Alias AutoStudio Indie license in the future?

[moisadesk]

Hi everyone,

I have been wondering if Autodesk Alias AutoStudio would be willing to consider having an indie license pricing for customers who couldn't afford the full version or lower income. I bet there are loads of people who are still dreaming and highly interested for this. I myself have been using Autodesk Alias Design 2012 and 2013. I would love to upgrade but it seems far too expensive.

3ds max and Maya are already doing indie licenses, I wonder if Autodesk would consider similar approach?

Thanks in advance, would like to know anyone's thoughts about this.

[philip.botley]

Hi moisadesk, thanks for the email.

That is certainly an interesting approach and idea - i'd also like to hear what other people think. Currently we have two 'cost effective' ways to 'access' Alias depending on your needs. 1) We have the learning Edition https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/alias-learning-edition which allows users who want to learn Alias, improve their skills or generally 'play with the tool's in their spare time to do so. This is a full working license of Alias Auto that doesn't need any subscription. 2) for commercial users who may only need to use Alias 'as and when' we have out Token Flex model which lets users pay for how much they use - kind of like a 'pay per day' this offers flexibility for those peaks in work. https://www.autodesk.co.uk/products/alias-products/overview?term=1-YEAR&tab=subscription

Whilst not exhaustive we are seeing a of interest and adoption of these routes.

Naturally we are also open to wider exploration so i'd welcome all suggestions and ideas.

Hope this helps and (as usual) feel free to reach out should you have any questions.

Best,

Phil

[moisadesk]

Hi Phil,

Thank you for the time replying. I know the AutoStudio is still only catered to a specific niche of either automotive or established industrial design studios market, thus on the website I've only seen either Concept or Surface tier. I for one was considering flex(ible) option but I felt like this is still for a seasoned Alias experts/veterans that are doing side freelance jobs; that will need only a couple of days usage.

Comparing to an indie license model from either 3ds max or Maya which I previously mentioned, I felt this is more approachable for users that didn't make as high income regardless how long they've been in the industry. People are glad for this model approach, in my opinion, without taking a significant portion of their earned income yearly.

I wonder if the "AutoStudio" tier would open more or widen their market target? There are many other established companies such as The Foundry, Maxon, Houdini, Corona/V-Ray(Chaos) Renderers to name a few that offer options as solutions to different market needs i.e. studios/enterprise or solo/individual/freelance tier. 

Thanks again and I appreciate your thoughts on this matter. I do hope Autodesk will consider this somehow even if it takes to change/re-brand the name again. 😃

And as a side note, I can speak from individual/freelance user of Alias Design that I have been using since 2012, that it is painful to do a workaround to achieve a similar clean continuity results like in Automotive/AutoStudio tier knowing many important features are truncated. Upon using the latest Alias AutoStudio Learning edition recently, it's actually a blast to be able to do it in such ease, along with other powerful live curve/surface manipulation features, not to mention the back and forth ability to use sub-d and and nurbs modelling is a game changer and phenomenal to even further one's ability to create unachievable shapes that other modelling programs cannot.