Hi. Ive got a few questions as a newcomer to both TS5 and to Vue4. (And I really like Vue! Incredible rendering!) Im able to get the organic shape and material and texture I want in TS5. I cant get all of it into Vue just the shape. Is there something I dont understand here. Will it not import TS5? Should I be saving the TS object as 3dS first? Thanks. MUD

Not being familiar with TS, I assume you're referring to the .cob import? Or is it some sort of TS scene import? Personally, I prefer 3DS to all other formats I've ever used in Vue, since all textur/material/transparency, etc.. info is converted perfectly by Vue upon import, so go ahead and try that and see if you like it. Otherwise, I think there is an issue with the .cob import that E-on is working on. Don't quote me on that, though, because as I said, I am totally unfamiliar with True Space. Hopefully, smallspace will see this and have something to offer, since he's a TS user as well, or you might want to consider asking him something via Instant Message. But meanwhile, try the 3DS format. Assuming TS sets it up right on export (which I imagine it does), it will load into Vue perfectly. Hope this helps some. -Mike

Hi MUD, As I understand it, the Vue4 COB importer handles textures, bump maps, and alpha maps for transparency. It also does a pretty good job of handling Truespace's ambient, diffuse, reflection, and refraction settings. What won't be imported are any procedural material settings such as "brick", "wood", "metal plate", "leather", or any of the color procedurals. They are as unique to Truespace as any of the Vue procedurals are to Vue. -SMT

When I asked E-On to clarify what Vue will load from a .COB file, I was told that Vue4 won't load NURBS. Specifically, my question to them was to please clarify the trueSpace .cob format Vue would read, because on the Vue 4 specs page on e-on's site, it mentions that it will import and export trueSpace 2 .cob format, and since I have versions 4.3 and 5.1, I wanted to have an idea of what I could expect to load or not. E-on just suggested that if anythibng was modeled as a NURB in tS, to just export it as a 3DS file and Vue could load it that way. I have Vue 3.1, but haven't received Vue4, yet, so I was just planning ahead;) Hope this is helpful. hOss

Thanks all, I have tried several files made in several programs - all saved as 3ds. Whatever is saved in TS5.1 as 3ds will lock up (vue) the system. All others load ok except that no textures make it into vue. Using Rhino (saved as 3ds polys, not nurbs) and turbocad 7. Still working on the mystery. MUD