Vue 7 Infinite

hombre · 7 Dec 2009, 21:44

Thanks Daniel, unfortunately, Acme doesn't have a MAC platform at this point...and thanks for the Cornucopia tip.

solo · 7 Dec 2009, 21:57

http://www.axyz-design.com/axyz-design-3d-humans-characters-methd-evo2.php

hombre · 18 Dec 2009, 05:00

@sliner said:

Try this grass-objects .vob

How does one populate an ecosystem with an object like this?

Chris Fullmer · 18 Dec 2009, 07:11

If you can find the populate area, you will want to add objects. That lets you use .vob files. I used those grasses and they turn out very good on a little test project. Kind of high poly count though. I was able to fill an entire small section, but I could not imagine filling an entire park with lawn. Maybe I did something wrong?

Chris

sliner · 18 Dec 2009, 08:52

I also encountered this problem and try to solve it. One option is to use distribution objects depending of distance to camera with Function editor, that they were not in the background. The second option to use bump-displacement.

hombre · 18 Dec 2009, 19:27

@chris fullmer said:

If you can find the populate area, you will want to add objects. That lets you use .vob files. I used those grasses and they turn out very good on a little test project. Kind of high poly count though. I was able to fill an entire small section, but I could not imagine filling an entire park with lawn. Maybe I did something wrong?

Chris

Perzactly.

I have a client who has asked me about rendering up 5 miles ( that's FIVE MILES ) of highway, with interchanges, landscaping and the attendant necessary buildings. Obviously he's never seen the man hours or never ending rolling screen credits for the computer artists who take years to complete those sorts of things, but nevertheless, I have made a sample of a mile of roadway to attempt to wrap my arms around this concept and figure out the main issues. Populating a mile of roadway with grass and trees, I have a 4+ BILLION polycount.

I've tried the 'dynamic population' idea, but it slows down the render time so dramatically that it's near impossible to get even a preview within less than an hour and a half to see if you've located something properly.

What's amazing to me, is to note all of these wonderful HUGE landscapes that I see with Vue samples....going on endlessly, yet populating a mile of highway with grass edges and medians is a big deal.

I've decided that for now, I'll have to settle with a light dispersal of the grass and brushstroke it heavily in the foreground, since as it vanishes, it appears to look thicker anyway by virtue of overlapping instances..that'll work OK for stills, but animation is another animal.

Does anyone have any ideas?

hombre · 28 Dec 2009, 18:53

@solo said:

I see you use 3DS MAX and SU Podium as well.
Yup, I use a few other apps too like Z-brush, C4D, Hexagon, Maya, Shade, Bryce, Silo, (learning Modo), etc.

Solo, ...what would you use Bryce for that Vue cannot do?

solo · 28 Dec 2009, 18:58

Bryce was my stepping stone to Vue, unfortunately Bryce has not been updated and advanced at the same rate as Vue, I blame DAZ for that, same way as they let Poser advance beyond them.
But every now and again it's fun to play with, it is fast and easy, that's about all.

Horseman04 · 29 Dec 2009, 16:40

Well, this seems to be the place to ask questions about Vue so...

I've browsed these forums for some time, but this is my first Post here. I work as an Architect and have been using Artlantis for about 2 years now. I recently got Vue and have used it to make various scenes and interesting backdrops, but as far as anything architectural I have done nothing, mainly due my fondness of Artlantis. I have dabled in 3DS Max and found it to be overwhelming, but I do love the vast array of Shaders that can be used in it. I'm growing increasingly aware of my program's shortcomings, the inability to do complex landscapes, and am looking to bridge the gap with VUE...

So my Questions to the more experienced people

What Format are VUE Shaders in?

Can I Use .max Textures from 3DS?

If so, how and where do I install them to?

pugz1983 · 5 Jan 2010, 12:13

Hi Everybody,

I'm looking into Vue because i've always loved the way Vue renders. I was wondering if there are any tutorials of Vue in combination with sketchup? Is it possible to use ecosystem on a specific part of a plane. For example only ecosystem on grass patches of the plane?

Greetz from Holland.

hombre · 5 Jan 2010, 14:34

@solo said:

Bryce was my stepping stone to Vue, unfortunately Bryce has not been updated and advanced at the same rate as Vue, I blame DAZ for that, same way as they let Poser advance beyond them.
But every now and again it's fun to play with, it is fast and easy, that's about all.

Thanks Solo!

I saw that Bryce was on sale over the holidays but I didn't see anything there that I didn't already have with Vue.
I see that you also use Podium. Have you used IRender or Twilight yet? If so, how would you compare them with Podium?

solo · 5 Jan 2010, 14:49

@unknownuser said:

I see that you also use Podium. Have you used IRender or Twilight yet? If so, how would you compare them with Podium?

I have indeed got Twilight, Irender, Podium, and a bunch of others too. It's difficult to make comparisons, firstly as a moderator it would show a bias and secondly they all have their strong and weak points.
It depends on what you are looking for in a render solution, being a Vue user I would assume you are in need of a good interior render solution right?

I suppose the best way and the only way one can make comparisons is by features, ease of use, etc. But this alone is only academical which will give you facts but not answer the question, so I will maintain what I have always said, try before you buy, they all have demo/trial versions so play and see which one works best with your workflow and your needs.

Sorry I cannot give a definitve answer.

hombre · 9 Jan 2010, 22:19

A NEW question:

Is it possible to make a texture/bump map for use in Vue from one of the Sketchup textures, brick for example?

...so that one could simply color in Sketchup, and apply the appropriate bump map in Vue without making a complete change of materials once the object file is in Vue?

Gaieus · 10 Jan 2010, 09:19

@hombre said:

Is it possible to make a texture/bump map for use in Vue from one of the Sketchup textures, brick for example?

And to go along this line - save these tweaked materials in Vue (gradually build up a material library there)?

hombre · 11 Jan 2010, 06:48

@gaieus said:

@hombre said:

Is it possible to make a texture/bump map for use in Vue from one of the Sketchup textures, brick for example?

And to go along this line - save these tweaked materials in Vue (gradually build up a material library there)?

Done figgered this one out....

When you export a SKP file as an OBJ file, it also makes a .jpg image of each texture. You can then take the jpg texture into Photoshop and make a high contrast bump map out of it that fits like a glove.

My biggest issue is with exporting/importing. I've tried at least 6 methods by others I've read about, but all have had their own serious drawbacks with issues of scaling, leaving out information, or creating a zillion different meshes that are impossible to sift through in order to alter their materials...within a lifetime that is. A Chipp Walters method looked really good with a rubyscript plug in exporter, but it consistently lost information in the process. Maybe all this stuff works better on a PC and I'm a MAC guy...but I saw Solo complaining about the million mesh issue somewhere here too. The scaling issue is also compounded by the fact that there is no internal measuring tool within VUE to actually scale things by: it's this eyeballing game, and when all of the various types of models are imported into Vue, each one comes in differently. It's like this constant game of resizing HO trains onto a Lionel track, or vice versa. I'm kinda surprised that such a simple concept has not been taken into consideration when the program is really stellar. BTW: what size are those grid squares supposed to be in Vue anyway? That MIGHT help if I knew what those are, but a search of the manual and google turned up zilch.

Chris Fullmer · 11 Jan 2010, 07:09

THey are in 10m grids by default I think. Go to File > Preference > Units and then change your settings there. I took a while to play around with settings and finally once I got it right, many things in VUE worked better.

Chris

pugz1983 · 11 Jan 2010, 07:59

Hi Everybody,

I recently started to take a look at Vue. I think the workflow from SU to Vue is realy easy. First use plugin called View to Vue, then export model as OBJ. In Vue import model -> edit object-> weld and split ( then you get a list of materials by name. Then load the exported camera view as a Phyton script.

Al materials you make in Vue can be saved to make your own collection. I you're interested in Vue, check outy the tutorials at Geek at Play.

hombre · 11 Jan 2010, 20:44

Thanks everyone for your interest and help!

@pugz1983 said:

..... I think the workflow from SU to Vue is realy easy. First use plugin called View to Vue, then export model as OBJ. In Vue import model -> edit object-> weld and split ( then you get a list of materials by name.

Where is the plug in: 'View to Vue?, I have searched and not found it.

@chris fullmer said:

THey are in 10m grids by default I think. Go to File > Preference > Units and then change your settings there. I took a while to play around with settings and finally once I got it right, many things in VUE worked better.

I am not sure of what they are. According to my default preferences, they are supposed to be 1 meter, but I am on a MAC..whatever. Changing those defaults for the grid doesn't really do anything to the grid for me: everything I import in, still stays the same scale relative to the grid. I'm using Vue 7.5 infinite.

..but forget the scale for a moment and take a look at these examples:

I downloaded a random car from the 3D warehouse, and exported it using the same scale settings in Sketchup, and imported using the same scale settings in Vue.

In the first pic, the native Sketchup exporters ( Collada and Obj ) worked flawlessly, however each exported in a different scale. The issue with both of these Sketchup exporters is that they break down the model into 'meshes' instead of 'materials', which means that on this particular model, I end up with 114 meshes for the Obj export and 135 meshes for the Collada. From theer one has to go searching through to find whatever 'part' one needs to alter the attributes of, so then if one simply wants to alter the reflectivity of the body color, one ends up having to sift through all of these 'meshes' to find the appropriate ones and alter a dozen or more different 'meshes' to make that change. Dittos for any other material. So that method while being an accurate translation from the Sketchup model, becomes incredibly burdensome to deal with. I have found however, that in native Sketchup models that I produce, if I explode all components before exporting, I end up with a 'color/material' set, instead of 'meshes'. I wonder if the models ( like cars etc. ) at the 3D warehouse, were produced in other programs and exported into Sketchup and this is what is creating the problem.

In the second pic, I have used the objexporter.rb plug in from Chipp Walters site, which has consistently produced random and bizarre occurrences, though it splits the model into materials instead of 'meshes' which ends up being great for finding things, but the aberrations are unacceptable. I have watched his video a dozen times and it works for him..but then again, maybe it's the whole PC/MAC issue.....I don't know.

If anyone has a clue as to dealing with these issues......please help: I need something with the accuracy of the native Sketchup exporters, yet the simplicity of the ruby exporter.

solo · 11 Jan 2010, 20:48

Can you give link to the model in warehouse. I will give it a go on my side.

solo · 11 Jan 2010, 21:29

Nevermind I typed 'car' and it was the third in line.

The model was a little screwed up, I used the 'cleanup' ruby to fix it.

I then used straight up .3ds export from SU and opened it up with vue.
I welded in Vue and split by materials.

Then a quick render with basic mats.