Subject: Re: LW 3DSM plug-un, why?
From: Tim Krego <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 20:42:55 -0700

At 11:09 PM 4/21/96 -0400, you wrote:
>How many is many? 20-30? 200-300? 2000-3000? Subtract that number from
70,000 >and decide if selling some of these remaining people a $500 plugin
LW >renderer wouldn't generate some cash.

You can't sell a plugin renderer for 3D Studio Classic (DOS) which is where
the 70,000 number comes from.

The MAX user base is relatively small right now. They shipped 12,500 copies
last week, the bulk being upgrades. A good percentage of DOS users will
upgrade, but there are some diehards that refuse to move away from DOS in
both the 3DS and Autocad. So there may be 30,000 MAX users in the next 6-12
months.

As both a LW and MAX user I can say it probably isn't worth it for NewTek to
waste their time. It really wouldn't sell enough to recoup the time and
money invested. 

The MAX renderer is every bit as good as the LW renderer. It may not have
raytracing, but that can be faked without the performance hit that
raytracing has.

I originally thought the mention of NewTek porting the LW renderer to MAX
was another snide remark against 3DS. I still don't think NewTek is
considering it and would recommend they not bother.

Since I speak for ALL MAX owners: If we wanted the LW renderer we would have
bought LW. :)

NewTek would be better off with an unbundled Modeler. That may sell, only if
they would do a good job integrating it. Since LW is pretty cheap at $1495
us filthy rich 3DS guys can think of it as a plugin already.

Seriously, maybe NewTek could offer a competitive upgrade just for MAX
owners. They could sell a few copies without any effort to a market that
probably wouldn't buy it. Of course, some of us use both.