours for a few weeks now... They send upon payments recieved.

-Greg The Great

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

We did? Nobody ever tells me anything... :confused:

Anyway, I think that FIRST had stated in a late-summer e-mail blast that all the teams would be receiving the full suite of Autodesk software that we usually get, to be shipped when the registration payments are made. The above information seems to confirm that is what is happening.

-dave

-----------------------

23 days to go!!!!

Re: Shakeup at Discreet
 

Apple is only interested in only Cleaner 6, not Combustion or 3d Studio Max.
Cleaner 6 is an essential app for professional video editing people. However ever since Discreet bought it out they let the Mac version somewhat rot. They omit features in the Mac version compared in their windows version, and so on. Since Apple wants to maintain their market share in the video editing community, they would probably purchase this app and integrate it into Compressor. Compressor is apple version of transcoder, but it is much less sophisticated than Cleaner is.

This rumor started at Apple Insider
http://www.appleinsider.com/news.php?id=264

While they have a pretty good track record, I believe that they are wrong about this.

Why would Discreet sell its best selling product, unless they were near bankruptcy (which I highly doubt). However I have heard that they are in a restructure phase though.

Even if there was the slightest chance that Apple bought 3d Studio Max, I believe that they would still donate it to FIRST. They donated File Maker Pro last year.

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

We're still waiting for the ok to install 3DS Max 6 :mad: The System... :rolleyes:

Hope Apple doesn't buy 3DS Max... or it might turn into something like this... somehow... http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/ :eek:

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

That's definitely not true. I know plenty of people who have had iPods for over 18 months and the batteries work absolutely fine. Plus if they do break after warranty they're only $99 to get replaced, not nearly as much as what these guys claim.

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

The length of the battery is not related to a time, but the usage. It does have a high density Li-ion battery, but it dosn't last forever. Battery's tend to be rated to the number of charge cycles they can go through. I know it only took me a year and a half to run the battery on my cell phone to the point it only held a 15 minute talk time charge (down from 2+ hours).

Apples mistake was making the battery non-replaceable. The only spec I found about the battery is this "Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery (630 mAh)"

Perhaps Al Skierkiewicz could stop by and explain the how and why the battery does this, and how to figure out the projected life of a battery.

Wetzel

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

iPod battery life.....It's a pretty popular topic with iPod owners like myself.

Some ideas can been seen here and here.

Re: Shakeup at Autodesk
 

Gabriel's right. That video clip is rubbish. There is an official replacement for $99 or some third party solutions for $49. Anyways that is not the point of this thread.

Personally I never liked Discreet. Their user licenses are very strict and makes you feel like a criminal. Apple doesn't have those strict user licenses.

However like I said I believe that Apple is just wants to purchase Cleaner and nothing else.