Quote - "Well you may think it is disorganized, but it seems to work fairly good I think."

Generally speaking, if a process is not measured you cannot know if it's working good or not. Only by measuring it, you know. If you don't measure it, all you have left to evaluate it is a gutt feeling, which is subjective and therefore not appropriate for measuring any business process.

It's obvious you don't measure the suggestion system nor the suggestion process. The most basic measurements would be the number of implemented and rejected suggestions, which you admitted you don't have. In a more mature stage, you could measure the decision speed and implementation speed, for example, among other things.

If a process is not measured, it's not controlled and it can not improve. Only by measuring something you know effectively where you're underperforming. Therefore, your suggestion process is most likely disorganized and unefficient and as such only by accident (and temporarily) it could work "fairly good", as you say.

I'm not sure I get your point. Vue can open 3DS objects without any problem. You can even place 3DS objects as instances of ecosystems. You can apply Vue materials to 3DS imported objects. Once inside Vue, there's no difference if that object was imported as a 3DS, OBJ, LWO, VOB or any other format.

Thanks for the information.
That's not a very encouraging environment to propose suggestions. The idea that I formed from your words is that the system seems a bit disorganized (please forgive me if it's a wrong impression). I mean, if you can't even tell how many suggestions have been rejected or implemented... that would be the most basic thing out of a suggestions list, I would expect.

This is not the suggestion forum so I won't write here what I think should be added. I was just wondering what that feature is for. Maybe there are already functionalities that I ignore or maybe there are intentions to add new related features in the future. That's why I created this thread, to learn about current and/or future related features.

Quote - "It is a quick link to people you like what they do, I think [...]"

But isn't that the purpose of the favorite artists list as well?

Quote - "[...] , ideally with whom you have some real connection."

That's more or less the definition in Facebook as well. But in Facebook I can use the friends list for something (I can choose to show them my private information, they see the posts in my wall, I see their posts on their walls, etc, etc, etc). But in Renderosity there's nothing where I can use my friends list. I can't even see their private information, like email address or location (if I had the location I could use it to organize a party, as BAR-CODE suggested :-)). But, as it is, it's just a list, sitting there, gathering some dust, nothing else. So, I'm really intrigued as to its purpose.

When this feature was first created I was expecting something else to come along afterwards, some companion features to make it useful. But it never came, as far as I know.

In fact that doesn't seem very logical but the programmers weren't expecting that someone would comment on their own image. And I think they're partially right. In my opinion, it's doesn't make much sense to comment on your own  image because no one returns to the same image. For example, if you comment to thank someone, this person will never see your 'thank you' comment. So, why post it? Same goes to some explanation. The person who asked something will never return to the image to see the explanation.

What I do in these situations is to either edit the image text description and add some text there (if the explanation is relevant for everyone) or send a sitemail to that person.

Quote - "You could always keep the list on a (locked ?) wiki page and update it each time there's a meeting about what "improvements" to implement."

That's a good idea. No extra work and we have an idea what's going on.

Jumpstartme2, just a question, out of curiosity: from that list, how many suggestions have been rejected and how many have been implemented in the last 2 years?

Sorry, just to add that that method of checking a 32/64 is a XP method (still my favorite Windows). In Vista you just need to right click on My Computer and choose properties and the information is right there, in the page that pops up. I don't know about Windows7, don't use it yet.

Just looking at a computer you can't tell whether it's 32 or 64 bits. You'd have to ask the vendor, or look at the specs if you don't trust him. If you can take a walk in the operating system, there are many ways of checking it. Maybe the easiest is right click on My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Environment variables -> in system variables search for PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE. If it's x86, it's a 32 bit system, if it's x64, it's a 64 bit system.

A 64 bit system may be a bit more expansive but it's well worth the difference. Every software is very rapidly going to 64 bit. For example, I even read somewhere that Windows7 is the last Windows to support 32 bit. Windows8 won't support it at all.

Another thing:
You said you bought a notebook. For the same dollar, a notebook has much less performance than a desktop. It also breaks down a lot more, it's less expandable, all parts (like extra RAM, for example) are more expensive, etc, etc. A notebook should only be your choice if you want mobility, otherwise a desktop is a much, much wiser choice, especially for a 3D application.

Quote - "In the Vue 8.4 Update the Material2 option is not available and it is replaced by an "Add" button. Why?"

Because that's a preparation for Vue 8.5, where you can paint an unlimited number of materials to a terrain. In 8.5, you click add as many times as you wish, each time adding a new material.

Quote - "If I load a MixedMaterial in MaterialEditor, and then in TerrainEditor I select the "Add" button > "Grass And Rock" (the same as I choosed in MaterialEditor) it appears the following message: "Volumetric, Cloud and Mixed Materials cannot be loaded as a layer. Please choose another material"  Why?"

Because it is designed that way.

Quote - "1) How can I do to paint the grass as first material, and the rock as second material, from "Grass And Rock" MixedMaterial in Vue 8.4 Update?"

One way to do it (there are other ways):

1. First you have to separate the materials from the mix into two different materials. Save each material as a separate material.
2. apply the grass material to the terrain (from outside the terrain editor)
3. open the terrain editor and click "add" and choose the rock material

Quote - "2) What is the behavior of "Add" Button in 8.4 Update?"

It adds another material layer to the terrain material.

Quote - "3) With "Add" button can I just load a new material layer, instead of MixedMaterial?"

Yes, of course. That's the purpose of that button!

Quote - "4) How can I do, if I want to switch only from Material1 to Material2, when painting a material, instead of loading another new material?"

In the "material painting" section, just click on the button where it says the name of the material to where you want to change.

I am PC based and had nothing but pleasure with Vue. :-)
I have used it since version 6, I'm now on 8.5 (always Infinite). Vue has always been rock solid for me.

Different users experience different situations but there has always been a certain trend (although not universal) for more negative experiences in macs.

Several things do seem like important for stability in Vue:

• a graphic card that is explicitely compatible with Vue
• updated drivers
• 64 bit systems are much more stable than 32 bits'
• plenty of RAM available (more than 6GB)
• a "clean" system (i.e, avoid having lots of widgets and similar stuff)

Anyway, my main point is: your bad experiences are not universal, far from it.

I understand your difficulties but if your evaluations are only yearly (!!) and if you give no systematic feedback to the suggester, this is very demotivating for anyone giving suggestions. I mean, after some suggestions, people will just think "why bother? All I'll ever hear is that suggestion will be added to the list".

I have my Vue system completely optimized for performance. I disabled Aero, all widgets and everything that isn't really necessary. I even removed the screensaver and I have no desktop image. I even disabled Windows sounds and other useless stuff. Everything consumes resources and, quite frankly, are completely useless for someone working in Vue.

I have a 64 bit system with 8GB RAM and I do all that. If you have a 32 bit system, all of the above is even more important (I would even say fundamental).

Anyway, I would strongly advise to upgrade to 64 bits. You'll feel a world of difference. Very, very soon, 32 bit systems will be fit for a museum... :-)

After a few problems resulting from it being too small, I just set it way over the physical limit of my card and I have had no problem since.

I completely disagree with the original proposal.

First, it's not possible to control whether all due credit was given in any particular image, as some have already noted. If it can't be controlled, then it can't be made into a rule. It's as simple as that.

Second, why credit only content creators? What about the tools? The tools are as important (if not more) to achieve a certain result. If I'm a traditional painter, I should credit the brand of paint, brush and canvas I used. If I'm a digital artist, I should credit the monitor brand (vital to get a decent color adjustment), plus all the software I used in my workflow to produce the image (and most artists use a lot of tools), plus all the fonts that I used to title the image, plus the inspiration sources, etc, etc, etc.
What about your training and education? Shouldn't you credit your art teacher? He made 90% of what you are as an artist! Everything contributes to that final image!

So, either credit all or nothing. To stay halfway is to say that some are more important than others and that is not fair.