Wow, Vue Infinite has changed a lot since this thread was started.

Bryce is very capable, but it makes no sense anymore to compare it to Vue Infinite. Vue Infinite has moved into the studio realm, while Bryce is more for a hobbyist. For those who need Vue Infinites features, Vue makes sense. Expensive at first but after you get into the Maintenance plan it's annual costs are pretty reasonable.

Bryce is what got me interested too many years ago to admit. I loaded it a few weeks ago and realized I'd almost forgotten how to use the UI. Like all software, Vue becomes very intuitive after you have used it for a bit. The UI is very well thought out.

For a hobby though, I'd say cheaper versions of Vue are still superior to Bryce by far, as long as you have a capable workstation to run it on. It's not for a weak machine.

I've noted often people who complain don't understand how powerful Vue is and your experience will be very different if you don't have a powerful machine with great GPU with lots of VRAM and loads of RAM. Vue's performance is directly related to the quality of workstation its on. It's just not for an over the counter computer.

With Vue open click Help then Overview or just click F1. The documentation is pretty good.

Plugging into diffuse instead of alternate diffuse may be the answer and that makes sense. I'll give that a try. Using the Poser Shader Tree does not help.

I wish E-On would make it possible to import hair as curves from some program or other. I suppose I should be using XStream and going the other direction.

OK, now I remember why I did not think that would work. If anyone using Vue has an answer it would help. I maybe should ask in that forum.

I save the object with hair and then open in Vue Infinite 2014. It has the default blond hair. I try using the Poser Shader Tree and same thing happens, so no matter what I have the default hair without any way to apply the skin map to it for the right color. No UV's are saved so I can't just change the map.

I'm probably trying something impossible, but I'm trying to find something better than using LAMH in Daz Studio exported .obj hair if anyone has had success.

I've never used the Poser hair in Vue before so I'm hitting brick walls. I do mainly still outdoor environment matte stuff and never use people but would like to have realistic animals. Poser hair looks good if it's a single color but I can't get this worked out.

Back to compositing them in if I can't find a sollution, but thought it might be worth a try.

Facepalm. I knew it would be simple.

Thanks so much :)

I hope you find help there. I know how maddening it can be to not get any help. I'm using Infinite 2014 so I can't test for you.

I don't know what version you have, but you might try adding a layer with physical transparency with refraction of 1.33 and remember that wet material needs more reflection and darken the base material under that layer.

Layered material can give great realism but increase render times dramatically.

Your best bet is to contact E-On's support via your account on their website for issues like this. That sounds like a support problem.

You might try the forum there also. Are you aware there is a forum on E-On's site? It's usually the best place to go in my experience. Also on the forums there you will find a link to contact support at the bottom of each threads page.

@ Stan

ZBrush is great for some static plants but it's not going to be a sollution for animations or speed. I agree Plant Factory is overpriced but it's also very powerful and truly easy to use thanks to the UI.

XFrog Basic is not much and lately it is at half price. It's also great for modeling plants and easy to use. I use it a lot and highly recomend it.

ZBrush is not a good answer if you need a forest of unique plants that will react to the wind in an animation or even in a still. ZBrush would not be of much use.

@ Robert

Cool site and thank you for assembling all those links in one place.

You missed the fact that Velociraptor is available at Content Paradise where I purchased it some time ago. I enjoy Dinoraul's products and the quality of his meshes. I have most of them from other stores and will likely buy more over time here.

I don't need any help; I was just making a suggestion you can ignore or consider. I know I've gotten a lot of great ideas relayed to me by my own marketing staff and have always appreciated the input by customers.

I know I'm not much of a customer and do not buy often as I create my own assets, but I do buy some items to fill up scenes. I mostly look for plants and animals for outdoor scenes which is what I enjoy working on.

Sadly quality animals are hard to find and I've been disapointed often by models purchased at multiple stores and do a facepalm and then create my own. Not so with Dinorauls meshes and kudo's to him for that.

Thanks for your time.

The new physically accurate lighting model would be the main improvement. That and the exposure filters.

I've only done a couple of tests but the results are wonderful. The first thing that made me smile was seeing a realistic looking skyline against a water plane. Just place the sun and render.

Plants from Plant Factory still slow things down dramatically. I'm not sure I see all that much improvement there.

aelikema,

I'm sure when the plants start hitting Cornucopia you will see plenty.

Overpriced, yes.

Should come with more and better plants, yes. Should have at least one set up with age, season and so forth as an example to learn from.

Users should be able sell or give away plants in other formats, yes.

Comparable with Vue's plant editor, no way; not even remotely in the same league.

Buying at the initial very low price turned out to be a good idea IMO. At full price I never would have done it and I'd be using XFrog still.

Robert,

That is close to what I ended up with. I'll try that out thanks.

I have no doubt anything a person could conceive in an interface would be beyond reason. I do like the interfaces in Vue and now Plant Factory far better than others I use.

My most hated is likely Lightwave.

I don't see any interface color files in any folders, I'll download those. Thanks so much.

Still Pre-Release 6, although I see changes happening at the site tonight. Maybe first release tomorrow?

Will there be more example plants?

czarnyrobert,

The Plant Facory interface is a work of art. You guys did a wonderful job with that. I find it far more intuitive than XFrog to use. Just wanted to compliment you on that.