Here's what I was able to come up with, I made an ecosystem material using Walli's grass pack 2 - the three grass patches, setting density to 100%, maximum size variation to x=0 (y & z are grayed out), drove the density with a crisp black and white image created in photoshop. The edges aren't perfectly square because the patches are somewhat rounded and irregular.

There is a tutorial over at geekatplay.com that covers the ins and outs of creating godrays and can help you get more contrast in your atmosphere so they show up better. If you have the $$$ dax pahndi's atmosphere tutorial at cornucopia (or available in the store on his website) also shows a different method of creating godrays using global radiosity and various atmospheric settings.

Downloaded last night - now I think I'll wait 'til it's no longer beta before I install though...Too little time, I actually used to not mind (enjoy??) beta testing

If you haven't done so already, click the "zero edges" button in the terrain editor to turn it off for your terrain. Then it won't slope down on the edges (that's probably why it looks different).

Who'd a thunk it - didn't realize there was such a thing. I thought ZekeWild was having a laugh on us, to tell you the truth. I have to agree with slonishko...

For input - the lighting in the render looks too staged, not like the outdoors, but I don't know what you were going for

I'm so sorry silverblade. Pure trusting and loyal souls that they are, dogs most surely go to heaven.

Quote - "
I think in 7.5 e-on did in fact change how diffuse light color works for all indirect lighting models.  It now relies exclusively on what you set the "overall skylight color" to.  This makes more sense to me as the additional "Light Color" box is redundant.  To change the color to your original blue, set the Overall Skylight Color."

Here's the answer to your light color issue (solution is from Dave Burdick). I have display issues as well, luckily they're more irritating than show stoppers

Everyone should be (relatively) happy when they read eon's latest newsletter - it answers all questions brought up in this thread.

In summary - the maintenance plan is guaranteed to cover the release of v8, regardless of timing or when you first bought your v7 software, and upgrades for Infinite will be $295 whether you choose to go from 7 to 8 ($295), or from 7 to 7.5 ($295), and then 7.5 to 8 ($295). So the maintenance plan becomes and excellent deal :)

Xstream upgrades are $495

I'm with you, Mazak. I'll start preparing now for the expense of 7.5, so v8 is a little less hard on the pocketbook. I'm on PC also and don't need the maintenance agreement, really just need to pay for the various releases, not support. CG is definitely an expensive habit, regardless!!

Quote - "I've been using Vue intensively for more than 2 years and I've come across only a fairly small amount of bugs. And for all the bugs I encountered, there was always a workaround. I'm a happy customer.
"

Quote - QFT  - I love Vue to bits :)

Me three! But also I'm fortunate to be on a Windows 64 bit system with lots of RAM.

I also own Cinema 4d and chose not to upgrade to 10.5 from 10.1 last year - now that hurt when I upgraded to v11 - painfully close to the original purchase price for my core version. Sounds like  going from Vue 7.4 to 8 won't be nearly so painful. I also have had Zbrush from v1.4 and gotten free upgrades all along and I must admit that's been pretty nice (I honestly don't know how Pixologic can do this and still make money)

This is not to downplay the fact that the economy is not good at all, and many of us are having to make choices where it would have been a "no brainer" in the not so distant past. Here's hoping for all of our sakes the economy picks up. There are so many who are really struggling

Thanks for the heads up :)

On 64 bit Vista with 8 gb ram I find infinite terrains slow things down generally, especially render times. Too bad because I really like the way they look. You're video card may be slowing down the display times. Hopefully someone with a similar setup can give you better feedback as I realize I'm not being that helpful.

One of my favorites! Very sweet

I usually start with a geekatplay tutorial and see where it leads me, or I go play with another software for awhile. Zbrush is always good for a challenge. Another thing I do is find a digital contest to enter, then the subject and potential sources of inspiration are often given

Good luck : )

Very nice. Congratulations! Success in the art world is not so easy and to be savored after all the hard work : )