LightWave 3D® 2019 is Now Available - Official Discussion Thread

[jasonwestmas]

never got that email lol.

[Dillon]

An email wasn't sent out (as far as I know) yet. The announcement thread indicates the upgrade pricing. First post on this very thread.

never got that email lol.

[raymondtrace]

...The announcement thread indicates the upgrade pricing. First post on this very thread.

The first post says $395. You might want to check a private message, a little late.

[wyattharris]

Re: Waiting to hear after pressing the "Request 2019 Upgrade Discount" button:

There was an issue with the system at first, but it seems that is now fixed, and yes, LightWave Support says they are getting "MASSIVE amounts" of requests.

If you tried early and it does not seem to have worked, you may need to try again, but first realize what the procedure is:

1. You hit the button to submit
2. LightWave Support will validate, and create a link
3. LightWave Support will email that link to you
4. You then click on the link

Potentially, your email server might be blocking their reply - please check filters and spam settings and folders.

Thanks for the update Chuck. I figured out my issue. Once you click to request, you have to actually hit the Submit button. d'oh!
Being overloaded is a good problem to have.

[BigHache]

Since Newtek does not announce their plans, it's a conflict budgeting future purchases. Are there going to be $395 updates yearly and if you miss one are you put in the $995 bracket? If I spend $395 now, I can't justify doing that again next year.

I would second this. Speaking for myself, my LightWave license is used for my personal hobbies.
Not having any indication, at all, when a new version will be released is simply not budgetable. Then when it is released I have essentially two months to upgrade or just pay full price.
I understand this may matter less for a studio, or anyone else. Just speaking for me.

Now, the new stuff looks good and I am looking forward to upgrading and implementing into my project.

[raymondtrace]

...when a new version will be released is simply not budgetable. Then when it is released I have essentially two months to upgrade or just pay full price...

This is not true. There is still upgrade pricing after the early promotion. The promotion likely just trims off $100. LW2018's upgrade price was $495 a few months ago.

[BeeVee]

we need a VPR UNDOCK button to see in the next maintenances.

Hmm, you've had that since the first release of 2018...



B

[Qexit]

I was charged $295 for my upgrade. And the 2019 announcement says the upgrade is applicable to ANY PREVIOUS VERSION.

That upgrade price only applies to existing owners of LW who have Charter Status or similar from earlier/previous upgrade deals....not everyone. If it applies, then there should be a 'Request Upgrade Discount' button on your account page to get the lower price. The regular upgrade price until the end of March is $395. My upgrade price will be £276 including 20% VAT as I qualify for the discount.

[jaf]

It's pretty confusing. When I checked in my account yesterday it said v2019 $395. I purchased v2015 in April 2017 $395 and v2018 in January 2018. I thought I remembered reading you had to purchase the next version to keep your discounted price for the next future version (so you can't skip a version and retain your discount)? Maybe this isn't true -- so many different softwares/plans it's hard to keep everything straight.

[edit] I started at v9 in 2006. The button "Buy Lightwave Upgrade 2019 Now" in my account is where I got the $395 price.

[cookepuss]

It's $295 to upgrade - from ANY PREVIOUS VERSION.

This is an extremely generous offer, and to expect anything else is irrational. Name any other 3D vendor that does this.

You're absolutely 100% right. This happened to me years ago when I was still a C4D user. I skipped the 11.5 point release as was happy enough with 11.0. Skipping an inexpensive sub-$500 point release meant that I was ineligible for upgrade pricing on 12.0 just a few months later. They wanted to charge me the (then) full $3,500 instead. After 8 or 9 years with them, that was the last straw for me. The message being, "Stay on the upgrade path... OR ELSE." Ridiculous.

NewTek's upgrade offer is extremely generous. How long it actually lasts in the real world is anybody's guess, but I certainly appreciate the gesture. Most other companies would not even go this far. In a world of subscriptions and obscene activation measures, I'm just happy that NewTek continues to offer dongle free perpetual licenses. Truly rare in 2019. This is why, regardless of my fondness for other apps like Blender, I will continue to support NewTek. Treat me well and I'll return the favor.

[OnlineRender]

Hmm, you've had that since the first release of 2018...



B

I made this video last week actually

[Chuck]

I was charged $295 for my upgrade. And the 2019 announcement says the upgrade is applicable to ANY PREVIOUS VERSION.

You are putting together pieces of two different things, the price you paid versus what the announcement said. They do not go together.

The announcement for 2019 says that the price from any previous version is $395 USMSRP, except if you are entitled to a lower price under the terms of a previous special purchase. If you bought the 2019 upgrade and were charged $295, that means you were entitled to that price under the terms of a previous purchase you made.

To clear up another narrative that seems to have cropped up from nowhere - no, when the introductory pricing ends, that does not mean owners of previous versions have to buy at full price of a new seat. We've never done that, and have no intention of ever doing so. We typically have had tiers, so for example there would be a price for those who upgrade from 2018, and a price for those upgrading from any earlier version. We'll have a specific announcement on that pricing before the introductory offer ends. (Just for reference, I think that it was $495 and $595 after the introductory offer last year, if I recall correctly.)

[Dillon]

Hmm. Interesting. Not sure why I was charged $295, then. I did have an educational license up until 2018. That might have something to do with the pricing.

The first post says $395. You might want to check a private message, a little late.

[Dodgy]

Do you mean that you can do, for example, a spiral staircase in any direction?

Ah, I see what your problem is, you meant Radial array, and it's the offset which is screwing up. You can do a helix in the Y, but in the X and Z it becomes a spiral.

[Signal to Noise]

Got around to installing 2019 tonight. Unfortunately license.lwk file isn't being recognized even in correct location. Sent CS a ticket.

[edit]: Turns out there was a stealth Windows 10 update that prevented a clean install of LW. After a lengthy OS update process I reinstalled LW and all worked fine for licensing. Yay!