A good friend of mine [danceswithroos] suggested I ask this here because you guys would know [he says!]. I have Vue 4 esprit at the moment but Vue5 easel is being offered as an upgrade for just 27. So my question is obviously, is it worth going for, are the new features of easel way better than Vue4? I know 27 is cheap but when you're near broke like I am most of the time it isn't :-( I'd appreciate your thoughts and recommendations please. thefixer, poser coord.

I would do it, for two reasons - it is deadly cheap, so any upgrade for that price would be a no-brainer. Second, while easel does not have some things that Vue 4 has (so I hear), you would still have a copy of Vue 4 on your machine, correct, so then you would have the benefit of the Easel features with the features in Vue 4. I say go for it.

As well, there will be upgrade and sidegrade paths from Easel to the other Vue 5 products, so for the price, I think it's a pretty good deal!

Not only that , the download comes in that wonderful E-on way -----------> No serial --------> No install ------------> May be next week if they can be bothered.

There are teething problems, so I would wait a little while. The download page requires that you download a small exe which you must run to then download the software you are buying. It doesn't work and the download link to the exe in the email is a dead one. I don't doubt that it will get sorted but when.... Or, has anyone else managed to download? They've sent me a serial number, just nothing to use in on.

Had the download (abt 350Mb) but never received a serial, 3 attempts to call the USA Office (nobody home there) , 1 call to Paris , found someone there who hadn't gone yet (7.15 pm on Friday) he had to process the order by hand, guess the automatic processing isn't working. He sorted things out before going home. Problem solved, unless you order now, Paris Office won't open till Monday.

Thanx evryone but I'm not really sure still, why does Vue 5 easel not have some things Vue 4 esprit has and are they important? Would I be maybe better upgrading to Vue 5 esprit instead? I really appreciate your time and advice, thanx! thefixer, poser coord.

I've given up trying to get anyone on the phone and I don't like paying long distance calls for something I've paid for. Problem is, whilst they answer within the two days (although we have the weekend to consider), they don't always settle it first go. I'm not counting on getting my download for a few days to come - it'll teach not be so impatient! New products always have teething problems of this kind, so it is best to wait a week or two for thing to get ironed out.

I can't even get to the Cornucopia site I think e-on has server issues at the moment is my guess...sigh...

E-on history of teething problems is putting it mildly.

I expect better from e-on it seems to be getting worse.

Where is the professionalism e-on?

Message edited on: 10/07/2005 12:54

Hey guys I know you're all getting some shit from the suppliers but is there any chance you could answer my post number 7 Thanx! :-))

Sorry. V5E is supposed to be the new equivalent for V4E, so if you want that feature set, that's what you need to buy. Easel is a cut down version to serve either as an introduction to Vue or as just a landscape generator/renderer for those who don't need the other features. I think its also aimed at would be Bryce customers.

No worries, So upgrading to Vue 5 esprit would be a better bet than Easel then?

Esprit won't have the render limits, does have a better feature set and can be expanded with the extras for plant creation, Poser animation, etc. Personally, I just don't need all that, so, for now at least, I'm going for Easel. When they let me download it.

The way I see it, Easel is e-on's response to Carrara Basics, which is also a simplified version of Carrara. It is reserved for people who just want to have a quick and easy 3D scene without spending too much time tweaking with details. I showed Vue and Bryce to one of my kids when he was 10 (he is now 13) and I wish I had something like Easel at the time. It would have made things more accessible. He had some hard time getting used to Vue and Poser and eventually gave up.

I really appreciate your help and time here philebus so just one more thing and I'll let you alone [lol]. My main app. is Poser [6] so Vue is used for mainly terrains, backdrops etc. so with that in mind would you recommend Easel or Esprit [5]. Thanx again. thefixer, poser coord.

Both will import from Poser 6 but only Esprit can use the extra plug-in (called mover - and its not cheap) to import Poser animations. Personally, I just want some simple, natural enviroments and an alternative render engine - if that's what you want to, the probably Easel is going to meet your needs. At the price, you can't go far wrong. The only thing that concerns me is the render restriction at 5 megapixels. I've not seen that term outside of digital cameras and I don't own one! However, 5 megapixels does seem to be considered reasonable for a camera, so I'm going to take the chance. If you're really unsure, then be a little more patient than I was. I'm sure someone will be able to give some more info on the rendering when they start playing over the next week. As we seem to have the same interest in this, I'll try to post something when I can. I have next week off work, so I'll have the time but I can't say when I'll have the software (I'm starting to sound like a stuck record - sorry about that).

Rendering settings restrictions too: no user defined anti aliasing, and no "ultra", and only one level of material editing: the basic editor, so for this Vue4 owners will lose in quality, but on the other hand, Easel has GI, but then again, less controlable by the user. I think if you work with Poser and Vue4, you're not the target for Easel, which is aimed at beginners in 3d, those who want a simple app, and fast & good looking results. Go for Vue5Esprit, if you can, of course. More control over everything, procedural terrains, and radiosity.

The upgrade to V5E is quite good but I'm its something I'll think about in the future - its just not high on my list of things to buy. There is no longer an upgrade from V4E to V5E (annoying, as I had qualified for the late buyers' price), so to move from V4E I have to get Easel anyway!

After spending a few hours working with V5E, I'd say, skip this toy and go for the full version if you intend to go beyond gawking at the samples created with Infinite. If you have ever worked with any of the previous versions of VUE and want an affordable update to an even remotely usable 3D landscape program go for Bryce. A few no no's in Easel: The same materials used on the same objects using the same settings will not always produce the same results. More than 2 materials onscreen and the Material Editor starts to stutter and slows down to snailpace. Gave the Metablob thing a try, 2 cylinders, 290 polygons, rendertime 8+ minutes in preview mode. The most positive I can say is that as a 3D landscaper it's cheap compared to Infinite or Worldbuilder, but try using Windows Notepad for a while to do run your business administration and you'll know the feel. And ofcourse I do have to mention that it doesn't crash on boot.

Thanx everybody, I appreciate your time and honesty! thefixer, poser coord.

Okay, 27 for an upgrade sounds quite good, but how much is Easel from scratch? In Pounds if possible, if anyone knows, that is.

s'okay, it's 45 - I found a page with the price on it...