Okay, so I'm a n00b when it comes to 3D programs and I'd like some help deciding which to buy: Vue5 infinite (or 6, as it appears to be coming out soon) or Shade 8 standard. I know there's not much of a challenge when it comes to rendering power but there are other issues.

I can get shade for $99.99 where as Vue5 infinite is $599.99 (which I can still afford but I need to know it's worth it).

The first thing that attracted me to shade was the content packs available, buildings for city scenes, interior furniture, all for a good price. These are things I really need for my projects. Also, the poserfusion sounds a lot easier than all this import/export business.

Of course, the polygon handling in Vue is amazing, which is also important if I'm looking to make a busy street scene. Also the tree-creating-thingy (sorry for sounding totally retarded and n00bish :blushing: ) would be useful.

I don't know if there's anyway I could import shade content into Vue, it's not exactly a major file type and for all I know probably isn't supported. There's also the problem of "would I need shade in the first place if I wanted to import it?" because I've never used an importing system before so I don't these kinds of things.

Damn, I can really go on when I want to.

Thing which are important to me in a 3D program: The ability to create many different atmospheres/moods (so lighting and rendering options = important), the ability to use poser figures (V3, M3, the usual) with in the program and a vast amount of objects (like furniture, buildings and plants) available for the program or that can be imported into the program.

Can anyone help me decide?

If you want to do terrains and the like; there is no better solution than Vue in my opinion.  Vue does import Shade objects; so no worries there.  I have both Shade and Vue Infinite.  If I am wanting to create a scene using landscapes I use Vue.  If it is an interior scene I will use Shade. 

I find it easier to use Shade if all i am doing is rendering a standard Poser scene without adding other items.  I believe the renderer is better for that type of scene than Vue's.  However, with 6 coming out next month that may change.  I will certainly get the upgrade myself.

I do have to add that Vue does extremely well importing Poser figures also; and with version 6, promises to add even better Poser integration.  As it is now in 5; it's very good.  With 6, I expect it to be fantastic.

My overall suggestion?  Get Vue.  It will be easier to learn, and will give you more options.  Take a look at the gallery here.  There are some really good examples.  (Mine not included; mine are very poor)

Thanks, that's more help than I expected the first post to be. I'll probably wait for 6 (as long as it's not too much over the price 5 is currently) which is okay, cause I need to save up moneys anyways. Then, when my money-gland recovers I may get shade for interior rendering.

Thanks, JC, can I call you JC? Or cleaver-boy (or girl, I dunno what you are)?

Although that was great help, I'd still appreciate more opinions/advice if anyone has any. :tongue1:

NP.  You can call me anything you like; but I usually go by John.

Right now, Vue 6 is free when you buy Vue 5; so you could get started whenever you like. 

Shade is a good modeler. But for what you want, you'd do better with Vue Infinite. The learning curve is far shorter. If you get Infinite now, you will get a download version of Vue 6 Infinite free as soon as it is available, and I would suggest checking out the Vue 6 info at the e-on site. This is a major update/rewrite. It will have excellent integration with Poser ( V6 will read the shader trees in P6, so things you set up there transfer over), and for the first time you will be able to repose a figure from within Vue. With the new radiosity engine V6 will be able to do both indoor and outdoor lighting, then there's the new atmosphere model to permit volumetric clouds, translucency and true radiosity to permit subsurface scattering. There will be a new version of the ecosystems, which will give you far more control, and the ability to select and relocate individual instances in an ecosystem. Between the growing furniture/building/room structure libraries at Cornucopia3d, and all that is available for Poser that could be imported, you won't have any real shortage of items to use.

Plus, those of us who build objects for Vue are very friendly, and we like to build whatever  customers suggest to us. Cornucopia3D has a permanent thread where people can ask for things to be built, and we are all trying for very high quality model-building.

Don't know too much about Shade, but looks like the renderer looks stunning, and it's also a modeller, though a strange one. So if you need a modeller, get Shade. If you don't need a modeller, you should ask yourself what you need to do; render photorealistic outdoors scenes, as well as indoors ones, with the new Vue6 radiosity engine, and new light options. I say Vue Infinite hasincredible rendering and scene compositing power, as well as ecosystems to make even more real looking environments. Poser import is very good in Vue, but needs a few tweaks in the material editors. 3D meshes import very nicely too. Atmospherics are very good too in Vue.

So I would say go for Vue, but if you need a modeller, Vue won't be enough ( only metaballs & boolean modelling possible)

Thanks for all the help.

Is it possible to create buildings in vue and is it difficult? What's the availability like for buildings/cityscapes in the vue community and are they very expensive?

Creating buildings in Vue wouldn't be very atisfying, because you would use cube primitives. they would be alright for backgrouds though.

About available models, check this address:

www.cornucopia3d.com

The official Vue resources site.

I would also recommend Vue since it doesn’t sound like you want to do a lot of modeling and Vue is perfect for setting up scenes quickly and rendering. You can import 3DS objects into Vue so I wouldn’t worry about finding content. There is a lot of content that is compatible with Vue out there. As other have said if you buy Vue 5 now you get Vue 6 for free so don’t let Vue 6 stop you from making a purchase.

I played with Shade a bit but found it difficult to learn and decided not to purchase it. I use Cinema 4D for modeling and find it much easier. Perhaps my impression of Shade was skewed by my knowledge of Cinema 4D but I would strongly recommend that you download the trial of both programs and work through some of the tutorials. This will tell you which one you find easiest to use for what you want to accomplish. I think you’ll be producing things much quicker with Vue.

While Vue can do primitive modeling, if you are planning to create your own models it is probably more easily accomplished in a modeling tool. In that case I would buy a separate modeling program anyway and import those models into Vue (that’s what I do).

~jr

You could take a look at Carrara 5 as well. Just a thought. I have V5i, and I love it. Have Shade 7 LE, but could not get the hang of it. Paul g

Carra has modelling tools and landscapes capabilities, so you may indeed want to compare, but from what I've seen from the upcoming Vue6 line, it will knock down  Carrara pretty hard.

Quote "Carra has modelling tools and landscapes capabilities, so you may indeed want to compare, but from what I've seen from the upcoming Vue6 line, it will knock down  Carrara pretty hard."

I don't want to or have any intention of starting a software battle.  But Vue 6 will be catching up to Carrara IMHO.  Carrara already has 3d clouds/displacement/SSS/REAL trees & ability to make from scratch/wind  etc etc.  The only thing C doesn't have at this point in relation to Vue6 is the ability to "paint on ecos".  This is only based on V6's advertising at this point, more things could come to pass before V6 release.

All apps have their strenghts & weaknesses, trying out demo's of each would serve you well :)

dlk, that's the best of ideas: download the demos and see for yourself.

3 things Carrara doesn't have compared to Vue, when it comes to landscapes: painting ecos, spectral atmospheres, and the "decay near foreign object" parameter that V5 already has, to limit your ecosystems not to grow underwater for example. I believe in Carrara the only way to achieve this is by driving the population with a bitmap you have to create from the top view. Not as fast and easy.

Just wondering, does Carrara have procedural terrains? Or loadable atmospheres complete with render settings? Or a preview window? All of these are IMO very important and available in Vue.

That is correct - the decay near foreign object is a hinderance,  but easily enough worked around with planning. The bitmap thing goes for Vue as well, if you want items in a CERTAIN location.  As to the underwater thing, a pic I did had algae & pebbles scattered about with little to no effort :)

Anyway - just wanted to address this.  Lets also not forget C has a particle system :)

Good luck spatulageek girl in your decision.  I have Shade/Carrara & Vue. As I said before try the demos, in all 3 apps being discussed the UI is totally different in all 3.  IMHO Vue is the easiest to learn/then Carrara(if you use Poser then the C interface will be easier to learn as they are very similiar)/Shade is a whole different ballgame.

For me and Shade, I made it to Chapter 7 & gave up LOL - Hexagaon or Silo IMHO are much more proficent modeling apps, the interface suits me better.

Again GOOD LUCK :)

Thanks for this, you've all really helped. I'll try the demos and let you know how I get on (if anyone's interested). Plus, thanks for the link to cornucopia3d, great site ^_^. This has given me plenty of information to help me decide. If anyone thinks of anything else, let me know.

Sorry Chipp for late reply - not sure to proceduarl terrain as I never used them in Vue(I'm using Geo COntrol now anyway) & yes to preset atmos but no to preview window.  That said, C renders very fast - so I have not missed the preview window at all - that's just me of course....You can see the pics I've done in C here(not sure if you'll like them or not) - none have taken more than 2 hours & that is with GI/Translucency(leaves) water etc et on.

I have both both C & Vue galleries, so you be the judge.

I should add just to avoid arguements or flaming - I like both apps, but for now I find C more suitable.  I HATE the node editor in Vue - I'm lost in it, where in C the drop down format(as in Vue 4) suits me better :) Plus I like all the plugins available for C.

Both apps have the pluses & minuses.  DOuble edged sword so to speak. Can't win for loosing no matter what I say.

I'll agree with you dlk about plug ins, this is something e-on should allow for Vue. Python is great and can expand Vue's capabilities big time ( SkinVue is the best example), but allowing 3rd party plug ins would help Vue in the fields that are lacking.

Okay, Since this is my thread I'm gonna spam now...

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