CompuServe Thread

You will not hear from Autodesk because that is not the proper channel for 3D Studio support, you dealer IS. I suggest you call him/her, or any other authorized Adesk Multimedia dealer and have this lock problem, and other issues taken care of. If you have technical/procedural questions, I suggest you post them here, because most dealers do not know as much about the software as many of the folks who frequent the forum, and a couple of Adesk tech folks watch this forum. You'll generally get a response in 24 hours. That's excellent support, better than you'd get from any underpaid, poorly trained tech support drone at other software companies. I'm not defending Adesks support philosophy, but this forum is better than anything else in my opinion. I don't know why you have to pay $500, nobody is forced to upgrade for any reason. You should be getting the same support from your dealer whether you have R1, R2, or R3. If you don't, get a different dealer, yours sucks. BTW, Release 3 is SOOO much better than Release 2 in so many ways, that the $500 is one the best deals you'll get in software this year. I'm not a dealer, but I use 3D Studio to make my living, and I wouldn't consider R2 competetive anymore. That's computers for ya, 18 month obsolescence plan <g>.

You have the ear of some pretty darn good 3DS dealers, so bring it on and let's see if we can't get it solved!

Dave – I don't work for Autodesk (I'm a volunteer on the forum) but I moved your message to Section 10 "Shipping/Receiving" where I am hopeful that someone from Autodesk will pick up on it. How long was "a few months"? Usually there's a short period of grace before a new release is issued where, if you buy the current version, you get a free upgrade, but I don't know any of the details on that re: 3DS3.

Dave, Autodesk Product Support is listening. If you would like to post a specific question, we'll be glad to answer. If it turns out that you have defective materials, as mentioned by John Tissavary, you will need to contact your dealer for the confirmation of your problems. The dealer can take care of the problem for you. As far as the upgrade issue, I can understand your feelings. Our upgrade policy may not be for everyone. Did you have the sense that you were entitled to a free upgrade? Dave Byrnes is correct that there is a period of grace when a Rel2 purchase is close to when Rel 3 ships. In this case, a purchase of Rel 2 between Aug 1, 1993 and Jan 1, 1994 merits a free upgrade. Hope this helps. Nik, Brian, & Jonas.