Hello,
When I start Terragen 4 beta, there is an option "buy Terragen 4 to lift restrictions". Does that mean that if I buy the upgrade licence to Terragen 4 now, I will receive my personnal licence key file before the final release date ?
David.
It's not normal for those buttons to show up in the Beta before August 1st. You will only see those buttons if it's running in "feature-restricted mode". This happens if it can't connect to Planetside to confirm that the Beta period hasn't expired (requires an Internet connection and free passage through firewalls). In that case it will say "Unable to contact server. Some features will be disabled" on the splash screen. It also might happen in future if we have an update to the Beta that we need to encourage people to update to, but that hasn't happened yet. Lastly, it will revert to feature-restricted mode when the Beta period expires after August 1st.
You can pre-order upgrades to TG4 now, but we aren't supplying TG4 keys yet. The only way to run the Beta with unrestricted features is to allow it to connect to Planetside via the Internet.
Matt
Thank you for your answer.
Yes, indeed my CGI computer is not connected, (apart from time to time for updates purpose) so I will continue to test the beta mainly in restricted mode.
David.
Will be an option to upgrade from Terragen 2 , professional /no anim, and how much it could be?
Quote from: KirillK on July 04, 2016, 02:04:54 PM
Will be an option to upgrade from Terragen 2 , professional /no anim, and how much it could be?
Yes. If you login to your account in our online store you should see upgrade options: http://planetside.co.uk/store-login
If you don't, contact us at support AT planetside.co.uk and we'll check your account.
- Oshyan
This is really confusing. So you guys have now added a TG3 Pro without Anim Upgrade option (pre-release)? I guess I need to check again. Would be nice if somebody could just share the options and pricing for everyone to see.
The options and pricing are different for different users. If you're having problems please just contact us at support AT planetside.co.uk. Sometimes your account may be reflecting pricing based on a previous version, or you may have multiple accounts (if you changed email addresses at some point, for example), or some other issue. Most problems can be easily and quickly resolved once we know your purchase info and then you see the exact product availability and pricing for your situation.
That being said I looked at your account and it is configured correctly. When you login you should see "Special Pre-Order Offer: Upgrade to Terragen 4 Professional + Animation" for $249 at the top of the Terragen product list.
- Oshyan
Thanks Oshyan. So there is still just the Animation upgrade option as before? Will there no longer be a non-anim TG4 Pro version then? Or is that only for the pre-release period and animation will continue to be offered separately?
I am afraid I have no use for the Animation capabilities as rendering anything worthwhile ties up the machine for days...
all versions will have animation in 4
I have Terragen 2 Pro without animation and see only option to upgrade to Terragen3 pro + animation - $349 . Is it correct?
I don't need animation actually. Before I think it was $199 for my version without animation. Is it no more available?
Also I don't see any upgrade pre-order for Terragen4. Only a fresh new purchase with maintenance.
From what you describe (owner of TG2, not TG3), what you describe is what you should be seeing: an upgrade to TG3 with the option to add maintenance and get TG4. The singular and only reason that TG3 owners have a direct "upgrade to TG4" option is because they already own TG3, so we can't sell them TG3 again and give them maintenance to get TG4. Otherwise both upgrades would be treated the same.
And yes, Bobby is correct, Animation is no longer considered a separate function, just like most other apps (Maya, 3DS Max, Vue, and many others). So moving forward all Terragen versions will have animation. We will continue to offer multiple versions with other feature variations at different price points (e.g. Terragen Creative vs. Professional).
Aside from that I can only repeat what I have said before: if you are not seeing the upgrade options please email us at support AT planetside.co.uk
We cannot reliably or securely get your registration information here on the forums, so we need the direct email contact.
- Oshyan
Thanks for clearing that up, Oshyan. Not happy about the answer, but that's what you guys have decided. Unfortunately, I will most likely pass on this upgrade, as cannot justify spending this kind of money on a hobby tool. Some new TG4 features and improvements I'd like to have, but animation is not one of them (primarily due to the resource requirements). Possibly in the future though, should things change. And for now there is the free beta ;D
Hope TG3 will still be supported going forward... (thinking clip files, TGOs, etc.)
I hear that that's your decision and I somewhat understand your reasoning. What's interesting to me is to consider what might have happened if we had never made the Animation vs. non-Animation distinction in the first place, i.e. back when we released Terragen 2, it had just been Professional and Creative (we did not have that distinction at the time, of course). Would you have ever bought TG then, at all? Or would you have thought "that product includes animation, which I don't need, so I won't buy it"?
I guess my question is this: are you saying that you think the absolute price is too high for the value you get from the product at this point? OR are you saying that you think it could/should be cheaper if we just didn't include this particular feature that you don't happen to need, and therefore you won't buy on principle (so to speak)? Or are you saying something else entirely?
We are definitely open to considering how to best price and position Terragen products and are interested in feedback like yours.
As for support of Terragen 3, we will continue to offer technical support for the life of the product. However we won't be publishing any new resources explicitly aimed at TG3. Some (such as TGOs) may still work with TG3 as the TGO format hasn't changed, and in general object files are broadly compatible. But our focus for development of both features and content is firmly on TG4 at this point. NWDA and other vendors will make their own choices on how they target their content. It should fortunately be fairly easy for vendors to make most content compatible with TG3, at least as an alternative with possibly some missing features/quality vs. TG4.
- Oshyan
Oshyan, to clarify my comments as you requested: Up to this point there has been a significant cost to acquire TG with Animation as opposed to without. Even with an existing license (upgrade) discount. I was able to swallow the upgrade cost (non-animation version) given the features introduced. This time around it's simply not the case. There is a price point where I would consider upgrading, but it's probably south of 50% of the current upgrade price. Again, that's just my situation, but other people here have mentioned the same sentiment (no use for animation).
I hear you, but I still just fail to see the difference between "I have no use for animation" (and thus not wanting to pay "extra" for it) and you having no use for, say, render elements/layers. That's another feature of Terragen Professional which I would guess you might not use (or any one of several others), but which you are not currently unhappy with having had to pay for. My point is that I am wondering if the only reason you see this as "paying extra" is because *we* made the somewhat arbitrary distinction between animation and non-animation years ago.
In any case for a major version upgrade of $700 software, a $249 upgrade is in a pretty standard upgrade pricing range. Most companies have you pay between 1/3 and 1/2 of the full price for upgrades. A few are more lenient, but many offer even lesser discount. 50% of the current upgrade price would be just $125, which is really out of sync with how the industry has priced itself (and with good reason).
So I hear your frustration and unhappiness that the upgrade is not affordable to you at the current price. I'm sorry that's the case. We've done our best to price Terragen fairly in the market and I think we've been consistently competitive on pricing over the years. If we could offer Terragen much more affordably and still make a living, we probably would. But a balance has to be struck to keep the business afloat. We do appreciate your understanding and hope you'll be able to afford the upgrade in the future.
- Oshyan
Quote from: Oshyan on July 08, 2016, 03:51:36 PM
I hear that that's your decision and I somewhat understand your reasoning. What's interesting to me is to consider what might have happened if we had never made the Animation vs. non-Animation distinction in the first place, i.e. back when we released Terragen 2, it had just been Professional and Creative (we did not have that distinction at the time, of course). Would you have ever bought TG then, at all? Or would you have thought "that product includes animation, which I don't need, so I won't buy it"?
I guess my question is this: are you saying that you think the absolute price is too high for the value you get from the product at this point? OR are you saying that you think it could/should be cheaper if we just didn't include this particular feature that you don't happen to need, and therefore you won't buy on principle (so to speak)? Or are you saying something else entirely?
We are definitely open to considering how to best price and position Terragen products and are interested in feedback like yours.
As for support of Terragen 3, we will continue to offer technical support for the life of the product. However we won't be publishing any new resources explicitly aimed at TG3. Some (such as TGOs) may still work with TG3 as the TGO format hasn't changed, and in general object files are broadly compatible. But our focus for development of both features and content is firmly on TG4 at this point. NWDA and other vendors will make their own choices on how they target their content. It should fortunately be fairly easy for vendors to make most content compatible with TG3, at least as an alternative with possibly some missing features/quality vs. TG4.
- Oshyan
I have to admit that I'm completely with him on that decision. Unfortunately, of course!! I can't recall paying so much for a full version of TG. I've been in love with this program since day one and have upgraded until now but the overall price for upgrading from TG 3 is too steep!!! Why not doing what has been done in the past (sell two versions, one with and one without animation)? I'm only a hobbyist.
We don't want to lose customers, especially people who have been with us since the start. With every release we think very carefully about our upgrade prices and try to balance lots of different factors.
A few days ago we added a new upgrade path for owners of TG3 Professional (with or without animation). You can upgrade to either TG4 Creative or TG4 Professional. Note that Creative doesn't have all of the features of Professional, so you will lose some features if upgrading from TG3 Professional. But you might not need those features, especially if you were using TG2 Deep and upgraded to TG3 Professional because that was the only option back then. We hope that TG4 Creative will be an affordable and attractive offer for someone who doesn't need the extra Pro features.
More info here:
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,22187.msg223743.html#msg223743
Matt
That's good news. Thanks for thinking of us long-time customers. I'll have to check what the actual upgrade cost would be to go to Creative 4, and what exactly I would lose with this, I guess the new website will cover that. The price difference between Creative and Pro is very significant, just to point that out.
I found that the comparison chart has been updated for TG4: http://planetside.co.uk/terragen-product-comparison/
The only thing I would really miss at this point is the spherical camera. Knowing that the Professional upgrade is not an option due to cost, I will have to weigh the TG4 improvements vs the crossgrade expense and functionality restrictions. Still on the fence.
I have Terragen2 Pro without animation . Or maybe it was called "Deep edition" or something , I don't remember. My upgrade option is $449? Right? I mean to a similar level of features?
Yes, that's correct.
- Oshyan
Quote from: KirillK on October 20, 2016, 10:23:17 AM
I have Terragen2 Pro without animation . Or maybe it was called "Deep edition" or something , I don't remember. My upgrade option is $449? Right? I mean to a similar level of features?
Quote from: otakar on October 19, 2016, 02:24:42 PM
I found that the comparison chart has been updated for TG4: http://planetside.co.uk/terragen-product-comparison/
The only thing I would really miss at this point is the spherical camera. Knowing that the Professional upgrade is not an option due to cost, I will have to weigh the TG4 improvements vs the crossgrade expense and functionality restrictions. Still on the fence.
Matt posted a multi camera work around for the spherical thing but you need a stitcher after I think.