@4342578 Hi kenmo,

I've been reading what I can find about Vue Creator over the last couple of days, with the idea of maybe trying a year's subscription. Although anything like a helpful list of features for the three options is conspicuous by its absence, it appears to me that Creator is pretty much like the old Vue Espirit Complete, while the Professional version is the old Infinite / Xtream (I think these two only differed in whether they could run stand-alone or not), and the Enterprise version is Infinite / Xtream with extra seats and some content.

I didn't originally intend to even look at a subscription version, but I see that the monthly $19.95 for Creator gives you not only Vue (Complete) but Plant Factory as well. This is quite an attraction for me, and maybe for some others who create nature-based scenes. This is the good news from my point of view, but the bad news, which is significant, is that Vue Creator is missing a few features that did exist in the old Espirit Complete, namely: 1) you can't export anything, 2) you can't render at anything over 4096 x 2150 pixels, and 3) you can't use compositing. There's no Python scripting or plugins to integrate with other products, but I don't think that Espirit had those anyway. The page where I found that information is here: https://info.e-onsoftware.com/blog/e-on-software-takes-users-to-cloud-nine-with-new-releases

And that information is echoed on this short review page here: http://www.cgchannel.com/2018/12/e-on-software-revamps-vue-and-plantfactory/

I can live without compositing, but the reduction in potential picture resolution is a big worry and will particularly affect anyone who wants to produce high quality prints. There is no more detailed information I can find on the bar on exporting, so it's not clear whether you can't export anything (presumably you can still save rendered images), or just not some things. Even if it's just some things, I can remember saving up for a long time to buy the Exporter expansion for Vue Espirit, and it's quite a slap in the face to lose that facility now unless I take out a much more expensive subscription for the Professional version.

I'm still undecided, but maybe the information above will help others to make up their minds. If you've decided and are happy to take out an annual licence, a slightly reduced (by $10) subscription is being sold by Novedge here: http://www.cgchannel.com/2018/12/e-on-software-revamps-vue-and-plantfactory/

Looks like software sales only to me.

For anyone who is still interested, there are two business entities involved in this subject: E-On Software, which develops and markets the software products and operates as a subsidiary of Bentley Systems since it was acquired by them, and E-On Software, Inc., which stayed in the hands of the erstwhile E-On president, and which still owns the Cornucopia 3D sales site. I've learned this in email correspondence with the Bentley subsidiary while trying to find out what royalties if any I still have outstanding from my time as a vendor on the Cornucopia site. They have been helpful, but in contrast I have had no response to mails I've sent to the current Cornucopia owner, E-On Software, Inc., about royalties. As I was only a vendor for a short time and the amount is likely to be small, I quite frankly don't have the energy to chase that up, but more irritating is the fact that I've also had no response to my final mail to them, asking to be released from my brokering agreement on the grounds that the sales site has gone. That presumably leaves me with restrictions on selling some items on other sites, even though I can't make any money though the Cornucopia site. I don't know what is happening with Cornucopia 3D, and quite possibly it will return again soon, but so far my experience with the new owners has not exactly been positive.

Entering cornucopia3d.com now diverts you to that info.e-onsoftware.com server, so it looks like some address re-pointing is being done. Pity there is no "Learn about our downtime" section on the info site.... Doing a bit of nslookup investigation reveals that the IP address of cornucopia3d.com belongs to OVH Hosting, an internet service company, but that the IP of info.e-onsoftware.com belongs to Cloudflare, who are a cloud hosting service. Possibly they have always had that server in the cloud, but I would take a guess that they have been doing a spot of major service migration. Hopefully Cornucopia will be back soon.

Hi,

I've now got this sorted out with Smith Micro. It was my mistake - I was suppyling the Poser 7 serial number, and the download manager wanted the new serial number for Poser 10

Thanks for your offer of help with this.

I've sent two mails to Smith Micro via the Renerosity site mail over the last seven days, but I've had no reply.

So today I've set myself up a support account on Smith Micro's site and sent them another mail that way. Hopefully that might produce some response.

I'll let you know!

Thanks for that.

I have found my purchase order email from 2010, with the serial and my details. I've sent a site mail to Smith Micro as per your suggestion, and I'm awaiting a reply.

Made me switch to Vue 

I do both - organise the content of the working directories by type (glass, metals, ground textures, water etcetera) so that I can find what I want easily, and back up the content as I get it to an archive directory, organised by the artist. When that gets full it goes off to DVD, which gets indexed and the index held on disk. So, if want to post or publish something and I need the artist's name to give a credit or to check their terms of use, all I need to do is search my index for the component name (e.g. "Green Dragon Sky" or "Fantastic Terrains"), and I have the information. Last, but by no means least, I also have a handy backup for when the unexpected happens..... 

A really beautiful card. All my dreams and wishes are now for TG2....  8-)

Happy Christmas!

There are a few things you can do to make the hump look less intrusive::

• Some of the preset tree shapes have less of a hump than others - try them until you find the best one.
• Increase the trunk thickness and adjust the distribution dials to make the branches break from a poinr as close to the hump as possible - this makes it look more natural
• Adjust the distribution and gravity dials to get some foliage hanging down to break the outline of the hump
• Stick a tiny tree with big leaves roots-first into the hump to look like a branch - again that makes the hump look more like a natural growth bulge
• Put two trees together then adjust their height and rotation until each one's branches are disguising the other tree's hump
• If all else fails use some small trees as suckers or shrubs around the base to hide the hump

First thing I would suggest is to use Bryce 5.5, if you can get hold of it,  for importing meshes that have been exported from Poser. Bryce 5.5 is more stable.

If this is not possible, check the filenames of the textures that are involved when you get a crash, and see if they are unusually long. Bryce does not like loading long texture names. I'm not sure what the limit is, but if you have any over 20 characters I'd advise shortening them. Unfortunately this will mean either loading them manually or editing the .mtl file.

If there are no long texture file names, try to find out what is upsetting Bryce by process of elimination. Remove the textures and the .mtl file from your import folder, and just import the mesh untextured. If this works OK, put the .mtl file back with one of the textures and try the load again. Keep adding the textures back in and re-loading until you find out which one is causing the issue.

None of this messing about is good for the creative process, but unfortunately in digital art  you generally end up having to be part artist and part engineer........  8-)

Both the wall and door are beautiful, and the door looks like the entrance to some fabulous paradise garden. To me, the picture at the moment is raising the question "what lies behind this door?"  It must be something fantastic to deserve such a beautiful entrance. Could you split the door terrain in two and leave it slightly ajar, to give a glimpse of what is beyond it? It could be a lush garden, a courtyard with fountains or streams, or an exotic building. Plenty of possibliities... It definitely deserves an extended scene around it to set it off.

@Bikermouse- I feel the same.

"It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time." -
**  --  Samuel johnson****

**In his life he gave a lot of us much good entertainment, and he created an enduring role model and championed a philosophy of life that has something of value for all of us. That's what I'll remember. **
**