Any plans for a MAX version of Maya LT?

[Crocopede]

Hi.

I was wondering if autodesk is planning or might consider a Max version of Maya LT.

Modeling tools, Skinning, the modifiers, CAT, Biped and normal bones. And of course the unwrap tools.

I see many indies only using those features in max. Would this not be a viable option to persue for autodesk? 

[spacefrog_]

I think that depends mostly on how the whole MayaLT calculations turn out for Autodesk ( in the business sense). It's always a certain risk to provide a stripped, but cheaper version of a big package. Sure people might buy in easier, but at the same time it might cannibalize user counts away from the main package. And i'm not sure how good ( in sales numbers) the whole Maya LT for indies turned out to be.

I don't trust any vague comment from Autodesk at all in that regard, if they want to push and market something, they will praise the product and their success to the skies. Same goes for subscription numbers and simmilar things...

So as long as their balanace sheet for Maya LT does'nt turn out to be heavy on the positive side, i think they will not spend much thought on the other general 3d product to follow that path ...

Just for completeness: don't forget that they already did stripped down releases 10-15 yrs back:

First with Plasma, a seriously stripped down Max version for modelling, animation & rendering and with gMax, a free (but stripped ) version for game modders

[Crocopede]

In all fairness when they did the whole Gmax thing they had the right idea but horrible timing. The indie business is bigger than ever.

I guess to a degree its understandble if they dont want to give users the option to move the cheaper lighter version of max.

As for MayaLT success. That im curious about. Considering Epic pushes MayaLT and unity users are all switching to it.

[spacefrog_]

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@Crocopede wrote:

.... and Unity users are all switching to it.

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Such general statements are exactly the thing i'm sceptical about (being a professional Unity Developer since 2008 ). Well - yes it's possible that it has some truth, but without official numbers this is too much guessing and marketing push in my eyes

And it's definitely only a success for Autodesk if there are HUGE numbers of new Maya LT users washing in ...

[Crocopede]

We wont really know unless they publish some stats.

It is a general statement. Taking into account my disdain at Maya in general... i cant really say if its true that people are flooding to it. I wont. Its a terrible interface for me individually. In fact so much i use blender.

Which is why i was hoping autodesk had some feedback.

But alas... my preconcieved ideas that Autodesk is as open to the community as Epic... was quickly shattered when i discovered that autodesk does not really repond.

[dgorsman]

Part of it stems from the community, unfortuneately: when a developer pokes their head in, it gets stepped on.  After a while they simply don't want to deal with that, and I can't blame them.  As a publicly held company there are also restrictions on what can be publicly discussed, including development road maps.  So take the lack of response with a grain of salt - it doesn't necessarily mean they aren't listening; it could be they cannot respond.