Hello all, I am sure this is going to be an obvious answer but...I can not find out how to export my terrain for use in Lightwave. I read the help file and all it says is to push the export button. Well, I checked each button and menu item over, atleast a dozen times and can not find it. My Vue book is packed away someplace ( I just moved), so I am stuck. Anyone know where this super secret button is? Thanks.. Eryk

Hi Eryk, See in the picture, at the very bottom right, is the Export Terrain button. If you press that, the window on the left will open up, where you get your export options, such as where to save it to, etc. Hope this helps. Cheers, Mike

Oh, I guess I should add if you don't already know, that you have to double click on the terrain when it's selected/highlighted, to get the terrain editor window. I'm pretty sure that Vue 3 will only export LW 5.6 format, since I know that it won't IMPORT LW 6.0 or above, due to Newtek changing the format since 5.6.

Mike, thanks for the reply. Now I see the key that I was missing. So, by this example, I can only export pieces of terrain, correct? Or, is it possible to export an entire scene? As an example of what I hoped to export, I have attached a picture I made recently ( I wish I knew who created the gravestone so I could give them credit. Anyone recognise it??). It figures Newtek changed thier format, as I do have lightwave 6.0+, but I 'believe' I can import lightwave 5.6 files. Thanks again... Eryk PS: Sorry file is so big. I am currently at work and had no way to resize it for faster download. :(

That is VERY cool there, Eryk! You can probably only export one terrain at a time, since you can only open one terrain editor window at a time. I imagine if you make a boolean union of the terrains, maybe you can export the whole mess as one object. And, even if not, I think Vue will export the individual terrains in the same world-positiuon they were in when exported, so they import with the same scheme. Hmm-- ya know, I've never tried any of that before-- I've exported terrains, but only one at a time, and then only for Poser. I'll give it a try now and let you know what I find out. --Mike PS Don't work too hard!

Wel, I just gave it a try, nad Vue won't export boolean-unioned terrains-- they have to be separate objects. Also, even when spaced apart and exported separately, they import into Bryce and Poser on top of each other. In File-Options, there's a box to select to make IMported objects import in the world-space position they were in on export from other programs, but no such thing for the EXport options. So, I guess you'll have to reposition them on your own. One other thing-- Vue terrains export very well, but you'll want to Lower Edges for each one in the terrain editor first, and probably also want to remove some of the polygons around the edges in LightWave. I've used Rhino for that, and it helps, really, especially for a scene with very clear water, where you don't want to see the square edges.

Mike, Thanks a ton for all the help and for testing that for me. I'm glad you liked the image too. :) That information is what I needed, now I won't be banging my head on my desk tonight. :) I also have Poser 4 and am hoping to be able to create some real killer scenes and animations, using a combination of poser, lightwave and vue. ( But I am new to 3d art, so it will be a while.) Again Mike, I thank you for your help. Take care, Eryk PS: I took you advice and did not work too hard today.

Really nice image. Good composition and lighting too. LW 6.5 now uses UVW mapping, which is extremely useful for doing Poser and other 3DS model imports. It sure took NewTek a really long time to "fix" this, but its really great now... But exporting terrains is no big deal as VUE is just exporting a mesh like Bryce does, there are no texture maps, so older LW export formats work just fine anyway...

Fox, Thanks for the compliment! :) So by what you are saying, I should have little issue with using my apps together for scene creation? The fact that older LW formats will work is great. I have not got to a point where I had to import one yet, so I was not sure. Have a great weekend everyone, Eryk

No problem Eryk. :) Actually, Vue WILL export image and bump maps along with a terrain, if you tell it to. You have to select the options to generate material files, and they have to go in the same folder as the terrain mesh itself. You also have to be sure to select the same format for both material files and the bump files, or Vue will crash. Don't know why-- Vue funny sometime, hardeeharhar! Image and bump map choices are: .BMP, .JPG, Compuserve GIF, and .TGA. Not only that, but when you import the exported terrain into (at least Bryce 4), another app, if the files are all in the same folder, the image maps will load along with it. The picture above is a quickie done in Bryce 4, of a Vue terrain exported as .3DS, and the map and bump map files were saved as .BMP. Bryce loaded it all at once. Unfortunately, the terrain map lost it's altitude-dependance, and the bump could stand to be turned up some, but at least it all loaded together. :)

Mike- that's really good to know. I have never tried that in Vue. I have gotten the exports from Bryce down, but I had never throught of trying it in Vue... This might work with Vue- In Bryce you can tilt the camera directly overhead (there is even a setup for this in Bryce) and using a neutral overhead light (its in the Bryce Skies) you can take an air-photo of the terrain, with all its altitude features, and then use that to map onto your mesh. This should give you a decent look, and you can re-add bump maps in Photoshop with grey-scale info... Or you can also take an overhead air-photo (render at fairly high-rez if you want details) with sun-angle, atmosphere effects- and use that, as long as your final shot- in say Lightwave or MAX, uses those same lighting angles. It can look surprising good. A lot of LW and MAX users use Bryce and Terragen this way, and I also use Vue this way too. I'm not a "purist". I use every trick in the book to get the scene I want. I have put Terragen skies in Bryce even, and also Vue skies... If I can find the website again, I can link you to a website where there are downloadable Sky-domes done in Bryce, that look really great in MAX. But what I want to do is import Vue and Terragen Skies this way- it takes a 360 degree render- which is then mapped inside the sky-dome, with the outside dome as single-sided (to be transparent)...

BTW- Why Use Sky-Domes in VUE? Because you can get gorgeous wide-angle skies, but still have a 35-55mm lense on your remaining scene so nothing looks distorted. Especially good for Poser characters where wide-angle lenses make them look freakish...

Hi F-M, Hey that's a terrific idea of using Terragen skies in Vue. I've heard of others doing such, but I hadn't considered a wide angle approach--- might give it a try one of these days.. As for taking aerial shots of Vue terrains and using those for maps, that I have tried, but I was less than thrilled with the results. As ffor LW and MAX, well, it's gonna be a loooonnnng time before I can justify spending that kind of money! Actually, I see very little reason to want to use Vue-in-Bryce. I'm not too thrilled with the quality of the Bryce renders, and especially after using Vue, they just look plastic or something, to me. That's not to say it can't be done, as I've seen many seasoned Brycers c reate some exceptional renders, but it just doesn't "happen" for me!

Mike, That land export you demonstrated above is killer. This will save me loads of time and headaches. :) Thanks once again! Fox-- I have heard of skydoming before, but figured that was a bit advanced for me. But, they way you talk about it, it does not sound hard at all. ( Is this where you take a bowl shaped poly and add the map of your sky to it? ) A friend suggested Terragen to me, maybe I will pick it up after all. Until I learn to use Lightwave, I need to use every other option I can. :) Mike, Newtek is having a sale currently, where if you own one of their other items, you can get lightwave for less then $1,000 ( I want to say aroun $700 but I can't recall. I was told about the sale from an co-worker, so he could be way off.) Hope you all are having a productive saturday. :) --Eryk

No problem Eryk--- as people ask-- I learn as well. :) And what else does NewTek make, anyway?

They make, besides lightwave: Videotoaster Aura ( A great program I am currently waiting for delievery on). Vidget Inspire 3D Calibar WWW.Newtek.com I am not familiar with most of the products, so I can't say for sure what they all do. Aura is a very advanced paint program, for lack of a better explination. But it does way way more then paint. It works with Illusion ( not sure if you have heard of it). But with Illusion and aura, you can make some killer special effects for animations and still images.

Inspire 3D is a very low-cost version of Lightwave. Like for around $350. It's a great bargain, but it is at Lightwave 5.6 level. I was ready to buy it when LW 6 came out, soon followed by LW 6.5. Lightwave 6.5 hit the most important needed feature- support for UVW mapping- so all Poser stuff imports very nicely (You have to fight it and re-texture in LW 5.6) But during the Christmas holidays, when NewTek offered their special $995 deal, I went ahead and got it. It's a lot of money, it will take me a long to time really learn, but its a package used by the pros. Plus, there is a really nice, inexpensive plug-in that imports Terragen scenes into LW. E-ON SOFTWARE (our Vue buddies) make a VUE-LW Plug-in too (OZONE) to use LW scenes... Also- Dan Alban's book "Inside Lightwave", being advertised here at Renderosity, really sold me. The Radiosity and use of High-Dynamic Range lighting (another whole big subject) really sold me on LW 6.5... SKY-DOMES- I got some really great free sky-domes from a website but cannot remember where now. There were no readme's- but it was probably from one of those Academic websites where people do this type of stuff for intellectual fun and games. They are basically a simple half-sphere. They are single-sided, with a 360 degree sky render (in this case done in Bryce) mapped inside. So when you pop a giant sky-dome over your scene, the beautiful sky is all around you in Pana-Vision. There is no reason why you couldn't do 360's of Terragen or Vue skies and map them like this also. It's a beautiful effect...

Very cool Fox, thanks. I will have to do that. When I do, I'll post it so you can check it out and give me some pointers, if you don't mind. LW- I got lightwave 6.X during the sale as well. It was a lot of money, but like you say, it is used by the pros ( and a friend of mine as well, who is able to help me along.) :) --Eryk

sigh All you LightWave-ers---- I wish that the "Modeler" portion of it were available as a separate software, as opposed to being part of the whole software. There's so much about LW I would have no use for, but there's so much of it I WOULD have use for... And thanks for the tip about Inspire 3D!

Attached Link: http://homepages.tesco.net/~thistle/

Hi Folks! If anyone's tempted to buy Inspire 3D right now, my advice is to hold out for version 2 which is currently in the works. No release date as yet, but this version should have more features in common with the current Lightwave. (Just what I heard on the grapevine) :) Let's hope it supports UV mapping for all us Poser fans! If anyone's interested, I have a "mini review" of Inspire at my website. (Plus Illusion and DDClip too) Dave :)

Hi Dave, Thanks for the info... I've heard others, not only here, tell me about Inspire 3D, and I have been looking into it. BTW, I love some of the comments you've made on your website, next to your models. :)

Glad you got a chuckle or two! I'm seriously thinking of upgrading my coverdisk version of Vue up to version 3, so maybe I will have a "Vue" section there to "view" some day. :) Dave.