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Maxon and Zbrush email offer to Perpetual ZBrush License?

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#1

Hello Zbrushers!

Did you get an email from Maxon that says:

" WELCOME TO THE MAXON FAMILY

ZBrush has always stood for innovation and artistic empowerment. That is a philosophy that is shared by the Maxon creative community. We believe in empowering artists any way we can to help expand your capabilities and offer more to your clients. We are confident that having complete access to all Maxon tools, services and training will help you achieve your goals.

That’s why until August 5, 2022 , we’re proud to offer ZBrush perpetual license holders a [special offer]"

I am confused about this. Does this mean that we are losing our ZBrush perpetual license if we don’t sign up for a subscription with Maxon?

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#2

Down at the bottom of the email in the smallprint they do say:
"
Disclaimer: This offer is being presented to you because you are a ZBrush perpetual license holder. Rest assured, perpetual licenses are not being eliminated. However, perpetual licenses will not receive free upgrades past ZBrush 2022.0.5. Discount is valid for Annual Subscriptions only. "
So from that our perpetual versions are not going anywhere, but no more free updates to it.

But yes, personally I think this email has been exceptionally badly handeled. Offering a half price subscription to software we already have full lisences for, without saying about actual perpetual updates or their costs? A total kick in the teeth!
See other users (including me) frustration here…

Hopefully we can pool information there, as we’re not getting it from Maxon.

2 Likes
#3

SBMONGOOSE

I agree with you. This is very disappointing. They are basically saying, with our staying it, your perpetual license is gone and you will have to pay a subscription to use Zbrush up to date.

This is not good. That wasn’t the agreement at the beginning when we made the investment in Zbrush.

5 Likes
#4

Without knowing what “maintenance” (e.g. updates) of existing Zbrush perpetual licenses will cost, and how those updates will be handled, the offer is provided in something of vaccum of information. If my past experience with C4D is any indication when they went from maintenance to subscription, I would suppose that our perpetual licenses will at least work for a while, even if they’re not upgraded.

I was interested in the MaxonOne offer until I read the footnotes that it can only be installed on one machine and the products can’t be split between machines. This would seem to prevent me from running ZB on my laptop (at least from a licenses perspective–not sure how they intend to manage ZB licenses in the future.)

It’s been more than six months since the acquisition and they still haven’t spelled out anything except that free updates are going away (no suprise.) It would be nice if they put some effort into spelling out, clearly, what updates will cost and what maintenance subsbscriptions (if offered) will cost.

My guess is they haven’t said anything (except perpetial liceses aren’t “going away”) is that they primary method of updates will be subscription, similar to what Adobe has done with Substance. Perpetual licenses will become an after thought, perhaps handled by service agreement (such as the old MSA) or by significant annual fees (think 30-50% of perpetual license cost) for upgrades.

Personally, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. For now I’ll pass on the 50% offer (only until August 5th!) I am deeply suspicious of it. If they were so “confident” in our having the complete suite would be a great value, they would allow us to make the decision with all the information in front of us, rather than put the short date to blindly take or leave the one year offer. Our perpetual ZB licenses are only worth 50% off until August 5th? What happens on August 6th? Our value in the “Maxon family” as long-term ZB customers goes to zero? What does Maxon really think of us? Only time will tell.

4 Likes
#5

Yeah. Been trying to figure out the angle. I guess being a customer since Alpha 1.0 has been an awesome run. However the Maxon pricing model is BS. I have always loved Zbrush but apparently it’s time to move on. Never been a Maxon fan or used their pricey products. Anyway these days I’m back to CAD with Shapr3D on my iPad so I’m probably not the customer they are looking for. :wink:

1 Like
#6

IF we sign up and pay the half off - but decide later (after a year) full price isn’t worth it - can we default back to at least the thing our “Perpetual License” gives us?

Let me say I’m disgusted by this. I’d advocated for Zbrush to many people over a decade and in posts where I put my artworks and 3D creations - “Professional end expensive software but worth every penny - no subscription racket like Photoshop and many others.” Now I’m looking into stepping up tutorials to get up that Blender curve that isn’t as steep as it was earlier. Also, I’ll do some re-visiting and editing to wipe OUT those statements.

I’ll also add there is NO way that whatever improvements you put into Zbrush will be worth entire full price every 2 years. That is a “Generational leap” and it usually takes 3 minimum. Due to Lockdown and recession brewing most “Upgrades” in most software have been ridiculously small, like an additional menu or some default assets in short cash grabs. Again, I used to boast Zbrush did those for free and was worth the big initial $.

4 Likes
#7

I couldn’t find info on this either, after searching for ages and doing Google searches (every search brought me back to this post).

Strangely I didn’t even get the email, even know I purchased Zbrush a few years ago.

Eventually I emailed direct and got all the relevant answers raised here. Hope this helps…

1 Like
#8

I find this to be the most relevant line of FAQ:

“From looking at the rest of the Maxon family of products, we do know that upgrading a perpetual license can be expected to cost more than an annual subscription.”

I think we can expect upgrades to be on the pricecy side give ZB’s annual subscription is $359. So my belief is they’re easing us into the subscription model for half-price for first year and the $360/yr threafter.

To make it more unattractive to consider maintaining a perpetual license, they added this example of a GoZ update:

For subscription users, Maxon will be able to release a GoZ update as soon as it is ready. For perpetual license users, the update will have to wait to be part of the next paid upgrade.

To me this translates to no patches for upgraded software. Perpetual license users will “have to wait” for a “paid upgrade.”

I have not be able to ascertain where you will be able to run ZB on more than one computer. (The terms aren’t clear on Maxon’s site.) For Maxon One, the terms clearly restrict usage to a single computer.

I’m not sure how “artist friendly” these new policies are, but time will tell. I suspect a lot of people that aren’t getting paid for their ZB work will stopping at 2022 for a while or exploring alternatives as I make out the 5 yr TCO for ZB alone as a subscription at USD $1620 and perhaps double that if you need to equip a laptop as well. The upgrades can’t be calculate so their’s no upgrade pricing to go off but assuming three upgrades in five years (roughly an 18 month dev cycle), maintaing a perpetual license will be in the range of $1080.

Maybe I’m being stubborn, but I’m keeping my hands in my pocket until I see what these upgrades are and whether paying subscription is worth it (hint: I didn’t upgrade C4D after Maxon terminated their MSA plan.)

Maxon has a chance again to make me a believer, but this offer and FAQ isn’t doing it. (I doubt Maxon cares what I think–this is about money from an industry standard tool that the studios and education will payup to use.) Pretty frustrated to see how this ends.

2 Likes
#9

To add to worries about pricing, also note that for Cinema 4D to upgrade from 23 to 25 is in the region of £950, but to upgrade from C4D 20-22 it is more than double that, at about £2050 (regional prices might be different)…

Also there was a Cinema 4D 24, but it was only avalble to users on subscription plans.

That FAQ does not give me hope that for hobbiests Maxon’s pricing will be previous customer friendly.

#10

I am really confused, why are they still selling the perpetual license then? Are they going to try to change the meaning of the existing word? Isn’t that easier if they put the game aside and spill the words?

per·pet·u·al

/pərˈpeCH(o͞o)əl/

adjective

never ending or changing.

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#11

I’m wondering how much money we should raise to the blender foundation to bring their sculpting up to par with zbrush and ditch these A-holes.

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#12

You’ll still be able to by a perpetual license. If I understand the terms, you will get updates for one year from purchase. After that, the software will continue to function, but you will get no upgrades unless you buy (price to be determined.)

By contrast, if you subscribe, you will get the current version and all updates as long as you subscribe. However, as soon as you stop subscribing, your software will no longer function as your subscription will be over.

Maxon would prefer you subscribe based on the belief in the subscription model, but your access to the software is limited to only when you have subscription. With a perpetial license you can keep using the software (albeit without any upgrades unless you buy them.)

1 Like
#13

Exactly my thought!!! Blender is amazing and so is Unreal Engine 5 and Quixel Mixer. UE5 also has sculpting tools and it is always getting better, who knows what will happen in the future. I am sure Blender sculpting tools will be as good as ZB soon.

4 Likes
#14

ZBrush’s Own FAQ Regarding the Offer

I have contacted Maxon. The offer is legitimate.

From the FAQ:
"Q: If I take advantage of the offer, does it kill my perpetual license?

A: No. Your perpetual license remains yours and will continue to be supported. Just be aware that the subscription and perpetual license will remain separate. Upgrades received as part of the subscription will not apply to the perpetual license. If you ever cancel your subscription and fall back to the perpetual license, you should export from your subscription version any files that you plan to continue working with. Otherwise, you won’t be able to open them in the perpetual license copy, which will remain at ZBrush 2022 unless you choose to purchase a perpetual license upgrade to the newer ZBrush version."

jdb

#15

I finally received a reply about how many activations you get with the new Maxon licensing scheme. They inform me we’ll be using their license manager which allows only one active install at a time. So if you have a workstation and laptop, you can install the software, but to use your laptop, you must deactivate your workstation and activate your laptop, and to revert to your workstation you’ll need to deactivate the laptop and reactivate workstation. In other words, lots of activation and deactivation. For me, this is a deal-breaker as I depend on both my laptop and workstation working when I need them and not having to going through activate/deactivate hockey-pokey (just to find on the road I forgot to deactivate my workstation at home. They say you can also release licenses via Maxon’s website.)

I fear they will likely do this to perpetual licenses next.

For Zbrush activation/deactivation they refered me to this page: Maxon Support for Activation

[https://support.maxon.net/hc/en-us/articles/1500006335021-I-have-multiple-machines-how-do-release-the-license-on-one-so-I-can-use-the-other-]

It appears we will fall under the Maxon license manager scheme rather than the more friendly (but not by much) Pixologic license sheme if we “upgrade” to subscriptions.

Caveat emptor.

1 Like
#16

And you need to be online every month for the licencemanager licence check, to start your MAXON Software. No offline use on your Laptop for more then 30 Days. For Both, Subscription and Maxons next perpetual version.

#17

Thank You Pixologic for a great program that brought allot of joy to artists, professionals and hobbyists alike. And thanks for all the free updates over so many years. I would have loved to pay you guys for any of these updates. You would have deserved every penny.

This Maxon thing however will kill your software for users outside the industry or the ones that are not on a steady work and pay flow. That´s just sad.

Not that I cry and moan now for anything lost, as the latest version does anything what I privately and professionally need or use from ZBrush, but the future breakaway of a vast amount of users will take a toll on the overall experience of this program.

I guess at least some people got lucky with that sellout.

Cheers!

Markus

3 Likes
#18

I find it extremely annoying that they don’t give you any indication of price in these emails. When you click the link you have to fill out a form. No information.

#19

Continuing the discussion from Maxon and Zbrush email offer to Perpetual ZBrush License?:

Having recently purchased ZBrush on a perpetual license and being a semi retired hobby user I must say the email was a total surprise and I was totally unaware of the Maxon deal. Had I known this and with the lack of information and transparency I would have saved my money and upgraded my system and remained with Blender. I also would have thought that Maxon would have honored the existing agreement in regards to licensing installation as per the original perpetual agreement. This is certainly a deal breaker for me and I will be seriously considering the direction I will be taking with the future and revisiting Blender with a fresh perspective. It is also interesting to note the volume of Blender related tutorials of late from some well known organizations and on YouTube. This is obviously a commercial decision but I doubt it will bode well with non commercial users in the future.

1 Like
#20

Well I have been Busy with life and apparently missed all the hostile takeover stuff concerning Zbrush and Maxon.
I bought the product years ago on good faith from Pixologic and was ensured Updates would be free. I understand that’s no longer the case and therefore I will NOT be taking part in any future Maxon offerings.
To the original Zbrush team and Pixologic thanks for the many years of great customer service it was good doing business with you and I wish you luck.
Maxon I wish you luck also you’ll need it.
~AwB