Woke up this morning, yawned, grabbed a coffee and logged on to E-on's site to see what was new. The following news woke me up and put a smile on my face. :-) It all looks good to me but does "ultra-realistic 3D tree and plant technology" = editing?

"August 30, 2004 Press Release

E-on Software Unveils Vue 5 Esprit!

NEW FEATURES HIGHLIGHTED IN "COMMING SOON" VIDEO!

August 30, 2004. Beaverton, Oregon: e-on software, the world leader in nature simulation software, presents a preview video of the fifth iteration of Vue Esprit, its award winning scenery rendering and animation software for casual and advanced digital artists.

QuickTime Preview, entirely Vue 5 Esprit rendered (4MB).

Download the video (right-click/"save target as")

Vue 5 Esprit, The Art Of Natural 3D!

Vue 5 Esprit succeeds in combining unequaled ease-of-use and creativity with the latest advances in rendering technology. With a dedicated toolkit for the creation and rendering of realistic scenery, Vue 5 Esprit brings Natural 3D to everyones hand. Superb image quality, incredible render speed and unbeatable ease-of-use help make Vue 5 Esprit the best 3D scenery software for casual and advanced digital artists!

A selection of the features in Vue 5 Esprit include:

Global Illumination and Radiosity with EasyGI single slider quality setting,
High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) and Image Based Lighting (IBL),
Procedural Terrains with sub-pixel detail whatever the viewing distance,
Advanced atmospheric engine,
Ultra-realistic 3D tree and plant technology,
SmartGraph Function and Material Editor
Metablobs from all primitives for improved organic modeling,
Complete 3D Text editing capability for high quality video and titling effects,
Integrated post-processing and camera switching,
Pre-animated Mesh Support
Advanced OpenGL Previewing
Numerous productivity and feature enhancements.

A complete and detailed list of features will be available when Vue 5 Esprit ships.

Vue 5 Esprit will maintain compatibility with Mover 5, e-on software's popular animation expansion pack for Vue d'Esprit 4 and Vue 4 Professional.

The Macintosh OS X and Windows 2000/XP versions of Vue 5 Esprit will be released simultaneously end of September 2004.
Vue 5 Esprit will be initially released in English. German, French and Japanese versions will follow. The estimated street price for Vue 5 Esprit is $249.
Vue d'Esprit 4 owners will be able to upgrade to Vue 5 Esprit for $149. Users who bought Vue d'Esprit 4 after October 1st 2003 will have a special upgrade price at $129.
A $99 sidegrade will also be available for Vue 4 Professional owners eager to lay their hands on the next version of Vue. The Vue Professional line of products will follow its own development path.

About e-on software's product line
Easy to use and productive, the Vue product line offers solutions for professional users as well as hobbyists wanting to create still or animated natural 3D environments.

Vue 4 Professional combines ease of use with the underlying power of a high quality renderer cutting-edge features such as synchronization with all major 3D applications, full compositing options and G-Buffer support, advanced wind and breeze simulation, hybrid network rendering, full import/export options and a highly productive interface, Vue 4 Professional is available for $599, with academic versions available from $199.

Vue d'Esprit 4 for Windows and Mac OS X comes with 2 CDs, bursting with 30 SolidGrowth 2 tree and plants, over 100 atmospheres, 100 different types of clouds, 300 materials, 250 high quality fully textured 3D objects, 50 example scenes and a 340-page manual. Vue d'Esprit 4 is still available for $199, with academic versions available from $169.

Mover 5 for Windows and Mac OS X expands on the already powerful animation in e-on software's Vue/Esprit and Vue/Professional, allowing for inclusion of fully animated digital characters, enhanced, new motion effects, and network rendering. Mover 5 for Windows and Mac OS X is available for $99 and will be compatible with the Vue 5 product line.

Ozone 2.0 for Windows and Mac OS X is the most complete, elaborate and productive solution for creating realistic (or surrealistic) skies and atmospheres in Cinema 4D and LightWave. Ozone 2.0 is available from $199.

About e-on software
Founded in 1997, e-on software was established to develop and promote the highest quality graphics tools. E-on software was founded on the premise that powerful graphics tools should never get in the way of a designer's creativity. E-on software's product line includes the award winning Vue d'Esprit 4, Vue 4 Professional and the Ozone 2.0 line of professional atmospheric plug-ins. E-on software is based in Beaverton, Oregon. Visit their website at http://www.e-onsoftware.com.

Press Contact
press@e-onsoftware.com
503-372-9698
or
+33 1 43 14 28 15"

Cheers,
Mark