OK, I never post much around here - and most of the time I do post, it is because of some vue-update. OK, I removed my Vue several times, installed a brand-new version, updated it and so on... Well, most of the serious bugs, like the object-rotation bug are gone, but there is still a lot to be desired. Someone here said, that 4.06 is the most stable version of Vue to be available up to now... Forget it... ever tried to add a water-plane to a scene with a not-so-standard volumetric atmosphere (one with the sun sized to 400% and a lot of fog)? I tried it about 20 times today and guess what: even if I reduce atmosphere-quality to -1, it still crashes every time I try doing this. OK, so I am just blowing some steam here, but E-On could really try to get that damn programm a bit more stable! I really love my Vue, but I hate those days where all I get from my Vue is a bag of crashes. Joerg

Did you try to send a mail to E-On ? Eventually, try to send your scene to Steve Bell, he will probably find what's the problem with your settings.

Joerg sorry to hear that. Vue 4.06 is effectivelythe most stable. But sizing the sun to 400%, hm! I don't know if this is logic. Anyhow, all real bugs are to be brought to e-onsoftware with the sample scene, as Bop said already.

Well I would like to send that scene to E-On... If I could finish it. But most of the time it just crashes before I get to save anything. But the error is quite simple to replicate: Use a volumetric atmosphere with volumetric sunlight, resize the sun to more than 100% and then add any object with a reflective or slightly transparent surface - and it's goodbye Vue... Joerg

Joerg, I would like to try out, but my computer with Vue 4 installed is ill at this moment, it only comes back from the hospital next friday (I hope!!!). Maybe somebody else could be so kind to try? Thanks. Guitta

Hmm...Just tried it and it went fine with 4.02. (Yeah, I know, I need to upgrade to 4.06 eventually) Rich

Afternoon Joerg . . . 8^) After reading your post, I thought I'd give your example a try. I'm sure you won't appreciate this, but I didn't have any problems at all, creating or rendering the scene. I had the Atmosphere in the volumetric mode / the fog was set to density = 800 / the sun was size = 400% / the sun was volumetric / volumetric lights were on / the water plane was added / then I threw in a terrain with some Palm trees on it. The only thing I noticed was it took me an hour & 20 minutes to render in final mode. Using Vue 4.06, full update. My system is a PIII 500 / 512 mgs ram / Windows 98SE / DirectX 8.1 / TNT2 Ultra with 32 mgs video ram. So this is why it took me so long to render on my system. If your using a Mac, then I don't think my post will help you much? In all honesty, I don't think it's a bug or problem with Vue 4.06, or it wouldn't have worked on my system. Maybe it's a compatibility issue with Vue 4.06 & your video card, or drivers, or somewhere else? I don't know if this will help you at all or not, but I hope you can get it figured out. I'm sorry that I can't be of more help than this & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

I did also a few tests and no problems for me either... I'm using VUE 4.06 on win2000 (PIII-512Mb ram).

I only managed to crash VUE 4.06 by using many different volumetric materials (shaded and additive lighting mode)on a boolean object.

Could you tell us when exactly does VUE crash ? during rendering ?

Eric

No, it crashes the moment I add the plane. Joerg

Joerg,
I would try a different atmosphere (a preset) with a brand-spanking new scene. Sometimes a bug can be traced to an obscure element (ie. lens fare disrupting the atmosphere saves).

Charles

No, I found out what the bug is: The scene is to complicated. I added several layers with semi-transparent material to create a dense-fog like effect in a volumetric atmosphere. This seems to have been a bit to much for vue and the programm usually says good-bye while rendering the preview. Joerg