Sawyer

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And you may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?

blowback

If I didn't dl stuff and work my a** of at home learning the software,testing software, how would I have ever got work in the industry? How would I know what to buy? I started 8 months ago at a firm and my recommendations were the reason we purchased lots of that exact same software. I know this is a touchy situation....my 2

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When we open the box,
there is a 50% chance that the cat is alive and a 50% chance that the cat is dead

notamondayfan

you cant use that as an excuse, as most programs have either demos or free versions that allow you to evaluate the product before you buy.

plus there are loads of free software, such as blender, so theres no excuse for startup businesses with little cash.

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Pikcells Animator, Modelling & Environment Designer

nicnic

^ Yes for a business there is no real excuse at all. You should pay for what you produce your income with. I do think alot of software licensing systems are a pain in the ass though, especially if for some reason it 'locks' you out even though you have a legitimate lisence, suppose it will take a few years for software companies to find a reasonable compromise between user friendly and 'secure'.

However I do find it strange that more effort isn't put into prosecuting actual software pirates rather than business? I suppose they are quiet hard to track down and even harder to get money out of?

Before I started working professionally whilst at uni I learnt everything on cracked software, I just couldn't afford the full or even student versions. If I hadn't done that I would be working in the same capacity now.

Saying that Blender etc are good enough is misled, why would you learn something inferior that rarely gets used in the industry?

Its a very difficult issue with many grey ares that no one is ever going to agree on

Ernest Burden

Do you think these software police would help me when my software licenses become unusable due to technical issues? I have programs that aren't working right but are from companies that are so unreachable that I just give up. Also, I have lost software to dead hard-drives, and Dell-tied programs (patched installers that will only install on one Dell machine). If I own a license, I should be able to use it beyond the life of the machines it was first installed on.

I'm sure these guardians of virtue would be willing to ensure my rights as a license owner. Do you think they cover the legal costs of businesses they target in error? Most of their 'business' comes from former employees with a grudge who report the former employer. There have to be times when they swoop in with whatever form of search warrants they use and find a business that is, in fact, playing by the rules. Who pays for the hassles, then?

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Ernest Burden III
AcmeDigital
architectural rendering

RodT

Surprising that I don't see mentions of intelectual property. I just look back and remember my riding a bicycle to work, past an engineering company who ended up being busted, because I couldn't afford a car because I just bought AVID Liquid. My software has always been legal, and yes many oopps with tech issues. If one considers the rational that it is ok to use cracked sw it seems only a tiny step to grabing some great renderings from someone else and placing them into your portfolio. The rational is the same, "I can't create good enough work, so, until I learn to do my work better I'll use other's work." How many people take interships fee gradis just to get their foot in the door? I say bite the bullet, forget going out, or buying that new outfit, ask for specifc gifts and rest easy at night.

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www.blurringreality.com

aaron-cds

Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of the $500 renderings.

"In countries with the highest piracy rates, the BSA has pushed governments to crack down, arguing that greater respect for intellectual-property laws would stimulate investment in their economies. In July, Chinese police who cooperated with the BSA and the FBI crushed rings that had been selling an estimated $2 billion worth of pirated Microsoft and Symantec software around the world. These steps seem to work. The percentage of software in China that was not legitimately purchased is 82 percent, but that's down from 92 percent in 2003 and 96 percent a decade ago, according to BSA-commissioned market research." - Brian Bergstein

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Aaron Coon, Conceptual Design Studio

3dmillermeter

"Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of the $500 renderings. "

I don't think so. I saw this a last week

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/crs/489671396.html

aaron-cds

I could only charge $500 for renderings like those as well. They're not competition.

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Aaron Coon, Conceptual Design Studio

creasia

I am taking back the words I had written in this thread.

Just having a bad day. Arch Viz is a good trade to be in.