Hi cmc,

I am like you when it comes to trying to just jump in without knowing enough about it.

I am however, trying to take the long path this time, as jumping in for me with Vue is not working well. It is boring leaning taking the long route there.

Learning all about the Control Tool Bar at the top & how they are grouped into sections, like first you have the File group which can also be found in the drop down file at the top, is your first 4 icons at the top, then we have the next group, the Edit group, which can also be found in the edit menu, things like cut, paste, copy, duplicate, undo re-do, & next there is the Automation Group dealing with Macros, oh we can't forget the object & atmosphere group, then the Eco-System group, and so on until we finally get to the Render Group.

Lets not forget the side panel or objects panel. Used to create objects in Vue......

We then have the Scene Panel located at the right side & its broken into 3 sections, the objects properties, camera properties & of course the World Browser. In the objects panel we hve 3 icons, Aspect, Numerics & of course---Animation. And on & on it goes.

Really dry stuff. I understand not wanting to take that route. :(

I've tried jumping ahead to simple things like loading a terrain, which is fine unless it is one of the infinite ones. I always end up under the ground when it comes in.

I do get above & try loading objects. Today for instance, I loaded a elephant from poser into Vue. I cannot find them in the camera view. I can see them in the other views but cannot find it in the main camera. Never thought you could loose an elephant.

Sometimes I find them way out in the distance or on the other side of the hills. I cannot get in front of me. If there is no terrain in the scene, the objects are right there in front of me. Is there some magic way to find these things or bring them to the front when loaded onto a terrain?

At this point, my biggest battle is with terrains & objects loading where I can get them or see them.

I've realized with poser imports, things like houses people animals, I have to set the bump map to 0 or they end up looking so very sharp & & full of deep thin grooves. I will certainly be rading Paula's article on this.

I also find when I load certain terain types that a box pops up asking me if I want to where the water level is, something like that, anyways, I say yes & I end up under the ground. I've changed textures on a terrain & once in a while, it renders a different scene to what I am seeing in the Camera view. Strangely odd. I do however really want to combat this terrain/objects thing. Dropping an object to the ground or smart dropping it, does not bring it into my view. How would you place things if you can't find them? Just load a bunch of objects onto a terrain, let it render for a few hours, hope for the best.  It will end up looking like there was some kind of mass disaster. Perhaps a meteor hit.

The long route there is boring and you run the risk of loosing interest before you accomplish anything. It would be a great thing to do in a class setting. I will end up knowing everything about the interface & nothing about creating anything with it.

I'm sure it will work out in the end. No one said it would be easy.

I bet you are thinking to yourselves, WOW! That was a boring read! :)

I am so sorry for that. I'll pay for it in the next life.

 

Take care

 

Rick

 

Vue Infinite 11.5

World Machine 2.3

Geo Control 2.2

Poser Pro 2014

ZBrush 4R6

Paint Shop Pro X6

Blender 2.68a