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S3D Development Update...?

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:19 am
by iZz0s
soo, really Guys... first time announced in september and then again a thread on 5. october..

just to quote your own words at your last thread:
"We are extremely excited to launch Simplify3D Version 4.1 in the next few weeks! Thank you for your patience as we work to finalize the release, and we will continue to post more information as the launch date gets closer."

finally, since that more informations again and as a lot of people said here the information providing is really bad. It's already few weeks again, which is no problem - but that sentence "we will continue to post more information as the launch date gets closer" bothers me.

Is it really overcharged just to tell us how long we furthermore have to wait? or just some informations, how is the progress and what we can expect? or is nothing happen in the last 2-3 weeks?

Re: S3D Development Update...?

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:58 am
by martin1454
Funny how they also locked the update thread -.-

I really hope they come out with some nice new features that are just a bit premium and innovative.

No news on social media, no news on the forum.

What worries me is it is only "4.1" and not 5.0 which implies it is not that large an update or? Would love to see a feature list soon.

Re: S3D Development Update...?

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:56 pm
by SusiT140V
martin1454 wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:58 am Funny how they also locked the update thread...

...What worries me is it is only "4.1" and not 5.0 which implies it is not that large an update or? Would love to see a feature list soon.
Locking was probably for the best, but I do wonder how long this thread will stay unlocked for..? :D
I was initially concerned about the "4.1" too as it sounded like just another interim release, but after consideration, I think that maybe a 5.0 release would be for something like a whole interface rebuild or major coding changes - so 4.1 might not be just a 'spit and polish' release after all.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

In the absence of news, my search for replacement slicers continues. Just invested in a certain 'amorous' slicer that has some interesting features in the Premium version, such as embossing textures onto the outside of a print (not velocity or temperature-related, it is extrusion-flow based).
There is a lot to like, but it also has a quirky material and multiple-printer setups like S3D does.
Also, despite the acronym in the name, it is anything but simple once you switch to the more advanced modes. There's a bit of a steep learning curve to it.

Anyway, I wish the Simplify3D folks all the best, and hope they are managing to squash all the bugs they found.

One final thing - I'm really not surprised at the lack of news. If it's not going that well, punting out weekly reports can often be used against you - it's a bit like poking a sleeping bear, er, customer: they might notice you, and attack.
Sometimes, keeping your head down and getting on with it is the smarter move.

Sometimes, not always.. ;)

Re: S3D Development Update...?

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 2:41 pm
by arhi
martin1454 wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:58 am What worries me is it is only "4.1" and not 5.0 which implies it is not that large an update or? Would love to see a feature list soon.
maybe it will be 5.0, you can't know till it's out

Re: S3D Development Update...?

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 4:18 am
by batab
SusiT140V wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:56 pm
martin1454 wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:58 am Funny how they also locked the update thread...

...What worries me is it is only "4.1" and not 5.0 which implies it is not that large an update or? Would love to see a feature list soon.
Locking was probably for the best, but I do wonder how long this thread will stay unlocked for..? :D
I was initially concerned about the "4.1" too as it sounded like just another interim release, but after consideration, I think that maybe a 5.0 release would be for something like a whole interface rebuild or major coding changes - so 4.1 might not be just a 'spit and polish' release after all.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

In the absence of news, my search for replacement slicers continues. Just invested in a certain 'amorous' slicer that has some interesting features in the Premium version, such as embossing textures onto the outside of a print (not velocity or temperature-related, it is extrusion-flow based).
There is a lot to like, but it also has a quirky material and multiple-printer setups like S3D does.
Also, despite the acronym in the name, it is anything but simple once you switch to the more advanced modes. There's a bit of a steep learning curve to it.

Anyway, I wish the Simplify3D folks all the best, and hope they are managing to squash all the bugs they found.

One final thing - I'm really not surprised at the lack of news. If it's not going that well, punting out weekly reports can often be used against you - it's a bit like poking a sleeping bear, er, customer: they might notice you, and attack.
Sometimes, keeping your head down and getting on with it is the smarter move.

Sometimes, not always.. ;)
Well, in my opinion the lack of communication is by far the worse thing a "small" company with this target end-users can do.

They could be simply putting out a weekly report, they might even be reporting "fake" progresses by reporting things they already did or whatever but it would certainly be a better approach than being silent.

Zero to none reports about update progress when you are already being slow and most of your competitors have aggressive policies in terms of price (most are freeware) and frequent updates is seriously bad. Especially if you were ahead of times and now you are not anymore and if your community is asking for it.

They could literally invest 10-20 minutes per week in a very small report and post it on these boards and they would gain so much reputation out of it. Even marketing wise, most of the users that paid the software and are getting annoyed by this policy will not advise simplify3D to anyone else. While that small report could easily change this attitude.

Personally, I have invested recently in buying simplify3D and I'm not really happy of this approach towards updates. Especially considering all those freeware slicers that I'm seeing with some more features. I still consider the investment not a waste but right now I wouldn't advise it to hobbysts.

Re: S3D Development Update...?

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 5:48 am
by SusiT140V
batab wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 4:18 amWell, in my opinion the lack of communication is by far the worse thing a "small" company with this target end-users can do.
I'm actually with you on this. S3D charge a shedload of cash for something that is available for free elsewhere.

Simplify3D is generally a really good bit of software - it does what it does well (OK, mostly), and IMHO is easy to understand. This is why it sells, and sells BIG! S3D get a LOT of money from selling this slicer. I also think that in the past, the cost was reasonable for what you got.

However as this forum often shows, S3D is very secretive about what goes on behind the scenes. Ignoring all the gossip, the issue is here, as always, a lack of engagement with the customers.
Once again we hear nothing, and so can only speculate. After a while, this speculation goes from being curiosity-based to anger-based the longer we are kept in the dark.

As you say, this company is relatively small, but it has a HUGE customer base that loves the slicer and wishes it could do more. I am pretty sure there are many among us who would do our damnedest to help them achieve even more success, I know I am one of them, but they consistently seem to shun all attempts to help them improve the slicer and their public image.

Dammit, I want them to succeed! I am having a hell of a time getting a single slicer to effectively replace the ease at which Simplify3D allows me to complete projects.
C'mon guys, just stop being plonkers! Let US help you!

For the record: I was trying to be nice as I often lose my rag over situations like this, so I tagged on a "Sometimes, not always.. ;)" comment in my previous tome.

Oops. I lost it. :D

Re: S3D Development Update...?

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:11 pm
by S3D-Jason
If it helps, I can provide another quick update. As you probably know, the V4.1 release was planned to be released at the beginning of this month. We were mostly on track to make that happen, but there were some issues identified during testing that needed to be resolved. This set the schedule back by a few weeks like we mentioned in our last post. The good news is that at this point, I believe all of those prior issues have been fixed.

The release is going through final testing again, so assuming no new issues are found, it should be released shortly.

We always want to give the best estimate we can so that everyone knows when to expect a new release, but we also need to make sure we are delivering a high-quality product, so sometimes delays like this can happen. I know everyone here has been working long hours trying to get this finished as soon as possible, so we will also be very excited once it is released :D

If you have any other questions, feel free to email us directly at the link below:
https://www.simplify3d.com/contact-us/