hi all,

just my dime to the debate.

Please note that moving scenes from one application to another usually means headaches over camera properties, lighting issues and (procedural) materials as well, let alone for procedural objects like terrains and ecosystem details which are generated at render time. Those ecosystems in my Vue scenes constantly break the 2Gb memory limit on my 32-bit system, which gives you some clue on the size of the exports.

Those issues hold for integrating Studio into Carrara of Bryce, and Poser into Vue and Vue into MAX or C4D etc. Anyone who tried to read Poser scenes into Studio knows about this: all cams, light sets and advanced material sets needs either a redo or a serious bodycheck. And Vue volumes are vast.

Vue to VRay is simple, on paper: run xStream, interface to MAX, setup for VRay and off you go... well, good luck with the VRay sun, lights and materials in your Vue scene, then. 

Note that the only thing Lux adds is raytracing, good for reflection, refraction and some GI/IBL. Vue does it well, too. And dealing with light without re-rendering ... is part of Vue 9, as I understood from the Siggraph notes (3DW mag #134, out now).

The real thing I'am waiting for is the ability to deploy GPU rendering, so I can utilise nVidea 480 cards, or stacks of them in renderboxes like The Cube. Same problems though: cams, lights, materials and extreme memory requirements.

- - - - - 

Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though