Subscription Terms part 2

[Muadib]

so im on my second subscription year and have recieved the proforma.
now, i have to be honest and say that the path corona has taken meant that i can use it less and less in my projects. im internally debating on whether to prolong it and its actually a matter of principle more than anything else.

my questions kind of remain:
- after im off the sub, how does one get on again? companies i know of usually have penalty system based upon the time one was off. what is the corona way of handling this?

- once im off the sub i can keep using the version im at in perpetuity right?
i can also access the download data forever aswell? no issues to be vary of?

i dont mind at all paying and supporting something even if i dont use it, but i am looking closer into the policies of each company i deal with lately. i know its stupid but i cannot help myself and i always admired the "no bullshit " attitude corona had.

on a personal note, im really disappointed to see so many (imho) ridiculous features creep in while vdb is actually not even mentioned. that bummed me out tbh but its besides the point.

[Ondra]

hi,
our support will contact you on the terms, but may I ask about this?

on a personal note, im really disappointed to see so many (imho) ridiculous features creep in while vdb is actually not even mentioned. that bummed me out tbh but its besides the point.

Can you give me some examples of ridiculous features and examples of what is missing (except for vdb)?

[Muadib]

thanks for the reply, and yes i have already asked the support about this and looking forward to the reply.

hope you did not get hung up on the word "ridiculous" but here are the features i could not personally find any use for:

VFB effects - it baffles me someone would want to bake bloom and post into the render. having the flexibility of tweaking stuff in afx or fusion saved my life a bunch of times. pretty sure anyone has one especially now since fusion is free.
so i dont get this but that could be me probably.

Look up Tables - stuff like this is again way more suited for post work in other packages. its great to have it but its really a cherry on the cake sort of stuff.

cubemap vr images/VR camera - how many people needed this feature at this point i have to wonder

lightmix - since there is the interactive render in place, tweaking light postrender is bit redundant to me.

render time boolean - again odd to me personally as i can clip stuff in the viewport if i want to.

standalone lightmixer, denoise, colourmapper - something that is non essential but horses for courses.

new installer  - i mean..ok but not sure what is wrong with the old one.

and then there is a bunch of optimizing but cant fault that i guess, its just that looking at trello, i get the feeling of deliberately taking on tasks not to go into the vdb problem. and this is my projection i know that, but it bummed me out non the less.

this is all from a perspective of an corona outsider at this point mind you.
im sure all of these features are essentiall for your vision and thats fine.

vdb is one of my main gripes and the reason i had to move on from corona.
i hadnt tried hair and stuff like that but im fairly sure that corona is fully featured among the fastest renderers.

the fact that volume rendering has been continually glossed over and never seemed to pop up in the roadmap without ever beeing really adressed made me loose confidence it will come in any sort of foreseeable future. i had to look elsewhere and am happy with the choice i made atm. that is why i am asking about going off maintenence.

[cecofuli]

(*) Bloom and glare in the VFB can save a lof of work in post, and it's always much batter than in 2D app

(*) Again, to have Look up Tables in Corona save a lot of time (try to watch Grant Warwick video)

(*) cubemap vr images/VR camera - Ehy, we are in the 2017... do you know ;-)

(*) lightmix - Lightmix what??? Do you know how many time you can save with this "ridiculous tool"?? I'm shocked... Chaosgrouo users will pay million $ to have it in VRay...

(*) render time boolean - is so cool for arch-viz and industrial design. Maybe you work in different business, but it's very cool.

(*) standalone lightmixer, denoise, colourmapper -  again... are you drunk? Can you image what you can do with this tool?

(*) With the new VFB, you will do the 90% of the job, and you will can forget PS

I think that you have to return to work with Lightscape  ))  (it's a joke, obviously)

[Muadib]

ffs i knew this was going to happen.
i even put a disclaimer to every point i did that this is "ME" and "personally" and was merely answering a straight question as respectfully as i could.

but there has to be that guy that feels the need to snarkily defend the software of choice.

this is not a debate, not that i think its possible to debate someone with your apparent comprehending skills.
your arguments are rubbish btw and kindly get lost.

[zdragas]

don't mind all the other features, but I'm also off subscription until vdb comes along

[FrostKiwi]

Maybe you work in different business, but it's very cool.

your arguments are rubbish
[...]
kindly get lost

Your requests request and cecofuli's critique are both valid, here is why:
Corona provided the biggest leap in productivity for ArchViz people. As such, most of Corona's early development (which was partly voted on by users), was mostly ArchViz related.
Features like Denoise (Especially awesome in heavy bounce light only scenarios), Lightmix (You can press render once and get Night render and day render at the same time, once render instead of many), VR (there are countless examples in the gallery of people using to demo ArchViz to clients), are things, that helped ArchViz folk find a renderer, that suits there needs like no other package.
VDB was easily the least important feature for the majority of the user base, especially considering the amount of dev time adding VDB, versus many other features, which were more asked for.

Muadib, you are right: Now is probably the time, where Corona departs from being dominated by one crowd and it has already shown features, that are more to the taste of animation for instance, better SSS, MoBlur in post via Vector pass etc.. But consider, that there are two whole sub-forums, Feature Requests and Feature requests C4D, with 203 unresolved, 746 resolved and 57, 3 resolved topics respectively and an official vote on most requested features, where "Advanced volumetrics" is currently tied with Caustics. The devs have definitely listened and now VDB is slowly rising to become one of the most requested things. I'd argue, with all the Product ads and pools we had on the gallery, that caustics has priority, but either way, everythings has it's time. Not because some people cancel their subscriptions, but because enough people care, for it to become implemented. And with the lead dev answering and acknowledging your request, the chances are not that bad.

However, what prompted the response of cecofuli was the indeed correct statement of ""ME" and "personally"", yet when the lead dev asked for more info on product wishes your arguments were: "it baffles me someone...", "...how many people needed this feature...", which clearly makes the argument not about you, but others. So here come these "others" defending there choice, and they have every right to do so.

[bluebox]

Well, I can't  agree with most of the summary that Muadib provided, as most of the features mentioned are SUPER usefull and well... there would be no Corona without them
BUT
then there are some like CScatter that are already very well developed by 3rd parties like Itoo Forest Pack etc. and trying to develop something similiar, feature after feature is IMHO a waste of man-programming-power (and I remember seeing Ondra complaining that the team is already understaffed when people asked for the development of Corona for Modo) since an average user can pay for say Forest Pack after completing even a simple commissioned job (c'mon guys ... it is mere 200E while majority claimed to charge more per one image in last year survey).

I do undestand that different people have different priorities though and really appreciate super fast development.

It is just that VDB is constantly at the top in "the most wanted feature" topic, and yet one can hardly get an answer to the question "when" ;)
So, can we pretty please at least get an estimated ETA on this ? Corona 2.0 ? 2018 ? Any chance for updated roadmap for this year (that would be awesome) ?
Thank you.

[romullus]

I sincerely hope that your constant attacks against CScatter will go unnoticed by the Corona Team...

[bluebox]

I sincerely hope that your constant attacks against CScatter will go unnoticed by the Corona Team...

Primo - I am speaking about this for the 2nd time on the forum, wouldn't call that constant. And I do so because the other topic was left unaswered and the forum has grown so big that it is super easy to miss content.
Secundo - your post just proves the above discussion is right, with the difference that you are on the "happy side" of people who have all the features they want/need. There are also people who don't and don't even have a workaround for things they would want to do.
Tertio - you can't entirely decline that what I am saying is valid.

[romullus]

I'm not gonna argue with you or anybody else on that matter, as clearly there can't be ones who's right and the other ones who's wrong. it's just a matter of point of view and i merely expressed my own one :]

I'll make one exception, though:

Tertio - you can't entirely decline that what I am saying is valid.

Neither you can proove that it is ;]

[FrostKiwi]

Just a small correction:

It is just that VDB is constantly at the top in "the most wanted feature" topic, and yet one can hardly get an answer to the question "when" ;)

The poll get reset often, in earlier version Volumetrics was not even an option.

Ok, the poll was reset to get some fresh perspective. So everyone, cast your votes!

Last reset was late November 2016, this is when Volumetrics was added, so we can barely be speaking about "constantly". It is a recent development, on the timescale of Software releases. Just like any other feature before it, it get's it's time when it becomes wanted more than other features. Now is that time together with caustics.

btw: i am willing to reset and re-do this poll with better naming of features... can somebody suggest a complete list of what to include?

[bluebox]

Neither you can proove that it is ;]

I believe that logic behind this makes it stand for itself.
If you're a hobbyist then CScatter is more than you need. If you're a professional, then you can afford specialised scattering solution. If you are a professional and you can't then maybe you should reconsider treating this whole CG thing as a hobby ;]
From Corona Team POV developing a scatterer nested in the rendering engine is also not "to be or not to be" kind of thing since those two are no competition and people using Corona won't simply leave it 'cuz it doesnt have a scatterer.
Ergo man power required to develop CScatter could be utilized to slowly develop support of say VDB.

And two things I need to clarify and underline so we understand each other correctly:
1. I don't by any means say that CScatter should be omitted for eternity. I'd personally postpone it* till other requested features get implemented, but clearly I am not the one to decide, just hungry to know when we can expect other features.
2. *Treat CScatter as an example. I am talking about it because it is the first, most apparent thing that comes to ones mind in relation to the above and to what is being developed and what is not.
3.

I do undestand that different people have different priorities though and really appreciate super fast development.

Peace man ;]

Just a small correction:

It is just that VDB is constantly at the top in "the most wanted feature" topic, and yet one can hardly get an answer to the question "when" ;)

The poll get reset often, in earlier version Volumetrics was not even an option.

Hmm, my bad then. I apologize. I was simply under impression that it was there for ever, just under other phrase before the reset, when folks stated that part of the things in the poll were unclear as to what they refer to.
You can't deny that recently VDB requests pop up very often though.

[Christa Noel]

this kind of offense is really funny :) I mean it. you can see how corona grew up by users feedback for most features.
everyone takes the parts of developing.. and still doing that even faster.
so sadly... everyone here must be ridiculous for still buying and using and happy with their corona except you of course.
I'd like to say something more but cecofuli and romullus already explained it moreless like what in my mind.
cheers!!

[bluebox]

so sadly... everyone here must be ridiculous for still buying and using and happy with their corona except you of course.

I assume you're refering to me?