re: X-Plane.....pretty neat. I didn't know that. Thanks. :)

I have noticed before that it continues to run in the background even when you have closed the program.

Creepy!  What could it be doing???

Ok, thanks.....I'll see if it happens again.  ;)

"Had it been launched at all that day? or not at all?"....

Probably from the day before.....I don't know if I left it running. 

But it didn't show in the Taskbar as being active....i.e. it wasn't minimized.
I only became aware of it when I saw the Task Magager icon partially green,
indicating a significant amount of CPU resources were being used.

I'll keep an eye on it......maybe it was a fluke.  

No, not that I know of......if I did, wouldn't I have to give it a job first?

One thing I noticed 2 days ago during an animation render, 
the Task Manager showed 2 instances of VUE working simulateously....

One @~60%, and one @~25%, though I only had one instance of VUE going
at the time (?)....I've never tried launching VUE more than one at a time, though
I know I can with other apps.

Must be a pretty hefty laptop to beat a gaming PC. 

Nothing salvageable from the PC that died? Total meltdown? 

Good of you to let your wife go back home so often, though.  

From my limited experience, extra ram does help stability. 

But I only use my laptop (ASUS G73 i7) for initial scene building. Then I transfer the scene to my home built desktop for rendering, especially for animation. 

I'm saving my money to upgrade my desktop, but will probably only be able to afford
enough to cut render times at least in half.....not bad, but would be much happier if I could render in 1/10th the time.

If you can, I recommend getting a desktop for rendering with an 8 core processor,
at least 8gb ram, adequate power supply, and video card that e-on recommends, 
so it can render while you work on your laptop.

Laptops just can't perform as well as desktop PCs (don't know about MACs), especially when using VUE. I don't know if it's the program's code or just how complex the scene code is, but VUE definitely requires more horsepower to run well compared to any other 3D app I use, most of which run smoothly even on my old HP6226 laptop.  

It's worth the time savings. 

"Basic's though I think are well covered already."

 I think each teacher covers it differently. I know I get a better understanding
when I use different trainers, regardless of the app.  

**"I did not think you were spamming and it would not matter if you were." **

Thanks! I didn't think I was, but didn't think you thought I was either. =O

Not selling jewelry or food choppers. I'm just trying to get more up-to-date learning materials for VUE, videos & books. :)

"I spend huge amounts of time testing to figure out what function will do what combined with other functions and a shorter learning curve for that would be awesome."

Me, too.....I hope Mark (or someone) will do an advanced set on functions, nodes, etc. 

Hi blaineak,

GeekAtPlay does do a great job from basics to epic terrains, etc.,
and their VUE7 From the Ground Up is my main text (hoping for an updated
version at some point soon, too).  

Also, the VUE11 User Manual is very well done.....an example for others. 

If anyone is completely satisfied and totally happy with the available learning 
materials, all well & good. I'm happy, but not satisfied, and want more.  

I think Mark is a particularly good teacher, and hope InfiniteSkills will
give him the go ahead to do videos describing the basics and all the 
new stuff since 8.5......maybe even ~11.5.

I'm frankly amazed at how relatively few tutorials & books, especially for VUE11, are 
available, compared to other 3D apps of it's popularity & stature in the
industry. At least that's my perception.   

Again, if anyone wants to have Mark Bremmer do a (cool) set of VUE11+
tutorials, please contact InfiniteSkills.  

email:     support@infiniteskills.com

phone:   858-866-9147 10-4 EST M-F 

BTW, I do not work for InfiniteSkills. 

re: VUE11 tutorials.......this is set is the best value:

http://www.geekatplay.com/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=167

Even so, I still hope Mark will do a set as well. It's always good to get different 
perspectives, regardless of the app or subject.  

BTW, I wish InfiniteSkills, VTC & Lynda.com, would consider reducing 
their prices for CDs.  It hasn't changed ($99) , but it seems like an arbitrary
number, not based on a marketing survey. 

If GeekAtPlay can give away their product (free online viewing) or charge only $35 for the CD set, why not the others? Or at least make the tutorials more affordable and competetive. 

I think they'd gain a lot more customers and sell a lot more CDs. 

Hi Shawn, 

"What software are they making him do tuts for?"  

AnimeStudioPro is the only one that I know of so far....

http://www.infiniteskills.com/training/learning-anime-studio-pro-9.html

I just hope we can get him to do VUE11 before he gets booked for other
tutorial sets.

Thanks....I searched for VistaPro user manual, and didn't find anything. 

But I did find these pretty nice images of Mars. 

http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/planetary-observing/vistapro-images-of-mars/ 

Is there a user manual packaged with it?

I was considering getting it, but only if it has a manual, and had an
advantage over VUE.

But for $50 it's tempting.  

Here are some  images of Mars I found....http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org/resources/planetary-observing/vistapro-images-of-mars/

Good news!

Yon at MonkeyBytes.com replied that VistaPro is still available here...

 http://store.monkeybyte.com/index.php/software/instant-downloads/vistapro-renderer-download-pc.html#

Thanks again zerebrom for reminding us about it. ;)

Hi Rick, 

here's one more that looks good, though I haven't bought any yet. 

http://www.asilefx.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_27_86

Each teacher has a different perspective and approach. 

Hey Rick, 

I forgot to tell you about another very good (& complete) set of video
tutorials for VUE.  They are at VTC online for $30/mo, or you can buy
the CDs for $99 US.  

http://www.vtc.com/products/Vue-8.5-Tutorials.htm

Mark Bremmer is the teacher, and is an excellent trainer.....easy going,
well prepared.

The set is based on VUE 8.5, but still very worthwhile.

It's like DigitalTutors......if you subscribe, you get all the apps they carry. 

I have the CDs and loaded them on my computers to watch offline
and without having to keep the CD in the drive.

So many good tutorials, so little time!  

Cal