Experiences with VUE

[Suirebit]

I would choose Xstream because you can integrate it with other 3d applications such as max or maya.

[Mantrastic]

Vue xStream is the best.
I dont like vue style, dunno.

anyway good luck :)

[Drag-N]

Well, Thomas Krahn uses Vue Infinite: (take a peak at Mayana)
www.thomaskrahn.com (http://www.thomaskrahn.com)
http://www.mattepainting.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3468 (http://www.mattepainting.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3468&highlight=thomas+krahn)

[Matellis]

My copy of Vue 6 Infinite is in the mail now so hopefully it will be a great addition to my tool set thou I have never really tried it before. Is Vue 6 Infinite as good as Xstream??

[Suirebit]

the only difference between the two is that xstream acts as a plugin for your fav 3d application. In other words you can model a ...building in max, then add vue trees etc around it without exiting max

[Stefan-Morrell]

I've heard xstream is a bit buggy compared to infinite..is that still the case?
how does max handle the extreme polycounts that vue can comfortably work with?

I'm using inifinte6 & while I find it great for some environment work..one big issue I have is texture filtering during animation.
I tried rendering a cityscape recently & even with filtering cranked all the way up I still got horrid flickering in the texture maps(even after dumping all the bump mapping it still flickered)
so the only option I had was breaking the vue render up & rendering the still images in 3dsmax as a 'billboard' render

still, even after doing that I'm happy with the app & use it often

[Gaspode]

Hey Guys.
Tanks for the replies, that already came.

Another thing that's not at all clear to me: How does the terrain-modelling work?
Is it kinda Zbrush or do you import geometry and "erode" it? How much control do i have about it (Differnt degrees/types of erosion, etc) ?
And how's lighting and rendering working in xStream? Do i just get geometry from Max or do i also use Mental ray or stuff for that?

[Quadart]

Hey Guys.
Tanks for the replies, that already came.

Another thing that's not at all clear to me: How does the terrain-modelling work?
Is it kinda Zbrush or do you import geometry and "erode" it? How much control do i have about it (Differnt degrees/types of erosion, etc) ?
You create terrains using one of two types of editable Vue Terrain Objects. Creating a landscape on a Standard Terrain object, using the Terrain Editor, is similar to working in ZBrush.
I use Vue 6 Infinite for some of my illustration work. I don’t create terrains using the Terrain Editor. Instead, I use imported 16 bit DEMs or make 16 bit grayscale elevation maps from scratch in Photoshop (or combine the two). Using Grayscale DEMs can produce far better, and more controllable, results than the TE.

[Suirebit]

can you provide some test DEM's you used? when I load a dem from usgs it's a total mess...

[Quadart]

Suirebit —Here are a couple of Vue terrains produced from grayscale maps I created in Photoshop. The mountains in (A) could use a little more work.

Hi-res DEMs from the USGS should work fine. Can you post your results?


http://billmelvinart.com/client3/demsamps.jpg

[Suirebit]

how do you create those maps? :| obviously not by painting in PS...is there a soft?
I'm also curious/interested on how you used such custom terrain in your illustrations :D

Thanks for sharing!

[Matellis]

Amazing Bill! now I really cant wait to get my hands on this program!!

Cheers :D

[Quadart]

how do you create those maps? :| obviously not by painting in PS...is there a soft?
I'm also curious/interested on how you used such custom terrain in your illustrations :D

Thanks for sharing!
I make custom DEMs usually for geology related illustrations for textbooks. The art has to show specific land features and always require specifically suited custom maps for the landforms. I do paint over half of each DEM in PS. I also use fractal noise image overlays for mountains.
I use Terrain Toolkit (a collection of DEM maps) at times, to stitch together map features, though not that often. The maps are not hi-res enough.

http://www.dvgarage.com/prod/prod.php?prod=ttk

In example (A), the mountains are the only things not 100% PS fabricated.
In example (B), the mountains, again, are fractal noise and real DEM elements stitched together. The river and everything else is PS fabbed. The PSD file has 24 layers. I use Gaussian Blur combined with Filter/Other/Maximum a lot. I’ve done at least 400-500 geo-block illustrations using this technique. I’m also on a Mac, so terrain-generating software is highly limited.
I’m a Terragen 2 fan too, though I haven’t used it much:

http://www.planetside.co.uk/gallery/f/tg2

[Suirebit]

methinks *someone* should make a quick tutorial on creating such cool masks :D

[Gaspode]

Indeed, this would be great.
By the way: Thank you for your replies, one other thing is left: What's about data-exchange between Vue and other Packages like Max when not using XStream.

[Quadart]

methinks *someone* should make a quick tutorial on creating such cool masks :D
I’ll put something together soon.
Right now it’s early Sunday, and I’m going outside to play. :bounce:

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