Vue, how dare you crash on me...after I've had 5 1/2 hrs sleep in 2 days trying to get this project out to a client due in a few hours.

How DARE you!!!!!!

ARG! We need network rendering to work TO FILE, not just to screen.  This shit was DONE!  100%! I was ready to hand it to the printer and go hibernate for the rest of the day. I saw light at the end of the tunnel and you just took a shit allllll over me, Vue.  Now I must scramble...scramble for my client who leaves for Chicago in 4 hours....scramble to find a printer willing to take a file, print it 24x36, and mount it as well by that time.

If I have to drive to Chicago to deliver this board on such little sleep, e-on, expect me at your offices. LOL.  Nevermind that you're overseas....you WILL see me.

Damn you to hell Vue.  bhjgdkahbfkjabhflbhaflkbnafkajwnf!!!!!

:(

i feel for ya man, it´s always sad when something critical goes out the window when the deadline´s just around the corner, but it´s part of the job and we need to plan for such things aswell, sad but true shit happens.

anyway, you´ll bounce back and deliver a kickass job for your client :)

Go figure.

Just had crash #2.  Maybe I'll uncheck the computer that's running vue's file from the cow list once I get closer to a finished render...

I am sure that any words I could offer cannot be a salve for the frustration you feel.  If I could offer just a little assistance then it is this:

My last render took over 54 hours.  I rendered it every evening and saved it often.  That way I could go back and continue the render where it left off (just in case) something should go awry.  Hope this helps for any rush job you have in the future.

Naughty naughty vue. Daddy's going to replace you with vue 6 soon.

Who's to say Vue 6 is...improved?

I'm attempting to get my superiors to get Viz/3DSMax and VRay.  I'm tired of the instability and what appears to be THE worst memory use and management in the history of 3d apps.

I got it done with a lot less quality than I wanted...and ultimately, a lot less quality than THEY wanted.

Oh I can entirely understand the frustration. They shouldn't have named it vue professional, because it really has never been suitable for professional work for people with deadlines, because of that instability. But can those other proggies make really beautiful trees with just a couple of clicks that you can even look at fairly closely? I have carrara and nice trees can be made but they're not included in the software when you buy it, it involves getting tree and leaf textures and applying them. A lot of work if you want to make lots of different trees. I don't want to have to do that. Vue is so quick and easy to use, and the new features in 6 look very very enticing. Anyway I don't even know why we're talking about this, because I am willing to bet you will buy vue 6 when it comes out. Love esther

Think again  :)

I advised my bosses NOT to purchase Vue 6...that I see no real useful improvement for Arch Vis.  Yeah, they're making things like Ecosystems better, Godrays, Clouds, but that has NO use at an architectural firm.

Point being, 95% of geometry I create is from an external source...not built IN Vue.  It simply cant handle imported items very well.  It's good at instancing and vegetation, but as far as lighting, speed of render, realism of materials, stability, precision texture mapping, memory management, and ease of use (for arch vis) go, it's simply not up to snuff.

If it were ME personally, I'd check Vue 6 out.  But since it's for a job with deadlines and a bigger budget than my wallet, I'm pushing elsewhere.  I'll stick with displacement grass and VRay proxies vs this.

I mean, my scene that consisted of 3 buildings, 3 sets of Lowpolygon3d people, about 20 Lowpolygon3d autos, and 10 placed trees...should NOT crash with 2GB memory.  That's simply not enough going on.  I wasn't able to add grass (had to use a texture), flowers, a horizon of trees...nothing like that.  That's rediculous IMO.  The scene used over 750MB or the ram while just sitting there, doing nothing.  Not when rendering...when SITTING THERE.

I was highly disappointed in Vue's performance in this project.

I'll give it this though, it WILL pump out a nice image of the marina I'm doing next week.  Now THAT is something it can do well.

Yep vue water looks much better than carrara water I've found, but I'm sure that depends on the user too. However it's very easy in vue to get immediate nice water. Love esther

Ryan, AMEN, BROTHER!!!!

I was trying to render a 'landscaping' rendering in VUE this past week at work.  I work for a large architecture firm and I had two days.  I wasted 8hrs - AN ENTIRE DAY fighting with vue.  I finally dumped VUE 5 i, and popped it into VIZ, then Pshopped my trees and veg in... I was done in 4 hours. 

Vue doesn't map to imported mesh geometry the same way it maps to terrains or VUE native geometry.  Plain and simple, it's $#$^%#'d up.  I tried applying the exact same settings to a material applied to a terrain versus to a .3ds mesh and they came out COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.  It doesn't know what to think of Object Parametric when looking at an imported object and the scale is just screwed.  THEN whenever I changed cameras or it refreshed my view, it actually moved ALL MY ECOSYSTEMS 800 feet approximately in the southwest direction... but there was no predicting and I gave up fighting.

VUE is a !#$@$#!@ WASTE of a professional's time.  When it works, it's a beautiful thing... but it doesn't work much.  And their RENDER COWS - what a joke!  I can render farm to all 60 machines in my office with VIZ, no prob.  But VUE - if someone logs off of the Render cow, all frames to that machine are LOST WITH NO HOPE OF RECOVERY.  So we didn't bother buying more cows.  VUE6 promises a 'RENDER BULL'... and I think it's aptly named.  if they didn't make it a service that can run in the background, then it's no use to architects.  I'm not running around my firm logging people on and off computers.  Even when it's 'done' rendering the frame it still has to 'post-process' the frame on the original sending machine- that's jacked up.

The 'Cow' doesn't even SHOW UP for use if someone isn't logged on... ridiculous.

VUE is NOT for Still shots, IMHO... I would only use it for animations... but then, as you mentioned, it's so freaking unstable, I'm scared to try and stand on it any more.

I started using Mental Ray in VIZ, AND I HATE VIZ WITH A PASSION... but at least it's fairly stable, eventhough Viz is soooo overly complicated to use.  I would get MAX 8 and the VUE xStream plugin... THAT'S THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS- render to 60 computers at once with MAX and Backburner, but get MENTAL RAY realism.  Unfortunately, they don't have xStream for VUE and VIZ 6 yet... so I'm stuck with one or the other.

here's my Mental Ray/Photoshop rendering:
http://www.vizdepot.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2082&cat=500&page=1

my review of VUE for Architects
http://www.vizdepot.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30696#post30696

my issues with Rendering posted to e-on's website
http://www.e-onsoftware.com/support...p?id=1147626608

Quote - I started using Mental Ray in VIZ, AND I HATE VIZ WITH A PASSION... but at least it's fairly stable, eventhough Viz is soooo overly complicated to use.  I would get MAX 8 and the VUE xStream plugin... THAT'S THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS- render to 60 computers at once with MAX and Backburner, but get MENTAL RAY realism.  Unfortunately, they don't have xStream for VUE and VIZ 6 yet... so I'm stuck with one or the other.

Well obviously you haven't seen the xStream forums.  It's LITTERED with bugs and crashes and will not work with VRay.  HORRID decision as over half of Max users have and use VRay.

no... I haven't read up on it because there's no way we're springing to buy Max when we have 60 licenses or something like that for VIZ2006.  Thanks for the heads-up.

Vue 6 claims to have fixed the 'not rendered in the background' issue, and claims to have improved the rendering.  I am intrigued by painting plants onto my terrains, but am scared it will be unstable with my imported terrain meshes from Sketchup.  for $300 we can try it and see... if they actually got it to work, I would then think about buying more copies.

Yes I would say Vray is becoming THEway.  But for exteriors, Mental Ray is fairly simple to use and it comes bundled with VIZ.  Vray is an independant thing, so that's why they went with Mental Ray compatibility, anyone with Max and Vray also has Mental Ray... so I guess they figured they hit everyone in one shot that way... but I LOVE the VRAY stuff I'm seeing out there.  And I see Mray appears to be no fun to work with for interiors.

Vue 6 claims to have fixed the 'not rendered in the background' issue

I can totally understand pro's leaving Vue.  I've depended on Vue for my work and it has not been fun with all of the problems one is facing. My main reason for not using Vue anymore is just what you stated. E-On claims to have fixed this and that in Vue 6, while they should have fixed it in Vue 5. Forcing me to buy Vue 6 to get bug fixes is not the way to treat customers. I've been using Vue from version 2 and still really love the application.... but the bugs and company conduct has driven me crazy enoug to drive me away from E-On.

Why would you turn to any 3d program for a two day deadline?  That's insane in of itself.  I suppose it depends on what you're doing.

I don't have a problem for using vue for stills, that why I got it.  So far my longest render was 6 days and I had to do it over later when the specs changed. 

I wouldn't guarantee any render from any program for less than a week. 

I was rendering a really good pic (in my opinion) in carrara for the last 3 days, and my puter crashed in the early hours last night. I'm going to try rendering again at lower quality. So anyway it's not just vue. Love esther

Right, but in my opinion, Carrara is garbage and is 100% definitely what you do not want to use in arch vis work.  I'm not impressed witht he render quality.  Like....at all.

Tirjasdyn
I am an architect and renderer for a living... typicically I have 1-2 days to build a model, texture, render... that's life.

I only attempt to use VUE for animations anymore... for Stills I use VIZ and Photoshop.

Quote - Tirjasdyn
I am an architect and renderer for a living... typicically I have 1-2 days to build a model, texture, render... that's life.

I only attempt to use VUE for animations anymore... for Stills I use VIZ and Photoshop.

Here's some chocolate covered espresso beans.  It sounds like you need them.

mmm... thanks!
I actually build a lot of my architectural stuff in Sketchup.  It's quick to use, and combined with Photoshop I get 80% of my clients covered.  It rare I need an animation... but I do look forward to the day when VUE can actually be a useful part of my work... the concept is great... the execution is lagging waaaayyyyy behind. 

And Phillip Bouyer, the guy that does their animations for their promo videos... well, he's some sort of genius, or majician, and must have 1000s of hours of patience to get the output he gets... I can't touch it.  He needs to create and sell his own tutorial videos because the ones we bought were quite, ummm... well they didn't teach me how to get HIS results... and it's killing me. 

I believe he has two (Bouyer) at cornucopia ...one for sale and one for free.  Both in the market.

Quote - Right, but in my opinion, Carrara is garbage and is 100% definitely what you do not want to use in arch vis work.  I'm not impressed witht he render quality.  Like....at all.

I think you are more architect than 3D modeler?  Carrara is a fine application; not in the high end, but many very competent 3D application users seem to like it just fine -- for the $$$.  BTW, it has a very good render engine.

Vue is a fine application, based on its targeted use.  All 32bit applications are hitting the memory wall right now -- even high end 32 bit 3D apps. are crashing quite a bit.

Me thinks you should stick with SketchUp -- Google gives out the basic application for free.

I'll stick my 2 pence in this thread rather than start a new one as I too, though just a hobbyist, am totally fed up with Vue. I'm on a Mac Powerbook OS 10.4 , 1.5 gig with Vue 5 Inf. I've tried so hard to work with it over the last few months,but it just freezes and crashes over and over again. I've re-installed many times. tried both 5.9 and 5.10. It won't recognise where Poser is on my HD so I can't import pz3s . I followed a tute I found here on optimising rendering times. it froze so badly that the image I'd spent 3 days working on isn't even recoverable now. These are just a few of the reasons I'm deleting it from my HD. It's official, I GIVE UP ON VUE !! Bryce isn't stable on my mac either so I remain with out a viable landscape app. Poser, ZBrush, all Adobe apps, Cheetah 3D even Cararra, all work a treat on my system. I'll only buy Vue 6 if I hear from many many sources that it's rock solid on a mac . I'm well hacked off I ever bought it !

Hello, Gini,
I'm on Mac Powerbook G4 with 1 gig ram (one PB 667 MHz with 16 megas of video, and one at 1 GHz),
and Vue5Inf works fine, here (some architecture).
Well, some problems with the interface that jerks or freezes, mostly when using wacom pen.
I rarely model inside Vue, use architectural VectorWorks for that. -> 3ds -> Vue.
When I began with Vue, as it came out of the box, it often crashed.
I "fine-tuned" the prefs (funnily enough, things began to work as they should, when I pushed up both foreground and background thread quality)
and try not to overload it, not to ask it toooo much for my old puters (no Versailles mirror hall with GI plus volumetrics and glowing mats + lensflare at sundown ;-),
and when working in high-poly-scenes, I "slow down" my usual turbo working speed a little, to leave it some fraction between mouseclicks.
Well, plus the usual dispatching of unused parts to invisible layers.
I get good results, nearly no crash, now.
But they are right for the deadlines, I think :
I make my 'standard' renders with VectorWorks' built-in renderer, where I'm sure of the time needed and of the (basic) outcome,
and use Vue, when I got some time to make trials, errors, and long renders, but want a super result.
Also, compare the puter's performances : the Vue "benchmark" takes ten minutes or so on a MacBookPro, where it takes about two hours on my powerbooks G4.
I dont ask Vue to make superpro work : I haven't got the superpro staff and equipment to do that. I don't regret my money. I don't know an other program, with which I could do, what I do with Vue,  with the same ease (and at same price).
I'm sorry that you don't get it working the way you want :-(

Hi guys.

One technical tip, .........if you have an old copy of Vue 4 still hanging around, import your 3d meshes into it first, save them in the Vue 4 file format, and then import those into Vue 5i or V6, I suppose.

I am a model-maker, and make models specifically for V5 (all flavors).  There is something not quite right in the way the V5 file importer handles geometry for highly curved objects, or for objects in the *3ds file format that have more than 35,500 polygons. Vue 5 is not the only application with this kind of problem. But I learned awhile ago that if I run those through V4 first, and then into V5, I never have a problem with those meshes.

On the other hand, V5i does something well that no other app does, and that is the "Weld" function. For objects that have the same material, Vue's welder is flawless. i've looked at the geometry structures after the weld, and I've never seen MAX or MAYA or CD4 merge those meshes as seemlessly as V5i.

Hanging onto V4 for dear life..... LOL!

forester,
thanks for the tip... I've been wondering though, what advantages/disadvantages does WELD give?  I've tried both ways and don't notice a diff...

I've looked into the WELD function while I was doing some testing.  If you WELD an object on importation, the file size is WAY less than if it is unwelded.

I was trying to get some answers in another thread about improved stability from Vue4 to Vue5, and while it sounded like it is improved, reading this makes me think it's still not nearly improved enough.

I am so sick of working on egg shells and playing chicken with the awesome, undocumented crash feature: "One more adjustment and THEN I'll save..." crash "AAARRGH!"

I'm thinking I may have to just bear down and learn how to render in Maya er something.  The ease and plug-n-render, atmospheric perspective and whatnot of Vue keeps me wishing that it was more stable, but it's just really not...