Paula Sanders Report - Vue 5 Infinite - Part 2

May 02, 2005 at 12:56 pm by deemarie

Part two of Paula's review of Vue 5 Infinite by e-on . You can read part one here, just in case you missed it last week.

When I rendered my EcoSystem image, the machine locked up after the anti-aliasing was 66% finished. I had to end the program. Since I figured I had lost the rendering, I started to do something else. When I went to re-render, it rushed through the first part and picked it up where it had left off. There is an option in the File>Options "Generate resume render info" that can be checked. It works very well. It can also be checked under the drop down menu accessed through Picture on the top tool bar.

There are more anti-aliasing features than in previous versions of Vue 5. Each addition toward quality slows down the render, however. In the back of the manual there is a "Hot Tips" and "Trouble Shooting" section with guides to cut rendering times.

For those not familiar with Vue 4 Professional or Vue 5 Pro Studio, there is a section where plants can be generated. I reviewed this SolidGrowth 3 technology in my review of the Botanica module. There are about 50 different plants that come shipped with Vue 5 Infinite. Through this technology, these plants can be expanded, changed, and then saved as another species.

One can work globally using all the trunk/branch subsets as a unit or work separately making the new plant more specific. Some flowers have more than one subset for the leaves/petals also. In addition, I could load new materials into the leaves/petals section or the trunk/branches section and change the colors and textures of the various parts.

Also, one can bring in a picture of a leaf and create a totally new plant.

Billboards are a new feature of the Alpha Plane. Objects>Create>Alpha Plane.

When the Billboard feature is checked, the alpha plane will always face the camera. In both pictures the camera was moved. (The change in size of the shack is not relevant to this discussion.)

Vue 5 Infinite contains primitive shapes which can be used to create Boolean objects.

Then these objects can be baked into polygon meshes.

These same primitives can be used to create Metablobs. Through the Metablob Envelope, one can choose options for creating the Metablob itself.

I took two spheres of equal dimensions and a thinner but longer cylinder and put them together. I, then, created a Boolean union. From a copy of the cylinder and spheres, I created a Metablob. They are seen from the main camera perspective.

Python scripting has been added to Vue5 Infinite. It comes with pre-made scripts to populate EcoSytems, grow plants, etc. Or you can build your own.

Before I start describing animation features, I must state that my main art work is done with still scenes. While I have worked with many of the Vue 5 and Vue 5 Infinite tutorials, I rarely create animations. The manual has tutorials on how to create animations arranged sequentially each dealing with a specific topic with one building on the other. It also has tutorials on some of the new features such as an animation tutorial that deals with Billboards and EcoSystems as well as the Function Editor. There are tutorials on the e-on software website as well. Renderosity and other Graphic Communities also have tutorials and forums.

Working in animation can be as complicated as desired. One can load pre-animated meshes or an animation from Poser 4 or 5, and, maybe, Poser 6. Also, with the synchronization plugin, one can work with both Vue and some of the industry standard 3D packages and then compose them in software such as After Effects.

If you want to make changes in an animation and do not own a post-processing program, one can do it in Vue 5 Infinite. One can also utilize this for work with stills. (To access it, double click on Main Camera in the World Browser.)

I created a small movie just changing the hue and brightness of the scene.

When you use post-processing to create a small animation, the screen will ask whether you want to animate the process or not. Right clicking on the icon highlighted here in red, brings up the following screen.

HyperVueâ„¢ was incredibly easy to set up. It worked perfectly the first time. When it was finished, the screen looked like the following:

Vue 5 Infinite has a triple resolution OpenGL engine offering fast and detailed previewing of scenes. As with the other versions of Vue 5, one could use the hardware acceleration or, if the video card was not compatible, the software equivalent. Below are screen shots of the differences taken from the Main Camera View.

Since so many Vue users also use Curious Lab's Poser, I did some testing with Poser figures both from Poser 5 and Poser 6. I used still figures with dynamic hair that I had created. I had imported the Poser 5 figures into Vue 5 Pro Studio and the dynamic hair had been very satisfactory. I did not have any problems importing the Poser 5 and Poser 6 figures into Vue 5 Infinite, however, I could not make any of the dynamic hair presentable. Even the hair that looked good in Vue 5 Pro Studio, did not look good in Vue 5 Infinite.

The following lists are taken from the e-on software website and abstracted to just reflect the different and new features for Vue 5 Infinite.

Lighting and Atmosphere

Environment Creation

Materials

Rendering

Animation

User Interface

Real-Time Preview

Import/Export

Fault Tolerance and Degraded Modes

Miscellaneous

This version of Vue 5 Infinite is full of advanced techniques with python scripting, the function editor, rendering and lighting controls. One can almost bypass building the scenes with graphics and instead create them by function and scripting.

I worked with Vue 5 Infinite daily and endlessly and, for the most part, it worked smoothly and flawlessly. I rendered on one machine and over my network. This is a very versatile software package for building all kinds of scenery and more since it can integrate with other 3D products. It is exciting to use and the possibilities, especially for those versed in scripting and node editing, are endless.

 

The Paula Sanders Report
      is a regular Renderosity Front Page featured column,
     where Paula investigates and comments on
     graphic software, techniques, and other relevant material
     through her reviews, tutorials, and general articles.


May 2, 2005

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