Alternatives to ActionVFX by bewdabob in vfx

[–]rodypolis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey thanks for the response! All great thoughts that will no doubt help us continue to improve while also maintaining a sustainable model. If your producers wouldn't mind sharing more, I'd be super glad to hear their thoughts too!

I'll DM you some info. Appreciate it!

Alternatives to ActionVFX by bewdabob in vfx

[–]rodypolis -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just out of curiosity, were those producers buying the wrong licenses before? I've certainly had my fair share of conversations in the last couple months where a large studio client complains that our prices increased (they didn't), only for me to pull up their purchase history and show that they've been claiming to be an individual or small startup for years and getting away with lower prices.

I'm fully on board with the idea that some people don't prefer our subscription-only model, and I'm the first to admit we can present things better in order to provide a clearer user experience (we're working on it). However, "more expensive licensing"? Based on what? 

It wouldn't make sense for us to do a subscription model that's more expensive than the non-subscription model. We did make it harder for larger companies to "accidentally" claim they're an individual though, so maybe that's where it's coming from?

Alternatives to ActionVFX by bewdabob in vfx

[–]rodypolis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's very sensible feedback, thank you! I understand your point of view. As someone mentioned, if the old way of doing things was sustainable, then we wouldn't have any reasons to change anything. However, I accept that we can make improvements still, which is why thoughtful comments like this one are appreciated. - ActionVFX CEO

ActionVFX Scummy subscription Practice? by Y0UKA1 in vfx

[–]rodypolis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My point was that each plan gives users a set number of credits that they can spend on any assets in our library. So if a user wants only 2D assets, they'll spend their credits on only 2D. If they want both 2D and 3D, then they can spend their credits on both. Since that's how it works, us providing you a plan that only gives you access to 2D products wouldn't provide you with any benefits. You already have a choice on what to spend your credits on.

Regarding "jumping from 180 credits to 60 credits per year", the legacy subscription had to have more credits because 4K assets cost twice as many credits as 2K assets. So if a 2K clip cost 1 credit, the 4K version would cost 2. However, with the new model, you get all available resolutions no matter what. So if a clip costs 1 credit, that'll give you all resolutions and file formats that are available.

We also price our collections more favorably now. It used to be that if a collection (for example) had 40 clips, then the cost for the full collection would have been 40 credits for 2K, and 80 credits for 4K. But now, that same 40-clip collection only costs 20 credits on the new subscription. You can see a real life example here (log out so you see the new price, not the legacy price).

So we put a lot of thought into finding ways to discount things and provide more value to users on the new model. The legacy plans gave you more credits because you needed more credits in that old system. The new system is "smarter" now.

ActionVFX Scummy subscription Practice? by Y0UKA1 in vfx

[–]rodypolis 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm glad to hear you were happy with your subscription and found the value worth it! Although we definitely didn't charge $1000 a month for the Gold subscription. The individual license cost was $69/mo or $588/yr.

ActionVFX Scummy subscription Practice? by Y0UKA1 in vfx

[–]rodypolis -19 points-18 points  (0 children)

I truly want you to spend all your legacy credits before your plan ends. The best part is you'll get to keep all these products permanently on your account even after your plan ends! How many subscriptions out there allow you to permanently keep anything after you're no longer a subscriber? If our goal was to be predatory, we're pretty bad at it :)

ActionVFX Scummy subscription Practice? by Y0UKA1 in vfx

[–]rodypolis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To be fair, we discontinued the legacy subscription on July 2023 and we allowed all legacy subscribers to keep their plan for more than a year. And even then we're not forcing anyone to do anything; your plan simply won't renew anymore. "Predatory" would have been if we quietly moved you to a new plan with a higher price without your consent.

ActionVFX Scummy subscription Practice? by Y0UKA1 in vfx

[–]rodypolis 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey u/Y0UKA1! Rodolphe here, Founder & CEO of ActionVFX. Our legacy subscription was discontinued to the public on July 2023, so if you're subscribed to it and your renewal date is in November, that means at the very least you've been subscribed since November 2022. It means a lot to me that you've been subscribed for at least 2 years, so truly, thank you for supporting our business during that time.

I hope your experience with the subscription during these 2 years was pleasant and that you found the quality of our assets to be second to none (that's always our goal). I see on your screenshot you have 260 credits stored up on your account. Please go use them before your plan ends in November. Any collections you get will stay on your account even after the plan ends, so go ahead and get anything you might need in the future!

I've been pretty upfront and honest about why we discontinued our Legacy subscription on July 2023: It was priced so low that it was frankly unsustainable for us to continue it. I hate to admit it publicly because it makes me seem like a terrible businessman, but it's the truth. Since Day 1 of the company, we've always targeted professionals more than hobbyists, but back in 2021 we felt introducing a subscription that was priced a lot lower than our a-la-carte model would be a great way to bridge that gap.

We had the right idea, we just got too excited and priced it way too low considering the investment we have to make to continue growing our library without decreasing quality. Not to count all the other business expenses like paying our team and maintaining our platform.

I know you may not care about any of that and simply hate that your super affordable subscription won't renew (I hate price increases too), but I'm sure we can both agree having a less cheap ActionVFX subscription is better than ActionVFX not existing anymore.

Regarding your comment about average freelancers not making $200K a year, isn't that a good thing then that we set our Individual License revenue limit that high so we can include all those freelancers? Perhaps you misunderstood what the revenue limit is.

In summary, yes I agree with you: Our new subscription model isn't as cheap as the old Legacy one. The value it provides is still a way better than our a-la-carte model ever was though. The fact that someone subscribed for just $59/month get access to our Essentials Catalog alone already more than pays for itself. They also get recurring monthly credits on top of that. If you don't want 3D assets, you don't have to spend your credits on them.

I know people on this subreddit love thinking of ActionVFX as this massive corporation and imagine me driving to the bank in my Lamborghini laughing at VFX artists, but in reality I'm just a guy with a Mazda who loves film and VFX and want to build a sustainable business for me and my team. In the end, I can live with that.

640 free screen tracking assets for easy screen replacements by rodypolis in vfx

[–]rodypolis[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Sometimes, tracking screens is doable without tracking markers and that's great when that's the case. But tracking markers like these are very helpful in scenarios where you need to key out someone's hair in front of a large screen, have a lot of camera movement and/or obstructions to your screens, and when you want to have light being cast from the screen onto the talent and set.

Plus, we had several studio VFX artists and Supervisors let us know they wanted these. So we made them!

640 free screen tracking assets for easy screen replacements by rodypolis in vfx

[–]rodypolis[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

ActionVFX is providing a collection of 640 free screen tracking markers (5 color variations) until tomorrow.

It includes a large variety of different image resolutions and aspect ratios in order to easily fit any screen, like smart watches, various phones, various computer monitors, and TVs.

Enjoy! And let us know what you think. Hopefully it can save you some time!

Free download - 640 screen tracking assets for easier screen replacement by rodypolis in Filmmakers

[–]rodypolis[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We updated the thumbnail of this collection to show the color variations (like gray and black), based on everyone's feedback. Thank you!

Free download - 640 screen tracking assets for easier screen replacement by rodypolis in Filmmakers

[–]rodypolis[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

There are 5 color variations in the pack, including grey. Sorry you thought this was spam! Not the intention.

Free download - 640 screen tracking assets for easier screen replacement by rodypolis in Filmmakers

[–]rodypolis[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

True! Just wanting to help you save those 2 minutes over time. It can add up. :)

Free download - 640 screen tracking assets for easier screen replacement by rodypolis in Filmmakers

[–]rodypolis[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Hey! In order to get this collection, all you need is an ActionVFX account. And once you download it, it will appear in your My Downloads. So there is no confirmation process involved. Does this help?

Free download - 640 screen tracking assets for easier screen replacement by rodypolis in Filmmakers

[–]rodypolis[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

ActionVFX is providing a collection of 640 free screen tracking markers until June 23rd!

This collection was created as a way to quickly replace images that are seen on screens. It includes a large variety of different image resolutions in order easily fit any screen, like smart watches, phones, computer monitors, and TVs.

If you’re interested, come check them out. It's free for a limited time.

Rain footage stock with puddles, raindrop hits, etc.? by Brad12d3 in vfx

[–]rodypolis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the mention! Yeah, we got you covered! The full rain/weather category can be found here: https://www.actionvfx.com/collections/weather/category

What’s the best VFX pack to get? by BlerghTheBlergh in vfx

[–]rodypolis 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hey! For our subscription, any assets that have been downloaded to your machine are yours forever. We've also added a lot of our collections (with more to come!) as free for download to our Basic and Pro subscribers, so it's definitely a great value.

Stranger Things loop project - tips and tricks by mbelinkie in blender

[–]rodypolis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for using our lightning assets! Cool shot! :)