E-On Software Main Site Back Up and News
Greymom
Posts: 1,104
in The Commons
OK, E-On's main site is back up, no Cornucopia3D yet.
They are moving to a subscription model for both VUE and Plant Factory. It looked like you have to subscribe to both, not one or the other, but that makes little sense.
Also they have two render engines, the old CPU-based and a new hybrid CPU/GPU pathtracer.
Lot of details seem to be missing still.
Good news to those who wondered if it would ever come back at all, it has been a year since they went offline.
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Comments
Well, so much for that.
Laurie
I've downloaded the trial version - seems to run a bit faster than my existing Vue2015, but content I bought from cornucopia won't load. That might be because this is a trial, at least I hope that's the reason.
Icons on the interface have been redone and look weird/horrible.
I'll put the trial through its paces in the coming weeks and see what I think, but I've seen very little so far that might seduce me to 'upgrade'. At least the 'Creator' license is reasonably priced, should I decide to go that route (though I still loathe software subscription model idea).
We all know why they are going this route. I haven't upgraded since Vue Studio 9 I believe. I had thought about get the latest Complete version but if it's subscription base, I will pass indefinitely. A lot of the programs I use aren't popular enought to become a target for piracy anyway, so I will keep supporting those.
I haven't bought an upgrade of Vue since 6 Infiinte. That was more than enough for my needs and the upgrades, though containing some useful features, were never attractive enough for me given the excessively high upgrade price. With that in mind, the monthly subscription option actually makes more financial sense to me, as my workflow would probably continue to be using V6I except for the rare occasions where, if I actually find myself needing the newer features, I'd rent it for a few months until that was over and then go back to 6.
Of course, if pre-existing content doesn't work on the new VUE, that would kill that option. That said, I can't really imagine that that's very likely, given that Cornucopia was/is a fully owned subsidiary of Eon and it would completely destroy their relationships with both their established customer base and their PA vendors.
I hope the software is better than this truly garbage website. I have tried to download the trial version with no success. The stupid captcha is a ridiculous joke. The few times I did make it thru this all I was able to do was sign up a monthly subscription.
I've had Vue since version 9, but this is probably the end of it.
i just wrote to their sales department expressing my unhappiness with the subscription model. Annual price is $200 for creator, which is a bit steep for me. I was buying upgrades for quite some time for $99. Vue Studio
Just hope I can get my copy of Vue 2015 moved to the new workstation. Much of my Cornucopia stuff is locked to my older Vue version license, but fortunately that is still on an operational machine.
At least Quadspinner is making their VUE content open source - one of the reasons I wanted VUE in the first place was to use their MDK products, particularly Shimmerwind. I did not get to buy this before the Cornucopia site went down, so this is a really big savings....assuming I can get everything working someday.
I agree that the subscription is kind of steep, and if I have to go that route, I don't want both VUE and Plantfactory. I have a standalone Plantfactory already. Also, what is the limit on the number of CPU cores for "Creator" - I don't see that detail in their info.
I picked up Gaea from Quadspinner with the special pre-order deal, and that looks like a potential long-term (lower-cost) alternative.
I am really unhappy with them . I had been upgrading my copy of complete every now and then so I could to keep the upgrade price but I do believe they have just priced themselves out of a customer .
Finally was able to download the trial version, they sent an email link which I had no idea they were going to do. So far not impressed, don't really like the interface. I was able to load one of my old scenes, but it did not really seem to render any faster the Vue 2016.
If they leased only Vue for $10.00 a month I may have an interest, but I have no interest in plant factory.
I'm not real sure if I'll subscribe to the Creator Plan or not. I was on the software maintenance subscription, so it's about the same as what the Vue Complete maintenance and Cornucopia 3D subscription was, so the annual sub isn't too bad. But, I've been looking at the landscaping capabilities and addons for Blender recently, and it might just be worth it to learn Blender and add some commercial addons to it. I'll have to do a bit more research to decide the proper direction for my budget, and what I'm planning on doing, but going with Blender is looking better all the time. The one thing I really don't like about the new subscription plan is that they took the export tools away from the Creator level - something I had with Vue Complete. But now the do include a version of Plant Factory with it (though it may be basically the same capabilities we already had with Complete).
I use other Open Source tools for my professional work (GIS), so I have become accustomed to their advantages, and disadvantages. Recently their advantages have begun to greatly outweigh their disadvantages ..... if they have the tools you need (which is always a bit of a crap shoot). Well, I guess I'll be doing some serious evaluation over the next few days/weeks. The other plus to Blender is it's a full 3D suite, and compositing tool. It really has some great things going for it. Should be interesting seeing just how well it can "replace" Vue ... or not.
...received an email from them this morning.
What I've been trying to figure out... and Eon's page seems to have nothing about anywhere... is exactly what features are included in the Creator version Vs. the Pro version. The way they phrase things makes it look like Creator, Pro and Enterprise are all basically the same except for exports, # of render nodes, max size of render and python scripting, and the use of almot identical text on each version makes it SOUND like you're getting basically the same features no matter which version of VUE you buy... and that would make the lower end version a much better deal for those who'd been using the base versions. However, given that the old Eon page went on for literally pages of technical details about things like ecosystems, as well as pointing out where VUE has been used in recent major films, and that this site is completely lacking in anything tthat even begins to describe the funtionality of the old VUE, I have to wonder if that's really what they're selling. I guess that I'm still waiting for the second shoe to drop with the revelation that they peeled all of the higher features off and it will come back in the form of plugins that don't work with the base program. Given that they've been down for a year, this all just seems to have been done in a very unprofessional and sloppy manner.
i tried to install an upgrade to Vue 2016..it hosed the old install..then i downloaded and tried to install the full product..it is giving errors during the install..I finally got it to work, it seemed, but at the end, other errors happened. It says to find a setup log, but that isn't;t there either. The product does load, however..but have not tried it to see if it actually works or what messed up during installation. I'm very rusty and almost need to start from scratch learning again ...
But now we have a total new version of Vue... i just glanced at a picture of the interface and the icons look kind of amateurish or something.
We still have Terragen, which has subscriptions but also still has perpetual versions.
Laurie
I agree, can't get enough details to know the differences in the versions compared to the old Complete and Infinite versions. For being a year in preparation, the new website is shockingly inadequete.
I have my fingers crossed that I can get my old VUE 2015 Infinite working again, then I may be done. My investment in software, hardware, add-on, etc. for E-on products are substantial, but I may need to cut my loses and find other solutions. Looks like my puchases at Cornucopia3D will be a write-off due to the very restrictive installation-locked DRM.
I am hoping that Quadspinner's Gaea and Xfrog Plant Designer, and maybe Worldmachine, will be suitable replacements. They can simply be purchased, at least so far.
Probably liek a lot of people I have just received a raft of emaisl from them (ok, 3 ..) which include information about a new order they created on my behalf using funds stored up - presumably from my (almost) usless annual maintenance (which has 'refused' to give me a new version, as promised, fro the past 2 or 3 years) of £19.95, presumably for my first month's monthly subscription to tehis Creator thing.
I have replied askign to be removed from any subscription thing they have and will be getting the last available legacy install and installing that on the new(ish) computer as I have not actually used Vue for years! Not a clue how much I have paid them for nothing, but such is life
I seem to be in the same boat as Daveso, but have yet to try and install and run anything.
Ok, installed Vue 2015 and .. how the hell do I activate it? I'd try Vue 2016 but they have never given me a licence key for that
<edit>
Ok, may have manged to find out how I activate Vue 2015 ... I vaguely recall that rubbish system from before!
I'd make a joke about e-on being a French company, but it turns out that they aren't anymore. Just did a lookup on Bentley Systems, their owner since 2015 and it turns out that e-on was just one part of a huge series of company buyouts they did right before the e-on site went down. Maybe I'm just being a pessimist, but.. with that kind of turnover and split attention, and the complete lack of technical data on the new website, I have to wonder if anyone who worked on the new site actually has any experience with the actual software.
That subscription model of Adobe destroyed my upgade of photoshop beyond CS6. I own CS6 and it is the last version I will own. As gimp gets better I will stop using photoshop, but for now my CS6 is better than the new gimp. I like vue but they want more money in the short term but don't really offer anything worth what they are asking, consequently>> so they are going subcription. Only people with deep pocked will use the subcription model or businesses. If these buinesses want to attract non professional consumers the need a fully functional version but with a license that does not allow for commerical application. That way home users can create to their hearts content and businesses and professional that need the pro license can go subscription. A home user is not making a profit from their artwork, consequently, they can't justify spending so much on something that is a hobby. The drive for profit is all consuming and sometimes becomes the undoing of companies.
I don't do subscriptions either.
I'd add the value of a possible indy model, where it's cost effective for someone who would *like* to make money with it (small pulishers, hobbiest, dreamers, etc.), but who doesn't have enough dedicated vue-only business or income to warrant the full-ride cost. There are a *large* number of design/web/graphics/imaging/photography houses out there in a large number of small towns who can and will do anything needed by a small diverse audience of customers, but may only use vue three times a year for a particular graphic that pays, etc., but may also be doing personal or spec jobs to keep their skills and demo-reels up-to-spunk. Marvelous Designer is in this same category for me.
My older Vue complete is the last version I bought when I realized that they only enabled render passes in Vue infinite, and their DRM content, and Cornucopia requirement to have a CC on line all soured me on their 'way of doing things'. Hell, I have *free* software that does great render passes w alpha channels... Not having that functions is kind of like no 'Save as...' option in the file menu, heh.
2c,
--ms
...I usually am not thrilled by subscription software, however for Octane4 it is very tempting at only 20$ a month instead of almost 600$ up front for the core engine and one plugin.
As to E-on, they should set it up more like Marvelous Designer, with a personal licence that allows for a certain level of commercial use by individuals, and an enterprise licence for larger major commercial operations.
I'm blown away by E-On Software's arrogance.
I was on a $8.95/month subscription for the Studio edition of Vue. They've just raised that to $20/month, because they've decided that I have to buy Plant Factory as well. They gave me no warning of this, and never asked whether it was something I wanted. And there is now no non-subscription option, and no way to get just Vue without Plant Factory.
It's a little as if your cable company suddenly said "We've upgraded you to the new Super Channels Package at more than twice the cost. Don't want the new Super Channels Package? Well, bye, it's been nice knowing you."
E-On's website and blog are full of excited praise for themselves and their new branding (translation: we got hacked so badly it took us more than a year to recover): “More than a new face, a new attitude!” they say.
Let me tell you what I think of your new attitude, E-On ...
I'll try the new version of the software and see if it's any good. I'm not optimistic: in the past, new versions of Vue have always sucked horribly on Mac, at least until about the second bugfix release (and sometimes even then). So it may be time to say 'goodbye'.
I agree! After being kept in the dark for a year wondering if they would ever get the site back up, instead of a nice "thanks for waiting a year" sale, we get far less options, little info, and a huge price increase. To get the new versions of what I have now, it would cost me $75 per month.....
. Also I still can't get to all the add-ons I purchased, and the downloads I have won't work with my current version of VUE due to their draconian old DRM system. I am supposed to be estatically happy and excited about this.... I wonder if this whole series of events will someday be used in marketing and business classes as an example of how NOT
to treat customers...
.. actually had that happen with the cable service I had many years ago. Found out one morning only a few months after getting the service installed that they moved several channels (which they used to sell me on the level of service I had) up to the next more expensive tier without warning. I called them, thinking they hadn't received the cheque I sent to pay my bill yet and cut my service off. They told me the payment was received, and I could "upgrade "to the higher level (at an additional cost of course) to get those channels back. I replied that I would think about it then after I hung up, disconnected everything put it in a shopping bag and went to the local office that was nearby. I explained the situation and when the person there gave me the same spiel as I got on the phone, I put the bag on the counter, then told him, "here's my answer", and that I wanted a refund for the current month which I will not be using.
Yes he was a little surprised and tried to talk me into staying on with them even offering several premium channels (that I didn't care about) for "free" (yeah I knew where that would go in two to three months), and I told him, no, "I want to cancel service and get my refund because your company pulled a bait and switch on me.".
That was the end of it.
I suspect it is incidents like this that helps to explain why there was such a uproar against DRM in Daz Studio.
Exactly!
I was a loyal and happy e-on vue infinite customer from 2011 to 2013.
In 2013 I switched to GPU rendering but kept paying the yearly ~ 250$ maintenance fee for vue n the hope of improvement.
Plant factory was released as a separate product and vue itself did not receive any major new features.
In 2016 a GPU - CPU hybrid pathtracer was introduced but not compatible with most crucial features like clouds and instancing (!).
In 2018 the site was offline because of a cyber attack.
In autumn 2018 I contacted e-on support when the maintance fee was due to get an idea what their plans were.
After they were not able to answer any questions I deceided not to renew
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My impression is that Houdini Indie, Unity etc. offer interesting terrain options as well...
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Quadspinner's GAEA looks good too.
E-on Software just sent me an email with an "Invitation to Review Products You've Recently Purchased".
I told them what I thought.
I was sorely tempted to do so when I saw that email, after all, who actually purchased it- not me! But tehn I have already sent one reasonably terse mail to them and I also need them to send me the code so I can tray and install Vue 2016, which for some reason despite sending me the link to the ode (now defunct, but I got it from the new site) they have not given me a licence key for!