Vue 8 Infinite from e-on Software flows between the worlds of computer rendering and photo-realistic art. This 3-D rendering application is capable of creating vast, lush worlds with a level of realism difficult to discern from photographs and limited only by the artist’s imagination
Part of the draw of Vue is its ability to automatically populate infinite landscapes with plants, trees, buildings, or virtually any subject the user chooses. Thanks to e-on’s fractal-based “SolidGrowth” system, no two trees or blades of grass will be identical. Users who want to take it a few steps further can also customize individual elements of nearly every aspect of the landscape.
There are several versions of Vue 8 available for different users, including the free Vue 8 Pioneer, as well as various versions for casual users, enthusiasts, artists, and professionals. Each application features the same base program, with advanced versions adding new sets of features. For this review, I received a copy of Vue 8 Infinite—one of Vue’s professional-level applications.
Vue has been used in several films, including in the creation of jungles in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the wasteland of “Terminator Salvation.” Vue’s large population of casual users have also created stunning images, from serene landscapes to renditions of Pandora from James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
www.e-onsoftware.com
I found Vue surprisingly easy to use—a rare attribute among powerful 3-D rendering applications. A user with little or no knowledge of 3-D rendering or little drawing skill should still be able to create vivid images in Vue.
Most of the features are automated and work by dragging and dropping objects to the main scene. From there, users can either leave the settings on their defaults, or customize the features to their liking.
When starting a new project, a screen pops up with various clouds and lighting to choose from. I chose a simple midday lighting to begin.
Part of the draw of Vue is its ability to automatically populate infinite landscapes with plants, trees, buildings, or virtually any subject the user chooses. Thanks to e-on’s fractal-based “SolidGrowth” system, no two trees or blades of grass will be identical. Users who want to take it a few steps further can also customize individual elements of nearly every aspect of the landscape.
There are several versions of Vue 8 available for different users, including the free Vue 8 Pioneer, as well as various versions for casual users, enthusiasts, artists, and professionals. Each application features the same base program, with advanced versions adding new sets of features. For this review, I received a copy of Vue 8 Infinite—one of Vue’s professional-level applications.
Vue has been used in several films, including in the creation of jungles in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the wasteland of “Terminator Salvation.” Vue’s large population of casual users have also created stunning images, from serene landscapes to renditions of Pandora from James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
www.e-onsoftware.com
I found Vue surprisingly easy to use—a rare attribute among powerful 3-D rendering applications. A user with little or no knowledge of 3-D rendering or little drawing skill should still be able to create vivid images in Vue.
Most of the features are automated and work by dragging and dropping objects to the main scene. From there, users can either leave the settings on their defaults, or customize the features to their liking.
When starting a new project, a screen pops up with various clouds and lighting to choose from. I chose a simple midday lighting to begin.
Creating the terrain is rather simple. A button with a mountain on it will automatically bring one in. At first I used one of the pre-made maps, but then realized the joy of doing it myself. The Terrain Editor, which can be opened by double clicking the terrain, has several new features in Vue 8, allowing the user to create peaks, caves, dunes, and other elements.
Adding trees, grass, and other objects is no less difficult. Just click on the button with a tree on it and a menu pops up with various choices. Each time a tree, bush, or other plant is added, it will automatically be generated differently from the others, so that the vegetation stays diverse.
The software also has tools to automatically populate entire scenes with objects. Just click on the landscape, add any variation of trees or other objects to its texture, decide how dense they should be and voilà, an instant landscape. An entire jungle with cliffs, water, clouds, and millions of plants can literally be created in a few minutes. Vue 8 automatically ensures that objects are placed realistically in space—no flying trees unless you do it yourself.
Due to the sheer detail created in Vue 8, the program can start to run slow. This is a common drawback of 3-D rendering applications, since they sometimes need to load millions of objects while simultaneously calculating how light and wind will bounce off of each one and effect other objects and their textures.
Users have the option of switching off many of the effects to reduce render times. Sometimes I’d let it render overnight, which mostly solved the problem of long load times. An average scene took about three hours, while smaller ones took about 30 minutes.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Vue is its incredible attention to detail. It truly portrays how light interacts with objects and their minute textures. Objects that have a degree of transparency absorb light realistically, and each object will reflect light onto other objects based on their texture.
Light and its interaction with texture and objects is one of the keys to a realistic image. Vue 8 Infinite has several features that work on this directly, lending to the vivid images the application can create.
Vue will calculate how light scatters off each individual particles and how the scattered light will affect other particles in the landscape. Caustics create realistic shadows when light hits certain transparent objects—for example, imagine light hitting a diamond and the kind of shadow it will create. It will also automatically calculate how the light will travel through an object based on its shape.
Image Based Lighting takes this a step further, creating a realistic reflection of the scene in an object as small as a door knob or a marble. The effect is similar to looking at a spoon and seeing the reflection of a room within it.
Other elements including depth of field and light absorption are included.
As for textures, Vue 8 Infinite features both bump mapping and displacement mapping options. Often employed by game developers, bump mapping creates an illusion of texture to keep image sizes small. The drawback, however, is that light will not interact with the smaller details in the texture. With displacement mapping textures are properly affected by the light of a scene, no matter how small.
For those who would like to go a few steps further, Vue also includes animation features based off keyframes. This feature lets the user create an image at one point and moves it to another, animating the space in between. The camera can also be animated to pan and move throughout scenes.
There are also animation options that work in keyframes. Users can create full videos in Vue by moving the camera throughout the scene. Users of other 3-D rendering applications will be glad to hear that their objects and animations can be imported into Vue. E-on Vue 8 xStream actually works within Maya, Cinema 4D, and other applications.
The Terrain Editor has received the most of the new features, which in turn expands the types of environments the user can create. Users can paint on polygons to raise or lower terrain easily. It can now create caves and cliff overhangs, among other features. Since the brush size can be enlarged or narrowed, the user can single out specific areas to edit.
The painter tool can paint at various levels of detail and can quickly add millions of polygons to the image. This allows for intricate levels of detail, but can also slow things down quite a bit when it comes time to render a final image.
The new Spectral 3 atmosphere tool also adds quite a bit. It allows users to create highly realistic clouds and how they interact with light and water, as well as how shadows effects from the clouds effect the overall scene.
There are several other new features including infinite terrains, the ability to render planets, and several control and performance enhancements.
Adding trees, grass, and other objects is no less difficult. Just click on the button with a tree on it and a menu pops up with various choices. Each time a tree, bush, or other plant is added, it will automatically be generated differently from the others, so that the vegetation stays diverse.
The software also has tools to automatically populate entire scenes with objects. Just click on the landscape, add any variation of trees or other objects to its texture, decide how dense they should be and voilà, an instant landscape. An entire jungle with cliffs, water, clouds, and millions of plants can literally be created in a few minutes. Vue 8 automatically ensures that objects are placed realistically in space—no flying trees unless you do it yourself.
Due to the sheer detail created in Vue 8, the program can start to run slow. This is a common drawback of 3-D rendering applications, since they sometimes need to load millions of objects while simultaneously calculating how light and wind will bounce off of each one and effect other objects and their textures.
Users have the option of switching off many of the effects to reduce render times. Sometimes I’d let it render overnight, which mostly solved the problem of long load times. An average scene took about three hours, while smaller ones took about 30 minutes.
Stunning Detail
Perhaps the most striking feature of Vue is its incredible attention to detail. It truly portrays how light interacts with objects and their minute textures. Objects that have a degree of transparency absorb light realistically, and each object will reflect light onto other objects based on their texture.
Light and its interaction with texture and objects is one of the keys to a realistic image. Vue 8 Infinite has several features that work on this directly, lending to the vivid images the application can create.
Vue will calculate how light scatters off each individual particles and how the scattered light will affect other particles in the landscape. Caustics create realistic shadows when light hits certain transparent objects—for example, imagine light hitting a diamond and the kind of shadow it will create. It will also automatically calculate how the light will travel through an object based on its shape.
Image Based Lighting takes this a step further, creating a realistic reflection of the scene in an object as small as a door knob or a marble. The effect is similar to looking at a spoon and seeing the reflection of a room within it.
Other elements including depth of field and light absorption are included.
As for textures, Vue 8 Infinite features both bump mapping and displacement mapping options. Often employed by game developers, bump mapping creates an illusion of texture to keep image sizes small. The drawback, however, is that light will not interact with the smaller details in the texture. With displacement mapping textures are properly affected by the light of a scene, no matter how small.
Advanced Features
For those who would like to go a few steps further, Vue also includes animation features based off keyframes. This feature lets the user create an image at one point and moves it to another, animating the space in between. The camera can also be animated to pan and move throughout scenes.
There are also animation options that work in keyframes. Users can create full videos in Vue by moving the camera throughout the scene. Users of other 3-D rendering applications will be glad to hear that their objects and animations can be imported into Vue. E-on Vue 8 xStream actually works within Maya, Cinema 4D, and other applications.
New for Vue 8
The Terrain Editor has received the most of the new features, which in turn expands the types of environments the user can create. Users can paint on polygons to raise or lower terrain easily. It can now create caves and cliff overhangs, among other features. Since the brush size can be enlarged or narrowed, the user can single out specific areas to edit.
The painter tool can paint at various levels of detail and can quickly add millions of polygons to the image. This allows for intricate levels of detail, but can also slow things down quite a bit when it comes time to render a final image.
The new Spectral 3 atmosphere tool also adds quite a bit. It allows users to create highly realistic clouds and how they interact with light and water, as well as how shadows effects from the clouds effect the overall scene.
There are several other new features including infinite terrains, the ability to render planets, and several control and performance enhancements.
In a Nutshell
Vue 8 Infinite is truly a pleasure to use. Most of the creation can be done quickly using the application’s automation functions. The real challenge is often finding the perfect vantage point to capture the best aspects of the landscape.
New users wanting to try Vue may want to start with the less expensive versions, such as the free Vue 8 Pioneer or Vue 8 Esprit. After spending some time with the application, they can decide if the full upgrade to Vue 8 Infinite is worth the cost.
For current users of Vue 7 or 7.5, deciding upon an upgrade to 8 depends on how much they would use the new capabilities of the Terrain Editor and the infinite terrains. There is quite a bit added in Vue 8. The other main features are increased realism in lighting and detail, some enhancements to performance, and some detail fixes.
Price: $895
Web site: www.e-onsoftware.com
[etRating value=“ 5”]
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