Owning Poser their seems to be two programs available that I can import my Poser animations into, Shade (any version) and Vue 4 or 5 (as long as I have Mover 5). Vue 5 seems like the better choice as I could import hair and cloth, I could create natural environments and the renderer looks pretty impressive. Could anyone give me a reason to buy Shade?

Both programs I believe are owned by E-frontier which is a bit strange.

Message edited on: 09/03/2004 05:16

Because it works., period.

Because you can actually model in Shade, maybe? bonni

Both programs I believe are owned by E-frontier which is a bit strange. Vue is by e-on software, not e-frontier.

Vue is from e-on software, a different animal than E-frontier.

I don't know if I will buy Shade (I'm not in buying frenzy mode any more), but it could be a nice asset.

i agree.. i'd rather have vue 5 eith global..I that comieng out end of this month.. but lets add thgings up view 5 $250. mover 5 $100. toal = $450 shade le.. $49. about ten times the price.. if u can afford vue.. get it... it's a great program

Attached Link: http://www.e-onsoftware.com/Press/PR.php?date=November%205,%202003

alamanos, yes I could spend $350 on Vue an I would know what I'm getting. To spend $49 or 149 on the standard version of Shade what would I get.

I'm trying to get someone to give me a reason to by Shade.

Cheers:)

Do you want to model? Much of what come out of the Japanaese merchants and freebies are created with Shade. If all you want is another renderer, then it becomes more of a debate, though Shade does offer some nice lighting and rendering options.

You can't compare Shade to Vue at all. Shade is more focussed upon modeling, while Vue focusses on landscape / virtual words design. I'm not really sure why anyone would really want shade at all, as a modeling application I do find it lacking a lot. As for the rendering capacities, nice, but they didn't knock my socks off yet.... I wasn't really impressed by the whole application at all, don't see it as something I would need already owning TrueSpace 6.6, Poser 5 and Vue 4. These 3 apps work well together. Modelling in TS, creating characters in Poser and bringing it all together in Vue.

Not all Japanese artists use SHADE. I believe BATLABs uses METASEQUOIA. There's a link at BATLABS.

I want as many creative opportunities using Poser as I can. I just don't understand Curiouslabs - what do they expect people to do with Shade and Poser, Vue seems a good partner to Poser. Maybe Shade is for people that want to create still images or maybe there just totally separate products. Shade took up just about all of Curiouslabs' website update recently with no mention at all about Poser.

bjergtrold!

Can you believe that link is NOT to a PHOTO?
WOW!
(Though the Apollo Modules image also rocks!)

Message edited on: 09/03/2004 07:47

Shade goes great with Poser. Different kinda product than Vue. I don't like every single little thing to be canned content, so Shade makes more sense for me, but I'll prolly break down and buy Vue also eventually ;) There are a lotta reasons to buy Shade. Check out the pdf comparing features between the various versions. For fifty bucks it's hard not to call the LE version a good buy. If you're into modeling the 'standard' version for 150 bucks is a good buy, too.

Message edited on: 09/03/2004 08:39

One other little point that I think is kinda neat. In the world of Poser canned content is king. It's fun, but after a while just posing and clicking 'render' to generate a pic of what are basically other peoples creations can get a little old. Shade gives the casual user some nice creation options that people might explore that they might not have bothered with otherwise...or maybe they won't ;) They now have a new option, though.

I tried to check out the pdf to compare them and got a 404. How do you get your poser items into shade? Marque

From the 'view' menu choose 'Poserfusion'. I think you can only do pz3's at the moment. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. There is another thread or two on obj stuff.

Message edited on: 09/03/2004 09:06

I'm interested in Shade because you can actually model in the program. (Magnets and primitives just don't cut it for me.) That's what Vue and Poser lack.

And the price is right!

Though I will probably get Vue 5, too. If only in hopes that it's compatible with Poser 6. ;-)

$50 for a Poser-compatible global illumination renderer is a steal, and you get a modeling application for free! ;)

Is there an upgrade path? If you buy LE and decide you want Standard or Pro later, say.

I doubt anyone wants my opinion, so I'll give it anyway. It renders. I can import Poser content and render it. Can't position the camera where I want. Can't produce lights that effect the render. Can't model much of anything in it. I think even if I could use it, I'd really hate using it. I'll pass, it's not for me.

I can sympathize with that, iamonk :) The interface feels kinda wonky to me, too, but just playing around with the demo for a few hours clarified a lotta stuff.

A lot of ifs around at the moment - I hate having to buy more then I really need. I wish Curiouslabs would give out some info on Poser 6 to help buying decisions. >From the 'view' menu choose 'Poserfusion'. Is 'Poserfusion' not in the Shade 7 basic demo or is this something else that's not for Europe's eyes?

It may be a great program for some but after checking out the demo and seeing what other folks, including the renders at the CL site, have done think I'll wait and let others here learn to use it first. So far I haven't seen anything that is exciting enough to open my wallet for. Be sure to post renders though to keep us updated on how it goes. Marque

Thanks, figured out how to get them in right after I asked. Had looked in the manual and didn't see it. I have seen other renders here at renderosity that the folks say have taken 4 hours, and the render just isn't that great. I just can't justify even $50 on it right now. Maybe later when I see how others have shaken it out. Thanks for the info. Marque

eecir, thats strange. i dont remember any options in the installation, but you might try going back thru it or redownload it and reinstall. thats the best i can offer. sorry

I wonder, can you edit a already existing model in Shade? Sharen

eecir; When did you download the Shade trial? Poserfusion is a relatively new addition, and there was a time when the Shade demo simply didn't have it, because it didn't exist yet.

Attached Link: http://www.curiouslabs.com/go/store

So if you can modify an existing model it would be good for morphs, but what are the export options? Can you export an object? Thanks, Marque

Thanks, Tori!

Doesn't help my decision much, though. The upgrade prices from LE to Standard, and from Standard to Pro, are the same or worse than the upgrade price from Poser.

Some of you are making an apples-to-oranges comparision of Shade and Vue. Im not sure about what is or is not included in all levels of Shade (I have Shade 7 Pro Japanese version, which I run also on an English system), but Shade's modelling is great! If the interface looks sparse that's because its had years of polishing to only put in front of your face what you need to get a task done (and leave a lot of real estate for you to work with control points and the "big picture"). Those years of polishing have also made it an incredibly stable product. The learning curve is quite gentle as well. If want to spend less time fighting with weird interfaces and just get down to making some models, I strongly recommend Shade. Best regards, Lynn Fredricks Proactive International http://www.proactive-intl.com

Thanks for the feedback, Lynn. Nothing beats experience.

I had a hard time with the camera controls at first, also. Then I started working on the beginners tutorial that comes with it and saw how it works. Now that I know, I wish this was the way to do it in all programs. It is really better than it seems. It makes sense too. I was just too hung up on the standard way of doing it. (That is, too used to the Poser/Bryce/Carrara interface) Other high end modelers may very well have this feature.

Lynn, is it worth getting Standard instead of LE? I did look at the comparison chart, but I didn't understand what most of the "features" were.

Good question randym. Also it would be great to see some renders of larger pose files with multiple characters and see what the render times are. Also, is there any kind of crosstalk issue like we have in poser pro? Thanks for the info Lynn. Marque

Erm... where are people getting the LE price of $49? The only price I can find is $109 — the link above redirects to a store page in German with no upgrade prices, or in fact anything except Poser details and links. Maybe I have to wait until the International version comes out... Not that it matters anyway, it looks like even the Shade LE demo won't run under Win98. Unless someone knows differently?

SpottedKitty, are you outside North America? Someone said the CL website detects where you are, and shows you different pages based on that. People in Europe cannot see the store page we North Americans are looking at.

Any product that works with Poser is a plus overall and increases Poser's viability which is a very good thing. Most people who use Poser and want to get into modeling seem to want to be able to create their own clothing, make props of modify their figures. It seems like Shade will be able to do those things. Of course, you can do all of those even with a freeware modeler but you dont have any built in Poser support. The alternatives all seem to require plug-ins or 3rD party utilities and the applications they support, 3DS MAx, Lightwave, C4D and TruSpace are all priced higher than the entry level of Shade, from hundreds to thousands of dollars more. So, you get a modeler, integration of Poser content and a renderer that can produce drop dead gorgeous output, starting at $49. It seems like a no brainer to me for what most people want to do. Now that may not be the case for those who are already married to another package. Preferences in modeling tools are highly individual but I think clearly Shade would have been around and developed for this long if it weren't a capable product. It's new (to most of us) and different perhaps (what modeler isn't?), but I certainly hope it proves successful. If e-frontier has long term plans to develop integration with Vue as well as Poser then they will have a pretty complete 3D platform with modeling, rendering figure creation and landscape design. That seems like a much more viable strategy than hoping for Poser to make a lot of headway with breaking into the high end market of applications that are probably beyond the budgets or needs of most of us.

You're right, randym, I'm way over here on the other side of the Atlantic. I even looked at the CL website itself, but again the only links I found were to full price purchases. Drat.

They said it would be available globally soon. Not sure if the price will be the same, though. Poser was a lot more expensive across the pond that it was here in the U.S.

Almost everything costs more across the pond.

In some cases (such as gasoline -- petrol for you brits), a LOT more.

I'll stay out of the political end of this......not the right place for it.

I'm just looking forward to trying out Shade.

I think the reason Poser was more expensive was that CL had to promise not to undercut their European dealers. They say they are going to sell globally from their web site this time, so maybe there won't be a huge difference in the price.

Hummm, rendered a scene with 3 characters and it gave me an out of memory error? Anyone know anything about what would cause this? Have a gig of ram, that's not enough? Thanks, Marque

I rendered a test scene with 8 characters with no problem in the demo. 1g ram here, too.

eecir, You are standing in front of a locked door. On the other side is a crimson carbuncle in a filigree casket which reads... "the hand which holds the carbuncle holds dominion"... and you want to get your hands on that carbuncle. You open your tool bag... how to get through that door? You can kick through it (takes days and leaves you with a sore foot). You can whack it with an axe (careful of flying splinters). You can take a credit card to the lock. You can unscrew the hinges (try not to get hit by the falling door). You can unlock it with the key you bought at the smiths... after much jimmying and three trips back. You can unlock it with the really expensive skeleton key from the thieve's guild. Toe, axe, screwdriver, keys will all get you through the door... but the more tools in your toolbag, the more choices you have. For $50, this is a damned cheap key. Or you can destroy a lot of credit cards buying imitation carbuncles. Carolly

Xenophonz,

the world will be out of the grades of oil that produce your gasoline within 40 years, well within my grandchildren's lifetimes. Just maybe if US citizens started paying a realistic price for it, they'd stop using more than the rest of the world put together and start wondering what they're doing to their kid's futures.

As far as Shade pricing goes. Somebody accidentally posted a link to the US store for P5 on a Renderosity Forum last year, and I bought my ESD copy for around two thirds of what it would have cost me from the EGISys store. I wonder what would happen if someome were to, accidentally of course, post such a link again...

John

...you're exactly right, jwhitham. I'm a businessman, but here in America the attitude that dirt cheap oil is some kind of birthright is foolish and selfish. It's depressing to see our average mpg on passenger cars drop so precipitously over the years, but as a nation we don't look beyond the tip of our nose. My small company will spend about $400k on fuel this year. It should be more along the lines of $1 million. Prices for my product would adjust to that reality and I and my employees and their families would do just fine, although the transition would probably be rocky. But enough of depressing geopolitical stuff... Shade rocks. Buy it :)

Tunsey,

nicely put! I'm not usually so blunt, but I've been watching news all day and at a bit of a low ebb :(

I prolly would buy Shade, if I could, but us Europeans aren't allowed it yet.

John