L*mion now split up in "Basic" and "Ultimate" flavors

[Ecuadorian]

It's official:
L*mion now comes in "Basic" and "Ultimate" flavors. In your personal area in the forum it says L*mion basic costs 5,000 "credits" and L*mion Ultimate costs 10,000 "credits".

Lumion Basic and Ultimate.PNG

After entering the code they sent me, I see my L*mion license is now a "L*mion Basic" license, and I need to cough up more money to get the new features...
<sarcasm> They were kind enough to give me 1,000 free credits so I could get one of the five new features for free. </sarcasm>

New features credits.PNG

I decided to open a new thread as the "Test drive" thread was going way off topic... It no longer was about testing it.

[jason_maranto]

So which package are you going to get for "free"?

Best,
Jason.

[Ecuadorian]

I'm first trying to cool down after seeing that each package will cost around $220. I'm currently mad.

BTW, I see there's still no "buy" link for Lumion Ultimate. Maybe I can wait for it so I can be sure I really have the "Ultimate" license and not just the "Basic" one with a couple of plugins. This way, if they decide to release more plugins and add them to the Ultimate package, I should get those for free. Unless they decide to split Lumion into Basic, Ultimate and Über versions.

[solo]

Phew! this could get expensive.

[jason_maranto]

What is the upgrade policy on the plugins? For instance the "Environment and weather" package looks interesting but if you have to pay full price each time they release an update to those then it could get to be a very expensive package indeed.

Best,
Jason.

[solo]

BTW, I see there's still no "buy" link for Lumion Ultimate. Maybe I can wait for it so I can be sure I really have the "Ultimate" license and not just the "Basic" one with a couple of plugins. This way, if they decide to release more plugins and add them to the Ultimate package, I should get those for free. Unless they decide to split Lumion into Basic, Ultimate and Über versions.

So you are buying the Ultimate version? (in theory you buying Lumion again as it's twice the price) and you get all the plugins for free with Ultimate right? and SP3 you will need to upgrade again I assume as there will be new plugins...or are future plugins all free with Ultimate?

[Gaieus]

are future plugins all free with Ultimate? ...or are future plugins all free with Ultimate?

Yes, they are.

[Ecuadorian]

What Lumion really needs for the next version is DirectX 11 support. This way supersampling can be done on a hardware level and rendering movies will be way faster. I had to heavily optimize the rendering of the Samanes Park video as it was taking 11 seconds per frame @720p with no overscan...

At this point I think I'll just sit and watch how the discussion develops both here and in the official forum before making any purchase... I want an official, signed document stating that all future additions to the plugins will be free for those with an Ultimate license. And I also want to know what the roadmap is for future upgrades, along with the prices of those upgrades.

[jason_maranto]

That sounds like a wise strategy -- being an early adopter is rarely a good idea.

Best,
Jason.

[solo]

Reminds me of E-on's strategy, basic Vue with added modules or Infinite with everything included.

[Ecuadorian]

With the difference that Vue Infinite is $995, while Lumion Ultimate is $2,200.

At the very least I hope they're tightening up the security so no one running a pirated copy competes with paying customers.

[EarthMover]

I opted for the Water/Fire/Smoke plugin. Now I have to buy an antivirus software and about 100' of ethernet cable to get my studio rig online to activate the update. I also spent my 1000 "free" credits on a plugin, but got no link to download the plugin. Not sure how they are installed.

What pisses me off tremendously is the false advertising regarding the update. All the users were under the assumption that all this new technology they have been previewing were included FREE OF CHARGE to existing Lumion 1.0 customers. So they baited people into buying the software in expectation of the new update, then switched up the whole sales strategy at the last minute. For example, here is a screen shot of thier Vimeo preview of the waterfall technology. Notice the wording in the description....

[solo]

Yeah, I noticed that also, very curious turn of events, tried posting this on their forum?, I'd like to hear their response actually.

[EarthMover]

I did voice it on the forum a few weeks ago, pointing a link to this vimeo wording, but no response. Technically I did get the update and waterfall technology for free, so I can't bitch too much. I just thought I was dating a full figured woman, but turns out she is an anorexic with a stuffed bra.

[EarthMover]

Anyone else experiencing uber slow download speeds for the update? I'm on high speed and normally download around 1.4 MB/sec from a fast host.

[Gaieus]

...I also spent my 1000 "free" credits on a plugin, but got no link to download the plugin. Not sure how they are installed...

They are included into the main download just not activated until you license them.

As for an antivirus software, have a look at this topic
viewtopic.php?f=179&t=37391&

[Plex]

It's official:
Lumion now comes in "Basic" and "Ultimate" flavors. In your personal area in the forum it says Lumion basic costs 5,000 "credits" and Lumion Ultimate costs 10,000 "credits".

I'm not a happy camper. I purchased Lumion to deal with presentation I had coming up, in light that I would get instant delivery. This did not happen. Nothing worked and I was busy fiddling with ports and firewalls only to find out this had nothing to do with my setup. Three days later I got message that a server had been fixed (which was down due to power shortage). By then the presentation was over and Lumion touch nowhere present. Then there is the dongle. It took over a week to get to me. The dongle arrived LAST NIGHT (8th June). I then installed Lumion on my laptop happy to be able to take the show on the road (my understanding of using dongle). TODAY there is a brand new world. New licensing scheme and addons that cost even more money. I was never informed this would happen and Lumion crew can not assume that everyone follows forums not directly related to their company. I would never have bought Lumion "as is" but was counting on the updates.
This is not acceptable in my opinion

[modelhead]

my download will take about a month at the grand speed of 1.2k....
...so somebody is kidding about that part....are we all hitting the same pentium1 in a basement??

If I am able to get my hands on the free part of the upgrade at some point in the near future.....(not sure how to pick yet either??)..I'll give it a try....but!!! it will have to be worth the 200 bucks per.

[jason_maranto]

This is always the way these things go -- digital delivery is faster than CD/DVD but usually you are better off to wait a day or two after "release" to download... save yourself the aggravation and avoid the bottleneck.

Best,
Jason.

[Gaieus]

I guess about 20% of the users are active forum members and these people are now all downloading. When the rush is over and especially during the coming, long week-end we can expect much faster downloads.

[Rich O Brien]

I remember how we all gasped at the price of TwinMotion2 when it launched via the 'renderingkiller' site. Now it seems it's pretty much on par with Lumion price wise.

http://www.twinmotion.com/acheter.html

I'd like to see these in a face-off on the same scene. It'd make for a really interesting competition.

Sorry for the slightly off-topic post but hearing the price hike made me hunt down TwinMotion to see what development road it took.

[solo]

I too would like to see that, I'd even be interested in doing it, but alas at those prices I'll wait for some rich bastard to do it for me.

[jason_maranto]

I think there is no question TwinMotion would beat Lumion pretty easily for most things... for the previous price difference that seemed reasonable -- less so now.

Best,
Jason.

[EarthMover]

At least for Sketchup users, Lumion just did E-on a big favor as anyone on the fence will certainly go LumenRT over Lumion at this point.

I guess I'll just consider the $1300 already shelled out as a downpayment and figure on paying for the rest of the needed content in installments. I suppose I'll just by plugins on an as needed basis and only if I can sell a project that requires it. There's no other option really.

In spite of the bitching, I'm still pretty psyched about the potential of the program and can't wait to re-render some projects with waterfalls and fire effects. Hopefully the road ahead stabilizes and we don't end up with 50 or more plugins for all aspects of future development. At this point I'm also wondering what Lumion 2 will bring in terms of upgrade fees, plugins, etc.

[Plex]

At least for Sketchup users, Lumion just did E-on a big favor as anyone on the fence will certainly go LumenRT over Lumion at this point.

Well LumenRT is totally different beast. Very promising for what it is meant for but hardly in competition with Lumion.

[Gaieus]

...I suppose I'll just by plugins on an as needed basis and only if I can sell a project that requires it. There's no other option really...

It seems that it is not even a bad idea and you need not decide now to (pre)purchase the ultimate edition with all future plugins included but as you go and purchase, your purchases will be deducted from the final price of ultimate meaning once you reach the 5th plugin, you are practically an ultimate license holder and will not have to pay for the rest. See Morten's explanation about the whole future licensing and plugin package policy here:
http://lumion3d.com/forum/index.php?top ... 65#msg7365

[EarthMover]

Well LumenRT is totally different beast. Very promising for what it is meant for but hardly in competition with Lumion.

No? As far as professional sketchup users go, it's all about what options there are to best present and sell your projects and keep your clients as happy as possible. Clients don't know what softwares cost and what kind of light calculations a program performs...they want to sell their products, regardless. In that respect, when it comes to animations easily produced out of sketchup, all options are indeed competition. Committing a piece software to your workflow is based on bang for the buck and what will keep the clients most happy. If I can get a comparable finished product out of LumenRT and Lumion, but there is a difference in cost, business model and customer service, I would have to weigh out both against the big picture. With the revelation that one of the softwares has doubled it's price midway through their first release, if I were on the fence, I would be very weary about entering a working relationship with that company. In that respect, they are making the less expensive options (LumenRT, Lightup, etc. ) seem more appealing in the long run.

I also remember Miguel doing a recent client animation that was half done in Lumion and half done in LightUP. I'm sure the client had no idea that there were two different programs used, as the results looked very similar.

[Ecuadorian]

How's the download speed today? I'm waiting for the dust to settle and for them to fix the unavoidable kinks that come with a new update.

[solo]

Took me 1h 20sec.

[Gaieus]

-30 minutes...