Ok... I don't usually repeat press releases from e-on, but I got this along with my subscription to Siggraph this year and it looks too good to pass :) ------- Vue Fusion plug-in suite announced ---------------------------------------------------- We have the great pleasure of sharing with you this piece of information regarding e-ons current developments. This fall, e-on software will be releasing the Vue Fusion suite of plug-ins for Max or Maya. These plug-ins enable CG professionals to totally integrate their 3D projects into Vue environments. Thanks to Vue Fusion, Vue 5 Infinite environments will become a seamless part of the Max or Maya scenery. In one single render pass, Max or Maya elements will be rendered together with Vue elements, accurately matching shadows, reflections and illumination to deliver totally blended CG footage without requiring any additional effort. Following is a hot-list of Vue Fusion features: - Load and preview entire Vue environments in the Max or Maya interface. - Supports e-on software's revolutionary EcoSystem technology. - Compatible with Max's MentalRay and Maya Software and MentalRay renderers. - Uses Vue's render engine for efficient processing of billion-polygon Vue environments. - Automatic creation of matching Max/Maya/Vue cameras and lights. - Edit Vue 5 Infinite environments directly from within Max or Maya (using the Vue interface*). - Reciprocal shadow, reflection and refraction casting between Max/Maya and Vue elements. - Vue atmospheres (Standard, Volumetric and Environment Mapping) can be loaded into Max or Maya, *Requires a separate license of Vue 5 Infinite. Vue objects cannot be edited independently in Max/Maya without prior export from Vue. Vue Fusion is expected to ship this fall. A version of Vue Fusion for LightWave and Cinema4D is currently under development. Other renderers are under consideration. Vue Fusion will be demonstrated at Siggraph in LA Convention Center on e-on softwares booth (#824) from August 2 to August 4, 2005.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12400&Form.ShowMessage=2348561

yeah its always good news seeing vue expand, and this is a nice step into getting vue functioning even better in the production pipeline and it should generate some cashflow and expand the userbase (in my opinion) im glad to see e.on continue to expand and improve, but this move will also make sure that e.on needs to step up as far as the stability and memory leaks are concerned, the more users the more will experience issues. In the longrun its all peachy and great tho + im eager to see/try it out myself sounds promising :)

hope they bring it out for XSI! they missed out XSI?! considering getting XSI for animation

i doubt theyll miss out on xsi, if both maya,max,c4d and lw is getting fusion im quite sure xsi will get it aswell, would be quite weird if they neglect xsi.

THIS is what I've been waiting for. I don't know how long that the LW plugin is going to take, but I have the feeling that I'll be checking E-on's site for an announcement every three hours for the next three months. I haven't felt like this since I was a kid pestering "are we there yet?"

krimpr: "THIS is what I've been waiting for. I don't know how long that the LW plugin is going to take, but I have the feeling that I'll be checking E-on's site for an announcement every three hours for the next three months." I'll be right there with ya! :) Megalodon

Is Vue Fusion going to cost extra $$$$? If so, I hope E-On at least gets the existing Vuesync POS plugin working. If they abandon it- I'm done with throwing $$$ at them. VueSync for Lightwave has stunk since Vue Pro 4.

Well, I'm excited! Already have Maya 6.5 Unltd. - Can;t wait to hear more about this.

This is very exciting! It seems like what we've been waiting for for a while. If what e-on claims in the message is true, this sounds like the ultimate solution for integrating environments! BTW, I wouldn't expect it to be free if it does what it says. I'd guess somewhere in the range of $400-800. HarverdGrad, I don't have problems with LW synching - at least not with the latest patches. Have you reported your problem to e-on? They have a very good track of fixing issues and listening to complaints.

Harverdgrad, this wont replace what you have its two different ways of doing it, fusion will let you work in LW in your case with your vue infinite content, existing sync/plugins lets you just export stuff to lw from vue or sync cameras in vue from Lw so existing plugins will of course continue to exist and be improved upon in future vue versions, fusion will as petshoo mentioned most likely be quite expensive since its intended use is development houses and they can for sure afford a 400 to 800 us$ pricetag for this plugin. Anyway, thats how ive come to understand it.

Thanks for the explanation War2 :)

I keep re-reading the press release because it seems a little unclear. Using 3DS Max + Vue, will scenes be rendered using the native Vue renderer or the 3DS Max scanline renderer / mental ray?

I think the point of this new tool will be to bring Vue's capabilities to other rendering engines. So I suppose they will be rendered with 3DS Max's engine.