New feature from Vue 7 Infinite to Vue 8 Infinite

Vue 8 Infinite - Feature List

Following is the complete feature list of Vue 8 Infinite. "NEW!" indicates a new feature based on a comparison with Vue 7 Infinite.

Lighting

• Global Illumination.
• Global Radiosity.
• Fast in-depth computation of reciprocal object lighting for accurate indoor lighting.
• Radiosity engine optimized for: Indoor or infinite scenery.
• Global ambiance.
• Ambient occlusion with user definable occlusion range.
• HDRI support.
• Image based lighting.
• Background and environment mapping.
• Sub-Surface Scattering: Absorption.
• Sub-Surface Scattering: Multiple Internal Scattering.
• Easy GI single slider Global Illumination render quality setting.
• Illumination baking.
• Illumination baking quality adjustable on a global or per object basis (adjustable map resolution and quality boost).
• Adjustment of Global light intensity.
• Indirect lighting can be ignored on specific objects.
• Influence of specific lights can be ignored from the Radiosity solution.
• Advanced control over the indirect lighting engine.
• Show illumination samples in final render.
• Separate map option for background, IBL and global reflection map channels.
• Shadow and volumetric light optimization for dramatic increase in rendering speed.
• Light gels with realistic projection modes.
• Adjustable light shadow density, negative lights.
• Enable diffuse and highlight on a per-light basis.
• Custom light intensity vs. distance profiles.
• Lights can affect specific objects only.
• Variable light color based on distance to light.
• Area light panel for soft, natural lighting.
• Light emitting objects.
• One-click conversion of objects into light sources.
• Fast, fake caustics in the shadows of transparent materials. Caustics realistically depend on the Index of Refraction.
• Accurate computation of caustics in the shadows of transparent objects.
• Realistic optional "spreading" of the light spectrum in caustics (rainbow-prism effect).
• Per-light adjustment of the quality of soft shadows.
• Complete lens flare system.
• Controllable lens flares per light.
• Lens flare editor.
• Lens flare reflections editor.
• Polygonal reflections.
• Point light, Quadratic point light, Spotlight, Quadratic spotlight, Directional light.
• Lens Glare effect simulates internal lens diffusion.
• Lights can be disabled with a single click.

Atmosphere

• Atmosphere presets: Over 160.
• Ultra-realistic spectral atmosphere model.
• Choice of 4 different types of atmosphere models.
• Volumetric clouds, lights, materials (visible rays, with optional dust).
• Spectral Volume Cloud layers for extremely realistic cloudscapes.
• NEW! Extremely detailed Spectral 3 cloud system (for cloud layers and MetaClouds).
• NEW! Realistic cloud shadowing on objects as well as internal shadowing.
• NEW! Automatic detail refining for very close-up clouds.
• NEW! Cloud anisotropy setting for advanced control of internal light scattering.
• Fast indirect lighting in Spectral and Spectral 2 clouds.
• NEW! Create spherical cloud layers at the surface of your planets.
• NEW! Import real-world cloud density data to recreate existing cloudscapes.
• NEW! Add tornadoes using your favorite paint tool.
• God rays in clouds.
• Fly through clouds.
• Cloud layers near ground simulate fog.
• Realistic "peaking" of mountains through clouds.
• Create multiple layers of overlapping clouds.
• NEW! Efficient model for cross-shadowing of objects on clouds.
• MetaClouds individual cloud formations.
• Library of MetaCloud models.
• Predefined cloud shapes: Over 140.
• Unlimited cloud layers.
• Customize the shape of MetaClouds.
• Stars, rainbows, ice rings.
• Individual lights can illuminate spectral cloud layers and MetaClouds.

EcoSystems

• EcoSystem patented technology to easily distribute millions of objects in scenes.
• Use preset EcoSystem materials to automatically populate your scenes with millions of objects.
• Create EcoSystems from multiple objects.
• Create entire forests of trees.
• Create forests of trees blowing in the wind.
• Scatter millions of animated objects.
• Mix EcoSystems with standard materials.
• Mix several EcoSystems together depending on environment (slope, altitude.
• Automatic placement of EcoSystem population according to a user defined SmartGraph density function (that can depend on position, altitude, slope.
• Advanced coloring control to vary the colors of the population over the EcoSystem.
• Accurate control over the orientation of the EcoSystem population.
• Accurate control over the size and variation in size of the EcoSystem population.
• Automatic decay of EcoSystem density near foreign objects.
• Optional size reduction and color decay at low EcoSystem densities.
• EcoSystem 2 technology: paint instances directly onto objects.
• Add, remove and resize EcoSystem instances interactively.
• Select individual instances or groups of instances and move/rotate/resize them interactively.
• Paint size, color or density of EcoSystems using a pressure sensitive tablet.
• Convert EcoSystem instances to real objects for editing, move them back to the EcoSystem later.
• Paint EcoSystems as individual material layers or on a global basis.
• Layered EcoSystems to control individual EcoSystem populations.
• Control "affinity" between EcoSystem layers.
• Paint EcoSystems from all sides, in any view.
• EcoSystem 3 Technology dynamically populates EcoSystems for potentially unlimited populations.
• Dynamic EcoSystem 3 density adjustments for improved control of density on slopes.
• NEW! Multi-processor EcoSystem population.

Vegetation

• NEW! Ultra-realistic SolidGrowth vegetation: 170+ species.
• Compatible with modified plant species.
• Easy-to-Use Plant Editor for plant customization.
• Instantly create variations of existing plants.
• Plant Editor and Leaf Editor let you modify existing plants or create entirely new plant species.
• Create and save new plant species as stand-alone files for future use in your scenes.
• Support for new, extremely detailed plant species.

Terrains

• Solid3D real-time terrain modeling.
• NEW! Sculpt terrains in all directions.
• NEW! Create overhangs and grottoes.
• NEW! Sculpt, inflate, free form and smooth brushes.
• NEW! User definable brush tip profile.
• NEW! Automatic subdivision of terrain geometry when sculpting.
• NEW! Adaptive subdivision adds polygons only where needed.
• NEW! Edit terrains in context (view entire scene in editor).
• NEW! Option to view terrain clipping planes in editor.
• NEW! Option to display the terrain with a shiny surface to enhance details.
• NEW! Constrain painting and effects to clipping zone.
• NEW! Option to display the terrain in wireframe mode to view polygons.
• NEW! Create edition "zones" to modify procedural terrains locally.
• NEW! Create nested "zones" to build massive detail where needed.
• NEW! Paint material distributions at the surface of terrains.
• NEW! Import, view and edit distribution maps in the Terrain Editor.
• NEW! Terrain effects optionally affect material distribution map.
• Preset terrain styles: 8.
• NEW! Erosion types: 9.
• Geological algorithms: 12.
• Glaciation, alluvium and dissolve erosion effects.
• High definition data in standard terrains.
• Procedural terrains with infinite details.
• NEW! Infinite procedural terrains.
• NEW! Planetary terrain rendering.
• NEW! Flat, spherical and planetary procedural terrains.
• NEW! Switch between flat, spherical and planetary terrains (geometry may be affected).
• Combine image data with procedural functions using dedicated blending nodes.
• Ability to switch from one form of terrain to another easily.
• Skin terrains.
• Symmetrical terrains.
• Pressure-sensitive tablet editing of terrains.
• Customizable brush shape for terrain editing.
• Control distribution of materials on terrains from within the procedural terrain altitude function.
• Control procedural terrain altitudes based on relationships with other objects.
• The altitude of procedural terrains can be dynamically affected by other objects.
• Realistic procedural terrains thanks to new dedicated natural effects noise nodes.
• Infinite and local procedural terrain style presets to easily create each-time-different terrains of the given style.
• Library of procedural terrain presets with associated materials.
• Create your own procedural terrain style presets.
• Efficient displacement mapping of infinitely detailed procedural terrains.
• Procedural terrain preview in function editor.
• NEW! Multi-processor procedural terrain construction.
• NEW! Stratified terrains thanks to the recursive strata filters.

Modeling

• Primitive and Boolean modeling.
• 3D Text edition tool.
• Customizable text beveling, extrusion... and material effects.
• Import Postscript and Illustrator data into the text editor.
• Optimized memory management for handling large polygon meshes.
• True Metablobs organic modeling from all Vue Boolean primitives.
• Adjustable Metablob envelopes and contribution.
• Welding of multiple meshes into a single mesh.
• Random rock generator.
• Multiple planets (moon and other planets of the solar system).
• Create billboards that always face the camera (with a 'force vertical' option).

Rendering

• New radiosity algorithms that dramatically reduce low frequency blotches.
• Generate high-quality indoor and outdoor renders.
• Bucket rendering for lower memory requirements and improved spatial coherence when rendering.
• Indirect lighting calculation can be easily re-used between "tweak" renders.
• Option to update the Indirect lighting "on demand" only.
• One-click displacement mapping.
• Dynamic render-time displacement to handle extremely large "displaced" polygon counts.
• Optional dynamic geometry smoothing to avoid sharp polygonal edges.
• Automatic camera exposure option compensates for the strong variations in illumination between noon and sunset.
• Natural film response.
• Post-render exposure control.
• Use an image or animation as a backdrop for your renders.
• Rendering Presets: OpenGL, preview, final, broadcast, superior, ultra, user settings.
• Render size limitation: Limited by memory only.
• Pictures larger than screen resolution can be rendered to screen.
• Custom render size.
• Navigation inside the rendered picture using pan controls.
• Alpha and Z depth directly computed during the render process.
• Ray-traced depth of field.
• Realistic Hybrid 2.5D depth of field.
• Ray-traced [soft] shadows.
• Advanced soft shadow computation to produce perfectly smooth soft shadows.
• Ray-traced [blurry] reflections and refractions.
• Blurry reflection and refraction settings for each material independently.
• Fake [blurry] reflections using reflection maps.
• AccuShadows shadow mapping technology for faster [soft] shadows.
• Multi pass rendering (separates renders into the different rendering components - shadow, diffuse, ambient, etc.
• Create separate pictures for Diffuse, Specular, Shadows, Ambient, Refractions, Reflections, Background, Indirect Lighting, Post-process.
• Per layer, per object or per material multi-pass masks (fully anti-aliased): Color and alpha.
• NEW! Create a separate color and alpha mask of clouds.
• NEW! Generate color and alpha masks for Global EcoSystem instances.
• Create layers for additional render information such as Z depth, object ID, material ID, global alpha mask, normal vectors.
• Export all channels and masks into a convenient Photoshop PSD multi-channel, multi-mask file.
• Full support of G-Buffer compositing information.
• Store all anti-aliasing and rendering channel samples on separate G-Buffer layers.
• Render occluded objects (on a per object or global basis) to render hidden parts of the scene.
• Render export as RLA or RPF for advanced compositing options.
• Exclude ground from Alpha map option.
• Objects can be easily hidden from render.
• NEW! Hide objects from render and disable lights by clicking their icon in World Browser: Optional.
• Global and per-material reflection maps.
• Rendering in unlimited color depth.
• Optional details in render information panel.
• Panoramic rendering with adjustable rotation angle.
• Spherical panoramic rendering.
• NEW! Multi-processor panoramic rendering.
• Rendering in all views (including orthogonal rendering).
• Render in views can be set to a different quality than normal rendering.
• Stand alone renderer handles rendering while you work on the scene.
• Network rendering of animations.
• Network rendering of pictures.
• Rendering across hybrid network of computers (OS X and Windows).
• Fail-safe HyperVue network rendering.
• Number of render nodes (RenderCow) licenses included in product: 5.
• Maximum number of render nodes: Unlimited (through RenderCow pack expansions).
• SmartCow automatic node detection and activation.
• Hotplug render nodes to add/remove nodes during render: MacOS X and Windows.
• NewCow automatic updating of render nodes.
• Customizable command-line render launching sequence.
• RenderNode optional stand alone renderer for integration in large render farms.
• Render area can be temporarily disabled.
• Render blow-up option.
• Geometry anti-aliasing.
• User definable geometry anti-aliasing: Up to 1024 rays/pixel.
• HyperMipMap material anti-aliasing (including procedural materials).
• User definable anti-aliasing strategies to optimize speed vs. Smoothness.
• Improved anti-aliasing strategies produce much smoother results.
• Optimized render memory management to allow the rendering of very large images.
• Post processing to adjust color, contrast, saturation, gamma.
• Ability to load/save independent post-processing settings.
• Create custom render effects using user-defined python callbacks.
• Ability to resume an interrupted render.
• Generate detailed network rendering logs.
• Real-life camera aberrations (cushioning and barreling).
• Abort rendering on mouse-click in render area: Optional.
• NEW! Easy-to-use camera mapping for retro projection of renders onto simplified geometry.
• NEW! The total amount of RAM allocated to displacement mapping is adjustable.
• NEW! Images can be saved to disk at regular (user definable) intervals during render.
• NEW! Dual destination render option (e.g. display to screen while rendering to disk).
• NEW! Generate detailed log files during network rendering.

Materials

• NEW! Material presets: Over 550.
• Level(s) of material Edition: 4.
• Basic material editor with possibility of importing images as textures and bump maps.
• Advanced procedural material creation/mixing.
• Advanced Material Editor.
• SmartGraph function Editor.
• Control all material parameters via function graphs.
• Advanced SmartGraph input nodes: screen position, angle of incidence, distance to camera, distance on ray, depth in object, distance to object below, incident light angle, light direction, light color, reflected direction, etc.
• Time dependent noises (including animated 'Open Ocean' water node).
• Browse material hierarchy inside material editor, with direct access to sub-materials and layers.
• Layered material system.
• Add names and comments to SmartGraph nodes.
• Individual access to identical material zones.
• Change material settings for several materials simultaneously.
• Stack layers according to alpha, slope, altitude and orientation.
• Alpha (non refractive) transparency channel.
• Color and alpha map editor.
• Rendering of Poser characters using the Poser shading tree.
• Perfect blending of lighting and GI with Poser shading tree.
• Optional texture mip-mapping.
• Global control over the level of mip-mapping.
• 16 bit texture support.
• Materials can be mixed seamlessly.
• Mixed material can be set to react to environment properties (slope, altitude and orientation.
• Material mapping modes (World and Object mapping): standard, cylindrical, spherical, parametric .
• Easy access to all materials in scene.
• Direct access to all materials inside multi-material objects.
• Direct access to all texture maps and imported objects.
• Rotoscoping (Use animations as texture maps).
• Detailed function output observer.
• Detailed node previews in function editor.
• Baking of procedural materials as texture maps.
• Adjustable maximum ray depth and Total Internal Reflections.
• Anti-aliasing can be disabled for given materials.
• Receive shadows material option.
• Shadow only material option.
• Backlight option (for one-sided materials only) for realistic backlighting of opaque materials.
• Mixed/Layered materials displayed as hierarchies in World Browser.
• Volumetric materials.
• Volumetric materials with internal volumetric color and shading.
• Hypertextures.
• Luminous and Glowing materials.
• Easy highlighting of sub-materials and layers to visualize the influence of each material in the final render.
• Ability to map textures only once, controllable independently for each axis.
• Control materials based on the properties of other objects.
• Highly realistic natural material effects thanks to dedicated noise and coloring nodes.
• Easily control bump or displacement amplitude based on slope.
• Option to re-evaluate contribution of materials based on displaced surfaces.
• "Foam" output in Open Ocean node to easily control the distribution of foam on water surfaces.
• NEW! Separate bump and displacement channels.
• NEW! Constrained displacement (horizontal, vertical, etc).
• NEW! Ability to control the direction of displacement through the material graph.
• NEW! Displacement smoothing to eliminate noisy displacement artifacts.
• NEW! Normal mapping.
• NEW! Recursive strata and constrained strata filters for stratified effects.
• NEW! Direct access to the alpha channel in the Advanced Material editor.
• NEW! Per material texture anti-aliasing quality boost.
• NEW! Per material simplification of sub-ray effect calculation.
• NEW! Planetary mapping node with ability to set location of origin (latitude and longitude).

Animation

• Animation output resolution: Limited by memory only.
• Camera animation.
• Animate objects, materials, atmospheres, clouds, waves.
• Import animated Poser characters.
• Intuitive Animation wizard for easy animation setup.
• OpenGL rendering of animations for quick proofing.
• Dynamic Motion Reaction™ easy secondary movement setup.
• Option to ignore time spline when computing motion (e.g. to look forward even when moving back).
• Customizable Dynamic Motion Reaction effects.
• Easy setup of cloud movement using direction and speed of movement controls.
• Rigged Mesh support.
• Animated post-processing effects.
• Camera switcher lets you switch cameras during render (ideal for storyboarding).
• Spin and vibration effects.
• Twinkling stars.
• Automatic synchronization of cameras and lights: With 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Maya, LightWave & Softimage XSI.
• Synchronization data incorporated into scene for easy retrieval.
• Save synchronization data to file for manual loading into Vue.
• Animation export as AfterEffects.
• Import motion tracking information.
• Dynamic Motion blur anti-aliasing reduction.
• Timeline with animation preview.
• Easily change the duration of an entire animation.
• Allow clipping of time slider to animation duration.
• Animation properties in the Timeline.
• Spline time control.
• Field interlacing, non-square pixels, flicker reduction.
• Enhanced time spline editor.
• Advanced flicker reduction options.
• Indirect lighting evaluation mode that reduces pulsation effects.
• Automatic keyframe creation.
• Auto-keyframing can be disabled.
• Copy-pasting of animation keyframes.
• Keyframes can be created for single properties only.
• Graph display of animated parameter values in Timeline.
• Accurate control over tangents and tension of animated parameters curves.
• High precision animation curve control.
• Access to individual coordinates in animation graph.
• Step, linear and smooth interpolation modes.
• Automatic ease-in/ease-out keyframe option.
• Animate rotation using quaternions or Euler angles.
• Action safe and title safe frames and field grids (user configurable).
• Motion-blur on animated mesh deformations.
• Fast Hybrid 2.5D™ motion blur.
• Accurate dithered motion blur.
• Adjustable and animatable amount of motion blur.
• Separate animation channel for camera exposure.
• Automatic simulation of breeze on plants.
• Strong wind effects defined on individual plants or groups of plants.
• Advanced breeze customization with OpenGL preview.
• Animated wind intensity and direction.
• Omni and directional ventilators for local modifications of plants.
• Ventilators can be made to influence EcoSystems.
• Plant geometry key framing for spectacular animated life cycles.
• Ability to mark objects as never becoming animated.
• Object linking and tracking - forward dynamics.
• "Scene graph" approach allows advanced relationships between objects.
• Access and control object properties using SmartGraph.
• NEW! Save and reload entire object graphs in a single file.
• Loose forward dynamics for "real world" linking and tracking.
• "PID" and "Delay" controllers in SmartGraph for improved realism in object interactions.
• Option to output temporary images when network rendering an animation as independent frames.
• Optional display of time code on frames (on a separate layer when rendering as multi-pass).
• Automatically hide time code when rendering to final or better.
• Option to disable or customize padding of frame files.
• Time display as: SMPTE, frame #, time.
• Optional automatic illumination baking of meshes.
• Motion blur on tree deformation.
• Separate animation range and render range.
• NEW! EcoSystem populations can be made to evolve over time.
• NEW! Create custom rigged mesh animations.

User Interface

• Productive, uncluttered interface layout.
• Flat interface design (with optional standard Vue 5-style interface).
• Customizable interface colors.
• Automatic adjustment of interface shortcuts and colors to mimic other 3D applications in your toolkit.
• Re-posing of Poser meshes directly inside Vue.
• NEW! Direct re-posing of rigged meshes.
• NEW! Support for mesh morphs.
• NEW! Select and manipulate bones directly in views.
• NEW! Manipulate bones numerically using the Skeleton editor.
• NEW! Support for wired helpers.
• NEW! Highly optimized mesh skinning for fast refresh during animation scrubbing.
• Efficient memory management: multiple instances of identical objects are stored only once in memory.
• Automatic object instantiation.
• Interactive alignment tool.
• Accurate alignment and drop operations.
• Quick color selection tool with customizable color presets.
• Custom previews can be used to represent saved items.
• Perspective camera view.
• Drag items (e.g. objects, materials...) into your scene from the non-modal browsers.
• Unified light editor.
• Place an image in the background of the OpenGL views for reference.
• Change axis conventions.
• Change order of rotations.
• Change the size of the animation preview in the Timeline.
• Merge scenes.
• Repeat last operation to create an array (extend or subdivide).
• Alt + move object creates a copy of the object.
• Customizable view navigation shortcuts.
• Gizmo object manipulators (optional).
• Adjustable gizmo size.
• NEW! Spherical abstraction gizmos.
• NEW! Dynamic spherical terrain unwrapping allows easy object placement.
• Local, global, camera and parent manipulation modes.
• Multiple object renaming.
• View option menu commands with optional shortcuts.
• Gizmo option menu commands with optional shortcuts.
• Animation option menu commands with optional shortcuts.
• Quick Render option menu commands with optional shortcuts.
• Fully multi-threaded interface for fast response.
• One view/4 view layout.
• Real-time scene preview.
• World Browser scene management.
• Organize objects in layers: Unlimited layers.
• Enhanced World Browser with direct access to materials, texture maps and imported objects for efficient management of complex projects.
• Display material hierarchies with direct access to sub-materials.
• Easy replacement of textures throughout the entire scene.
• Library tab in World Browser shows all objects used several times.
• Easily modify all instances of a reference object using the Library tab.
• Scatter-replicate tool.
• Scatter replicate tool creates variations of plants, terrains, rocks.
• Replication tool with configurable position/size/orientation offset.
• Random scattering and replication of objects.
• Automatic instantiation of scattered/replicated objects.
• Summary of materials to quickly access all materials in the scene.
• Resizable material summary.
• Drop button to easily set objects on the surface of underlying objects.
• Smart drop rests the dropped object on the surface of the underlying object.
• Undo-Redo: Multiple undo-redo.
• Ability to reorganize the view panes.
• Resizable viewports.
• Dockable Timeline.
• Access to all G-Buffer channels and layers in interface.
• NEW! Save individual G-Buffer channels directly from the interface.
• Access to all render passes and masks.
• Access to vertical and horizontal camera fields of view.
• Trackball-type camera operations and advanced camera management grouped into Camera Control Center.
• Each camera possesses a target object for easier aiming and setting of focus point.
• Camera targets can be linked to other objects in the scene (e.g. to automatically keep that object in focus).
• All cameras can appear on screen.
• Camera group manager in World Browser.
• Resizable World Browser and Scene Preview.
• Sort objects by size, name or type.
• Lock or hide entire layers.
• Python scripting.
• Run Cornucopia3D third party Python scripts.
• Directly access frequently used scripts.
• Python console for direct input of Python commands.
• Python functions to add, modify and remove EcoSystem instances.
• NEW! Python nodes that can execute Python code inside graphs, with user definable inputs and outputs.
• Picture printing with user definable DPI resolution.
• User-definable startup scene.
• Real units for object sizes.
• Display measurements as real-world units (metric or Imperial).
• Coherent display of real-world units.
• Set internal units to change the overall scale of scenes.
• Centered or relative to opposite corner object resizing.
• Mesh splitting by material.
• Object decimation for faster scene setup.
• Spotlight view through for accurate aiming (OpenGL only).
• Full-screen mode.
• List of default folders when searching for texture maps.
• Option to recursively search for texture maps in texture folders.
• Optional independent panning and zooming of views.
• Non-modal object editors.
• Objects can be locked or hidden individually in OpenGL views.
• Baking of objects to polygons (including Boolean operations).
• Incorporation of texture maps in scenes.
• User-definable keyboard shortcuts.
• "Only show active layer" preview option.
• Object replacement by other objects.
• When replacing plants, use the geometry of the replaced plants to generate the new plants.
• Automatic detection and creation of new browser collections.
• Cloud layers can be easily hidden/restored.
• Linear and angular snapping grids when moving and rotating objects.
• Customizable linear and angular grid snapping when moving and rotating objects.
• Multiple scene file backup tool.
• Macro recording and playback to automate repetitive tasks.
• Easily access frequently used macros using Macro QuickLaunch dialog.
• Easily access recently created macros.
• Content files accessible from all system accounts.
• Easily change the location of your content folder after installation.
• Rename individual render passes (e.g. "Maple Tree 527" -> "Hero Tree").
• Disable/bypass Visual Browsers completely (e.g. when browsing images).
• Intelligent re-titling of files when saving under new filename.
• Use preset MetaNodes to easily assemble elaborate SmartGraph graphs.
• Group parts of SmartGraph graphs as MetaNodes.
• "Publish" specific MetaNode parameters for easy access from the level above.
• Build your own MetaNodes library of commonly used graph snippets.
• Ability to fix the altitude of the camera above the ground.
• Press "Ctrl" to slow down the controls in the Camera Control Center.
• Dedicated water editor to easily create and adjust infinite water planes.
• Go from still to stormy waters with a single slider.
• Easily add true displacement to the water surface.
• Customize the look of water surfaces using the new MetaWater materials.
• Run several instances of Vue simultaneously.
• Support for 3Dconnexion tracking devices (SpaceNavigator, SpaceExplorer, etc).
• NEW! Automatic renaming of Standalone- and HyperVue-generated frames if overwriting.
• NEW! Automatic renaming of RenderNode-generated frames if overwriting.
• NEW! Global EcoSystem visible as proxy object in World Browser.
• NEW! Select and delete Global EcoSystem instances with one click.
• NEW! Format specific options accessible through a special button in Save file box, and no longer prompted for each time.
• NEW! Adjustable separator in Timeline to change width of animated items list.
• NEW! Material preview option which displays materials mapped onto a small terrain object.
• NEW! Name of atmosphere appears in Atmosphere editor caption.
• NEW! Name of edited function appears in Function editor caption.

Real-Time Preview

• High-speed OpenGL real-time preview engine.
• NEW! Choice of 3 OpenGL engines: shader based, fixed pipeline and software provide optimal quality/compatibility options.
• NEW! Shader-based OpenGL engine maximizes efficiency and visual accuracy on high-end GPUs.
• Completely threaded OpenGL architecture makes the best of multi-core systems.
• Fully customizable OpenGL previewing options.
• Realistic OpenGL preview of plants, planets, lens-flares, texture map atmosphere... with instant and detailed feedback.
• Dual-resolution OpenGL preview for faster response.
• NEW! Preview specular highlights in real time.
• OpenGL preview of EcoSystem instances as billboards, boxes or full geometry.
• NEW! Preview EcoSystem instances as shaded billboards.
• User definable radius around the camera in which EcoSystem instances appear at full resolution.
• NEW! Dynamically populated EcoSystems around the camera can be viewed in viewports.
• NEW! Control minimum size and maximum number of dynamic EcoSystem instances previewed.
• Textured OpenGL preview.
• OpenGL and Wireframe preview modes.
• OpenGL Preview of Boolean operations.
• OpenGL Preview of Metablobs.
• Threaded previewing of procedural terrains with dynamic LOD.
• Anti-aliased real-time OpenGL preview.
• Automatic selection of preview color based on procedural material color.
• Show objects as box, wireframe, shaded or smooth shaded.
• Axis preview in viewports.
• OpenGL and rendered plant preview in Plant Editor.
• NEW! Sky preview with clouds.
• NEW! Realistic MetaCloud preview.
• NEW! Realistic sun shadows.
• NEW! Colored EcoSystem instance preview.
• NEW! Dynamic plant display optimization.
• Decimated object preview for faster previewing.
• Minimum setting for preview frame rate (dynamic preview simplification to maintain frame rate).
• Control over OpenGL clipping planes.
• Selected objects appear with a red wireframe: Optional.
• Parts of selected objects that use the current material appear highlighted: Optional.
• Selection wireframe always appears on top of other objects that are in front: Optional.
• Selected objects are "ghosted" in red.
• NEW! Selection wireframe color is user definable.
• NEW! Highlighted material selection wireframe color is user definable.
• NEW! Bone highlight color is user definable.
• High quality texture and terrain previewing.
• NEW! Rendered images can be displayed in the background of all viewports.
• NEW! Camera mapping preview in real time preview.

Import/Export

• Static Poser scene import.
• Support for Poser dynamic clothes and hair.
• Animated Poser scene import.
• NEW! Support for Poser 8.
• Convert objects from Max into Vue format (requires 3DS Max).
• Compatible with Cornucopia3D cost-effective copy-protected content.
• Cornucopia3D items are identified in the Visual Browsers using a small icon.
• Cornucopia3D content display options in Visual Browsers: "All", "Best Selection" or "None".
• Import options dialog to control imported object position and sizing.
• When loading objects, option to automatically drop them to the ground.
• Motion tracking import: MatchMover (RZML, RZ3), Boujou & SynthEyes (MS).
• 2D Import: BMP, BUM, DEM, EXR, GIF, HDR, IFF, Jpeg, PCX, Pict, PNG, PSD, RLA, RPF, TGA, TGD, Tiff, Vistapro DEM.
• Animated 2D import: Sequence of pictures, MOV (Macintosh only), AVI (Windows only).
• Vector data import: Postscript and Illustrator up to 3.2.
• Exposure and contrast controls in HDRI images.
• Textured model imports as: 3DS, 3DMF, COB, DAE, DEM, DXF, LWO, OBJ, PZ3, PZZ, RAW, SHD, SKP, VRML.
• Textured and animated Collada file import.
• NEW! Support for rigged Collada meshes.
• NEW! Support for Sketchup 7 (Win 32 only).
• 2D Export: Tiff, TGA, Pict, BMP, GIF, EPX, PSD, Jpeg, PNG, PCX, IFF, RLA, RPF.
• Export high dynamic range images (including skydomes).
• Export 48 bit color images.
• High Dynamic Range 2D Export: HDR, EXR.
• NEW! 32 bit resolution, floating point EXR import and export.
• Embed alpha information in Tiff and PNG formats.
• Object export (with textures).
• Optimized object and texture map exports.
• Textured object export as: 3DS, C4D, COB, DXF, LWO, OBJ, SHD.
• Scene export: 3DS, LWS.
• Sky exports as sky-boxes or sky-domes.
• Camera animation export (e.g. to After Effects): Maya MA.
• Object animation export (motion, orientation, size): 3DS, MOT.
• User-definable mesh and texture map resolution for exports.
• Automatic re-importing of externally modified texture maps and 3D objects.
• Objects can be marked as not being exportable.
• Advanced unwrap algorithms for low-distortion UV mapping.

System Resource Management

• Robust threading architecture.
• Texture virtualization allows rendering with extremely high resolution texture maps.
• Geometry virtualization allows rendering of polygon-intensive objects.
• "Purge Memory" command to cleanup memory and reduce fragmentation.
• Automatic memory monitoring system attempts to preserve scene integrity after memory allocation failures.
• Optional compatibility mode minimizes hardware compatibility issues.
• Degraded display mode (dynamic simplification of OpenGL preview when resources become critically low).
• Optional limit on OpenGL polygon count.
• Automatic suspension of mesh simplification, Boolean/Metablob preview and background draw threads when system resources become critically low.
• Automatic software updating (optional).
• Video-board compatibility checking.
• Automatic checking of OpenGL driver compatibility.
• Option to clear OpenGL data before rendering.
• Embedded error-reporting feature to help reduce time-to-fix.
• NEW! User definable maximum video board memory usage.

Miscellaneous

• Multi-processor rendering: Unlimited number of CPUs.
• Hundreds of preset atmospheres, objects, materials.
• NEW! Terrainscapes preset terrain material library.
• NEW! Optimized for PowerPC and Intel Macs: Mac Intel only.
• 64 bit version optimized for Windows XP64 and Vista 64.
• Floating licenses: With optional License Server.
• Licenses can be used as floating licenses when installed in the optional License Server.
• License Server can run as a service.
• Automatic detection of License Server.
• License valid for commercial use.
• Inline help: PDF Manual.
• NEW! Documentation: 668 page manual.
• NEW! Media: 1 Application CD + 1 Extras DVD.

 

©All material in this website is
copyrighted by Paula Sanders 2001-2009