Quote - Any delay in release due to quality issues is acceptable and understandable; however not communicating with their customers after building up a communities expectations is not.

Nor is placing a pricelist online and then a couple of months later upping the prices dramatically!

Yes...  but it will ONLY be the download version - no manual or CD's. For that you would have to wait and buy the boxed version.

Unfortunately....   I never have a dual boot system and I always reformat and install a new version of M$ Windows fresh - too many problems upgrading over an existing version. If it was me, I would end up reformatting and then creating a completely fresh dual boot system. A little more info would also probably help the people here to maybe find the problem.

I assume that you put XP64 on a different drive/partition? Are the network drivers working? Can you use a network cable and connect directly to your router. Or are you on dial-up?

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The only thing (as far as I am aware) that you need to run XP64 or Vista 64 is a 64bit processor. I know that AMDs have no problem, though I think that the Intel Itanium processors are NOT acceptable. I am not familiar enough with that particular "problem" so if you have an Itanium you should research further.

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I've only had XP64 on our systems here, but I know for a fact that you CAN have a dual boot system. If you still need a 32bit system for some of your programs, then obviously dual boot will be your best bet. If you don't, I would format your harddrive and start with a completely clean install.

Good Luck!

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Quote - presumably those improvements will carry over to all future versions, right?  For example, Poser 6 retains the firefly renderer from version 5.  So if you were upgrading to 6 from 4, why should you only pay for the features that were added to version 6 and not the ones added to version 5 that you never paid for?  I don't think the Poser 7 upgrade is unreasonably priced, but I expected at least a $30 difference between upgrading from 6 and upgrading from 5. I still think blender has the best upgrade pricing. ;)

Quote -  

Like I said...  " I never got to use the improvements in the version above mine."

If I decided to skip a version (for whatever reason) why should I pay for something I didn't get to use? I can see what you're saying about the technologies being carried over, but I would be paying for that next upgrade anyway. You got what you paid for and were able to use it while I was "stuck" using the older version. Imagine if your computer hardware had the same "upgrade policy?" In order for you to use that quad core Xeon you have to either have used all upgrades since day one (spending many thousands of $$) and pay $3.550.00 for this new PC....  OR pay $75,212.58 if you are now upgrading from a Pentium 100 with 16mb (yes, MB) of RAM. The fact is...  if you didn't upgrade every system throughout you didn't get the benfits of the better/faster systems. But if you want to upgrade now, you can - AND....   you don't have to pay for all of the previous upgrades!

Just a little perspective....

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Doesn't bother me at all!  ;)  Newtek does the same thing with Lightwave. I've upgraded to LW through each upgrade and the same with Poser since version One. It's good to know that if I actually DO end up skipping an upgrade I won't have to pay a penalty when I go to upgrade to the next version.

Someone already mentioned here, but most here don't buy the upgrade in hopes of getting the next upgrade for less - they buy it because it (hopefully) has improved workflow and will make life easier for them. You have been able to use the software all this time while those using older versions have not had the new updates.

Quite a few software vendors actually DO charge more if you are upgrading from an older version - it was one of the BIG reasons I decided NOT to upgrade to World Construction Set. Why should I pay more when I never got to use the improvements in the version above mine? Well, this is just my opinion, but 3D Nature lost a sale because it charges more for older upgrades.

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Well...   here is the direct link to newegg.com - I don't know if they ship to the UK. But then....  you should be able to find it "over there" as well. XP64 bit has been out for quite some time - more than a year I believe - and it's been running here (on four machines - soon to be six) without a hitch. Love it!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116053

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What you need to do is spell out EXACTLY what they will get from you (length of animation; basic items in the scene; camera movement, etc.) and charge a flat rate based on how much time you think it will take you. You may have to alter the initial price if they come back to you with a more detailed list of what they expect. Send them the revised estimate based on what they now expect. Then....   when they decide to add and make changes to what you already have, charge an hourly rate that you feel comfortable with - be that $10/hour or $50/hour or $100/hour or anywhere in between.

This way both parties understand what is expected - you don't work for free and they receive what is spelled out. Inevitably clients request changes, but if you charge one flat rate and they expect changes within that flat rate, you will be shortchanging youself and they will expect the same treatment next time.

This is what we do. We give them the estimated price of the project and our hourly rate is $75 for any changes they require. Oftentimes the changes are minimal and we don't charge, but when they start a list they already know that it will cost them more and we have yet to have a problem after over five years.

I would also recommend you don't charge too low an hourly rate. Why? If this is a respectable company and you charge them $10/hour, they may not think quite as highly of you as someone who charges them $50/hour. Why? "This guy can't be that good if he only charges $10/hour..."  It all depends on who you are dealing with.

Hope this helps.

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Chinacat...    I don't see what the problem is. They got back to you in about 25 hours. Did you expect an instantaneous response? And it seems like they solved the main problem of you running the program. I assume everything is okay now?

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Quote - In my experiences with E-on, they are by far the worst company for support. I have Lightwave, they called me at home to solve a minor problem, that's service.  E-on's biggest downfall is their support.

On the flip side....   I've been a Newtek customer for over ten years, and unfortunately MOST of the time I've find their customer service to be lousy. E-On tends to be slow, but I've had to contact Newtek for one issue MANY times (via e-mail and phone) to resolve an issue. This has happened 4 out of 5 times. I'm not saying this to bash Newtek at all, just showing that at times even the companies that supposedly have great support are not all that great with everyone.

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I would bet heavily that the Vue5I you got with Lightwave will get the same upgrade pricing that anyone else who bought the full version of Vue5I would get. I bought Vue5I full version just after it came out and now have three or four additional seats of Vue5I that I have through the LW upgrade. I doubt E-On will distinguish what you got with LW and the full price version. Their main reason for doing this deal with Newtek is that they're hoping you'll like Vue5I enough to actually upgrade to the next version.

However....   we shall see.

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Excellent! Thanks for all of the answers and advice. Although I can't obtain different files from the architect - it was pulling teeth to get the CAD file of the contours - at least I have that file and CAN use it to create a viable pipeline using Vue5I

Again...   Much Appreciated!

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That.... looks absolutely incredible! VERY nice job. I don't think I've seen a more realistic use of these Dystopia Cityblocks. I have to admit I'm not really intimately familiar with them, but this really looks great. The atmosphere, sky and lighting are VERY realistic.

Outstanding work! :) ...and thanks for sharing!

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Mario Wrote: Your uvmap+bake process is hard to apply to models like the cityblock ? Do you have some how-to tips to share ?

Unfortunately I haven't used this technique - I've gleaned the info from other forums, probably CGTalk or the E-On forum directly. Personally I've given up on importing those types of model into Vue. I use Lightwave and will be using either the Synch technique (described VERY completely at Spinquad) or wait till xStream for LW shows up.

Then of course I have to find the time to experiment. Just way too busy! ;)

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