HI GUITTA . . . 8^) How are you, fine I hope? Yes, ZBrush is a very difficult program to learn! But, once learned it's probably the best organic modeler on the market, for the price. You push & pull / add to & subtract from / twist etc., as you would with a ball of clay, all in real time. It is great for modeling human or animal models, & it can also do standard modeling as well. Once your modeling is completed, you can then apply materials / textures / & paint on your model, again, all in real time. A new version is due out very soon, I'm kinda anxious to see what new features it's going to have, as it still needs some added features, IMHO. SO MANY PROGRAMS to choose from, a person can become very dizzy, just trying to decide. Ha ha ha. Have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

'Afternoon . . . 8^) You can disregard my above post, I re-downloaded the 4.06 full upgrade patch from e-on. Uninstalled Vue 4.06 - reinstalled Vue 4 from CD - Installed the fresh download Vue 4.06 upgrade patch - & now everything appears to be working fine. I guess maybe, the 1st download of Vue 4.06 upgrade patch might have been corrupted during download??? Anyway, thank you Guitta for your concern & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Good Morning Jim . . . 8^) I had a similar problem when trying to apply a bitmap to a terrain. When I attempted to apply the bitmap to a terrain, I would get a patterned surface on the terrain, where it should have been smooth, because the bitmap was one solid color in these areas. I sent e-on a message & all the files for this problem, but haven't had any replies, in two weeks now, so I don't know what's going on over there? Have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Hi Jenna . . . 8^) Here's a picture of a very rare tree, called the "Barkless Cherry Tree". It grows without any bark, AND, it even grows with several coats of varnish applied to it. Very rare indeed! Heheheh. All joking aside, it was created as explained by Charles, in his above post. All I did was to open the Material Summary, right clicked on the image of the tree trunk, then substituted a bitmap image for the stock texture, in the properties. ;^) Good luck & you have a good one . . . Mark.

Thank you so much for the information, I'll check it out a little later & have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Hey Eric . . . 8^) Thanks for your reply, I tried a little earlier & succeeded. I don't know what happened the 1st time, but everything is fine now. Thanks again for your generosity & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

'Morning Eric . . . 8^) I just left the download page for your "Atmospheres", & it tells me that it can't access the page or site for your download??? Also, when you access the main page where it shows all the different atmosphere download thumbnails, your's doesn't show up. Thanks in advance for any suggestions & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Hi Droyd . . . 8^) For what it's worth, on my system, Vue 4.06 is working the best of all the upgrades. As far as your question goes, I also had very good results when I used the full upgrade 4.05, installed over a fresh install of Vue 4. I think the biggest problem with all of the updates or patches is, there are so many different system configurations, that so many users are getting different results. Anyway, if you try the 4.05 upgrade & it doesn't work well for you, all you have to do is uninstall Vue 4.05 & reinstall the version that works the best for you. Good luck in which ever choice you make, & I hope you find the best upgrade, so you can create in Vue with no problems. Have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Hey John . . . 8^) That's a really great image, or should I say painting? Either way, it looks real nice. I've had Painter 6 on my system for quite a while, but I've never gave it enough time to do work like your image. Maybe I should try something like that? Have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Afternoon Joerg . . . 8^) After reading your post, I thought I'd give your example a try. I'm sure you won't appreciate this, but I didn't have any problems at all, creating or rendering the scene. I had the Atmosphere in the volumetric mode / the fog was set to density = 800 / the sun was size = 400% / the sun was volumetric / volumetric lights were on / the water plane was added / then I threw in a terrain with some Palm trees on it. The only thing I noticed was it took me an hour & 20 minutes to render in final mode. Using Vue 4.06, full update. My system is a PIII 500 / 512 mgs ram / Windows 98SE / DirectX 8.1 / TNT2 Ultra with 32 mgs video ram. So this is why it took me so long to render on my system. If your using a Mac, then I don't think my post will help you much? In all honesty, I don't think it's a bug or problem with Vue 4.06, or it wouldn't have worked on my system. Maybe it's a compatibility issue with Vue 4.06 & your video card, or drivers, or somewhere else? I don't know if this will help you at all or not, but I hope you can get it figured out. I'm sorry that I can't be of more help than this & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Thank you very much Eric, for the atmospheres, & for sharing them with the rest of us. Your a very generous person & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Hi Guitta . . . 8^) I downloaded this program yesterday, after reading your post. I've played with it several times, & I find it very interesting. The problem I've found with it, is when you complete what your modeling then export or save it, import it into another program, like ZBrush to fine tune it, the polygons are kinda not behaving very well. I'd like to send an e-mail to the developer & ask him if he plans on further development. I think it has a great potential for creating 3D models. Anyway, thanks a lot for the information & the link, & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

Well, I'll say it again, all the entries are great & the decision is a hard one, but I'll vote for "MS Outlaw", his slimy & stinky image is great. . . . Mark.

'Afternoon all . . . :^) Although all of the pictures were very well done, ( in a dirty sort of way ), I think I'd have to vote for Ms Outlaw's image. Great image & you all have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)

'Afternoon Rynn . . . :^) Nice looking light beams. I've tried playing around many times, to get the same type of light beams underwater, but I never succeeded. I'll follow your instructions & see if I can duplicate them. What I don't understand is: 1st, why you have to have a terrain in the background, so the light beams will be solid from top to bottom? 2nd, Why you don't get the same effect by using a "procedural color" caustic, that you do when you use a "mapped picture" caustic, there both images? 8^o Anyway, thanks for the information & you have a good one . . . Mark. ;^)