Nope Bloodsong. It doesn't choke up Vue (that's what I like about them). Since they, in essence, are native Vue vegetations, they render really quick. I rendered it at 1024x768 on Ultra and it took all night (just shy of 6 and a half hours. That's pretty dang good for that large of a render on my pathetic little machine. If I had had less water and left out the Poser geese (but I really love them, really...thanks guy!) it would have rendered in probably half that time. Plus they are mostly all branches and not much of them are mapped transparencies, which really slows down my 'puter too. Ta ta, Laurie

Pretty cool. With a wimpy little machine like mine, it sounds like an option :) Ta ta, Laurie

I made that very comment on this site once myself :) It really is a great program. Ta ta, Laurie

Guitta writes some great ones...Varian is a good one who knows Vue very well also. You guys listening? Just a thought (and a nudge...lol). Glad to see that Vue is finally getting more exposure here in the U.S. (which it so greatly deserves!!). Ta ta, Laurie

Sorry guys, I guess there's a lot of traffic on the servers. It downloaded fine for me when I uploaded it this morning....now I can't download it either. I get a link to somewhere that my file isn't on the server (freeload.homestead.com). My actual link is http://vuefiles.homestead.com/files/character_tree_prep_2.zip (don't try that either, I already did....same thing). And it keeps asking me for a login and password. I don't know what's up with that. I guess you'll have to try later. In the meantime I'll keep trying to connect. Ta ta, Laurie

I'll do that Guitta, thanks :) I'll also zip up the scene file and post it in the Vue Free Stuff....that way people can disect (s.p.) it and see how I did it first hand. Ta ta, Laurie

That's fantastic Guitta! That means that any tutorials are already written :) I don't have the tree up on my site or a link to it or anything tho, but when I do put it up on my site I'll point people back to yours. I guess I should have looked around to see if anyone had done this yet...it was so easy that I should have guessed it, especially you, the flower lady :) Ta ta, Laurie

I was kicking around the idea of writing a tutorial on making one (if I can find the time!). It is really very easy, and I see no idea why you couldn't make giant redwoods or old growth trees doing it. You can basically make it any shape you want and if some of us (hint) could experiment a little with leaves and mapping of the leaves, I guess we could come up with just about anything. You game? I'll send you the scene file so you can see how I did it....that'd be quicker than a tutorial. Let me know if you're interested. Ta ta, Laurie

Oh yeah, you did say terrain, didn't you? Silly me! :) My brain was asleep yesterday....LOL. Ta ta, Laurie

Is the terrain flat? I just use a plane for the carpet, map it by checking the object space box inside the material editor, map the texture as "Flat" (it defaults to "Automatic"), and applying a transmap for the fringe that I created in Photoshop and make sure that the material size is 1.00. That's all there is to it. The resulting carpet LOOKS like a carpet. Ta ta, Laurie

Hey Bill, I think the thing with the Lombardy poplar is the lighting. The sunlight is dead-on from the front. I did it this way so that I could see them better....of course I will be experimenting with different lighting (after I fix that center building's map). Oh, and Marge, I am working on what the sides of the buildings look like...either composite texture maps or booleans of some sort (needs more experimentation). Geeezzeee! I sound like a scientist or something! Anyhoo, a row of townhouses effect is what I was striving for in the first place (I love the look of them)...I figured I work on the really tricky parts later. It is very definitely a "work in progress". But any suggestions are always welcome. And some experimentation by others along the same lines wouldn't hurt either. We could compare notes :) Ta ta, Laurie

Maybe I'm missing something, but I didn't find any fish maps at the above web address? Help! Laurie

Now THAT'S what I meant! Good job :)

Pretty nice! The only thing I would change is to maybe use acacia trees instead of palm...I don't think there are any palms on the African savannah. However, there are plenty of acacias :) Just my humble opinion of course :) But pretty darn good for a first pic!

Sorry Bill :( There are no goodies inside, just the aquarium background...those plastic things that stick to the glass at the back of the aquarium. I figure people would enjoy more filling it with their own stuff. You can get some dynamite aquatic plants at 3dplants.com. I can thank Gail for that link :) Of course there is Roman's japanese bridge (I think it's Roman's anyway). That looks nice. Or the ever-popular castle. There are plenty of those around. Let your imagination soar! LOL