13 replies to this topic

[Sam Morgan]

I spend a lot of time doing time intensive rendered animations for my stock plans on my website.  Sometimes these really slow my computer down so much that it makes working on current projects at the same time very frustrating.   I've thought for a long time that having a second key so I can work on my surface or laptop while my desktop is doing renderings would be a great idea although I've never been able to justify the cost.   This would be only for my own use, I don't have any employees.   I've been looking at pricing on softplans website and it looks like there are options for additional seat or network seat for a reasonable monthly cost for SP+ subscribers.   I'm not really familiar with the network option so not sure if that would be the way to go or not.   I would need the ability to leave a key at the office while things are rendering and take one with me when I'm traveling or out meeting clients.  Is anyone doing something similar that can give some feedback?

 

 

Sam

 

 

[Brad Graber]

Just a thought here, but would an upgraded video card render faster for you allowing you to turn the render around faster.  I have a gtx660ti and it will render at the highest settings on textured mode in a matter of seconds.

[Sam Morgan]

I have a gtx 645.  It renders pretty fast when doing a single rendering.  I'm doing animations of each room of the homes I design.  Sometimes I have more than one going at a time.   I do a new screenshot every 2 degrees so I'm getting 180 individual files per room.   A bedroom or basement is relatively quick...just a few hours.  Once you start doing kitchens or bathrooms with mirrors...the time turns to days.   I have two kitchens running right now and they have been going for two days and are only about halfway done.   If I were to have a client call for a meeting at their home right now, I would have to turn them down because I can't take my key with me.

[Brian Berzinskis]

I have an office setup with 3 keys and I take one home every day to work at night from there. I was curious about the network solution because it can be frustrating if I forget to take a key home with me. But I am not sure if I would be paying double having a network key for the office and another for my home.

[Keith Almond]

I'd like to do some experimentation with Softplan at home, but am afraid of leaving a key at home. I live 110km from the office, and it's not too feasible to go back home if I forget to bring it in.

 

Depends on how productive another key will make you. If you can generate more income, it may pay for itself.

[Sam Morgan]

I talked with SP Sales the other day.  Network wont do what I'm looking for and they've raised the price of additional keys to be nearly the full price of buying the software.   I felt it was way over priced when it was about a thousand bucks but now that its over 2 thousand for a second key....I sure as hell am not going to be buying one.   I'll just suffer through the extremely low productivity that I have for years

[Brent Greener]

Soft Plan really needs to find away to let us use Network keys from other loactions, we are paying for it why can't we use it where ever we want? I switched from keys to network for the ease of use not having to bring a key. I have a VPN set-up between my house and work so it is all one big network. Well not in Soft Plans eyes it isn't, I can no longer do any work at home. Come on Soft Plan, give us some options here, please.

[Ken Montag]

TOTALLY Agree with you !!!!
Any ideas how we can do this without effectivly cutting our price in half, or worse !
We tried for years to offer a second key for home use. Worst customer relations decision we ever made.

Every thing we did to try to manage the use of second keys made for poor customer relations.

Everything from second keys sold on ebay to upgrade just second keys made business life miserable.

Since we stopped selling second keys at a steep discount our customer service calls have greatly reduced.

I am all for the idea of a "home" key and we are trying to find a better solution than the key but everything else seens to add other restrictions.

Any ideas ?

[Brian Berzinskis]

TOTALLY Agree with you !!!!
Any ideas how we can do this without effectivly cutting our price in half, or worse !
We tried for years to offer a second key for home use. Worst customer relations decision we ever made.

Every thing we did to try to manage the use of second keys made for poor customer relations.

Everything from second keys sold on ebay to upgrade just second keys made business life miserable.

Since we stopped selling second keys at a steep discount our customer service calls have greatly reduced.

I am all for the idea of a "home" key and we are trying to find a better solution than the key but everything else seens to add other restrictions.

Any ideas ?

 

I do not necessarily mind the keys but when I do forget to bring one home or back to the office it is a little bit of a pain. I am not an expert in the drawbacks but would it be possible for some sort of online login as an option for those time when I do forget the key so that I do not need to make a trip. I understand that an online login might not work for all users especially those without internet connectivity but if it was there as an option and we had a specific amount of registered computers or something that could use the online login. I would keep my key at work and login from home or something. Just an idea.

[Sam Morgan]

I wonder how they've done it with microsoft?  I have OFFICE365 as a subscription service so I always have the most current version.  My subscription includes installs on up to 5 PC's and 5 Tablets.  

[Thomas Davis]

Ken,

Look at this website - https://www.vasco.com/ I don't know if they have a solution or not, but it seems like one of the services / products they offer could work.

 

Their solutions may not be affordable, but it is worth a shot.

 

I know PayPal / Ebay uses them because I have a security dongle manufactured by them that I use to log into both my PayPal account and my Ebay accounts.

If I do not have my security dongle with me at the time I am trying to login, I have the option to send the security code to my cell phone.

[Ken Montag]

I kind of like the Microsoft model. Subsriptions are about half the full price , so pay 1500 or so per year and you can have a second key! Works for me,

[Keith Almond]

The NETFLIX model works better for me .... You can log into two devices simultaneously with your login. Now Softplan could make that ONE so that using your login anywhere allows you to use that and only that computer at the time.

[Brent Greener]

TOTALLY Agree with you !!!!
Any ideas how we can do this without effectivly cutting our price in half, or worse !
We tried for years to offer a second key for home use. Worst customer relations decision we ever made.

Every thing we did to try to manage the use of second keys made for poor customer relations.

Everything from second keys sold on ebay to upgrade just second keys made business life miserable.

Since we stopped selling second keys at a steep discount our customer service calls have greatly reduced.

I am all for the idea of a "home" key and we are trying to find a better solution than the key but everything else seens to add other restrictions.

Any ideas ?

 

I guess I don't understand the restriction on network keys having to be on the same local network. If I have a network key why can't I use it any where in the world since I paid for it?

 

Right now I pay for three keys but I really need to call and get rid of one because I never have used it, because it doesn't work from home.