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.
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).
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Does anyone else feel it is USELESS for Autodesk give ONE seat/license to each team? If the team has connections to a school using these products then they don’t need it (except maybe to install on a team laptop ??), and if they don’t already have access then one license (of each package/program) is not near enough to allow for the required learning curve, then complete any significant design/animation tasks to be useful, or enter into the contest(s), within the timeframe we are working.
What does your team do for CAD/Animation software ??
This is not the point of the thread, please refrain from writing about it. Anyways the $99 battery for the iPod actually has been out for quite a while. But they never advertised it.
I feel your pain Stu. This year, we’re going to be using the following versions of Max each with a single user lisence - 4.2, 5.0, and 6.0. 3 computers, 3 versions… this is going to be a mess I guess we’ll probably just put everything into the newest version (6) and go from there. FIRST, Autodesk, and Discreet should all realize that it’s impossible to work from a single user lisence when you have an animation team.
And Multi-user lisences are just way too expensive. If they weren’t, our team would probably have one by now.
We are going to try using the Portable License Utility to export the license, which is a NFR, not Educational, to computers, and just using the 24-Hr. Grace Period for team work.
If that fails, there are other companies that make 3D animation software. There’s Maya, Litewave, and Blender (hurray for OSS).
I guess we’ll probably just put everything into the newest version (6) and go from there.