no it's not obvious it works. Just because someone made some pretty pictures doesn't mean they were done in Vue and that it is a reliable tool. and no they are not using the same software (my comments are about Vue 7.5 xStream).
ILM may have used it on Pirates but they also have plenty of proprietary programs and tools as well to integrate their shots that are not available to the average user. We know ILM used it on that project but to what extent and whether or not it was a nightmare will probably not be known. Also I'm sure ILM gets support no one on else on the planet would get.
The comment about having more "experience and care" is BS, you have no idea how much experience and care those posting their opinions have. I myself have worked on many major vfx films at huge vfx studios and have never seen a piece of software as buggy and unstable as Vue 7.5 xStream.
These are not "complaints" but warnings to those considering dropping $2000 on an unstable, unsupported app.
BTW you should peruse the E-on private owners forum and see there are a lot of [i]professionals[/i] that are very unhappy with their purchases.
.Considering purchasing Vue xStream 7.0 (7.5)
dvfx
#61
InfernalDarkness
#62
…Vue 7.x for Maya is NOT production-ready. Anything that is more unstable than mental ray for Maya is simply not programmed correctly, not debugged properly, and (especially) should have never, ever left Beta.
I myself have worked on many major vfx films at huge vfx studios and have never seen a piece of software as buggy and unstable as Vue 7.5 xStream.
I have seen one more unstable: Vue 6.x.
Some background, for those who are interested. After following Bryce since version 3.0, Vue seemed the next logical step, as Bryce didn’t have any decent way to place or implement vegetation and Bryce’s “Tree Lab” was a wreck; trees shouldn’t be made of metaballs, people.
Meanwhile, in 2004, I shifted tracks from Bryce/Rhino for arch/viz to Maya and Rhino. Maya is vastly powerful and also vastly annoying to learn, but worth it for certain, especially given the massive rendering options and blazing fast mental ray renderer. But my issue with Maya artistically is that it’s obnoxious to create landscape scenes with Maya. Mental ray in 32-bit Maya/Windows can barely handle a million polys of real geometry (uninstanced), and of course the level of detail I am looking for calls for many billions of polys in foliage and vegetation.
So I tried Vue Xstream, version 6.0, using the Maya plug-in. Nothing. It crashed Maya every time, and I was never even able to render a scene with it. So I worked with vue 6.x as a standalone app, simply to get used to it and see what it could do and give it the benefit of the doubt. It works okay as a standalone (Infinite) but crashes constantly when working with Ecosystems. Sometimes they would disappear entirely after painting them in, sometimes they would work, sometimes Vue would just outright crash. I spent over nine months working on a scene, and am just now finally finishing it in Vue 7.2 Xstream in standalone mode, after finally ditching all my Maya and Mudbox geometry.
Let me repeat: Vue 7.2 will not work with high-poly geometry imported from Maya or Mudbox.
Then I switched my OS’s over to 64-bit, and also of course switched to 64-bit Maya, Mudbox, Photoshop CS4, and Vue 7.2 XStream. Same issue: Vue will not work with high-poly geometry, even when it has loads of RAM to work with under 64-bit everything.
But finally now I can finish my scene. Vue 7.2 XStream in standalone (Infinite) mode will push all the RAM you can throw at it, but ONLY if you’re using Vue terrains and Vue Ecosystems. Trying to “instance” any geometry imported from a more powerful plant editor like Onyx or from personal plant models made in Maya will NOT work.
So in my experience, Vue 7.2 x64 works in standalone, so long as you don’t try to import any geometry that you’d like to plant Ecosystems on. You can see all kinds of wonderful Vue artwork here and on DeviantArt, especially Nukeation’s experiments with fractal subdivisions, but ALL of that is internally Vue, and displacement maps still work far better and faster in Maya itself anyway.
Vue XStream failed with Maya 8.5, Maya 2008, and Maya 2009 64-bit. Feel free to try this yourself, and honestly I’d LOVE to be wrong about it all. I can’t believe I suckered my employer into three different versions of Vue, and I really hope nobody else does the same. If you’re going to use Vue, get the Infinite version, although it’s very obvious nobody at E-on knows what the word “Infinite” actually means.
(end rant)
Debneyink
#63
Fair enough didnt mean to offend anyone!
I guess my point is that since CGI began its been about trial and error. Things crash thats the way it (sadly) is. We are constantly pushing the boundries on what we want to achieve and the pretty pictures we want to see.
I myself have worked in the industry for over 12 years and been disapointed many times.
I remember having a conversation with John knoll when I was working on the starwars prequels, he was telling me that he used to have major problems way back when, with things not going as planned. and being forced to make the most out of what resources were available.
Just because ILM can find solutions now didn’t mean they always did. true we shouldnt have to pay money for stuff that doesn’t work. But at the same time we all have to understand, that it is all of us that is the guinea pig in this industry, problems will arise thats part of it.
It is frustrating i know. But with a little patience and careful thinking you can achieve the results you want with the off the shelf software thats available.
If people are that dissatisfied then do what Matt Fairclough did whilst at Uni in the north of England (he wrote Terragen!)
InfernalDarkness
#64
…isn’t finished, as far as I know.
If people are that dissatisfied then do what Matt Fairclough did whilst at Uni in the north of England (he wrote Terragen!)
Terragen also isn’t a solution for vegetation placement, the way Vue promised it would be. The concept behind ecosystems is beautiful; it’s just not that functional and very buggy in implementation. Also, as of 7.x, Vue has no problem keeping up with or surpassing Terragen in terms of procedural terrains. If Terragen had paintable vegetation placement and a decent UI (the tech-demo is horrific at best) then I would consider it.
plug3
#66
Wow nice stuff. Let us know when it shows in the US.
Was it done for HDTV 1080? What were the render times?
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