Vue 6- Will It Be Feasable??

[wckedsunny]

Well Vue 6 Is Gonna Come Out Within Few Days Probably But How Many Of You Think It Is Feasable For An Individual To Buy It? Almost 1000 $ ?

What Abt The Lower Versions Are They Still Good To Be Used If You Get It For Low Price ?

In vue 5 which one is betetr infinte or Espirit ??

[Plakkie]

I own Vue 5 Infinite; quite solid nowadays. I am not using it much though. Although the results you can get are very good, I find it very slow in rendering (quite logical with 80.000.000 poly's in a scene. I'd like to use it for small animations, but on my 3.4Ghz computer it takes to long to render it out.
My opinion: in Vue you can create stunning scenery in a short time, but getting it into a project is a pain.
Vue 6 looks great, Ecosystems are so much fun, but I expect still longer rendertimes.

[wckedsunny]

how much ram you ahve?

maybe its becaus eof ram its taking so much time?

exactly the render speed depends on what ?

[wckedsunny]

more importantly how do I learn it ?

there arent any tutorial with the trial, its anyhow damn confusing like max and maya.

I love zbrush for its ui :)

[lemonnado]

I second Plakkie.
It's nice for landscapes but animations are a pain. I use it to render a landscape and then also render the depth map and use that to composite everything together. I would not buy it again. I have better results in the meantime integrating Mojoworld in a similar and equal painful way.

Recently I got the VUE plugin for Cinema4D. It's a beta but looks nice. That integrates the VUE contents nicely into my C4D scenes. However, it's beta. I am waiting for V6...

So... I'd wait. And if you look for Landscape's check out terragen or mojoworld.

Cheers
Lemo

[wckedsunny]

Lemo you confusing me.

Few months back it was you who actually told me about VUE.

I have checked mojoworld but didnt find it that realistic as Vue.

See Vue is gonna be a long term investmnet from my side for making small animation and ads.

Do give me your opinion which software I should be going for then ?

and what other softwares as max and maya are actually out of reach.

[Erklaerbar]

what is the main focus of your planned work? If it doesnt involve realistic landscapes as absolutely necessary, i´would go for carrara instead. Keep in mind though, that regardless of the application it will be a pain to render animations without a render farm! If you are looking into creating stills, thats not so much of a problem however.

[lemonnado]

Lemo you confusing me.

Few months back it was you who actually told me about VUE.



XSI... that was XSI. VUE is not a choice for animation. Even a camera fly through is painful. In any case, there is no rigging of characrters in VUE. You have to import character animation. There is a way to import poser animation.

XSI with the version 5.11 for about 500$ is the best value you can get. Mental Ray as render engine has a lot of power, besides that you can model, UV map, and animate. There is also a cheap hair module now from Ben Rogal. XSI with BHairy is the best deal right now.

BUT try it out first. There is a trial version at softimage.com. XSI is complex. Not more or less than other packages but it is complex. And before you sink money into something. test drive it.

Cheers
Lemo

[wckedsunny]

lemo you told me XSI for rigging.

for backgrounds you told me VUE.


I am gettign very confused.

Ok forget about everyother software, just think I am asking you to give me a sofwtares list for a small individual studio setup -

which softwraes u will recommend for

1) modeling

2) texturing

3) rigging

4)backgrounds

5) special/post effects

You are very experinced so give me your choice, which you would like buying.

[Erklaerbar]

i can tell you what i have and im happy with it, although not very experienced yet. So take my words with a grain of salt:

modelling=
Hexagon, that thing just rocks beside some bugs
Zspheres are cool too, with the new version there will be some powerful new modelling tools

texturing= Zbrush, no question, i hate to setup UVs, GUV tiles just rock, although there are some drawbacks. You should have at least photoshop elements at start too. For 16bit and above stuff youll need CS2 :cry:

animation+ rendering = XSI, very powerful for the price (plus it can cover modelling tasks too)

postwork= For stills photoshop (or PS elements, or gimp if you want to go open source). For animations after effects or shake.

[Erklaerbar]

forgot, you could replace XSI with carrara if you really are on a budget. The drawbacks here are the not so sure future of carrara in DAZs hands. And Mental ray is just faster and has more features. Other than that Carrara is still quite a funky application.

[wckedsunny]

I would also like the ratio of compatible softwares as for any production house time is money, so obviosuly softwares which will be able to used togtehr in a much faster amnner without wastge of time.

Especially zbrush. :)

[Erklaerbar]

then there is only one answer: XSI foundation.

[wckedsunny]

Ok for rigiging and rendering xsi( with vue plugin if available)

I am abit dicy about the postefefcts -

speacilly smoke and fur motiona nd all kind of crazy effects- which will work beetter with zbrush and xsi ?

[lemonnado]

I am gettign very confused.


Don't get confused...

It all depends what you will do in the end. I know you are on a budget. And considering your function wish list I can show you the solution with the most functions for the lowest price.

XSI 5.11 Foundation: 500$
Covers modeling, rendering, rigging, and a few other things:
http://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/pricing_and_packaging/model_comparison/Default.aspx
If you need artificial landscapes on a budget... go for:
http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/
Here is even a XSI importer for that. (Did not try it out yet.....)
http://www.guruware.at/main/index.html

With Zbrush you have organic modeling and texturing and UV generation and displacement map and normal map generation which fit's to XSI.
XSI has a UV layout program and there is a free pelting tool for it if organic shapes are to complex for the build in UV editor.

Add the BHairy module from Ben and you are very well set for much less than 1000$ (not including Zbrush).

All runs on PC. You are on a PC right?!

And go, and try out XSI. It's has a LOT of contents. There are MANY tutorials out there. But you have to SEE and USE it to make up your mind.

You have many more options for rendering. That's a good thing and you can pretty much do everything you like. But first you have to understand those options. In Zbrush you model, press a button and there is simply NO WAY that your first model looks very very bad. IN XSI, the first model made me throw up becuase XSI is not setting a stage for you. You have to set it up. Then... it's excellent. Till then it is exactly as good as your skills are. Having that written.... I am experimenting quite a bit myself. But the renders do not make me sick anymore 8-).

Cheers
Lemo

[wckedsunny]

Ah thanks Lemo

skills ? i ahve no skills when it comes to softwares like this.

Its gonna abe a turmoil for sure, but will learn it, important for future.

atleast i wont be modeling in it,will try to get a base mesh and do detailing in zbrush and just import in.

But what about the post eeffcts softwares?

At the end its the eeffcts which makes an animation more appelaing to normal people.

[wckedsunny]

well i am downlaoding XSI trial version now, putting in my head for as much time as I get, have to launch my comic also this month.

XSI will take time and lot of my energy just like maya and max, hope it doenst become boring like them. :)

[lemonnado]

XSI will take time and lot of my energy just like maya and max, hope it doenst become boring like them. :)

No, it will not be boring, it will make you feel alive again! It will make your blood boil, bring tears into your eyes (of joy and of despair), challenge you on many levels. And maybe lead to great results ;-). Take it easy and don't get frustrated. check out the XSI section in cgtalk and the xsibase. Nice people there if you get stuck.

And I tend do disagree a bit regarding the effects... IMHO it is the story which is the central part. If you have a great story you can have match stick men telling it and it will be great. If the story sucks however, you better have the special effects hahaha.

Have to run...
Lemo

[Plakkie]

Hehe, Lemo is winning another soul!

Although I know I'm to late, here's my opinion. Personally, I use Lightwave and Zbrush to make whatever I want, and so far it works great; really haven't had need for more programs. Lightwave doesn't have the same reputation as the 'big boys', but it's a good allround package for very little money. Plus, in my opinion, it has a very good modeler and it's developing fast these days.

I had to make a landscape some time ago, and I tried and tried in Vue and didn't get what I wanted. Then I used Zbrush and had results in an hour. :cool:

[lemonnado]

Na, no soul catcher for SoftImage... I fully agree on Lightwave. The problem is that it's about 900$. Not the cheapest power solution.

However.... XSI has no update path for Foundation. So if you think you need the new sexy version.. then you have to pay for a new Fnd license again. Also to consider is the fact that one cannot sell Fnd. Only Essentials and Advanced.

I do not know how Newtek works with updates regarding LW9.

Cheers
Lemo

[wckedsunny]

and I ahve tried lightwave, its even more complex then maya. :o

Have installed XSI , at least its installation looks better then max and maya lols :)


Lemo I can understand the story part, but soemtimes espeacilly for ads you have to use, lightning effects and smokes and explosions... so I think I have to have atleast one of posteffect softwares ??

dont you think so ?

[Plakkie]

Lemmo, I misjudged you, my apolagies. ;)

I bought LW8, got the LW9 upgrade for free, and the point upgrades will be free for 9 owners too. Have to pay a little bit to get LW10 I expect; they can't work for free at Newtek. :lol:

As for difficulty: I think all these 3D programs have a learning curve. I choose LW for its (then) cheap price and its active and helpfull community (same reasons I bought Zbrush too). Plus: they had a deal where you got Vue5 infinite for free if you bought LW, which wasn't to be sneezed at. I learned LW from the diverse tutorials found on the internet, and I expect you can do that with XSI as well.

XSI is new, looks good and has a cheap entrylevel. I do think they should give a refund for upgraders though.
As for explosions and smokes: I make my own in LW, though it takes some time. I guess you can do those things in every 3D program. Post works quicker offcourse.

[lemonnado]

Lightning, smoke.... almost always looks the best with a post program. But it's hard to make it look integrated. I am not a specialist in that. Tried a few things but did not excel in it. For stills I swear on Photoshop. For animations... someone else has to make a good solid recommendation. I did particle stuff in XSI and was more than happy. Others say that other progs can do more realistic stuff. But often... my 'stuff' is not realistic and the effects at hand are more than perfect. It all comes back to a specific use and a project. One has to look at all sorts of trial versions...

And yes, as with all the progs, there are plenty of tutorials for LW,XSI,Max,Maya for free on the web. Takes a bit research but it's not to hard.

Good luck getting your toolkit together. And take what you like and what you think will work for you. Advice is always very much tainted by a narrow view on a selection of the mad variety out there.

Lemo

[kuuan]

Don't get confused...


Here is even a XSI importer for that. (Did not try it out yet.....)
http://www.guruware.at/main/index.html

you should try it out
I am sure you will be amazed...just as I am when the developer of this plug-in, a dear friend of mine, shows me how much better his - free stuff - is working than expensive software.