Realms Art Forest Terrains

Realms Art Forest Terrains is a collection of materials and plants for forest scenes. Available as either seasonal packs or a combined pack the total package consist of 27 Materials, 15 Ecosystems and 26 SolidGrowth Plants.

Ranch Renderfarm Blitz

From Frédéric Louguet:

Perfect for short projects and animation previz, the BLITZ! formula is a very affordable way to use the RANCH.

You pay $10 once and for all, and you have one hour max to render your project. Try it out!

All the details here: http://www.ranchcomputing.com/news_uk.php

Vue Render Setting Changes

Frédéric Louguet of the RANCH Renderfarm has been looking at the changes to the preset render settings in Vue 6...

People who prefer to deal with the user settings directly (like me) won't be affected, but people who use broadcast, superior and mostly ultra presets will be (the preview and final presets haven't changed).

Following a discussion with e-on developers, and after seeing people using the Ultra mode on the RANCH without really knowing a lot about the implications of the old 'Ultra' mode (that is, in some cases it could lead to the scene taking more than 30 - yes, thirty - times longer than in Superior mode Shocked ), the Ultra mode has been toned down in post-290396 builds.

Here is a quick comparison between build 290396 and build 291050:

Render Mode	Build 290396		Build 291050
	Object AntiAliasing	Texture AntiAliasing	Object AntiAliasing	Texture AntiAliasing
Broadcast	4-16 (60%)	4-12 (80%)	4-16 (60%)	4-12 (60%)
Superior	4-24 (90%)	4-24 (70%)	4-24 (70%)	4-16 (70%)
Ultra	4-32 (85%)	4-28 (95%)	4-28 (80%)	4-20 (80%)

And most of all the 'Recompute Subrays' option is now unchecked by default in Ultra mode.

All this means that in scenes with heavy reflections/refractions, builds > 290396 will be considerably faster in Ultra mode, and slightly faster in Superior mode (for broadcast it won't really be noticeable). The difference in image quality will be very small for most scenes, compared to the massive speed gain. There may be some cases - for example scenes with blurred reflections - where you might want to reactivate the 'Recompute subrays' option to have extra quality, but of course with astronomical render times.

All in all the new settings are more balanced. New Vue users have a tendancy to throw the ultra mode at everything, and it was painful to explain that even on the RANCH, you could cook up some scenes that could take days to render Laughing Now it shouldn't happen, except if someone messes up with the user settings without knowing exactly what parameters does what...

ActiveRendering review of Vue 6 Revealed

A new review in German of Vue 6 Revealed is available at ActiveRendering

Postcards From The Rim

Monsoon has released a new Vue set for creating science fiction images, Postcards from the Rim, at 3D Commune. It includes 90 materials, 65 objects, functions, 2 atmospheres and a selection of scenes to get you started.

E-on Software Newsletter - June 19, 2007

E-on's latest newsletter includes:

• New Update Available For All Versions of Vue 6
• Vue 6 xStream for XSI Released
• Meet Us in San Diego, August 7 to 9, 2007
• New Spotlight and New Customer Project Online

You can read it at e-on softwares web site now!

E-on Software Releases Vue 6 xStream for SOFTIMAGE|XSI

A new press release from e-on software...

XSI SUPPORT ADDED TO EXISTING 3DS MAX, MAYA, LIGHTWAVE AND CINEMA 4D SUPPORT

June 19, 2006. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of the leading solutions for natural 3D environments, today announced the immediate availability of Vue 6 xStream for SOFTIMAGE|XSI software. Vue 6 xStream offers CG professionals a complete toolset to integrate their projects in rich and realistic natural 3D environments.

Vue 6 xStream: the Integrated Solution for Natural Environments

Vue 6 xStream combines unequaled environment creation power with advanced rendering technologies and full-featured animation tools. It extends the feature set in XSI to include support for Vue’s state-of-the-art natural environment technologies.

Vue 6 xStream is specifically designed to integrate into any professional production pipeline, from architectural visualization to game, broadcast and film industries.

"We’re happy to welcome XSI users to the circle of xStream-empowered applications! With all major 3D applications now supported, Vue is more than ever the undisputed solution for the creation of professional CG environments", said Nicholas Phelps, president of e-on software.

Vue 6 xStream for Softimage XSI is the latest addition to the list of xStream-compatible applications, alongside 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, LightWave and Maya.

"Vue 6 xStream for XSI was highly anticipated by our user community; it’s a wonderful solution for high-quality environments and it integrates well with the XSI toolkit", said Bill Roberts, Director of Product Management for Softimage, a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. "We look forward to the results our shared customers will produce with this technology."

Key benefits of Vue 6 xStream:

1. Use the industry’s leading solution for natural environments directly inside XSI software
2. Streamlined integration that effectively eliminates any need for import/export or compositing processes
3. Patented EcoSystem technology to instantly create forests with millions of wind-swept plants
4. Ultra-realistic spectral atmosphere model that captures all the subtlety of natural lighting
5. Spectral volume cloud technology for extremely realistic cloudscapes
6. MetaCloud with easily configurable cloud formations
7. Procedural terrain engine with infinite level of detail
8. SolidGrowth 4 Plant technology that dramatically reduces flickering of distant plants
9. Omni and directional ventilators for local modifications of plants and EcoSystems
10. Render XSI and Vue content in a single pass with mental ray

"Vue 6 xStream is a powerful, professional-grade tool that makes it easy and fun to create high-quality environmental imagery - With it we can create any environment we can imagine with minimal effort, and to have that directly within the XSI interface is awesome! The renderings we get out of Vue almost always surpass our expectations!" says Todd Akita, Technical Director at Psyop.

A 8 minute narrated video presentation of Vue 6 xStream is available at: www.e-onsoftware.com/vue/xstream

Vue 6 xStream is available in English for Windows 2000/XP/Vista, for both 32 and 64 bits OS. Vue 6 xStream is compatible with XSI software starting from version 5.1 and higher. Vue 6 xStream pricing begins at US $895 (Nodelocked License, Download Version), with upgrades available from Vue 5 xStream bundles for US $299, and sidegrades from other e-on software products (see website for details). Educational versions of Vue 6 xStream are available starting from US $239 for single user licenses (Nodelocked License, download version). Site licensing is also available, contact e-on software for further details and pricing information.

About e-on software

E-on software is the leading developer of high quality solutions for the creation, animation, rendering and integration of natural 3D environments. With products specifically targeted for the different market segments, e-on software provides solutions adapted to every project and budget. E-on software products are used worldwide by the film, television, architecture, game, science, education and entertainment industries.

E-on software was founded on the premise that powerful graphics tools should never get in the way of the designer's creativity. By investing significant resources into research and development, e-on software is able to deliver cutting-edge technologies that significantly improve usability and workflow.

E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon with a European office in Paris, France.

Visit their website at http://www.e-onsoftware.com.

About Softimage Co.

Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc., develops innovative 3D character creation and effects tools to animators and digital artists in the film, broadcast, post-production and games industries.

Its product line includes SOFTIMAGE|XSI, the most advanced 3D animation and character creation software for next generation games & film, SOFTIMAGE|FACE ROBOT®, the first production for lifelike facial animation, SOFTIMAGE|CAT™, a complete character animation system plug-in, and Alienbrain®, an industry leading production asset management solution for creative teams.

For more information about Softimage, please visit www.softimage.com.

Vue MassConvert Enhanced

I've just posted a new, improved version of my MassConvert python sctipt that allows Vue 6 Infinite users to convert between 3d formats using Vue without having to do each conversion one at a time.

Making a Waterfall using Hypertextures

A new short tutorial by Sam Fisher on creating waterfall in Vue 6 using Hypertextures is now available at Renderosity.

Vue Version 6.10 Now Available

Updater for Vue 6 to Version 6.10 is now available from e-on.

Cornucopia 3D Newletter 17

The 17th issue of Cornucopia 3D news is out now at Cornucopia 3D

Free Tower Model

I've just posted a free tower block model for Vue on my Too Many Ideas blog.

Creating Height Maps using Vue

Keith Wilson has made a series of video tutorials on creating height maps from Digital Elevation Model data (DEM) using Vue 5 Infinite, Photoshop cs2, Google earth and Lightwave.

You can download them now at: http://www.starssite.com/dem/

Decal Tutorials

Chipp Walters has two new tutorials on using Decal maps in Vue 6. See www.altuit.com/webs/altuit2/VueTraining/Vodcasts.htm