Maya 2018 Update 6

[Anonymous]

I am teaching a class this summer that will be using Maya 2018. Last Fall semester, I had students follow the steps on your website to install Update 6 for Maya 2018. This is the link: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Where-is-....

When following these steps now, the Update 6 download seems to no longer be there. The only option for downloading is Autodesk License Service (x64) - 5.15 Hotfix 1.

I used the live chat to speak with a support agent. They were not able to answer my questions, so they contacted the technical team about it.

The email response I received stated "free student licenses are not eligible for updates, hence are not made available as entitlements in account. The links provided were aimed at commercial customers, and were not made available on the Education Community." I understand what this is saying, but some of my questions are still not being addressed.

In the past 8 years, students where I teach using the free license have been able to download software  Service Packs and Updates. There has never been a problem with that.

Has this policy changed?

As I said in the support chats, students using the free software DID have access to the Maya 2018 Update 6 in 2019 and 2018.

If this is a policy change, does that mean that if there are serious issues with the software, then students are stuck with those issues unless they pay for the software. 

I am not questioning this shift in policy, nor am I upset. I would just like a direct statements about it. Students in universities all over the world are using this software to complete coursework. If there has been a change in policy, then that would be good to know so students and professors will be informed in moving forward.

Thank you,

Edward

[mdavis22569]

Likely because 2018.7 is out now ... and it would contain 2018.6

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/getting-started/caas/simplecontent/content/maya-release-...

Maya 2018

 Maya 2018.7 Update Release Notes

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response, but my students are not any seeing any updates for Maya 2018. If Update 7 was an option, I would tell them to install that.

My questions are really more related to whether students using the free version of any Maya release will no longer be eligible for updates/service packs. If that is the case, then this is a policy change from the past. I am hoping that someone from Autodesk could address that, or is this just some total confusion on my end 🙂

[porca_paletta]

Starting from this year, student licenses are limited to 1 year use (previous one was 3 years), then all 2018/2019/2020 updates are not available anymore for student accounts: you can download updates for the latest version only (e.g. 2021, right now), and after 1 year (when the new 2022 version will be released), all updates will be deleted from the account and you won't be able to download further ones

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. That's a big change.

So the updates are gone regardless of whether the student has used the software? I am wondering if the year timeline you mentioned has to do with the timing of the the software release, the timing of when someone creates an account, or the timing of when someone has downloaded and activated the software.

[porca_paletta]

It's the year release that matters: 2020 updates have been available until 2021 releases; 2021 updates will be available until AD releases 2022 softwares, and so on.

No matter if the software has been activated or not: when AD releases the new year version, no more updates for the old one are available, because of the 1 year license (and of course, old 3 year licenses are affected as well).

DO you want the latest version? download/activate the newest year edition, since the old one can not be updated anymore

[Anonymous]

Thanks again for the reply.

I get why Autodesk would want to change this policy, and appreciate that they are still making software free for students, but this may complicate things for some schools. The university where I teach provides software for our classes, but students that have to work outside of class at home use the free software. If students are forced out of updates, then they might have no choice but to switch to a new version, which means they would not be using the same version of the software that is available in the labs. Updating our labs annually would seem to be a logical fix, but in reality it is not, especially in courses where assets used in the class might not migrate from version to version. This is, however, an issue separate from my original post.

Do you know if the current download for Maya 2018 is the initial release, or has it been patched with previous updates? I guess I could ask the same question about Maya 2019 and 2020. Some of the initial releases of these version have serious bugs. Is Autodesk just leaving these versions online for students to download?

[porca_paletta]

Unluckily all installers available in "All Products and services" account page are the initial releases (excluding some r1, r2, etc. releases, e.g Revit)

For Maya 2019, latest update is 2019.3.1 (I have to thank a subscription friend for this one)

http://up.autodesk.com/2019/MAYA/93B3E8C1-9800-4B89-9CFA-CCBD7A14C3D6/Autodesk_Maya_2019_3_1_ML_Wind...

For Maya 2020, AD released 2020.1 upgrade only

http://dds.autodesk.com/NetSWDLD/2020/MAYA/E63648E7-BD88-4137-AED6-156E77E79DD3/SFX/Autodesk_Maya_20...

[Anonymous]

ugh

At least I know what's going on now. Thanks for the information!

[Anonymous]

This is typical of Autodesk over the years. They are focused on money only and not servicing the people and businesses who have supported them from the beginning through the years.

Their shift in policy is due to their market share and stock price most likely. I have been in the industry 30 years and have headed several decision making teams. We have bought full licenses of Maya 5 times over only for them to not be supported once it was apparent they needed to go to a subscription service to make money. They denied supporting any of the older Maya's and in fact invalidate them for studios who legitimately bought them as a permanent install. 

Nothing is more insulting than having to support a software company who cares nothing for all of the companies who got them to where they are. Not to mention the terrible support and updates they have done over the years. In fact I cannot name a single "advancement" that hasn't caused issues or set progress on a project back from days to weeks. 

I would suggest everyone gradually switch to Blender or some other non Autodesk software to lower cost and gain a little bit of freedom from their mandated updates.

To also affect student members and classes who are trying to bolster the world of 3D is also a slap in the face to the ideas and innovation that ingrained their program into most production processes. No one seems to speak up or give Autodesk an earful about their approaches and I can understand why. They don't listen, ever. They don't try to help or alleviate stress on a company once their product is bought. All they are is bottom line feeders who use the 3d community as a stepping stone to profits. Our backs hurt very badly at this point, why don't you get off them Autodesk?