Vehicle Physics Pro is now a production-grade, state-of-the-art vehicle modeling suite, which can withstand professional customer scrutiny. It’s actually being used by major companies around the world for developing amazing high-end simulations in a variety of projects.
I started developing VPP nearly 7 years ago. First commits are dated March 2011. Completing the wheel and tire model alone took 3 years (Feb 2014). The integration solver, modular architecture, and powertrain components took around one further year (Early 2015). I started selling the first Early Access licenses at that time. Since then, I’ve been continuously developing, improving, designing, implementing and testing Vehicle Physics Pro with new features and additions. And there are still plenty of things to do, lots of aspects to improve, and many exciting new features to design and implement.
In this scenario, a licensing model like “pay once, get updates and support forever” is simply not sustainable (real example 1, real example 2). So I’ve decided to adopt to a subscription based model for updates and support. You are granted to use VPP forever, but only receiving updates and getting support requires a yearly subscription. This licensing model is already live, and you may now purchase VPP licenses directly in the Licensing page.
The subscription model ensures:
- A sustainable model for actively developing VPP in the mid and long term
- Continuous development and updates
- Quality support
- Commitment to the project
I’m truly committed to develop and improve Vehicle Physics Pro in the long term and I really hope that the new licensing model will be good to everyone. If you already have a VPP license I’ll contact you soon with a transition offer tailored to your case. Please be patient, as I’ll send each email individually. As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
What happens to actual licenses?
Again, the subscription is for updates and support only. Actual customers may use VPP forever, without any further payment. However, a subscription plan is required for getting product updates and support.
Another significant change is that the source code access is now included in the Enterprise license only. In all other license tiers VPP is deployed as a managed DLL assembly. This DLL exposes the components and SDK in a single convenient multi-platform assembly. The change doesn’t affect the behavior or usage of VPP. The only difference is that the VPP components are now picked up from the DLL or from the Unity Menu instead of the script files.
In all cases VPP is delivered via GIT repositories and submodules for your projects to stay conveniently updated. A handy tool for migrating Unity projects from source code to SDK and vice-versa is also included.
If you have a Professional License:
Note: Professional licenses purchased after November 15th 2017 are already using the new subscription model. No action needed on them.
The access to the source code repositories will expire on next January 1st 2018 for Professional licenses. You should at least migrate your projects to the SDK version for keeping them updated after that date.
Your choices are:
- Keep using the source code version of VPP in your project(s) and stop receiving updates on January 1st 2018.
- Migrate your project(s) to the SDK version, but do not upgrade your license to subscription. You’ll keep receiving updates for at least one year after the purchase date.
- Migrate your project(s) to the SDK version and upgrade your license to subscription for another year of updates.
- Upgrade your license to Enterprise. Keep the source code access and get updates for another year.
I’ll contact you with a transition offer tailored to your case. In all cases, product support is granted for at least one year after the purchase date.
You already have access to the SDK repository, so you can migrate your project(s) from source code to SDK by following these instructions.
If you have an Enterprise License:
- Licenses purchased before December 1st 2016 will receive updates and support until next March 1st 2018. I’ll contact you with a transition offer tailored to your case.
Your choices are:- Keep using VPP and stop receiving updates on the date that is applicable to you.
- Upgrade to the subscription model and receive updates for another year.
- Licenses purchased after December 1st 2016 will receive updates for a period based on their purchase date. I’ll contact you with a transition offer when the update period is about to end.
Will Vehicle Physics Pro land at the Unity Asset Store?
Yes. The Free version will be available at the Asset Store. Most probably a paid Standard version will be available as well, which would be a reduced version of the Professional license.
I can’t estimate any dates because there are external factors involved. I’m working full-time on Vehicle Physics Pro and I expect these versions to land at the store (finally!) at some point during 2018.