Will you upgrade/buy when/if Lightwave 2021 comes out?

[SBowie]

Luckily I haven't invested a lot of money into LW, but I feel sorry for those who have and have to deal with you lately playing down the worries of the customers.

I'm not playing anything down, and understand completely how people feel. I just get tired of simplistic 'solutions' being offered, as it it would be easy to make everything right if only they would do this or that. (And btw, "NewTek, sell the damn thing" sure sounds like advice...)

 

[inakito]

I will upgrade depending on what is giving me. I'm still using 2015 and 2018 but don't discard updating obviously...on the other hand, Lightwave was purchased when vizRT bought Newtek as a pack...how much would you think vizRT would you think they will shell it for? How much would you think Newtek would have sold it for before vizRT bought it? How much would you think its currently value is?

 

[Tim Parsons]

Yeah, just having with it, hence the .

Yeah, just having FUN with it, hence the

 

[Cageman]

Question:

Why would a new owner of a property want to invest in it, if all it does is whining and bickering?

 

[hypersuperduper]

I would likely upgrade if only to capitalize on my existing lightwave knowledge, but if and only if this hypothetical lw 2021 actually is an upgrade, because that would be proof of life, not just a new number and a recompile with some bug fixes. I don't see that as very likely however. I think its been shelved for good, even if they may still sell it for a while.

It is a real shame, because I felt like the team had been on a great path with the types of improvements they were making, lots of under the radar but good stuff, primarily usability improvements, I know people swear by 2015, but lw2019 was SOO much better from a usability standpoint. I haven't yet upgraded to 2020, but I had planned to before the wheels finally came off the lightwave bus.

Now, though, even if they do somehow get the thing up and running again what would the direction be? are the people responsible for the most recent improvements even AT Newtek anymore in any capacity?

 

[Bill Carey]

Question:

Why would a new owner of a property want to invest in it, if all it does is whining and bickering?

Actually, if you put just a few people on ignore it’s pretty positive. Recommended, I hope Viz does the same.

 

[RPSchmidt]

Question:

Why would a new owner of a property want to invest in it, if all it does is whining and bickering?

I think that is pretty much the norm for practically any software, let alone 3d application software. A brief review of the forums of practically any other 3d application reveals plenty of "whining and bickering".

Actually, it's standard for just about any product I can think of. Spend ten or fifteen minutes on Amazon reading buyer reviews and that becomes very obvious. And yet, despite the complaints, manufacturers keep pumping out their product.

As to why they would want to do it, that should be obvious. It's either love or money, and in Vizrt's case, I don't think it's love.

 

[prometheus]

Actually, if you put just a few people on ignore it’s pretty positive. Recommended, I hope Viz does the same.

I thought the ignore function already was hardcoded, or applied generally by vizrt/newtek on all the lw customers.(for some of the crucial parts):devil:

 

[Shabazzy]

Question:

Why would a new owner of a property want to invest in it, if all it does is whining and bickering?

Assuming that you mean it's the property's users that are doing the whining and bickering (yes, you should re-read the above quote), then I think this poll shows (as at the time of writing where over 50% of voters voted yes) that interestingly it's the 'silent majority' that make up the core value of the property.

If I were a potential buyer then these types of data would be very interesting to me. Moreso than visiting public forums and absorbing the year in - year out negativity of the same minority of people who obviously have FAR too much time on their hands.

 

[jimzombie]

I'm a bit on the fense about an upgrade. Before buying into 2020 I hadn't updated since 11 (which was my first update since buying an existing 9 licence). I've been waiting for some serious modeler love.

 

[Tim Parsons]

I'm a bit on the fense about an upgrade. Before buying into 2020 I hadn't updated since 11 (which was my first update since buying an existing 9 licence). I've been waiting for some serious modeler love.

Well the jump from LW11 to 2020 would have been a very nice upgrade for you.

 

[DiscreetFX]

I’m on version 8 so upgrading to 2020 should be a big leap for me.

 

[Tim Parsons]

I’m on version 8 so upgrading to 2020 should be a big leap for me.

Oh my! I can't even go back to 2015 anymore it feels so dated. You should definitely upgrade, even if 2020 is the last of LW. Modeling in the Layout view is worth the upgrade alone and the camera matching tools are nice too.

 

[prometheus]

Oh my! I can't even go back to 2015 anymore it feels so dated. You should definitely upgrade, even if 2020 is the last of LW. Modeling in the Layout view is worth the upgrade alone and the camera matching tools are nice too.

2015 has it´s value, I need it to export mdd and fbx properly to blender, which later lw version doesn´t seem to handle.
And some 32 bit modeling tools 2019 can´t use due to only 64 bit.
2015 also has the volumetric sprite mode which I lack in 2019.

lw 8, well..the oldest version I had was 9.6 I think..or tried, lw10, the fun stuff started to happen around 2015 I think, with the exception for some of those builds being buggy and crashy.

 

[Tim Parsons]

2015 has it´s value, I need it to export mdd and fbx properly to blender, which later lw version doesn´t seem to handle.

Probably due to the LWO upgrade?

And some 32 bit modeling tools 2019 can´t use due to only 64 bit.

32bit - so yesterday.

2015 also has the volumetric sprite mode which I lack in 2019.

Yeah I can see that.

lw 8, well..the oldest version I had was 9.6 I think..or tried, lw10, the fun stuff started to happen around 2015 I think, with the exception for some of those builds being buggy and crashy.

2015 was pretty solid. I just can't go back.

Would we be having this thread if everybody had kept up to date with LW? Probably not, but LW also probably should have kept up with the times for sure. Subscription would have killed LW and perpetual licensing did kill LW. If Blender didn't exist LW would be in good shape. Blender has had 20 million downloads but lets be real, probably only 1 million or so actually "use" it. If LW had gotten 2% of that customer base we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

[paulk]

. . . Subscription would have killed LW and perpetual licensing did kill LW. . . .

Uhhhhhh, what other revenue stream could a commercial software product use?

I mean, how many people (NOT Corporations) "donate" to Bl*nd*r Foundation or subscribe to Bl*nd*r Cloud?

 

[SBowie]

I mean, how many people (NOT Corporations) "donate" to Bl*nd*r Foundation or subscribe to Bl*nd*r Cloud?

Can I just say I find it kind of funny when people write about "B", or "", or "Bl*nd*r", and similar variants? As far as I know, while the forum software does block some curse words and the like, this is not true for the word "Blender". I guess people are trying to be considerate guests, but it seems a little weird.

 

[TheLexx]

Thanks for the clarification, but there is that abstract tipping point which no one wants to reach and be modded..

 

[SBowie]

I understand. There's a difference between mentioning another applications in an appropriate context and promoting it, but setting aside the need for some good judgement around that somewhat fuzzy line, whether you spell the application name out in full or not wouldn't be the determining factor.

 

[prometheus]

Can I just say I find it kind of funny when people write about "B", or "", or "Bl*nd*r", and similar variants? As far as I know, while the forum software does block some curse words and the like, this is not true for the word "Blender". I guess people are trying to be considerate guests, but it seems a little weird.

A lot of things are weird, especially when restrictions are imposed, such as not talking about development, or naming that which we shouldnt don´t talk about (not voldemort)
Then again it´s really not weird, it´s just ridiculous, both situations, why saying "B" ? when you can be honest, but a pain in the...by saying "Blender" and that is what it means.
I am not without sin, I think I even have the variant of "mixer"

My opinion anyway..could be wrong ..could be right.