3D Artist Issue 63 and Vue

Issue 63 of 3D Artist looks like its a real treat for Vue users - page 42 to 48 are devoted to an article on digital matte painting while pages 50 to 55 are a tutorial on creating a matte painting with Vue.

Vue xStream 2014 is also reviewed (getting a score of 9/10).

E-on Software Releases Vue 2014 PLE and Trial Versions

TEST DRIVE THE LEADING SOLUTION FOR DIGITAL NATURE AT NO CHARGE

December 05, 2013. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, maker of the leading solutions for Digital Nature, announced today the immediate availability of the free Vue xStream and Infinite 2014 PLE (Personal Learning Edition), together with the trial versions of its products for 3D Artists, Vue Esprit, Studio and Complete 2014.

Vue 2014

Vue Infinite 2014 and Vue xStream 2014 are the latest production-driven versions of e-on software’s professional solutions for the creation, animation and rendering of natural 3D environments. Both programs offer CG professionals the premiere solution for creating exceptionally rich and realistic Digital Nature environments with seamless integration into any production workflow.

Vue xStream operates both as a standalone application or seamlessly integrated inside of 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave, Cinema4D & Softimage. It provides extended capabilities for integration into a production pipeline. Vue Infinite does not integrate into other 3D applications and runs as standalone only.

Key features of Vue 2014 include physically accurate sunlight and photometric lighting, FBX import, Multi-layer 32-bit OpenEXR 2.0 support, World Point Position pass, .FBX and .CHAN camera exchange as well as many workflow and interface improvements...

Learn more about the new technologies in Vue 2014 at www.e-onsoftware.com/xstream/?page=new

Personal Learning Edition (PLE)

The Vue 2014 PLE is a fully functional version of Vue xStream/Infinite 2014. With this release, e-on software has lifted some of the limitations of previous versions of the PLE. In particular, PLE users can:

• Create complete projects, save their work and export to other applications,
• Render in FullHD (for stills) and animations up to 720p,
• Experience Vue’s power directly inside 3ds Max/Maya/Softimage/LightWave/Cinema4D,
• Try Vue RenderNodes on their network,
• Learn at their own pace (the PLE never expires)!

The Personal Learning Edition ships with a wide selection of Vue presets, as well as the full PDF Reference manual. More presets are available in the commercial version.

Users can download the Vue 2014 PLE at no charge from www.vue3d.com/ple.

With Vue 2014, students don’t have to pay to learn Vue!

The Vue 2014 Personal Learning Edition allows any Artist or Student to learn the best Digital Nature tool for free. The PLE now outputs files that can be rendered without limitation using an ATC license. Students can thus work from home using the free PLE and bring their work back to school for use (and final rendering) using their school’s resources.

PLE Requirements and Restrictions

The Vue 2014 Personal Learning Edition is available in English for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, and on Mac OSX 10.6+ (Mac Intel only) for both 32 and 64 bit.

Scene files created and saved with the PLE cannot be exchanged with other PLE users and are not compatible with other versions of Vue except ATC Licenses.

The PLE is for personal, non-commercial use only, and renders may be watermarked and carry a logo.

Trial Versions of Vue 2014 for 3D Artists

Vue Esprit, Vue Studio and Vue Complete 2014 provide 3D artists with powerful modular applications to create rich 3D Digital Nature scenery and landscapes.

The Vue 2014 Trial Version is a fully functional version of Vue Esprit, Studio or Complete 2014 (the selection is done during installation), aside from the following limitations:

• Saving is disabled (scenes, plants, objects, ...),
• Render stills up to 1920x1080 and animations up to 1280x720,
• Animation length is limited to 5 seconds,
• Limited content (only a small selection of materials, plants, atmospheres...),
• Terrain export, standalone rendering and network rendering disabled,
• The Trial Version will work for 30 days.

Users can download the Vue 2014 Trial Versions at no charge from www.e-onsoftware.com/try.

The Vue 2014 Trial Versions are available in English only*, for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, and on Mac OSX 10.6+ (Mac Intel only) for both 32 and 64 bit.

*French and German versions of the Vue 2014 Trial will be released as soon as the localized versions of Vue 2014 ship, early 2014.

E-on Software Ships Vue 2014 Professional Solutions

New features of Vue 2014

Release 2014 focuses on strengthening the core features of Vue - light, atmospheres and EcoSystems. Thanks to dedicated exchange filters, it also pushes integration into existing pipelines.

"With physically accurate sunlight and photometric lighting, FBX import, Multi-layer 32-bit OpenEXR 2.0 support, World Point Position passes, .FBX and .CHAN camera exchange as well as many workflow and interface improvements, Vue is more than ever the go-to solution for digital nature environments", said Nicholas Phelps, president of e-on software.

Vue 2014 + Nuke Workflow Tutorial.

Here is a shortlist of some of the important new features included in Vue 2014:

• Workflow and Production improvements*: Vue xStream 2014 will import FBX scenes with textured geometries and cameras in both ASCII or binary FBX formats. Camera motion can be imported and exported as .FBX as well as Nuke .CHAN files. Vue xStream 2014 outputs all render layers in a single Multi-layer 32Bit OpenEXR 2.0 file; all passes are available in either 32-bit (floating point or unsigned integer) or 16 bit (half format).
• World Point Position (or XYZ) Pass: Vue 2014 adds a WPP pass to the extensive list of rendering components, masks and information passes that can be generated for added compositing flexibility.
• Physically Accurate Sunlight Model and Photometric Lights: The new scientifically accurate photometric sunlight model uses a real-world, physical simulation of sun and atmospheric light intensities. Users can assign physically accurate values to all light properties, such as color temperature, light intensity (Lumens or Candelas) and IES Profiles.
• Tone Mapping: Vue 2014 lets users select different tone mapping filters to control how raw HDR colors are transformed into the final picture. These filters typically simulate the response of the human eye or chemical photographic film.
• Natural Grain: This new mode produces natural color variations particularly well suited for terrains, ground, or any natural element. Ideal for quick results, the Natural Grain option provides high level access to settings such as contrast, balance and roughness, directly in the Material Editor.
• EcoSystem improvements: EcoSystem Clumping replicates the natural phenomenon whereby plants tend to grow in close patches rather than evenly distributed. Vue 2014 features highly optimized algorithms to accelerate the rendering of EcoSystems containing many small items, such as gravel or grass blades.
• Improved Plant Factory compatibility: Health, Seasonality or any other published plant parameter can be animated directly inside the Vue timeline. When using Plant Factory plants in EcoSystems, a new Quality setting is available in the Population list to define the amount of detail of the plant instances, thus saving memory and reducing render times.
• Interface improvements: The Vue 2014 Function Editor was redesigned for improved performance on modern computer displays. A new option is available that protects the render camera from any unwanted modifications and automatically switches to perspective view whenever the viewport is modified. Vue 2014 can position the sun exactly as it would be in real-life, based on time of day, date and location on Earth.
• Many other improvements such as Foldable EcoPainter, highly optimized flat Area Lights, naming in Render Stack, improved material manipulation, integration into the latest releases of Autodesk 2014 products, Cinema4D R15** and LightWave 11.6, and more...

* These features are available in Vue xStream 2014 only.

** At time of release, Windows only. Compatibility with Mac C4D R15 coming soon.

More details on the new features are available on the e-on software website, at:

www.e-onsoftware.com/infinite and www.e-onsoftware.com/xstream

Animating Plant Factory Plants in Vue

Pricing and Availability

Standard Retail Price:

Vue xStream 2014 retails for $1,995 (with one year maintenance), and upgrades start at $439. Vue Infinite 2014 retails for $1,495 (with one year maintenance), with upgrades starting at $359. Upgrades from Vue 10.x are also available (see full product pricelist at http://www.e-onsoftware.com/pricelist for details).

Maintenance is the most cost effective solution for staying up-to-date with your products. Yearly maintenance is available for both products – see www.e-onsoftware.com/maintenance for details.

Educational Licenses and Free Student Learning Versions

Schools and training centers can become member of e-on software’s ATC program and equip themselves with Vue xStream or Infinite 2014 at a massive discount. Site licensing is available for $2000 (max. 30 seats) per year. Individual licenses are available to members of ATC institutions only, for $149 (xStream) and $99 (Infinite) per year.

Owners of an active Vue 11.5 EDU license will receive their upgrade to Vue 2014 for free, however, Educational Licenses will no longer be available to individuals who are not part of an ATC institution (see below).

With Vue 2014, students don’t have to pay to learn Vue!

The Vue 2014 Personal Learning Edition allows any Artist or Student to learn the best Digital Nature tool for free. The PLE now outputs files that can be rendered without limitation using an ATC license. Students can thus work from home using the free PLE and bring their work back to school for use (and final rendering) using their school’s resources.

The Vue 2014 Personal Learning Edition is scheduled for release before the end of November 2013.

Availability:

Vue xStream 2014 and Vue Infinite 2014 are available in English for Windows® XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 and Mac OSX 10.6-10.9 for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

Vue xStream 2014 is compatible with the following renderers:

• 3ds Max 2008 to 2014: MentalRay (integrated and MR satellites), V-Ray
• Maya 2008 to 2014: MentalRay (integrated and MR satellites), V-Ray, Maya Software
• Softimage | XSI 7 to 2014: MentalRay (integrated and MR satellites)
• Cinema 4D R11.0 to R15*: native renderer
• LightWave 9.3 to 11.6: native renderer

Other renderers are under consideration.

* The initial build of Vue 2014 does not support the Mac OSX version of Cinema4D R15.

Support will be added shortly.