I am assembling 3D/2D packages for making short animations. I am learning Poser (pro pack) fairly well but am about to move to an environmental package. I have Bryce 5 and have started to learn it, but financially can afford Vue 4. My Question is...since much of my work will be will start with poser, what would the experienced advise me in proceeding with one or the other? DAZ has a $30 off Vue 4 and the Pz3 importer seems to give it an advantage over Bryce. Background...I also am learning Credo's lifeforms 3.9 to enhance animations in poser. I am more interested in assembling (buying) models/textures from others (an tweaking)than making them myself from scratch. I have 2 very robust computers: PC (Dell, P4 1.4ghz) and Mac (G4 dual 800) each with plenty of RAM and Hard drive space, Final Cut Pro/Matrox RTMaC. My son is a composer and we have over 160 potential songs for "music videos", several are storyboarded already. Thus I am into a package that is relative straight forward to learn.

Attached Link: http://www.e-onsoftware.com/

heyas; the vue 4 pz3 import is an amazing bit of work; i recommend it highly. i also think vue is easier to work with and learn than bryce, but you can try out the demo and decide that for yourself. im not sure vue (or bryce for that matter) will be helpful for your animation agenda. vue only imports 'still' pz3's, not animations. you can animate poser figures in vue, but the seams between body parts will not be welded, so this is limited. it sounds to me as if you might want to look into lightwave to go with the pro pack, import poser animations, and.... i forget what it is called, but e-on has a plugin for lightwave to do atmospheres, and i think landscapes. check the e-on web site for more info. (and, of course, lightwave costs a fair chunk of change.)

Thanks for the insight. This is the kind of info I need. I have been looking at Cinema 4DXL versus Lightwave or 3D Studio Max. C 4D is the least expensive and appears to have a fast rendering engine (and as a company is making a very concerted effort to improve the product), but I am yet unclear at how easy it will work with Poser...While LW and 3d Max have the plugins in pro pack. I also understand that LW has a more cumbersome workflow than others, but I am not in a high production environment, so that may be of less consideration. I welcome any comments by those more experienced...THANKS in ADVANCE!!!

I would agree with bloodsong, Vue's Poser import routine makes working with still images a joy. Animation wise I think you will require either Lightwave or 3DS Max. E-ON's atmosphere importer is called Ozone. What you could use is Vue to crate terrains and export them into LIghtwave if no plugin is available. Bryce has none of that. You're in a tricky situation which requires one of the high end packages to make your projects easily work. Hope you get it all worked out. Best wishes Jody

Natural Pose currently imports Poser animations within Bryce with excellent results that you can check at the web site: http://innuendo.ev.ca/NatPose/index.htm and the price is not too bad: $99.95 The characters are imported as 3D and pick 3D lights and shadows from the Bryce scene. The author is also working on an additional plugin with the same characteristics, to allow for importing of Poser animations into Vue 3 and this should happen in a short time. :-) We at the Vuedesprit mailing list at Yahoogroups have already "pushed" the author by sending him several emails asking for a Vue4 plugin too, and he replied to me that because of this support, he's going to make a Vue4 plugin too, when he'll get his copy of Vue4. So it shouldn't take long for Vue 4 too. :-) Although the author already promised the Vue 4 plugin, I think that a further email to him from your part asking for it won't hurt our cause ;-) There is also another program for Bryce called Susanna http://www.datamike.com/susu.htm which does import Poser animations into Bryce, and it's cheaper ($50 I think) but there is no evidence of planned support of Susanna for Vue d'Esprit. Rumours have been out that Poser Pro Pack "will" support export of animations to Vue d'Esprit in the future. Direct inquiries at Curious Labs led to (not surprising) reply that the company's plans can not be revealed... so it's up to you if to trust that rumour or not - should that happen, it would surely be the best of options for you. Provided taht you can wait for this uncertain option of course... Orio

I truly thank all for these comments. It seems that Vue4 has some real advantages, and although I am focused on animations, I will be using stills to a degree and as a serious hobbyist, enjoy being well rounded in understanding a variety of packages. I anticipate that I will use short AVI or Quicktime movies patched together in Final Cut Pro, some with storylines and more abstract in nature. I will get a higher end program, but am realistic in the fact that it will take me at least a year or so to get to the point this purchase will be required. Hopefully, various plugins and further development of packages such as Cinema 4D will make the choices more clear and more competative. I would like to email the Vuedesprit author mentions and encourage the Poser plugin for animation. Again I just want to THANK all who take the time to respond to these questions...I am recovering from cardiac bypass surgery and I have intensified my work in this area as time permits...MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

as a user of both 3d max and lightwave, lightwave was by far easier to learn for me, and i also know carrara and truespace, and it was easier than those also, but i like that the commands are on the button tab, as opposed to little pictures. if you can afford it, lightwave rocks, but that is my opinon of course

Hi Mglant it's been a pleasure to help and many wishes for your recovery - I had both my father and a friend of mine to pass through that so I have experienced the situation from close enough. They are both fine now and so will you :-) And best wishes for your art-making too. Orio

Never underestimate what might be happening behind the scenes. I know that E-on is very conscious of what other packages can do, and particularly now that other more "low end" packages such as World Builder can import Poser animations...well, you never know what goodies E-on might have in store for us...... Speculation, of course. :)

hey... since when can world builder import poser animations? you been holding out on us, mike!? mg, im really just starting with lightwave, and i've never had any experience with max. but what ive heard around the various forums is that the pro pack/max compatibility is.... buggy as a henhouse, at best. :) if you are thinking of max, you should visit the max forums and check out the status of that.

Hey all, I have been poking around some and am concluding that LW may be my best bet. I am actively looking at some legal sales at eBay for getting a deal on LW 6 with a valid license transfer. If that is successful I can start that learning curve and then decide if and when to upgrade to LW7. I did look at the independent Natural Pose program which seems to be a keeper, particularly since I am part way into learning Bryce and this seems to be a viable solution for moving animations from Poser to Bryce. I would like to keep as simple as possible in my first animations...Poser+Bryce in Final Cut Pro and try to learn something like LW over the next 12-18 months to improve the product. Looking forward to posting some output!!! In the meantime anyone might checkout my sons instrumental works at www.mp3.com/patrickglant. I have removed the downloads, but if those out there who are helping me want a download I can arrange a "secretly disclosed" time when the downloads can be switched on or send the larger files by MSN messenger directly. If you think that the music files could be a good freeby on Renderosity, let me know...we could likely make that happen. Thanks Again ALL!!!

Addendum: The songs I have storyboarded are: Sleeping Under Stars If Looks Could Save (will be posted in the next 2 days) Anticipating Love (will be posted in the next 2 days) Those not familiar with MP3.com, click on the albums and you will see many more songs than just on the main page. Presently Patrick has over 160 songs (made in the last 18 months) and is in a recording studio engineer school/apprenticeship. A small recording group is already negotiating purchases, but we are happy to let anyone use these for demo projects.