Well, I've been working with the Vue demo and yesterday ordered the full version of Vue4...........can't wait!! Today I grabed Mike's rocks :) and some great freebies from "Sam's 3d" (been using your stuff for awhile guys, grabbing it from Lannie's. I do plan to pick up some of your "split walls".....price is quite reasonable) Does anyone know whey there are no Vue objects in the "Market Place"?? I also sent the eon link to a friend who downloaded the demo last night :) So Life is Good!! Except........I missed Orio's great tree!!! Nuts!! I will need to visit weekly I guess :) Here's a little image I did last night in the Vue demo. The old pump is the one created by Sam's 3d :) Since it is a wavefront obj, only one color could be applied (at least in Vue.....have not tried this one in Bryce). I had to "tweak" one of the limited materials in the demo....rendered and saved a number of different image versions and ended up doing some post production layering in Psp to have the pump and base look different. No good material in the demo for the bucket.........so I have a metal vs a wooden bucket :) This image was also compressed in jpg optimizer so it should load fast. Thought I'd share :) Sandy

Sandy, I think your picture is really charming, I love the snow indents. As far as the Old Pump goes,if you highlight the object file, and go to the summary window in Vue, you will see a list of separate materials for the Old Pump, there should be materials listed as, Base, Bucket, Hardware and Metal (which would be the actual pump), it is broken into three groups, Bucket, Buckethandle and OldPump. But in Vue to apply different materials that is how you should apply them, from the summary window. Anyways, you will love Vue as I am sure you are finding out, it is wonderful and you did a great job. Really love the picture. Sharen SAM'S 3D

Thanks Sharen, glad you like it :) I live in Minnesota and grew up on a farm, so "snow" is a familiar thing to me. I love the old pump because it reminds me of one that once stood in front of the one room school house I went to as a kid:) Unfortunately when I do the summary window in Vue, I only get one default material for the object..........grey. I think this is a Vue issue Sharen. I don't have this problem with the object in Bryce.....just tried it and I can singly identify each of the object meshes and add textures accordingly. The folder I downloaded contained the .obj file, a .cr2 file, a pz3 file, an .rsr file and a .jpg (a wireframe view of the model, plus license and txt file. I know the summary window should show the different materials/textures used and does with the .3ds files I've imported. I think someone else reported this problem elsewhere on this forum...........if you can come up with a solution it would be terrific!! Thanks again for your kind comments...........and keep making those great models! :) Sandy

Sandy, I will check it out tonight and see what I can do. But regardless, you did a wonderful job. Sharen

Beautiful Sharon, can't wait to see what you do with the full version

A bit of a followup.........I think I may have solved this .obj mystery. I had a few other .obj models and tried a couple of them. An .obj will load and display the list of individual materials if the .Mtl file is in the same folder as the .obj and if the texture files (.jpg textures) are also present. The "old pump" did not include an .Mtl file or the individual texture files. The image generated by this .obj did include all of these files (sorry, but I didn't have as many .obj's as I do .3ds files :).....a plaque. It may be that this is a version specific issue?? Do the newer versions of the modeling program still create the .Mtl files?? Hope this helps Sharen.

I went and imported the old pump into Vue, now you need to know I have Vue 4, this is what opens up in the explorer, I was able to apply all materials to each part there, I did go to the summary and had 2 materials listed though, but this is what it looks like. Sharen

One thing it did, was changed the material that said Hardware into the last Old Pump, but the base, metal part of the pump, bucket and bucket handle were all separate. So, maybe it is just in the Demo Vue 3 version. I don't know. But MikeJ will know, hope he sees this post. He can help us figure this out Sharen

I guess I'm just a "visual" type :) When I saw the image of the explorer in your message, I opened Vue and sure enough.................there they were!! All the individual meshes!!! I was only looking in that summary window for the material summary. For that to work, I guess you need that .Mtl file and the jpgs. This is great! I also discovered that once you have changed the texture, you need to select the entire pump before trying to move it or your pail falls off the base! :) I apologize for the hassle Sharen, but greatly appreciate your help :) Now I can truly enjoy your great models in both Bryce and Vue!! Sandy

LOL, that is okay Sandy, you should have seen me when I first got Vue, I was all over the place pushing buttons and deleting things and making quiet a mess. And please don't appologize, this was not a hassle, I am just glad you like the model and are enjoying it. Sharen PS: I still have a lot to learn, I got Vue in June of this year, first one.

Attached Link: http://www.varian.net/dreamview/dreamtools/vue/

Very nice image, Sandy! You're going to have a lot of fun with Vue, that's easy to see. :) Orio's tree model is still available until the end of this week, so if you want it, grab it up! ***Does anyone know whey there are no Vue objects in the "Market Place"??*** Because almost any object can be a Vue object, as you've found with the wonderful SAMs3D items. And when most of us make VOB objects, we pass them out like candy so that everyone can enjoy the treat. You'll find many objects available at my website (linked) and you'll also want to visit Guitta's () and Laurie's () -- and that's just for starters. :)

Thanks Varian :) I grabbed some of your plants earlier tonight and will be back for more! :) Will also check out Guitta and Laurie. I'm going to fill up a folder so I'm ready when the full version arrives! I did make my way to the Yahoo Group Forum and got Orio's tree tonight! Big download!! :) But an amazingly nice oak tree! It is my favorite tree so I was glad to be able to get it. I ended up getting both......one for Bryce and one for Vue! Sandy

Hiya Sandy, I hope you like the rocks. They're not quite as nice as Orio's Oak, though. ;) I gues it sounds like you figured out the texture problem. The Wavefront .OBJ format export from Poser (for example), will create the .mtl (Material Library) file automatically. Since the .mtl file is just a tyext file, you can open it in Note Pad and see what it has in it, and even edit it with full paths, if you feel so inclined. It only lists the materials used for each object group in a model, but not the full paths, so that's why if you have your textures in the same folder, they will be applied, but if not, they won't be. Vue 4, however, now asks if you want to browse for textures which it finds in a .mtl file, but not in the folder. :) Different modeling programs do the MTL thing differently. Poser does it automatically, but some won't make a MTL file at all, and in others you have to tell it to export a MTL file along with the .OBJ. Anyhow, I'm glad you liked it enough to order the full program! You're gonna love it! The full version comes with ALOT of materials, atmospheres, plants, and yes, ALOT of free models. :) Plus, of course, all the sample files and scenes and tutorials......

Where do you get the Tree? Sharen

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12368&Form.ShowMessage=448265

Follow this link, Sharen. I don't know if you can still get the tre or not though.

Is it a model or just a picture, cause I am getting lost, looking. Sharen

Okay, the link is gone from the Spotlight page featuring Orio Menoni, but do as Sandy did and get it through the Yahoogroups Vue d'Esprit files. There's only a couple more days for it to be available. :) Http://www.yahoogroups/group/vuedesprit

Umm...this link will actually lead somewhere. :) Http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/vuedesprit

Thanks for the feedback Mike.........that was interesting information. I appreciate understanding how those things work. I don't have Poser or any program that is specific to creating models and meshes so I'm never quite sure why some things work and others don't. This is a bit off Vue topic, but is there anyone who creates Poser models that reflect "real life" people......you know like Mom's and Dad's and kids and farmers :) Most of what I see being done with Poser is pretty exotic. I'm planning to do a series of images in Vue and Byrce or both, on things I remember from my childhood.....the country school, the farm, the county fair, Christmas in the old farm house, etc. It would be wonderful to "people" some of these. I've considered getting Poser, but would like to see some examples of it's use along these lines. If anyone has a link or two, I'd appreciate it! :) BTW, I did sent the actual link to Sharen for the Orio tree. Hopefully she got it??? You have to join the Yahoo VuedEsprit Group to get it (which I did and would encourage others to do, since I believe Orio is involved with that!). I thought I would save her some time, since she was so patient with my questions :) Hopefully that's ok with Orio! It will be active until the end of this week..........then gone forever I guess. It is a large download.....16Mb. Sandy

Got it Sandy and thanks, I have been a little under the weather lately and am a little late at returning answers. Thanks again. Sharen

Attached Link: http://www.vistainternetproducts.com

sandoppe - here's an image I did awhile back with a Poser model. This is Vicky in fact from www.daz3d.com. I don't know if she fits your Mom's and Dad's category, but I was going for a Thomas Gainesborough look (don't quite think I succeeded ;)). Poser is the perfect companion for Vue I think, because you aren't just limited to people, but to animals and a host of other things. I'm mostly an animal person (do a search for Daffy34 in the art gallery). And if you like to use animals in your renders there is a great spot on the web run by a very charming lady named Lyne Masamitsu who makes a lot of the animals on the site as well as Ken Gilliland and Debra Ross. They are models for sale, but the nice thing is that for many of Lyne's models YOU DON'T NEED POSER! Lyne has created something called "Ready Pose" where you can import one of her models in preset poses (she always makes lots) with the textures already applied! They're really great and I have quite a few of them :). You may want to go check them out. They are very reasonably priced. She came up with these because she bought Vue d'Esprit and loved it so much that she wanted to make things easier for Vue users who didn't have Poser. And no, I don't work for Lyne, I'm just a dedicated fan ;). Laurie

Attached Link: http://www.3dmenagerie.com

Oh, and let's not forget bloodsong's swan!!!!! (probably one of my very favorite Poser models to this day!) ;) That's for if you do happen to get Poser. And bloodsong gives this model away for free! Incredible.

What a gorgeous painting Laurie! I think she would work very well for a visual rendition of "Little Women" or "Gone With the Wind" (she'd make a great Scarlet!).......not sure about "Mom's and Dads" :) You know, I ran across the link you provided and was wondering if Lyn's work was as good as it looked. I will definitely go back now that I have a "reference" :) I too am an "animal" person......keep looking for a good domestic cat....no luck so far! :) I will most likely get Poser at some point not too far down the road........but I better learn Vue first :) I'm going to check out the swan.........will most likely provide some incentive to spend more of my money :) Sandy

I must warn you tho Sandy...Poser has a way of making you spend more money...LOL! Just ask anyone here who has it ;). I myself am "Poser poor" and now eat a diet rich in macaroni to save enough money to support my compulsive Poser habit...hehehe. Laurie

Oops...forgot. Lyne's models ARE indeed as good as they look. She's very good :). Laurie