Some folks seem to have unrealistic views on what apps can do.
No need to have a war over this :) but folk had better go use other apps, and realize their problems.

Vue's not perfect, far from it, but it's, to me, by far the best compromise and most importantly: the one that's got the least painful, stupid, idiotic, horribly designed UI !!! :crying:

Gah!!! Go try other apps, bar Bryce, PaintShopPro and Rhino,  most of 'em, IMHO,  have horrible interfaces, and that does matter for an artistic tool

Do you like using brushes or pencils  that are too thick, spikey etc? Of course not. Then why is it, many apps have a totally un-artistically, un-friendly UI? They are like technobabble from StarTrek Next Generation, lol.

I've got Zbrush, awesome app, but the interface is deeply retarded and confusing :/
Compare it to Mudbox, it's night and day different.
Alas I bought Zbrush while ago (and thus got v3 free) and not up to buying Mudbox for good while (and Mudbox has a licensing system that I find ridiculous).

I have Lightwave, it's the least painful of the major 3D apps (though I haven't tried Maya, but couldn't afford it anyway!).
I just don't have time to learn Lightwave AND Vue, and make art, live etc....
Lightwave is also more realistically priced for us nornal but dedicated hobby arists...but it's got problems too . (v9.5 is looking good)

  Vue's object/material Library system borrowed heavily from Bryce is fantastic and is best I've seen for enjoyable use, by the way.
   I don't care if some twit thinks it's "simple! childish!" comapred to "MegaApp_001"..it works and is simple obvious and does it's job well.
  This is the 21st centruy for goodness sake, WTH should we have to put up with silly low quality or complex library systems, or not even giving you free starter material libraries...cough

I've got XSI Foundation, bought it at same time as Lightwave, found I preffered Lightwave (long story and yes, bank owned my ass :p. My apps are legit...I have no life, bar D&D, to spend money on,anyway, hehe)

If all you want to do is produce surrealistic, alien, beautiful landscapes, go enjoy Terragen and Mojoworld :) I'd love Mojoworld for that IF someone fixed it's lousy UI for materials and terrains...I'm an artist, not a particle physics PHd!!!

Terragen2, go read forums on the problems with it. I'm sure when finished, if they can fix render time problems, it could be very good. But, will it be as good an all round tool as Vue? Fantastic landscapes...but then what..? T2 seems to be aiming for a more all-round tool, rather than merely a landscaperenderer, it seems?

I can import Poser directly into Vue, have huge library of items...changing over to a new app would be a big PIA.

3DMAX...rictus grin...bloatedly over expensive and needs a lot of extra plugins bought for it if you want top notch function...so for us real people, forget it. That IMHO is crazy, no app, that is not custom made or unusable by a single person, should ever be outside the pocket of a hobbyist, for a lot of reasons.
It's just a piece of software, not the "Shroud of Turin"! ;)
(Used 3DMax in college, awesome for animations, but note rest of the woes).

I can render photorealistic Rhino models in Maxwell renderer...but it's not a scene builder, it's material system is very weird to get used to. So it rocks for showcasing a model, or if you have lot of time/effort to spend it cna make photorealistic scenes, but you are not going to find it near as easy as working in Vue.
(One reason I bought Maxwell was because it was supposed to have a Vue plugin..which has never happened, sigh)

etc etc.
So, all in all...Vue is fine, really, for me! :) A faster renderer (especially for faster/cheap animations)...particle system...more stability few other things and I'd be happy as Larry.

Go try other apps...and realize why Vue is a nice, comfortable home to be with ;)

Go try other apps, most apps now offer either good demos or Personal Learning Editions. Try them out. Then look at Vue...

Vue is not the fastest, bestest etc etc. It's just damn good for it's price, ability and enjoyable ease of use.
:)

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