OTOY Forums

Since Otoy's been "thinking about" slave licences for a couple of years now, would it be safe to assume it will never happen?

Hey Otoy, is there a chance you may still provide slave licenses? We have a lot of computers that could be made use of once 3.1 hits and we can take advantage of AMD cards.

I'm also interested to hear any news abotu that.

Thanks

As explained in the GTC16 roadmap, we plan to introduce new cost effective pay as you go options for slave and secondary node usage between 3.0 (now) and 3.1.

"pay as you go options"
That sounds like some cloud-thingy-stuff?

preciousillusion wrote:"pay as you go options"
That sounds like some cloud-thingy-stuff?

It's simply a monthly payment for an additional floating licence - either slave or master. For users on a budget, this may be their primary licence if they don't want to spend $399.

As we announced at GTC, we are looking to price this around $19 month.

what, i hope i got it wrong, there is not gonna be permanent render-slave license version? only subscription mode ?

Lewis wrote:what, i hope i got it wrong, there is not gonna be permanent render-slave license version? only subscription mode ?

Subscriptions - and at this price, relative to the hardware investment needed for a decent render node, this is a drop in the bucket. If you need a permanent render slave licence, you can buy just the standalone without a plug-in

If we are missing something in between these two options, we're open to feedback.

Goldorak wrote:

Lewis wrote: If we are missing something in between these two options, we're open to feedback.

Well since you are not subscription only company (thank God) i don't see why there can't be perpetual license for RenderSlave mode also. You have full license/standalone in perpetual licensing mode so why not also offer more affordable perpetual RenderSlaveMode (RSM ?) only also ? I don't use standalone version at all (although i understand why we need to pay for it) so plugin version is always my main workflow anyway. Considering that i'd like to install RSM only on all my home current CPU RenderSlaves at some price point which is not 399$ as full standalone.

As much as subscription sounds cool/good many people don't like that business model. So yes as an OPTION it's good to have subscription mode but not as only option (now talking about RSM, not general standalone license which I'm aware is on perpetual licensing mode).

I have 3 machines at home on a side (CPU renderslaves) and i can put 2 (maybe 3 if i change case/ventilation and PSU) GPUs in each of them so i hoped I could get cheaper RSM only perpetual licensing for those 3 machines instead trying to squeeze 6-7 GPus in single machine with extenders which requires new cases, new PSUs, extenders, slower seed due OR3 differenc ein kernels/data sendign over 1x PCI-E, etc. etc....
With current standalone pricing i don't see myself adding 1200$ for 3 more standalone licenses which i will never use as standalone app anyway but only as RenderSlaves. That's why i think more affordable RSM would be good option.

Hmm now the more I think about that the more i feel i'd also (not only option ofc) like RSM license paying "per GPU" so it would be like perpetual 20-25$ per GPU regardless of number of machines in network. That way we could throw in 1-2 GPU in each office machine without big changes in the render infrastructure or CPU renderslaves/motherboards/PSUs/Cases and still have affordable 15 network GPUs rendering together with main Workstation GPUs.

That way we could add/buy in more perpetual RSM licenses as we buy more GPUs gradually in out systems.

Not sure is that technically doable from your side but it would be most interesting option for me and company where i work with MBOs which have only 2 PCI-E full size slots in most machines which i could use for rendering while my coworkers work in Autocad and not render at all or use machines at their full power . We have 12 PC in out small office (and several laptops) and only 1 is fully used for actual rendering 'coz others are mostly made for 2D work and occasionally CPU network rendering (sometime i put the all to use when time schedule is tight and not need for External RenderFarm so even if they are 3x slower than my main workstation it still is 11 additional CPUs rendering so it gets notice don final render time). If i could "use" their PCI-E slots for good purpose (i.e. GPU rendering ) that would be very cool.

BTW thanks for participating in discussion, it's really refreshing when see DEV interested to hear user opinions .

cheers

Goldorak wrote: Subscriptions - and at this price, relative to the hardware investment needed for a decent render node, this is a drop in the bucket. If you need a permanent render slave licence, you can buy just the standalone without a plug-in

How is the price of hardware relevant in any way? And even if it were (which it's not), maybe I've already got a bunch of cards? With a little luck I get 3-4 GTX 780 of ebay for about the same price as a license.

If we are missing something in between these two options, we're open to feedback.

Yes, slave licences. It's been requested for years.