People here aren't saying, "just suck up the cost and stop whining" or "don't try to get a better price.".

Uh, actually I'm inclined to say exactly that.

It's not at all trivial to write a piece of software like this, with a rich set of functionality, an intuitive UI, and without any serious showstopper bugs.

On the other hand, there are obviously fewer people who would buy a product like Genetica than there are people who would buy, say, Angry Birds. Still the Spiralgraphics guy ("Atlas", whatever his real name is) has to eat and has to pay his bills. That's just what reality is like.

Which means no more and no less than he needs to sell copies, and he needs to sell them a tiny bit more expensive than for $1.99.

Of course I prefer getting things cheaper too (who wouldn't!) but in this case, this would in all likelihood mean that it is no longer profitable for the author to spend his time developing/supporting the product.

From that point of view, if one wants to profit from the functionality of this excellent product, it is only fair to pay the author's bills.

People here aren't saying, "just suck up the cost and stop whining" or "don't try to get a better price.".

Uh, actually I'm inclined to say exactly that.

It's not at all trivial to write a piece of software like this, with a rich set of functionality, an intuitive UI, and without any serious showstopper bugs.

On the other hand, there are obviously fewer people who would buy a product like Genetica than there are people who would buy, say, Angry Birds. Still the Spiralgraphics guy ("Atlas", whatever his real name is) has to eat and has to pay his bills. That's just what reality is like.

Which means no more and no less than he needs to sell copies, and he needs to sell them a tiny bit more expensive than for $1.99.

Of course I prefer getting things cheaper too (who wouldn't!) but in this case, this would in all likelihood mean that it is no longer profitable for the author to spend his time developing/supporting the product.

From that point of view, if one wants to profit from the functionality of this excellent product, it is only fair to pay the author's bills.

Agreed, i'm currently considering a studio license (i need the very high res support so not considering the other licenses) and found the product through this thread, it's pretty ironic that a thread about the cheapest license not being cheap enough may be getting the guy his most expensive license sold hehe.

This does normal maps:

http://www.crazybump.com/

Not sure why this related, genetica isn't particularily about normal maps

Also, Genetica generates normal maps with one button click, too (and, at your discretion, any kind of other "effect maps" that you wish, such as height or coverage).

Not sure why this related, genetica isn't particularily about normal maps

It was the rationale the OP gave about why he needed to purchase the more expensive version of Genetica.

My bad there, missed that post.

In that case i also recommand bitmap2material which does normal maps & much more.