Diogenes? LOL He was Greek philosopher and founder of the Cynic school who advocated self-control and the pursuit of virtue through simple living. He is said to have once wandered through the streets of Athens with a lantern in daylight, searching for an honest man.

You are correct sir Diogenes I am not. He sounds a bit more like you. 

Sad? I can understand why you would feel that way. 

Over done? LOL my God man look at your post. LOL Dale.. you really crack me up. Thank you.

First let me say I like Vue the program. Yes it’s cheap. Yes it has bugs. But I am a realist. You get what you pay for. Corba has some very good points. And like a growing number of other users can see the truth. Mostly people like this don’t come here to shed any light on the truth because they get flamed on. However since Dale directed his post at me. I feel I should respond. And if my response helps some user see the truth then some good may come of it. If not flame away.

Yes you’re right Dale all artists have egos. In fact every human has one.

This fact can be a very valuable commodity for a company like e-on. e-on never lifts a finger against a nay sayer, they don’t have too. They just let the ego crew pound on them as it cost e-on nothing and has proven to be very effective. They don’t even have to worry about liability as these ego warriors don’t actually work for e-on. Well in fact they do, but they don’t know it. e-on will use these ego inspired customers to save money. They become beta testers, sales people, technical support helpers, graphic add producers and in Dales case philosophers. (that was a joke Dale) All for free. The ego dollar goes a long way.

What I find personally funny. Many won’t admit they have fallen into this manipulative trap. They want to flame the messenger. The truth will some times hurt. But it still remains a fact. A fact many don’t want to acknowledge for the fear they are being duped. I mean, no one willingly wants to be manipulated or used.

Honestly how long did it take for you to write that response Dale? And what really is the result? Chip? LOL.  Add up all his responses and you got a book. Hey guys, it is a free country and I really could care less about what you spend your time on. Just don’t shoot the messenger. If you want to remain a blind ego inspired worker for e-on, please be my guest. e-on has learned a long time ago the worth of feeding your egos and it pays off for them big time. (I can hear the key boards clicking away on that one lol.)

Surely many will respond with, I enjoy helping out. Or I want to give back because it feels good. Or I am just trying to help others with the program. But the bottom line is e-on has feed your ego in some way to make you feel important. Then they capitalize on that feeling. Very innocently. Think about it.

Does that make them a bad company? Does that make them bad people? Not at all. In fact it makes them pretty damn smart.

Now, if there is a way to turn e-on’s methods 360 degrees and actually get them to pay out for your efforts. Then, wa la. What works for the goose can work for the gander. Good luck with that one however, as the purse strings are held tight. And the e-on ego is far larger than any one of ours. But it is possible as I have done it.

What works best in America is if you feel a product you purchased was mis-represented or does not work the way it was advertised. You take it back. If you can not get your money back then you simply quit buying it. If enough people do that then the company either makes changes that will help keep the customers or they go out of business. This works pretty well I have noticed.

At any rate, enough time wasted on this subject. Good luck to you all.

Yeah your bad for sure. But you do make my point very clear. Thank you for that. Cheers!

 Well for give me. If you look at my post it was directed to andrew_665. I'm sure you are a very important person.  Your insinuation is off the mark. 

You get what you pay for. Vue is not an industry standard product. It is an add on tool for industry standard products. It also does not cost 3500.00. For what it does it’s not too bad. If you want stability it will vary believe me I know. Some can make it work with not much problem. Others, simply can not. E-on software management will never change. Their approach has not varied much over the years. Again you might as well get use to it. Any complaints you may have will be squashed with the many Vue’ers that have been ego inspired by e-on. Good luck with that. If at some point you want to get serious about digital art. Check out the industry standard software. Many times you can get a big discount if you attend school for these products. Just a thought. Good luck andrewe_665!

 Most of the problems with Sketchup models is how they where made in Sketchup. If you make the model in SU, make sure you color code your surfaces and also note you need to color code the reverse side of each surface as well. Do not group or lock your model in any way. Export it as a 3ds file and drop it into vue. Do your textures in Vue and all is well.  Been doing that for about 5 years now with no problems. Now if you are getting models for example from an architect and they want you to put the model in a Vue scene. I get this request often. You WILL have big problems as you did not make the model in Skechup with importing into Vue in your mind. I have had to rebuild several models for architects to get them to work and look right in Vue. 

 LOL this one cracks me up. Yep, these are the folks that write the software. LOL and we wonder why there are bugs.....

Render times really depend on the type of scene you are creating and how much quality you would like in the finished picture. Reflective surfaces can really slow things down. As well as the type of atmosphere you choose. It really depends on you and what you are trying to make happen. Rendering in any 3D software can take a long time if you have it packed with difficult atmospheres and objects. Contact the support staff at e-on for guidance. And be very patient. ;o)

Well put Chip!

Vue6 Infinite would give you the best results. IMHO.

Slide the highlights up to 100 and lower the shine to 50. Good luck

No problem Debby glad to lend a hand. shoop3D@msn.com sorry I missed you had a Father's day dinner to attend. :O)

Will do Keyze Thanks for your help as well. :O)

Well hey that works too and looks much better yet. Well done. :O)

You don't have to send the whole scene I am sure it would clog the email just save the terrain part you are having a problem with and put that as a separate scene by its self if you want me to take a look under the hood. :O)