3ds Max/3ds Max Design survey for non-entertainment users

[Anonymous]

Help us plan the future of 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design for non-entertainment projects. We’re looking for people either using or interested in using 3ds Max or 3ds Max Design to fill out a short, multiple-choice survey. There are no wrong answers and you’ll get bonus karma points for filling it out.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8VK29R8

Note: we don't have an entertainment-only version of this survey ready yet, please be patient

[michaelissa52]

i think max is the most incredible tool when you look at all it does, for arch viz we just need a few simple functions, ours is just a navigation issue, yes accuracy is sometimes an issue but i think when a new user starts up max and starts to fool around he should hit the ground running and not need a long tutorial on how to navigate,lol, we always laugh about this because i remember once we had a client that came in and i had a model open in max and the same in sketchup and the client was an architect so, he by himself started to fool around in max to move in the building, after a minute he said this is crap,then he tried sketchup and he said that was more easier to just move and look around the rooms and the building. I think what AD can do is call in a man off the street with no experience and tell them to try sketchup and max, max first and see what that say, maybe include blender, i know its navigation is not bad too i tried it just once and get some valuable feedback, after all what is a business if you can't draw in more new people, you have a large sketchup following out there looking for a more powerful tool for archviz and max is the answer but its tough to move around so i would say give us more room AD and freedom.lol. entertainment people will no doubt benefit from this also

[k4noe_vi]

I wonder why he want survey right now , not half years ago to improve the new max....if you want suggest Autodesk Sir, just read small anoy thing and done something about it, all costumer want is in there, all costumer depresing thing also in there, also its big home work , not easy to do....not now when the software pack almost launcing. 45d less , and you want some input...if I input now will you granted it, with timed time line....i guest not....it will cause max to scramble...just focus what you want to launch...survey later.

[DavidDustin4627]

Ken, Thanks for getting that survey going.
It was refreshing to know AD might be interested in what the rest of do that involves Max that isnt related to arch-vis etc...
We work in the Forensics and use Max almost exclusively.
We also do Max training for Engineering companies and Gov. Agencies (NCIS etc).
David

[Anonymous]

What we've learned from looking at our data is that there is tremendous growth in the use of 3ds Max in non-entertainment industries, sure Arch-Vis is one, but it actually isn't the primary growth we're seeing. We're trying to figure out the details on what you "others" want out of 3ds Max.

It's time the "others" rise up and have a voice! 🙂

[phloog]

I also think it is time Autodesk gives people who bought Max for Entertainment creation and have watched as the fragmented vision has caused it to really lag behind other more focused Entertainment products a chance to do a one time free swap to Maya. Now it seems that instead of just being scattered across viz, video/film and games, it is going to be spread even thinner.

Is there any valid reason why you wouldnt let us just swap for Maya?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, it isn't anything I can really comment on publicly. Sorry.

[phloog]

Is there someone who can comment publicly? Or who can comment privately?

I think Max is a great product for a lot of uses, but the path of development is clearly not focused on entertainment and it is equally clear that Maya is the chosen "brand" within Autodesk for this. This makes perfect sense-why develop multiple products with the same focus?

But prior to the acquisition, you had a reason to keep Max relevant to entertainment, so I bought and continued to upgrade/subscribe. Now it makes no sense for you to keep developing the cool things i want when they are in Maya, but I am stuck with a product that is dead or dying in terms of the main uses for which I bought it, so I am looking for a chance to switch to the product in your line that is now intended for my uses

[spacefrog_]

This is not a very reasuring statement for anybody trying to stick with Max in the entertainment field...

[Anonymous]

You have to be able to allow me to say "no comment" without jumping to conclusions. Otherwise, I won't be able to post on the forums. I simply mean that I can't comment whether we would have such future promos or not. That's all it means. We don't talk publicly about these kinds of things.

[Anonymous]

I don't know what you want. We have already publicly talked about the use of 3ds Max in Entertainment and 3ds Max Design in non-entertainment. That is our story.

We don't ever talk about whether or not there are future promotions.

[phloog]

What I want is simple: I want Autodesk to offer consumers who are on subscription for Max but who want to work on Entertainment projects the one-time / limited time option to simply switch their subscription to Maya.

I am pushing for it to happen NOW in large part because it should be easiest for AD to accomplish now - - simply don't post my upgrade to MAX on my subscription page - post Maya 2014 there and from then on out I'm a Maya owner. If you did something like this AFTER Max 2014 released AD might complain that we're getting BOTH products. And if you truly believe that it's just me who feels this way, just offer it to me and I'll totally shut up - I'll be too busy learning Maya to complain.

I don't want you to talk about future promotions - I want you to actually make that offer now.

I've read all your announcements, and based on the comments I've read on FB, the videos, the blogs, I'm not alone in thinking that Max is no longer being developed in a serious way for entertainment purposes.

THAT IS FINE...THAT IS YOUR RIGHT.

I would just like to remain an AD consumer by moving to the product that IS focused on Entertainment.

Right now you're making it look like the biggest mistake I ever made was not jumping ship long ago, but at the time I incorrectly assumed AD was serious about keeping Max as a player in entertainment...now I'm trapped with this thing that's going to be focused on seemingly everything but entertainment.

What I want, then, is to give you an opportunity to keep me as a customer of at least ONE of your products.

But since it appears you want to keep me trapped in Max with no hope of moving to Maya without paying through the nose, I find myself wishing you'd let me CANCEL my subscription and get my money back to apply to another seat of your competitor's entertainment-focused package. If you really want us to go 100% off Autodesk I guess that's fine.

Without this kind of option to switch to Maya - whether you can talk about future offers or not - I won't be spending another dime on Autodesk products, nor will I recommend them to anyone - REGARDLESS of the market segment involved.

And while there are limits to what I can say as well (wow! I get to be cryptic now, too!) , I can honestly tell you that the impact will be a little bit larger than it currently seems. Nothing earth-shattering, but significant.

[spacefrog_]

It simply sounded somehow as there were preparations considered to allow such a switch from Max to Maya in the future. And that would ultimately mean the death of Max in M&E. I know that i reacted over-sensitive when reading your post, but all that is a result of Autodesk neglecting the major M&E areas of 3ds max for so long. And when i read some posts in this thread that request more "sketchupifaction" and "random guy from the streets should be able to navigate the package" i even don't want to think about the conclusions Autodesk might come up with after analysing all those surveys ...

[Anonymous]

While I think offering a venue to switch from Max to Maya might be a nice PR move for some, it's really not as easy as you're making it out to be (think sub. benefits, accounting, tech support). Furthermore, this survey doesn't indicate that Max is becoming less "entertainment" focused.

I agree that development may appear somewhat stale, but what do you expect? For years the community has been shouting, "Less new/buggy features! More ui/bug fixes!" There's a lot of evidence that they've been listening to us - from all the service packs to the unicode restructure that (sadly) broke a lot of plugins. And Max 2014 isn't without new "entertainment" features - the Pflow tools, perspective match, DX11 shader support, and vector map support are all useful "entertainment" features.

Honestly, the only thing I don't care for is the divide between 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design. I appreciate that certain toolchains and workflows may be different and I truly applaud this survey for "non-entertainment" uses, but I think the two products dilute the 3ds Max identity and divide the community. Maybe my little studio is unique in that it tackles a variety of jobs, ranging from games and VFX to instructional videos and visualizations for inventions and city development projects, but I often find myself using "entertainment" features in "non-entertainment" projects.

p.s. thanks for contacting me, Ken. Looks like I'll have to retake the survey.

[Anonymous]

Well, this is very off-topic for our survey. I'm sorry I can't help clarify things more for you.

[Anonymous]

We generally put a high priority on features that will be liked by both entertainment and non-entertainment users. Much of our recent investment has actually gone there and into the core (performance, stability, nitrous).

You're not unique, there is a large percentage of users that straddle entertainment and non-entertainment. You get to complain twice as much. 🙂

[lightcube]

I agree. 95% of my interest is in entertainment... and although there are things I'd like to see that aren't here... I am not sold on the idea that Max development for entertainment is dead. Having already owned Box2/3 for a few years, I'm not really getting anything new in that regard this year--but those additions are 99.99% entertainment.

I also agree about the Max/Max design. Seems kind of arbitrary unless the two sides will have drastically different workflows/ui in the future. But I can live with it.

Like all the other passionate Maxers here, I often rant about things that concern me (usually business moves regarding Max that don't feel customer friendly or a bug that lasts multiple releases) ... but my gut tells me that Max will likely outlive all other major 3D apps. I'm excited about this release (and those that follow).

[py_temp2]

Ken, I understand u. Max still work on ME. Right? Just yes or no to know the future. This survey focus on nonME. I wonder if people saw your topic at first. I just hope that you can show us as much as you can. 🙂

[Tim_Wilbers]

Ken,
Submitted yesterday without issue.

[michaelissa52]

i just had a chance to try mudbox, i love its zooming ability and navigation! why can't 3ds max have navigation as robust as this? 😞

[Anonymous]

Just letting everyone know that the Entertainment survey should post next week. We wanted to close this survey before starting another one.