Hi, I own Bryce 4, but am considering changing programs, perhaps to Vue 4. The reason I am unhappy with Bryce is because my goal is to animate and rendering time is killing me with Bryce. Also, animating doesn't seem very intuitive in Bryce. How does Vue 4 (with or without Mover 4) compare with Bryce 4's animating capability? Any thing else you can tell me about Vue 4 and animation would be much appreciated. LR

Hi, I don't have Bryce and never had it. Vue 4 animation is a very powerful tool. Additional Mover 4 permits to import complete Poser animations as Pz3 files and has new more powerful features,like vibration... and more. Have a look at www.belino.net to see some grate samples and also at e-onsoftware.com to get all informations you need about Mover. If you have Poser and Vue, you need Mover4. Vue 4 includes already Mover, but the additional Mover 4 imports Poser and allows Network render:-). That's GREAT. Guitta

Thanks, Guitta. I'll consider what you said. Is there anyone out there who can tell me how Vue 4's render time compares to Bryce 5's? (without network rendering)

It's faster but you can also make it slower if you go nuts. Like millions of polygons, transparency all over the place lots of lights, Like hundreds of them, Millions of blades of grass reflecting on shiny metal. Generally it's faster though. You just have to plan your scene well and group things, ( very important in Vue to speed up rendering.) You can also kill it by trying to render too high a quality. That's saying you play with the sliders and not the presets. You don't need extreme quality with animations though.

You can try the Demo of Vue4. All features are included (except number of meshes and materials) and you can take your hand on animation. Limit will be in resolution and in the fact that you'll not be able to save your work... I think that there's no demo for Mover4... Argentium Thri'ile

Wow. I just found out (from e-on) that Vue 4 will not work with Poser 5 unless you also have Poser 4. Bummer. Since I plan to buy Poser 5 (and don't have Poser 4), I definitely will not be buying Vue 4. (I already have a program [Bryce 4] that doesn't work (well) with Poser 5, and don't need to buy another one :o/

...but thank all of you for your help. I really do appreciate it. Sorry it had to end this way. Vue looked really good except for the Poser problem.

Hi I have tried Bryce and Vue...As for the Bryce 5 I thought the advance motion lab is good for animation work I know the rendering is a bit slow as compared to Vue. Is that the reason why you are buying Vue for?? If you don't might, you may also look at the next door New Mojoworld Generator 2.0 It can produce very good rendering too.. and the price is offer at US$199.00 too Regards Ed

Thanks, Ed. I'll check it out. And yes, render time is very important to me. It takes lots of hours to render a few seconds of animation in Bryce 4, especially since I render at 30 fps for video. And thanks for your input, Philippe. I will check out the Poser forum.

Just so you've got the whole picture LonRanger there are NO programs that are working with Poser 5. I have Lightwave and use it with Poser 4 Propack and it is an excellent combination. My Vue 4 arrived last Friday and am waiting for my serial number to come for the Mover plug in, and expect similar results between Vue and Poser 4 as I get with with Lightwave and Poser 4. You will not, at this time, find any program that will work properly with Poser 5. (Still isn't really working properly on it's own yet as I understand it.) Dollar for dollar, if it's animation that you want to play with I seriously doubt that you will have the freedom that Poser 4 and Vue should provide. That is unless you wish to invest more money into a higher end app and be willing to invest serious time into learning it. Check out what Phillipe is doing with these programs before deciding, it's really good. And he's right about Poser 5. I also bought it because it was a good deal to upgrade from Poser 4/propack, but will not install it until I know that it won't smoke my system. I do trust them completely to get it right, but it may take a little time.

Thanks, krimpr. Another question: Let's say I buy Poser 4 and Vue 4. Will owning the Propack help this combination? If so, specifically how? (I don't intend to buy the likes of Lightwave, etc.)

Yes and no. No in that it will not act as a "transltator" between Poser and Vue. For example, I'll explain what Propack does with Lightwave. You create a Poser animation within Poser with any characters, etc. that you want. You then open Lightwave and import the Poser animation into it, where you create the rest of the scene as you wish. (Adding buildings, streets, trees, hotdog stands, whatever.) The characters will actually be INSIDE of this animation, not merely on top (in front) of it. Big difference. A panel appears inside Lightwave that allows me to adjust (edit) the Poser animation to suit my scene. For example, if everything looks great except one of the characters walks "through" a hotdog stand instead of around it I can directly access the Poser animation from within this panel and alter the character path. Vue will do this, but does not use Propack to do it. This is where the "Mover" add-on for Vue comes in. ($99.00) It will allow you to communicate between your Vue scene and Poser and allow them to work together, again with your animated characters actually INSIDE of your Vue landscape. With Bryce, (and am almost 100% positive also Mojoworld), etc. your Poser animation would appear in front of your Bryce, etc background. Not the same thing. Change your camera angle once and the perspective will be completely wrong. Your characters will never be able to actually enter a house, walk between trees, walk down an alley, stand behind a BBQ, etc. Always in front, and don't move that camera. (Shadows won't match etc.)
What the Propack WILL do for you is allow you to "bone" your own characters and props which will allow you to animate them. Great feature. To create your own characters, however, you will need a modelling program, of which many are free but that's another story. Propack also comes with additional ready to go characters, as well as multiple viewports which makes it alot easier to to work.
So, to recap: To make belivable animations with your Poserguys actually carrying on inside of a believable animated world you need Poser4, Vue, and Mover. You simply will not be able to to create believable animations for less money than with this combination or without a severe learning curve for a higher end app. The Propack is a nice extra, and will allow you to upgrade to Poser 5 inexpensively when they fix it, but isn't necessary. For the price of Propack you could pay for Mover AND buy the Brycetech characterpack with over 100 Poser-ready characters, and you can make believable animations until your computer burns out. I'm 99.9% sure that Mover does not require Propack, but check. Phillipe?

No, Mover doesn't need Propack at all:-) Guitta

There you go Lon; these two know Vue. Poser4, Vue4 + Mover. Anything else is gravy, but not needed. Great deal on Poser4 right now, plus it works right. For very little more than Poser 5 you have 3 programs that will play in the same sandbox. Good luck.

Wow! What a great forum! Thanks to all of you for your help and patience in walking me through this. I am going to purchase Vue 4, Mover and Poser 4. YEEHAAAA!!!

Good luck Lon. The route you're on beats the hell out of trying to put a 3D character animation in front of a 2D background. Kinda makes your movie 2-1/2D.

One last question: Where can I get the best price on Vue 4 and Mover 4 (for Windows)? I have Bryce 4 and thought I might be able to take advantage of the cross-over upgrade that e-on offers, but I believe they require a Bryce 4 registration card or invoice, which I never kept.

I have Bryce 5 but decided not to use the upgrade/cross option. I think that there was a bit of a price break for using the B5 Reg.#, but decided to keep it separate anyway. I bought directly from e-on because I wasn't able to find better deals on it. (found some worse ones though.) Also, since Mover is a separate installation which requires an emailed pass number to install I thought it would be less hassle to get the complete bundle from them so they would have a legit record of my purchase. It paid off, I confirmed receipt of the software on Friday and they emailed me the passcode today. Also, delivery from date of purchase to Canada was only 4 days.