Hi Orio Mark has got it exactly right. If the front of the mag had said 'XFrog demo' or 'XFrog full version which will only export to Lightwave etc.' then it would have been OK. Seeing the words Full Version does sort of lead you to believe that you're getting a version which you can use to export to other programs. What I would like to know is whether that particular version of XFrog (3.02) actually had that export capability originally, and if it's been removed especially for this version. If that's the case, it's very naughty of Digit to claim it's the full commercial version. Or did it just export to those programs for which a plug-in was available even then? I suspect the former, because the export commands are there in the menu, they're just greyed out so you can't use them. I must say, as a promotional exercise this so far seems a bit of a disaster, in that the Digit mag message board is also full of people asking why they can't export. So instead of turning people on to XFrog (which in fairness looks a pretty nice program and capable of some excellent results) it seems to have generated lots of frustrated people! As I said on the XFrog board, it seems an odd way of going about it: anybody who has any of those four programs isn't going to be exactly poor, and if they want XFrog they will presumably have bought it already rather than wait for a free version to turn up; whereas hobbyists like me who only spend the odd hour here and there doing 3D and can't justify spending hundreds of pounds on programs would really appreciate the free version and then might consider buying the latest one. Perhaps they ought to take lessons from Maxon who gave away C4D 5 on a cover disk not long ago and then had an unrefusable offer on C4D XL 6 to follow it up. I've enjoyed every minute of using that one! Of course an ideal solution would be for Digit to give away a copy of Lightwave on their next cover disk so we could all use XFrog. Failing that though, maybe Greenworks could be persuaded to post a patch or a plug-in somewhere so that we could export to something a bit cheaper. Time to stop dreaming and go to bed! Mike

Well, the feeling I'm getting is that nobody knows how to export from this version of XFrog to anything we can use directly in Vue. Maybe there's some trick I'm completely missing here, but I don't think so. Greenworks have obviously implemented a more normal export option in the latest version (by popular demand maybe?), but I don't think I want to pay 99 to upgrade to it. I shall have to just hang on to this one until I can afford to upgrade to C4D 7 or 8! I can't help feeling this is a very strange choice for a freebie to give away on a cover disk though. Surely the whole point is to increase usage of the current version by giving away a usable free older version so that people can put their XFrog models into whatever program they normally use; restricting export to only four high-end apps rather defeats the object, and I can't see it endearing them to people in the US who are forking out the equivalent of 20 quid a copy for the mag! And let's face it: people who already have the latest versions of Maya etc. are hardly going to be strapped for cash; they're the sort of people who will already have XFrog if they want it. Oh well, you live and learn, eh? Mike

Pete You do get the plug-ins for those four high-end applications I mentioned along with the mag version. The trouble is, they have to go in the plug-ins folder of those applications, so then you can import an X-frog model from within 3DS Max, C4D, Lightwave and Maya. It doesn't appear to mean that you can export a 3ds file just by having that plug-in, you need to have 3d studio max itself. If you've got one of those apps I'm sure it will work fine. Unfortunately I don't so I haven't yet found a way of exporting anything. Mike

Hi Glad to be of service... we've had lots of tips, freebies and so on from this list before now so it's good to be able to put a bargain somebody else's way! M&K

Hi Bloodsong, Pleased that you've managed to work out our somewhat convoluted technique for getting pictures to map onto terrains:) We just did it by trial and error basically... I don't know WHY it works like that! But it certainly sounds as though it should be possible to scale the terrains numerically doing it your way; we didn't really go any further because once we'd got a fractal mapped onto the terrain all we had to do was position the camera. Mike and Katherine