Solid Angle announced that Arnold would be moving to a subscription based model. You will be able to subscribe to Arnold for $600 per year, or by month for $65.00. Depending on where you side with the whole subscription model issue, this can be good or bad news for you.
It might be important to note that the sale of perpetual licenses will eventually stop. People that are on existing maintaining plans will continue to get updates. For more information, you can check the FAQ at Solid Angle. Arnold users will still have the option of purchasing floating perpetual licenses (USD $995) through April 30, 2018.
It certainly makes Arnold more accessible to a lot more users, with the barrier to entry bing only $600. On the other hand, Arnold as a perpetual license cost roughly $1200, this means that under the subscription model you will be essentially re-buying the renderer every two years based on the old license model.
However, Arnold subscription was intended to be low cost, flexible and scalable, with:
- Hosted Network License. Ability to self-host your license and access Arnold from multiple computers over the internet or other non-local network.
- Lower up-front costs. Subscription reduces the need for large, up-front capital expenditures, making paying for your software needs more flexible and scalable.
- Scalability. Monthly subscription plans allow customers to scale production based on their actual project needs and makes it much more flexible when it comes to variable production loads such as crunch time before a deadline or lulls between productions.
- Access to the latest software as well as to any updates so that you are always current with the latest Arnold technology.
- Global Travel Rights allow you to take Arnold subscriptions outside of the country they reside in when traveling.
- Access to prior versions (up to three versions back) where available. Subscription provides customers with basic support access.
Love it or hate it, more and more companies are turning to the subscription model for software. If you have always wanted to get into using Arnold but found it too costly, this might be a good opportunity to start using it. If you would like to keep using it, it will cost you more in the long run.
