There is a basic python script included, named 'cartoon' it does create a black line around objects but the textures are not modified though... you can edit the python script and see how it is done... I'm not aware of more powerful scripts for the moment and for sure it would be interesting especially for animation... You can try your hand at scripting ;)) It won't be long before someone creates such a script I hope

Personal opinion (no technical garanty ;) ) Don't take into account the number of polygons Vue gives,it is an approximation ! If your scene includes some terrains and quite a number of trees, the polygon count can raise to a Very high level BUT as long as you use Vue elements (primitives, terrains, trees, etc,..) Vue will 'digest those polys rather easily ! (even if it is written in red... scenes with over 10 million polys are frequent..) Strangely, it is not the same if you import meshes from outside Vue so beware you might need to 'decimate' the imported objs... (you can decimate with Vue Pro ...) To keep the poly count lowest as possible: Far away elements can be very low in polys Background mountain terrain resolution can be kept low (256/256)when you resize them, the polygon count does not change.. Distant trees can be faked using alphaplanes (see Thomaskrahn's excellent tutorial..) Use highly-detailed imported objects only if you need to see them close (grouping objs do not change the number of polys) hope that helps a little (your image looks very nice !) Paul

Adding my two cents here... I'm very partial because I love the terrain editor :)) Vue is basically aiming at natural landscaping so the terrain tools give a whole range of possibilities to mimic natural effects (grit, fluvial erosion, thermal...etc) The brush can apply these realistic effects locally... When you feel the brush 'stuttering' it is because it is programmed so it takes height differences into account and that actually HELPS modifying local details... it 'sticks' to noticeable heights preserving the relief.. I agree though that tools working like regular 2d paint programs could be a plus but Vue tools are very specific and most useful. (for my part I came bald because of Poser camera system ;)) Paul

A small pic to illustrate your problem would be a help.. might come from several settings.. also what version of vue and which render setting ('final' might be too low..)

The best mat I.M.O. to fake realistic smoke is volumetric material used on (relatively big) multiple spheres (unioned in csg or not)it requires some adjustment (fuzziness, intensity etc.. but you can obtain fine results

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I tried The beta and really find it extra: The program is speedier, Mouse doesn't get captured by bottom slider of render window, textures on meshes can at last be resized so Vue4 scenes with mapped textures on meshes are all right now... etc... many improvments BTW davidryuen don't take notice of locked icons on obj browser : they are all mixed up: Locked icon:= visible hidden icon := locked hide from render icon := hidden Cheers Paul

My two cents.. Maybe you work with Vue 4... but in Vue Pro there is a nice option allowing you to define the resolution of a snapgrid as helper for moving or rotation of objects... (You press shift while moving or rotating..) Don't expect to find the precision of Rhino in Vue it's not technical work oriented anyway ... also as I am used to the six vues of Rhino what I do is save needed camera positions and work on world view (F7 display main view only.. Alt+Enter = fullscreen)... When the cursor is in a view a hint message tells you which object will be selected when you click (avoid cluttered views by hiding/locking unnecessary layers) etc... It's always hard to adapt to soft interfaces but Vue is really great and has many other advantages you'll discover and to my opinion, they more than make up for adaptation time loss... Paul

Wabe ... So it was your idea the view through spot thing ? a swell idea it is ! Alas the poor users that have no luck with the Open GL compatibility (think there are some)are deprived of that helpful option ! (I discussed this point whith E-on tech and they said it was simply forgotten but they should remedy to it soon...) Agree with you Vue's quality/price ratio is excellent

Hi, To my point of view, the best thing to do is to begin with Vue's mats (there are some mats that are near to what you're looking for) and edit them to see how they are done... then play with the functions settings turbulence, fractal noise etc... Material editor is very powerful but requires some time to understand.. Don't forget to check in the Backroom here for very useful general tips.. good luck!

uncheck file/options/center and resize imported obects...

I didn't try all the plants maybe there is somme odd conversion occuring ? but, depending on species, I have had to retouch the jpg (transformed png) (some maps seem corrupted or is it the conversion?) AND reuse this Jpg to build a map function (Simple shape of the leaf or group of leaves In black and white)that I inject in the transparency tab of mat. (variable transparency function) I didn't find out how to keep the alpha channel that is initially in png that disappears when transformed in jpg... It's some work but the plants look fine.. Hope this helps a little Paul

I suppose you checked : http://www.inf.tu-dresden.de/ST2/cg/downloads/publicplants/ There is a good bunch of high quality free plants in any 3d format... (sometimes you'll have to change the .png texture files to .tif or.jpg)

my two cents here, if vue imports all models on top of one another (in the same place), maybe the option 'center/resize imported objs' is checked in file/options?

http://www.blender3d.org/Download/ A VERY powerful modeling tool (meshes, nurbs, surface subdivision.... animation, games...) DXF VRML2 export Not really intuitive but worth some effort.. free Gnu public license Paul