ZBrushCentral

pixologic wont help - any sugestions

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi All, about a year ago i purchased a licence for zbushto run on PC using wi XP Pro. The PC has now failed OS will not boot. The system was a twin boot with winME on. The PC is quite old and although it runs ZBrush, its a tad on the slow side. So I decided to purchase a new MAC and want to transfer my ZBrush to that. Now, Pixologic wont allow me to transfer my licence to the Mac unless i pay 50% of the purchase price again. something about no have free cross platform licences :-{ , i may just a s well sell the licence and do away with ZBrush as it’s now useless.

Disgruntled

LiBiTiNa

#2

This is completely understandable…
The Windows version & Mac version are 2 totally different programs.
It’s kind of like buying Windows Vista Home but wanting someone to give
you the Windows Vista Business version.So to me the 50% off seems like
a wonderful offer.

I’m not trying to be rude to you but this is what my 1st thought was when i
read this post.Also i would just like to say that everytime i have had any
problem with Zbrush, Pixologic Support has been outstanding.

#3

for what you already own.

R

#4

Thats just it, you don’t own the Mac version.

#5

Been there, done that. I was rather annoyed by their cross platform policies. Ended up paying the fee to migrate my license to OSX. It was a small price to pay to get Zbrush away from Windows. I also wanted to support the dev team’s efforts in supporting the Mac.

#6

Clip from Pixologic, Note the words

We offer a free cross platform license for registered ZBrush users with a Macintosh license. You can transfer your license back to the Macintosh when ZBrush 3 is released for that operating system.

Note here they say “YOU CAN " not " YOU MUST”, so not only are they getting DIFFERENT software HAHA XSmoke but FREE LICENSE to cross with NO OBLIGATION to cross back. So for mac user it’s hunkey dorey and PC user it’s FU and gives us your money.

Merry Christmas and here’s to big white elephants.

LiBiTiNa

#7

First, XSmoke, Your example of comparing Vista Home and Business are not at all relevant. FYI, the Windows version and the Mac versions are not 2 totally different programs, they are the same thing so what are you talking about!

Second, you must be smoking something if you think this is understandable. Paying 50% just to transfer a liscence form PC to Mac IMO is highway robbery. All the guy wants to do is transfer from one OS to another so why should he have to pay 50% more is ridiculous and unbelievable if it is true, but I can’t see this being correct.

The most it should cost is maybe a small ADMIN fee for the transfer of the liscence.

#8

This has come up a number of times and like you I was a bit surprised by it but paid to transfer my pc license to Mac.

Its not great having to put out money again but to keep using zbrush natively it was worth it in the end.

Mike R

#9

Paint Guy, like i said before, i was not trying to be rude but it sounds like you
took it that way. I agree, it does suck to buy the wrong version but who is
to blame for that? And dude…Zbrush for MAC is written different from the
Zbrush Windows version. Which is the reason they have 2 versions.

1st version:Windows Version
2nd version:Mac version

Yep, count’em…“2”…i repeat “2” versions…

#10

rachel,

your position is entirely understandable. no matter what “platform” it’s on, it’s still zbrush… so why pay again for something you already have.

but different companies have different policies about this. and there is not a definitive “i’m right, you’re wrong”.

newtek gives you the mac license along with the windows license for lw. that’s just the way they operate. lots of games that offer linux versions give you both when you buy the game. but other companies won’t.

again, no one is clearly in the wrong or right. so you just have to accept the situation.

best route is to sell your pc zb on ebay. you can probably get the price you bought it for since there’s no wear and tear… just describe your situation and see if you can get it sold.

then you can just buy the mac version.

or maybe someone can arrange a trade with you here. that would probably be the best way to go. you can’t fight city hall sometimes but there are usually ways to get around the obstructions.

luck.

jin

#11

I think ZB offering a 50 % discount for a new version of the program is pretty generous actually. Better than you’d find from most companies, which consider OS versions different programs.

The fact of the matter is you still own the original product you purchased, and it still operates on the OS you bought it for. Video game companies dont offer you a free 360 version of a multiplatform game, just because you switched from a Playstation to Xbox .

#12

While I agree with the general spirit of this post (Why should you have to pay for something you already own), I have to ask: are you surprised? Do you think microsoft will transfer your windows license to mac when you’re ready to install Office 2007?

I’m not saying it’s right, or even endorsing this business practice… I’m just saying it’s the norm, so why are you acting so surprised? Pixologic is not run by satan, they’re just acting in accordance with the rest of the industry.

On the other hand, one could ask when the last time microsoft offered a free upgrade to the latest version of Office or Windows when a new one came out… That answer would be never, but Pixologic has done it since day one. Just some food for thought :slight_smile:

50% transfer isn’t actually all that bad when you compare it to the rest of the software industry.

#13

@rachel : I’ve recently switch to PC from mac. I wanted to switch my mac license to pc and ran into the same issue. Let me know if you want to trade licenses, I think pixologic can broker the deal for us.

thanks.