Smoke (Desktop Subscription) 2015 Ext1 is now available!
Desktop Subscription customers can now log into the Subscription Center and download Smoke 2015 Extension 1.
Extension 1 adds: • The Segment-based LUT Editor – Apply LUTS, color transforms, and color space conversions to timeline segments or groups of segments in the timeline.
• Matchbox Timeline FX – Access, build, and apply custom shaders and transitions using the powerful Matchbox GLSL shader creation tool, now available right in the timeline. •
Compatibility with Sparks – Add a variety of third party plug-in effects to your projects in Smoke.
Release Notes: http://docs.autodesk.com/smoke2015-user-guide/smoke2015x1_desktop_subscription_release-notes.pdf
Wow Robert, I did not realise that this was the case at all. This is not good. It was my belief (false as it turns out to be) that our subscription would automatically convert to the desktop subscription once the perpetual subscription ceases to offer updates. Our licence was due to run until next June and now we are not being updated. That is your company’s “strategic” decision, but it’s not a healthy one. So basically we are being punished for being on this subscription and will have to wait until the next full release or transfer across early when the subscription should still be running its course. This means that it's only half of a subscription this year, strictly speaking? Companies for sure change how they organise things and it’s not an unknown thing to do. The wise ones however do not allow those under the previous system to suffer for a choice that they could not foresee. You are then adding insult to this injury by giving a special offer for a switchover that should be automatic. You are actually taking functions away (in terms of communicating with other systems) and then charging extra to go over to the more restrictive model. Well here is my story:
We have 10 licences of Smoke at our University that are on perpetual at the moment but I have students who have timelines from FCPX who are not able to load them into the last version of Smoke. I am bothered about this, much more than I am about the matchbox timeline. I was telling them that the latest version would be out any time now but such fixes and rewrites to keep up with changes in FCPX xml are not being passed along. This frankly makes me angry and speechless and angry and speechless. I do not understand the twisted logic at work here as surely, once you cease to update the perpetual you just convert them across to the desktop at the point at which that former ceases to be developed and then ask for the next sub once that has elapsed. Surely that's too much of a customer base not to be giving updates (in our case usability to keep communication with FCPX which some students use for offline). Now basically it seems we'd have to wait six months at least and now these students will not wish to use Smoke and this thus affect their projects for no good reason at all. Please explain the logic here?
There is far too much weirdness to your customer practices (and I am not addressing Brian here by the company, so please don’t use Brian or expect Brian to be the spokesperson or, ahem, smokescreen) that rains all over the parade of the software. there seems to be (and I always come back to this image) an autoimmune self-damaging logic that does nothing but alienate people. This must make The Foundry and Blackmagic Design blissfully happy in seeing half of their work being done for them. This stores up so much animosity on the part of your customers that as soon as a product appears that answers to their issues, they will be off and out of here. I would switch tomorrow if something came along and Smoke for me is on borrowed time with very little good will remaining. Love the product, hate the way it’s handled. This then is a bit of a farce and as a tutor of students I don’t know if you’re coming or going. You seem to care little for Smoke really (a poor update, as I’ve said elsewhere) and again you are doing the work for your computers and in a strange sense then it is like Autodesk M&E’s marketing and strategists are secretly being employed by The Foundry. Strange decisions.
Cheers
Tony
Hi Tony.
We did not automatically convert Maintenance Subscription customers to Desktop Subscription, because we are aware that some people do not want to switch to Smoke Desktop Subscription. We would not want to force them into a new product / contract.
But to recognize the investment that customers have made in Maintenance Subscription, the promotional price is for a full year of Desktop Subscription, no matter how far along in your Maintenance Subscription contract you are when you choose to buy Smoke Desktop Subscription. (provided that this promotion is still in place at that time. I have not heard of it ending in the short term. I'll definitely make sure to let the community know when this ends).
A customer could even choose to take this offer on their last day of Maintenance Subscription (if the promo is still available at that time) and they will still get a full year of Smoke Desktop Subscription at the reduced price.
Additionally, users would of course keep their Perpetual license of Smoke 2015. It's theirs to use for as long as they want.
In your particular case, I would also advise looking into whether your university qualifies to receive FREE Autodesk software (including Smoke).
http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/academic-resource-center
Hope this clears things up a bit.
Regards,
Robert.
For me there is only one satisfying way for AD to clean that unbelievable mess with this split of Smoke in three parts/versions -> Flame Assist / Smoke Perpetual / Smoke Desktop.
For AD it is to bite the bullet and give all Smoke Perpetual owners a FREE cross-grade to Flame Assist!
Then, even the maintenance subscription for those people would make sense again. So they'll get every Extension Release of Flame Assist only if they are still on (a classic) maintenance subscription. At the moment our subscription unfortunately goes down the drain.
For companies who own a Flame and a Smoke Perpetual version the cross-grade is also free, so why not for loyal customers who were forced into this marketing disaster.
Especially longtime Flame/Smoke freelancers like me suffer now from the incompatibility of Flame/Smoke Archives and after all these appeal for help from the freelancers side there is still no solution or statement on the horizon from AD!
Regarding the free cross-grade: It's for sure not the way AD would have planned it, and especially not the way the "initiators" of this split or better call it break of Smoke and Flame want it. Maybe they even urged AD to do the break to save their "Sacred Cow", but my suggestion would not only calm down the Smoke Perpetual owners, and the freelancers who want to be flexible and prepare work at home, but also help AD and the great support people and programmers to only concentrate on two versions and not on the unwanted child "Smoke Perpetual" any more.
Hopefully my suggestion for reconciliation will be heard.
Best wishes,
Timo
+1 for this. Where is the magical solution for freelancers that Autodesk keeps promising will eventually come around? Since all freelancers are getting screwed over on compatibility and features - when compatibility is the main thing a freelancer needs.
Any news on what the freelance solution will be? It's frankly ridiculous how tight-lipped Autodesk are about every little tiny thing. Other public companies don't bungle their way through marketing in the same way. You plan something. You announce it. You follow through. How simple is that?
Here's an idea: put desktop reels into Flame Assist. Sell it to us. Collect all the money.
That's it.
Heck, The Foundry are already doing it. Wait and see, Autodesk. Wait and see.
Hi Robert
II own a perpetual license and renewed my subscription on june, because ADSK told me that I will receive all the new updates. What can I do, cause I feel really disappointment with this situation, I feel that I paid for NOTHING, even, I reported 2 critical issues with no solution, One the severals issues with Mavericks, and the other one the archive incompatibility with the desktop subscription and the perpetual one.
And If ADSK took the decision to change the conditions of the maintenance suscriptor, they need to announce to every customers, and this forum it´s not the right way. I did not receive any change on my contract.
Thanks,
Gonzalo
I agree that some system should have been in place to offer Maintanace subscribers the option to switch to Desktop. I was not offered such an option- so where did Autodesk get their view that Maintanace subscribers would not want to be switched to desktop? Will Perpetual even recieve an upgrade to be compatable with Yosimitie (or is it already as I can't find any information about it!?). I feel us initial inestors in the Smoke 2013+ product line have been abandoned.
Hi Ant and Gonzalo.
If you are on Maintenance Subscription and want to switch over to Desktop Subscription, you can take advantage of the promotional offer that was mentioned earlier on this thread.
My impression was that the availability of this promotion had been communicated to customers via our sales channel. Apologies if this wasn't the case and rest assured that I have flagged this to the appropriate people.
Regarding Yosemite: At this time, there is no planned SP for Smoke 2015 perpetual. The latest available version (2015 SP2) does not officially support Yosemite.
Best regards,
Robert.
I have been trying to switch my subsciption (which was renewed on 24th October) as the perpetual support isn't worth anything to me. My reseller hasn't been able to get anything out of Autodesk and it's becoming a bit frustrating.
Had the promotion been known about, I would have bought that but I was sold the 'perpetual' support as my reseller was told that it would cover Extension 1.
I tried to email Autodesk support but they didn't know what I was talking about. I don't blame them but why the big secrecy? Their reply was
"I am sorry if I was not able to help you.
Really not sure what is the Ext1 tried to find in our knowledge base some information."
Sven
So is that an official statement? Sorry to pin you down Robert.
But is that official? Is smoke perpetual dead?
Hi Mark.
The official statement remains as announced in this FAQ from April 2014 (items #4 and #8):
"With the introduction of Desktop Subscription, future product updates for Smoke will be offered exclusively through Desktop Subscription."
"this is the last version of Smoke offered as a perpetually licensed software. You can continue using this product in perpetuity, but to receive future product updates and support, you will need to purchase a new Desktop Subscription plan for Smoke."
Hope this clears things up.
Regards,
Robert.
Hi Adam,
Please help me understand...
If I decide to change perpetual to desktop now, how much do I have to pay?
I still have 75 days ahead to renew my perpetual contract, so if I will renew up to the term I'll receive a Desktop Subscription or what? It sounds very confusing... If I decide to keep perpetual but I do not get any updates and support, what is the reason for paying my perpetual yearly plan? So please, let me know what are my options now, considering me having a perpetual license and wanting to keep my product up to date for next years. Thank you and sorry for my stupidity... Autodesk business philosophy and moral behavior are much higher than my poor understanding.
Steff
And please tell me Autodesk doesn't expect it's Smoke customers to continue to pay for a maintenance contract for an out-of-date no longer supported piece of software. Phone support for a defunct program? Is it prudent for Autodesk to dedicate resources to such a thing? Please discontinue the Maintenance Contract renewal, honor the remaining terms of the current contracts, and wipe away a lot of this mess. I certainly hope Autodesk doesn't expect me to pay $700 for phone support for a dead program while denying me the upgrades I was led to believe I was buying. And no fault to the support staff in the online store. They were as confused about this as I was. This needs correction. I'm hoping Autodesk maintains their excellent reputation for quality and comes through with appropriate fixes.
Indeed to the above...
I had to go back n forth with my re-seller at least a half dozen times because i kept getting told the Perpetual would get an extension release...but i was skeptical. If I hadn't kept raising questions, and had listen to my re-seller (and i'm not blaming them) i would have paid the $675 last month for a dead product, then pay another $650 or so to cross grade.
There is huge amounts of confusion and mis-information when it comes to the two products, from customers, AD & re-sellers. It's mind blowing how bad this has been handled...and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.
Perpetual needs to be removed from the equation if it is infact dead and It shouldn't be an option to renew...via re-seller, online store etc etc.
Moving forward the only option a customer should have is Desktop and the rest of us with perpetuals will have to lick our wounds and figure out what are next move is.
Me? I think i'll wait to see if there is a 2016 release because the cost to cross grade to Desktop 2015 isn't worth the scant feature set improvement from perpetual.
An update to my adventures with this:
Autodesk has issued me a refund of my RENEWAL attempt to extend my contract. They did not issue any refund for the remaining term of my existing contract, which is good for about another month. This means I'm free to purchase a Desktop Subscription (from a 3rd party reseller because that's the only place they are available for Maintenance Subscription customers looking to renew apparently). Kudos to Autodesk for doing the right thing on this particular transaction. I still like the product. Will go for another year...
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