Thanks for the reply, esther.

Just so that you know, "locked to license" has little(or nothing)  to do with your ability to transfer objects between applications. To transfer a Vue object to another application, you would have to "export" the object from Vue into an intermediate file format, such as *.obj or *.3ds, ... and then import that file into your other application (such as C4D or Poser).

The vendor may have created an object that he or she then applied the "Forbid Export" setting to, in the "Edit Objects" menu. If this setting is applied, then you will not be able to make the export of that purchased or traded object. But, this setting is completely separate from the Locked To License setting - has nothing to do with it.

In my personal opinion (as a model--builder), the Vue exporter is not great. It does the job probably as well as can be done, but the result never is as good as the real thing. If you do want to be able to use Vue objects at C3D in other applications, you can just write a quick note to the vendor and ask for that object in an *.obj format (for example). I get many such requests, and honor them quickly - I suspect other vendors do the same. I either charge the person making the request the same price as the model available on C3D, or if the person has already purchased the model, I provide it at no charge.

You have mad me curious about Cold Road, so I'm going to purchase it myself, and see if I can figure out what is going on with that scene.

Sorry you find "locked to license" objects confusing and annoying.

So far as I know, Vue "scenes" (such as Cold Road) are never "locked to license," nor are atmospheres, Vue Solid Growth plants or Vue materials. I believe it is only "objects" - specific models we free-lance vendors make that can be locked to license.

In particular, I'm very sorry that you find this annoying, but as Bruno and I stated, we are making and putting our models on C3D at prices below our cost to make them. In order to continue to be able to make models, we would like to preserve our ability to make just that small amount of money from our sales to be able to cover most of our annual software and hardware expenses.

Just so that everyone knows, last year, I placed one single "unlocked" set of water models on C3D, as an experiment. This model set now is published on at least three pirate/download sites. I've counted about 1,2400 downloads of that model set. Who knew so many people would want it!

Some fellow calling himself Ir0nBoy seems quite happy to steal as much of our work as he can, and publish it (proudly) on as many file servers as possible. It appears that the more Vue stuff he publishes for others to download for free, the more the pirate file server sites give him free file space and allow him access to other expensive software products at no charge. So, basically, he steals our stuff in order to get free pirate stuff for himself. Very nice!

So, esther, while I really am very troubled by your annoyance at copy protected objects and I regret that, ... I hope you understand that I'm not wanting to help Ir0nboy and the others continue to steal my stuff. Basically, without the copy protection that C3D offers, I would have to quit model-building in favor of a job at Best Buy or Safeway or Walmart or something. And this also would mean that I could not continue to make and post free 3d models for the Vue community, as well. Probably no great loss, right?

You might want to look at the FIRST PART of the this thread..... where a few of us hardware geeks briefly discussed video cards for Melika's new machine.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2829452

Essentially, Vue does not use the graphics chip to construct a render. Instead, the CPU is used. (This is true for most 3d programs.) So, for Vue (and for most 3d applications) there is little point is using a video card with more than 512 MB of RAM, and no particular point in using multiple video cards in SLI mode.

NVidia cards perform much better with Vue than do ATI cards.

I have installed Vue on a friend's gaming machine that is using two nVidia 540 cards in SLI mode. There seems to be no problem with Vue operations on this rig - it's just that there is no gain of any sort with the SLI dual cards. So, if the reason that you are interested in SLI is for the gaming facility, go ahead and do it.

If you are mostly interested in Vue, however, your money is better spent on a great motherboard, more RAM, and the best CPU you can afford.

Actually, I have two of these boxes, but the second one is using the slowest, oldest of the AMD 6 core cpu, and it has nothing special for a  video card. This box is dedicated to the Realflow program, which is basically a computer simulation and doesn't want anything fancy for a video card. It just needs a deep CPU setup. I'll probably upgrade its CPU to the AMD 1100T next month.

One of my model-building buddies has an intel cpu on an intell version of ASUS Crossfire Extreme III with 16 GB of RAM also. He renders Vue scenes out faster than my box, maybe by as much as 15 - 20 % faster, but that seems to be the only significant difference.

In both cases, our boxes are built for reliability/stability and model-building using a wide variety of high-end expensive applications, Photoshop, and often multi-tasking, rather than rendering. I'm not over-clocking, and I don't think Clark's box is overclocked either.

If all you plan to do is use your box for Vue and some misc apps, such as web browsing, you probably want a machine aimed more at rendering than anything else. This might take you more in the Intel direction than in the AMD direction. However, I keep an eye on the AMD mobo-builders' forums all the time, and those that do overclock to get fantastic rendering speeds are using the 6-core chips and either the ASUS or MSI motherboards.

For my money (meaning my personal opinion), ASUS motherboards are the best overclockers for a novice, and extremely stable. You could safely purchase an AMD 6-core, and ASUS gamer's board, such as the Crossfire Extreme V, 4 to 16GB of RAM, and overclock this thing, even if you have never done such a thing. You could keep up with anybody on the planet, in terms of rendering speeds, and not have outlayed even half of what an intel rig would cost you.

Lots of fanboys around for intel boxes, but they might not all be working on their boxes for a living like I do. Me, I'm a hardware geek, I admit it, but an AMD 6-core fan for sure.

Yes, Kenmo, I am using an AMD 6-core 1100T on an ASUS Crossfire Extreme III motherboard with 16 GB of RAM. And an nVidia 570 video card. (Win 7 -64 bits)

This is my main model-building box, but I also have Vue 6, Vue 7xstream, Vue 8 Infinite and Vue 9.5Xstream installed on it.

What can I say ? This build is really very stable, deep and fast enough for my needs. I did need to upgrade the BIOS immediately after putting it all together, but the AMD BIOS Upgrade is via web these days, and automatic.

In my case, since this BOX also supports MAYA and Mudbox, I needed stability, deep gulps of RAM at each CPU process step and high performance, and this setup delivers those qualities. I have a set of nVidia system monitors for CPU, RAM and GPU usage going at all times, and I've not been able to do anything in Vue 9.5 that pushes anything to the outer limits. One of my model-building buddies has an intel cpu on an ASUS Crossfire Extreme III with 16 GB of RAM also. He renders Vue scenes out faster than my box, maybe by as much as 20 % faster, but that seems to be the only significant difference.

Well good luck to you!

If you need help with RAM additions in the future, we'll help. All we need to know is the make and model of the motherboard, plus the model of the CPU you end up with.

By matching, we really mean down to the Brand.

Buying the appropriate memory is easy, and I would help you.

Installing a video card also is not difficult. For a high-end card, there is a power cable with either four or six pins (or eight, but probably six pins in this case) that must plug into the back end (or the top) of the card. The pin connectors are set up so that it can only go one way - no worries.  There will be the appropriate power cable coming from the power supply, and it almost always will have a little tag on it saying "PCI Express."

To install a video card, you first plug in the little power cable. Then you set the card into the slot on the motherboard, pressing downward until the card clicks into place. Then, there usually is a bolt that you screw into the metal tang at the head of the card, that locks the card to the computer case. Typically, you require a Phillips screwdriver for this. And, that's all there is to it. Another "no-brainer."

And Melikia, if you are capable of operating Vue to any decent effect at all, you are intellectually and physically capable of installing a video card - LOL!

There will be a DVD or CD with the video card, you put it into the DVD player, and let the autorun bring up the process for installing the card's software drivers. These days, the software does all the work, and you just have to follow the few on-screen installation instructions. Honest!  That's all there is to it!

Actually, if you can operate Vue and make a decent scene, you are physically and intellectually capable of building your own high-end computer.  But that's another story..........

Sorry guys - I do have to work for a living, and its hard to keep up here, sometimes.

#1 - Melikia, you DO want a power supply in the 850-1000 watts range, anyhow, ... for the kind of hardware you're talking about. You always want about 150 more watts than the minimum or the expected demand on the system - its what gives your computer the lifespan it should have. Protects your investment.

OK, there are some things you can do yourself, without almost any hardware knowledge or skills - that will save you money.

For example, you can insert your own memory sticks into the computer's motherboard with no worries - a "no-brainer." And, since memory is really, really cheap, you can purchase the minimum necessary now, and plan on picking up more later. [ edit - RAM is just a couple hundred dollars for 8-16 GB, depending on what  you get. For example, for your system - a pretty high quality RAM of 8 Gb is just $130 shipped at no cost from Newegg, if you are in the USA.] )

So, buying less ram now for the tradeoff to a great video card is well worth the tiny little effort it would cost you.

There are just two things to keep in mind regarding RAM. The most important is that all the RAM in the motherboard must match. (And second, there are some little quibbles about "quad channel", but it is easy to deal with that when the time comes.)

So, my personal advice for staying on a budget would be to go for the great video card, and take less RAM for now.

Another possibility is to ask Alienware what it would cost for the box with no video card. A video card also is a thing you can insert into your motherboard yourself with no worries to it.  You could get whatever you want now in the way of the box (sans video card), and then purchase the Gigabyte 570 for around $350, or the Gigabyte 580 for around $535 from Newegg.com. No tax, and no shipping cost if you are in the USA (and not in California - regarding the tax.)

Both cards would be great (absolutely wonderful) for several years. They are not the 590, but they are great cards, and at the cutting edge of the technology right now.

Thank you!  - had to delete the prior post for obvious reasons.

I would have gone for the 590 myself, if it had been within my budget.

Seriously, this is the most powerful and efficient card out there, and it is ultra stable. It uses two liquid nitrogen tanks (onboard the card) for cooling. It should last a long, long time, it has the kinds of processing power for screen renders that Vue will reach late next year (as opposed to the old tech 450's, which Vue 9.5 has already passed by), and it will draw less power on your system.

By the way, I've been building my own machines for about 25 years - I agree with Rich. If it is possible for someone you know to build you one, you probably could save a $1000 or so, and still end up with a fantastic machine.

Whoa!  If you have the nVidia 590 as an option, by all means, go for that one!!!!!!!!

I agree with the comment about the dual nVidia cards being excessive overkill for Vue. There is nothing in Vue that really can take advantage of them. Dual SLI cards are pretty much a gamer tech only. Special effects (explosions, etc.) look really cool on them during the games, but that's pretty much their main usage.

The nVidia 450 actually is kind of old tech now, for a high end video card. If it is possible for Alienware to subsitute a single nVidia GTX 580 for those two cards, that would be a much better video card arrangement.

So that you know, the nVidia GTX 590 is the latest card out, and probably the best in terms of green effiiciency and low noise - not to mention a magnitude jump in sheer processing power. However, few of us can spend $700 USD plus on a video card.

The nVidia 540-560's are notoriously noisy, so that's not a great idea. The nVidia 570 and 580's are now at a significantly lower price, thanks to the release of the 590's, and they are far less noisy than the 560's. Not nearly the processing power of the 590's tho.'

I have a new Gigabyte GTX 570 (Model GV-N570D5-13I-B) (probably the best rated of the 570 series) with as much G_RAM as it can hold, and I'm loving it for both model-building and for Vue.

Thanks for your kind comments. You asked a good, worthwhile question.

There is no way one can directly compare Vue poseable meshes against those of Poser or Daz Studio.

This is because it all depends on the individual model-builder. And this is true for Poser and for Daz Studio as well.

Essentially, you must judge the value of a model by looking first at the overall quality of the mesh, and then by looking at the skeleton to see if it makes sense for the kind of poses you will want to create.

You can see the quality of the mesh, most of the time, in the promotional pictures. If the mesh looks over-simplified, or is not photo-real, it might not make a good purchase for you.

Unfortunately, you cannot see the skeleton in Poser, nor in Daz Studio, although human-figure Poser models can be assumed to have a pretty good skeleton. It is not clear to me how a potential purchaser could evaluate a skeleton for an animal or another kind of non-humanoid object for Poser or Daz Studio. I suppose one must simply acquire some experience with different model-builders and then stick to those who turn out good products.

For Vue, at least at Rendo and Cornucopia3d, we are not yet accustomed to displaying the skeleton in the promo pictures. But, I think this will become standard practice in the future. And, even we vendors of poseable Vue models need to develop some further experience. My sperm whales are much better than the bottlenose dolphin I placed in the C3D Store earlier, so I'll be updating that dolphin. (Purchasers of a model at C3D get any updates automatically and for no charge.)

And, there is also the issue of materials. For Poser and Daz Studio, textures and materials applied to those models are "optomized" for the Poser and DS rendering engines. Poseable Vue models have materials and textures made specifically for the Vue rendering engines - you don't have to translate these, down-size them, or whatever, as you do when you import a Poser or DS model into Vue. So, if you decide to acquire a Vue poseable model, everything is already made for you, and you're "good to go!"