[Old] Development break, Alpha5 plans

[Ondra]

Some plans and thougts on the development:

• I'm taking a 1.5 months break from development (except for bug fixing). I have to deal with some other stuff.
• Current new features from daily builds will be released as Alpha5 after they are stabilized: Multiscatter/ForestPack support, IES lights, several bugfixes of A4 bugs
• I'm starting to write down a business plan for investors (so I can hire more programmers). I want to finish a commercial version of Corona in 2 years.

[ecximer]

Excellent plan, Ondra.
I wish you to find investors and most to realize the ideas! And we will help you. :)
Once again I Thank for an excellent product!
Good luck!

[lacilaci]

Very well, I hope that those 1.5 months does include some nice vacation or at least some time off and relax cause you deserve it for that amount of work.. I also hope that you won't end up in wrong hands and that you won't avoid adding features like volumetrics, hair and skin shader in time for final commercial release :D and wish you the best of luck and "nerves of steel" :D with business :)

[Polymax]

Excellent! I also wish you success in the development of business and financial!
In these 1.5 months us catch most parasites ;)

[maru]

I honestly wish you good luck with Corona. And yes, you deserve some rest. :)

Thanks for informing your groupies about your moves.

[Chakib]

Good luck Ondra and i'm sure you can do it !

[patoaltaco]

Good loock with your project!

I want to finish a commercial version of Corona in 2 years.

Is a crazy thought a GPL GNU licence?

I mean, I prefer to be a contributor than a costumer...

Cheers,

[lacilaci]

Right I don't want to be a costumer as well.. I prefer something like a CGArtist/Designer, sounds better and I don't know much about costumes either :D LOL (..pun intended..) :D

[jjaz82]

you've done a great job with Corona.
Good Luck for your project Ondra

[Ondra]

Is a crazy thought a GPL GNU licence?

Yes, if you want the renderer ever finished.

[patoaltaco]

Quote from: patoaltaco on Today at 16:43:50

    Is a crazy thought a GPL GNU licence?


Yes, if you want the renderer ever finished.

Jaja, good point.

anyway that is what i mean, i think it never will be "finished" it will keep growing and growing and getting better.

You are doing a great job with this engine, keep going, and thank you for it.

Cheers,

[Ondra]

yes, but to get it into usable state you need one guy focused solely on the task, and that person needs to eat from time to time, live somewhere, etc... :D

[Stan_But]

what about doing donate for you on develop this product?
and/or what about buying futures on license corona?
just give us "corona's account" or webmoney account and, think, lot of us will want help you with it.

sorry if subject being discussed

thanks for your amazing job!

[Polymax]

what about doing donate for you on develop this product?
and/or what about buying futures on license corona?
just give us "corona's account" or webmoney account and, think, lot of us will want help you with it.

sorry if subject being discussed

thanks for your amazing job!

And indeed!!!

[Ondra]

what about doing donate for you on develop this product?
and/or what about buying futures on license corona?
just give us "corona's account" or webmoney account and, think, lot of us will want help you with it.

sorry if subject being discussed

thanks for your amazing job!

This is one of the possibilities. When this was first mentioned about a year ago, I though it was not possible, but now I am not so sure. But first I need to know how much money I will need and what will be the timeframe. One of the reasons to go on the break is to plan this out. It might be even possible that we'll be able to finance most of it from our own sources. There are also some negotiations with some big companies (don't worry, no autodesk ;)), so we will see ;)

[Stan_But]

This is one of the possibilities. When this was first mentioned about a year ago, I though it was not possible, but now I am not so sure. But first I need to know how much money I will need and what will be the timeframe. One of the reasons to go on the break is to plan this out. It might be even possible that we'll be able to finance most of it from our own sources. There are also some negotiations with some big companies (don't worry, no autodesk ;)), so we will see ;)

all is right - good made plan is half of job.
wish you achieve all your goals

[cecofuli]

Octane ideas was good in my opinion. Two years ago, when Radiance was the main leader, I payed 49 euro for a beta for a short time (the full price for the beta was 99 euro). This would have ensured me the v1.0 version without spending anything more. Now Octane cost 359  (Studio + 3ds max plug) . With my 49 euro, I helped the programmers and now I've got a v1.0  )) It' was like a kickstarter.
But when I bought Octane, the beta wasn't good as Corona is now ;-)


"Our beta program allows users to buy a license for Octane Render Studio Edition Beta releases, at half the normal retail price. Your beta license will also be valid for the final v1.0 Studio Edition release, and subsequent dot releases such as v1.1, v1.2, etc, and will allow a reduced upgrade cost to future v2.0 releases. "

[Chakib]

what about doing donate for you on develop this product?
and/or what about buying futures on license corona?
just give us "corona's account" or webmoney account and, think, lot of us will want help you with it.

sorry if subject being discussed

thanks for your amazing job!

I agree, hope also western union for my donation is accepted cause i can't use paypal here unluckily

[Ondra]

I can't do kickstarter, I am no good at talking about redefining experiences in front of overexposed camera :D

[Stan_But]

I can't do kickstarter, I am no good at talking about redefining experiences in front of overexposed camera :D

so we need find a frontman )))

[Chakib]

I can't do kickstarter, I am no good at talking about redefining experiences in front of overexposed camera :D

i'm sure you will  love the camera haha

[ecximer]

what about doing donate for you on develop this product?

+1
This idea visited more than once my head and I am pleased to support the development of a personal budget.

[patoaltaco]

Quote

    what about doing donate for you on develop this product?

+1
This idea visited more than once my head and I am pleased to support the development of a personal budget.

+1
That is what i mean when i told that i prefer to be a contributor than a costumer.

Obviusly is Keymaster call and he must do what he wants.

There are also some negotiations with some big companies (don't worry, no autodesk ;)), so we will see ;)

.... I see dead people..... :D

[olejka2k]

Kickstarter is a good idea, everyone can bake there, but there is a problem with it - the specialization is not that wide and not a fact you will get desired amount of money to continue development.
So it's time to start your own business - it will be really new and great phase of development of Corona Renderer. Thank you for your great work , we will be waiting for any news !

[Javadevil]

I think the Octane business modelled worked great for them.
Either way I'd be happy to pay for a beta or help contribute to Kickstarter.
2 years for a commercial version,  WTF ?
Corona is better than most renderers I have paid for ;)

[Maynard]

what about doing donate for you on develop this product?

+1
This idea visited more than once my head and I am pleased to support the development of a personal budget.

+1 You can count me in too. This is definitely one of those projects that deserves the support of the community.

[woshilvba]

Corona is a very commercial value of software!
I like it very much!

I think that it should be released first as an architectural renderer.
Because its rendering speed is amazing in the outdoor performance.
May be integrated into Autodesk design MAX.

Then, the development of animation and other areas.

[lacilaci]

Corona is a very commercial value of software!
I like it very much!

I think that it should be released first as an architectural renderer.
Because its rendering speed is amazing in the outdoor performance.
May be integrated into Autodesk design MAX.

Then, the development of animation and other areas.

Now, I don't know Ondra at all... But even so, I think he's got much more brains than just releasing a feature incomplete renderer that might be "good enough".

We've got a revolution here going on, can't you see?! :D

Although corona already starts kicking ass of Vray and others at archviz, this needs to keep going on until developers of renderman and arnold quit business :D

Just my 2 cents, as I think you have to keep your targets very high, so that when you'd stop half-way, you're still satisfied :D

[Alessandro]

Ondra, there are about 2500 members in this forum. How many active users? How many of us are using Corona for production?
I'm starting using Corona for production render, at my risk, because if you decide to stop the develope I loose a lot of time!!! but I want to trust in you. And if I produce money with my work using your sw, I think it is correct to help you also if the release is not commercial.
About your business plan, I think it should be so useful for us to know how much money will you need to go on with your project for the next 2 years, because I think that if you ask us to contribute with a donation to help you, a lot of us will do it.
Just for example, if you ask me to pay a fee to be part of the alpha and beta testing, having the opportunity to use your Corona, and having a licence at the end of the development, or better, to be a part of a large international company, of course I'll send you the money right now! Maybe not all 2500 users are thinking like me, but I think a lot of them would like to help you in this, and a lot of fee could become a great way to finance your sw development.... if an half of us will contribute with (just to say) 50 or 100 euro....
So, +1 for me, anyone else with me?!?!

[Ondra]

Ondra, there are about 2500 members in this forum. How many active users? How many of us are using Corona for production?

There are 2500 members, but only about 300 unique visitors daily. I don't have any usage stats.

I'm starting using Corona for production render, at my risk, because if you decide to stop the develope I loose a lot of time!!! but I want to trust in you.

I've been developing it nonstop for 4 years and I have no reasons to stop now. I was offered some high-end jobs because of Corona, but I declined. I'm not in it for the money. I need them mainly to finance the development. So you dont have to worry.

The rest will be dealt with when I have a clear business plan (which I keep postponing ;)). But it would be most useful to have an estimate how many people would be willing for example to buy a licence now for discounted price.

[Alessandro]

But it would be most useful to have an estimate how many people would be willing for example to buy a licence now for discounted price.

+1 for 2 ws and some nodes.

[MrDeath]

Hi,

Well here's an idea. You say you only have 300 daily visits, which for me seems normal, because even if you're interested in the product, you won't visit the site everyday to see if a new version has emerged.

Which makes me think that on the 2500 members, much more than the 300 might be interested to donate. So what you could do is send a mail to all your members and explain the situation. I'm sure you will have a lot more feedback and you could even evaluate the number of people willing to donate (and maybe make a poll on how much they would donate).

I think you have to take it into consideration in your business plan :).

[relox]

Sounds like, im on those 300 visit every day to see if theres an update i think, if this software willl have to donate count on me, i bought really early version of octane render now i have unlimited updates and i think is the best choice to donate because its no expensive at all and i can use it for a job, not those expensive renders out there.

[Ondra]

5 days until the break is over...

[Polymax]

Good news!

[lacilaci]

5 days until the break is over...

can't wait :)

[Alessandro]

...something like 24th December night ;)

[Ludvik Koutny]

I would not worry, once the 4 days pass, it will be just 3 to 4 days of development till another huge break comes up ;)

[Ondra]

I would not worry, once the 4 days pass, it will be just 3 to 4 days of development till another huge break comes up ;)

actually I will be out only entire July ;)

[lacilaci]

Ah that's okay, the question is how much time it takes to create some nice skin shader :D lol :D

[SaY]

Ah that's okay, the question is how much time it takes to create some nice skin shader :D lol :D

And DR
:)

[jjaz82]

But it would be most useful to have an estimate how many people would be willing for example to buy a licence now for discounted price.

i'm one of those people :D

[rfox]

even though its still in alpha stage, I'm happy with the result. So...I'm ready with my wallet for this such a good renderer.

[javi_lobato]

Hi there!
New user here, just getting my head around this, looks very cool!

Only want to say best of wishes on your investor hunt!!

[Ondra]

The hunt was more than successful :D

[vectorman]

Really excited about this project... Have you considered using kickstarter to get funding? this will give the community a chance to support and benefit with you. If you can raise enough you will retain as much control of your project as possible and potentially avoid having to share the majority of your profits with investors/venture capitalists...

[Ludvik Koutny]

Really excited about this project... Have you considered using kickstarter to get funding? this will give the community a chance to support and benefit with you. If you can raise enough you will retain as much control of your project as possible and potentially avoid having to share the majority of your profits with investors/venture capitalists...

Actually, i am starting to think that if we found someone who would reward us with a dollar every time someone mentions kickstarter on this forum, we would be already well funded ;)