Vue 9.5 Reference Manual

Vue 9.5 Infinite & xStream Reference Manual


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Vue, Vue 9.5, Vue Pioneer, Vue Frontier, Vue Esprit, Vue Studio, Vue Complete, Vue Infinite, xStream, Vue 9 Pioneer, Vue 9 Frontier, Vue 9 Esprit, Vue 9 Studio, Vue 9 Complete, Vue 9.5 Infinite, Vue 9.5 xStream, Mover, SolidGrowth, Dynamic Motion Reaction, Solid3D, RenderCow, SmartCow, NewCow, Hybrid 2.5D, AccuShadows, EasyGI, SmartGraph, EcoSystem, Cornucopia, Cornucopia3d, "The Natural 3D Studio", "Natural 3D", "The Art of Natural 3D", "Solutions for Natural 3D Environments" are trademarks or registered trademarks of e-on software, inc. Windows, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. QuickTime, QuickTime VR, Mac, OS X, OS 9 are registered trademarks of Apple, inc. Flash and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe, Inc. Maya, Softimage and 3ds Max are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. LightWave is a registered trademark of NewTek, Inc. Cinema 4D is a registered trademark of Maxon, Inc. Poser is a registered trademark of Smith Micro Software. RealMovie is a registered trademark of RealNetworks, Inc. All other product and brand names mentioned in this manual are used for identification purposes only. They may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and, as such, remain the exclusive property of their respective holders. Copyright Vue 9.5 Infinite/xStream Program 2011 e-on software, inc. All rights reserved. Vue 9.5 Infinite/xStream Documentation 2011 e-on software, inc. All rights reserved. This manual, as well as the Vue 9.5 Infinite/xStream software described in it is furnished under a license agreement and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license agreement. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent product specification or commitment on the part of e-on software, inc. Algorithms used inside this software were developed for visual performance only, and may not constitute a precise simulation of real phenomena. Warning: This software and the accompanying documentation are protected by U.S. copyright law as well as by international intellectual property conventions. Any reproduction, sale, transfer, transcription, storage in a retrieval system, translation into any language in any form or distribution by any means whatsoever of this software or accompanying documentation, in part or in full, without the prior written permission from e-on software, inc. is strictly forbidden. Any such act shall constitute a copyright violation and shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Printed March 2011

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ContentsGetting StartedWHAT'S NEW IN VUE 9.5 ...................................................................................................... 26 GPU-Accelerated Anti-Aliasing ....................................................................................... 26 Fast Hybrid Depth of Field .............................................................................................. 26 Matte Shadow / Reflection Materials ............................................................................... 26 MDD File Format ............................................................................................................ 27 Velocity Pass in Rendering Buffer.................................................................................... 27 World Browser Accessibility ............................................................................................ 27 Atmosphere Relighting ..................................................................................................... 27 Improved EcoPainting...................................................................................................... 27 Localized Cloud Layers.................................................................................................... 28 Advanced Cloud Control.................................................................................................. 28 Texture Manipulation Dialog........................................................................................... 28 Custom Star Maps ............................................................................................................ 28 Information Strips on Renders ......................................................................................... 28 Multiple UV Layers .......................................................................................................... 28 Other Artistic Control Improvements............................................................................... 29 Other Scenery Creation Improvements ............................................................................ 29 Other Interoperability Improvements............................................................................... 29 WHAT'S NEW IN VUE 9 ......................................................................................................... 29 EcoSystem 4 ..................................................................................................................... 30 HyperBlob Technology..................................................................................................... 31 Terrain Technologies ....................................................................................................... 31 Relighting ......................................................................................................................... 32 Inverse Kinematics ........................................................................................................... 33 Custom Interfaces............................................................................................................. 33 Auto Saving and Scene Snapshots .................................................................................... 33 Rendering Improvements.................................................................................................. 34 Real-World Units.............................................................................................................. 35 Catmull-Clark Subdivision ............................................................................................... 35 Improved Texture Management........................................................................................ 35 Cloud Radiosity................................................................................................................ 36

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New Interface Design ........................................................................................................36 Native Cocoa.....................................................................................................................36 Other Artistic Control Improvements................................................................................37

INTRODUCTION

38

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .......................................................................................................38 INSTALLATION .......................................................................................................................38 Installing Vue 9.5 Infinite..................................................................................................38 Installing Vue 9.5 xStream ................................................................................................39 Default Folders .................................................................................................................39 TECHNICAL SUPPORT.............................................................................................................39 Included Support ...............................................................................................................39 Complimentary 30 Day Maintenance................................................................................40 Advanced Support Options................................................................................................40 Per-Incident Priority Support ...........................................................................................40 Standard Maintenance ......................................................................................................42 Premium Maintenance ......................................................................................................42 When Is The Best Time to Get Under Maintenance? ........................................................42 WELCOME DIALOG ................................................................................................................43 Activating Your Product....................................................................................................43 Feeling "At Home" ............................................................................................................43 Kickstart Tutorial ..............................................................................................................43 CHECKING VIDEO BOARD COMPATIBILITY............................................................................44 UPDATING VUE 9.5................................................................................................................44 Automatic Updates............................................................................................................44 Canceling Updates............................................................................................................45 NewCow Network Updates............................................................................................45 IMPORTING FILES FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS .......................................................................45 Importing Locked Content.................................................................................................45 MEMORY MANAGEMENT AND FAULT PROTECTION ...............................................................46

INTERFACE OVERVIEW

48

DIALOG BAR..........................................................................................................................49 CUSTOMIZING THE INTERFACE ..............................................................................................49 3D VIEWS ..............................................................................................................................49 DOUBLE ACTION ICONS .........................................................................................................54 UNFOLDABLE ICONS ..............................................................................................................55

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TOP TOOLBAR....................................................................................................................... 55 LEFT TOOLBAR ..................................................................................................................... 56 SCENE INFORMATION BAR .................................................................................................... 57 OBJECT PROPERTIES PANEL .................................................................................................. 57 Aspect Tab........................................................................................................................ 58 Numerics Tab ................................................................................................................... 61 Animation Tab.................................................................................................................. 62 CAMERA CONTROL CENTER ................................................................................................. 64 Render Preview ................................................................................................................ 64 Camera Controls .............................................................................................................. 65 WORLD BROWSER ................................................................................................................ 66 Objects Tab ...................................................................................................................... 67 Materials Tab ................................................................................................................... 72 Library Tab ...................................................................................................................... 74 Links Tab.......................................................................................................................... 76 Status Bar ......................................................................................................................... 79 ANIMATION TIMELINE .......................................................................................................... 79 The Main Timeline ........................................................................................................... 80 The Properties Timeline ................................................................................................... 82 The Animation Graph....................................................................................................... 83 The Animation Preview .................................................................................................... 84 VISUAL BROWSERS ............................................................................................................... 85 Collections........................................................................................................................ 85 CORNUCOPIA3D ............................................................................................................... 87

UNDERSTANDING VUE

90

OPERATIONS ......................................................................................................................... 90 Clipping Plane ................................................................................................................. 90 Drag and Drop................................................................................................................. 90 Popup Menus.................................................................................................................... 91 3D COORDINATES ................................................................................................................. 91 World Space ..................................................................................................................... 91 Object Space..................................................................................................................... 91 Material Mapping Coordinates........................................................................................ 92 RAY TRACING ....................................................................................................................... 93 Render Engine.................................................................................................................. 93 Soft Shadows .................................................................................................................... 94

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Blurred Transparencies and Reflections...........................................................................95 Reflection Maps.................................................................................................................96 Depth of Field ...................................................................................................................96 Motion Blur .......................................................................................................................97 Hybrid 2.5D Blurring........................................................................................................98 Lens Flares......................................................................................................................100 Glow................................................................................................................................100 Volumetric Effects ...........................................................................................................101 Caustics...........................................................................................................................103 Ambient Occlusion, Global Illumination and Radiosity..................................................104 HDRI and Image Based Lighting ....................................................................................105 Illumination Baking.........................................................................................................106 Sub-Surface Scattering....................................................................................................107 Displacement Mapping ...................................................................................................108 ADVANCED EFFECTS QUALITY ............................................................................................108 RENDERING INFORMATION ..................................................................................................109 G-Buffer and RLA/RPF File Formats .............................................................................109 Multi-Pass, Masks and PSD File Format .......................................................................110 ECOSYSTEM TECHNOLOGY .................................................................................................111

FRAMING AND PICTURE COMPOSITION

113

MAKING BETTER PICTURES .................................................................................................113 CHOOSING THE VIEWPOINT .................................................................................................113 PICTURE FORMAT ................................................................................................................113 CENTER OF INTEREST ..........................................................................................................114 BALANCE .............................................................................................................................114 LIGHT AND SHAPE ...............................................................................................................115 PATTERNS, COLORS AND TEXTURES ....................................................................................115 THE POWER OF LINES ..........................................................................................................116 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................116

Building ScenesCREATING OBJECTS 119

PRIMITIVE OBJECTS .............................................................................................................119 INFINITE PLANES .................................................................................................................119 ALPHA PLANES ....................................................................................................................120

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TERRAINS ........................................................................................................................... 121 PLANTS ............................................................................................................................... 122 POLYGON MESHES .............................................................................................................. 123 Rigged Meshes ............................................................................................................... 123 3D TEXT ............................................................................................................................. 124 ROCKS ................................................................................................................................ 125 PLANETS ............................................................................................................................. 125 METACLOUDS .................................................................................................................... 125 LIGHTS................................................................................................................................ 126 Simple Light Sources...................................................................................................... 126 Area Lights ..................................................................................................................... 127 GROUP OBJECTS ................................................................................................................. 128 Boolean Operations........................................................................................................ 128 Metablobs....................................................................................................................... 128 Hyperblobs ..................................................................................................................... 128 Working with Group Objects.......................................................................................... 129 VENTILATORS ..................................................................................................................... 129 CAMERAS ........................................................................................................................... 130

EDITING OBJECTS

131

SELECTING OBJECTS ........................................................................................................... 131 Inside the 3D Views........................................................................................................ 131 Inside the World Browser............................................................................................... 131 By Category.................................................................................................................... 132 Walking through a Selection of Objects ......................................................................... 132 Deselecting Everything .................................................................................................. 132 MOVING OBJECTS ............................................................................................................... 132 ROTATING OBJECTS ............................................................................................................ 132 Inside the 3D Views........................................................................................................ 133 RESIZING OBJECTS.............................................................................................................. 133 Inside the 3D Views........................................................................................................ 133 TWISTING OBJECTS ............................................................................................................. 134 Inside the 3D Views........................................................................................................ 134 Using the Numerics Tab ................................................................................................. 134 GIZMO MANIPULATORS ...................................................................................................... 134 Selecting the Appropriate Gizmo ................................................................................... 134 The Position Gizmo ........................................................................................................ 135

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The Rotation Gizmo.........................................................................................................135 The Size Gizmo................................................................................................................136 Gizmo Coordinates .........................................................................................................136 Customizing Gizmo Behavior..........................................................................................137 CHANGING OBJECT MATERIAL ............................................................................................137 CHANGING OBJECT PREVIEW COLOR ..................................................................................138 EDITING LIGHTS ..................................................................................................................138 Lens Flare .......................................................................................................................140 Light Gel .........................................................................................................................141 Volumetric Light .............................................................................................................142 Shadow and Lighting.......................................................................................................143 EDITING TERRAINS ..............................................................................................................143 USGS Digital Elevation Models (DEM) .........................................................................144 EDITING BODIES OF WATER ................................................................................................144 Changing the MetaWater Material .................................................................................146 EDITING PLANTS ..................................................................................................................147 Applying Wind.................................................................................................................147 Editing Plant Geometry...................................................................................................147 EDITING POLYGON MESHES ................................................................................................148 Polygon Mesh Options Dialog ........................................................................................148 Published Parameters .....................................................................................................151 Importing Objects ...........................................................................................................151 Import Options ................................................................................................................152 Poser Import Options......................................................................................................153 Re-Posing ........................................................................................................................155 Rendering Using the Poser Shader Tree.........................................................................156 Direct Re-Posing of Rigged Meshes................................................................................157 Decimating Imported Objects .........................................................................................158 Baking Objects To Polygons ...........................................................................................159 EDITING THE TORUS ............................................................................................................160 Torus Options Dialog......................................................................................................160 EDITING 3D TEXT ................................................................................................................161 EDITING ALPHA PLANES ......................................................................................................161 Alpha Plane Editor..........................................................................................................161 EDITING PLANETS ................................................................................................................162 BOOLEAN OBJECTS ..............................................................................................................163

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Boolean Union ............................................................................................................... 164 Boolean Intersection ...................................................................................................... 164 Boolean Difference......................................................................................................... 164 METABLOBS ....................................................................................................................... 165 Metablob Options........................................................................................................... 166 HYPERBLOBS ...................................................................................................................... 167 Hyperblob Options ......................................................................................................... 167 VENTILATORS ..................................................................................................................... 168 REPLACING OBJECTS .......................................................................................................... 169 SAVING OBJECTS ................................................................................................................ 170 EXPORTING CONTENT ......................................................................................................... 170 Exporting Objects........................................................................................................... 170 Exporting Skies............................................................................................................... 171 Exporting Entire Scenes ................................................................................................. 171 Export Options ............................................................................................................... 172

FRAMING AND RENDERING

176

FRAMING ............................................................................................................................ 176 Using the Camera........................................................................................................... 177 Camera Target ............................................................................................................... 179 Camera Backdrop Options............................................................................................. 179 Camera Manager ........................................................................................................... 180 Advanced Camera Options............................................................................................. 181 Frame Guides................................................................................................................. 185 RENDERING ........................................................................................................................ 186 Bucket Rendering ........................................................................................................... 186 Render Options............................................................................................................... 187 Advanced Effects Options............................................................................................... 198 Anti-Aliasing Options..................................................................................................... 200 Sub-Ray Options............................................................................................................. 204 Blur Rendering Options ................................................................................................. 204 G-Buffer and Multi-Pass Options................................................................................... 206 Post Render Options....................................................................................................... 212 Exporting Pictures.......................................................................................................... 213 Printing Pictures ............................................................................................................ 214 Batch Rendering............................................................................................................. 215

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The EditorsTERRAIN EDITOR 219

TERRAIN TYPES ...................................................................................................................219 Standard Terrains ...........................................................................................................219 Procedural Terrains........................................................................................................220 SPHERICAL TERRAINS ..........................................................................................................222 Creating and Manipulating a Spherical Terrain.............................................................223 Basic Spherical Scene .....................................................................................................223 Planet Spherical Scenes ..................................................................................................223 Planetary Mapping Mode ...............................................................................................224 Objects in Spherical Scenes ............................................................................................224 Atmospheres in Spherical Scenes....................................................................................224 TERRAIN EDITOR .................................................................................................................225 Terrain Map ....................................................................................................................225 Top Toolbar.....................................................................................................................226 Predefined Terrain Styles................................................................................................228 Sculpting Terrains...........................................................................................................232 Brush Editor....................................................................................................................234 Painting Materials ..........................................................................................................235 Procedural Altitudes .......................................................................................................236 Zones ...............................................................................................................................237 Effects..............................................................................................................................238 Exporting Terrain Geometry...........................................................................................241 HINT ....................................................................................................................................242

TEXT EDITOR

243

Toolbar............................................................................................................................243 Text Preview....................................................................................................................245 Text Tab ..........................................................................................................................245 Bevel Tab ........................................................................................................................247 Extrusion Tab..................................................................................................................248 Materials Tab ..................................................................................................................249 Text Styles .......................................................................................................................249

PLANT EDITOR

250

Plant Preview..................................................................................................................250

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Toolbar........................................................................................................................... 251 EDITING PLANTS ................................................................................................................. 252 Trunk and Branches ....................................................................................................... 253 Leaves and Petals........................................................................................................... 255 Creating Variations of the Same Plant........................................................................... 256 Creating New Species..................................................................................................... 257 Exporting Plants............................................................................................................. 257 LEAF EDITOR ...................................................................................................................... 257 RESPONSE TO WIND OPTIONS ............................................................................................ 258

EDITING ECOSYSTEMS

259

ECOSYSTEM PAINTER ......................................................................................................... 259 Painting Tools ................................................................................................................ 260 EcoSystem Population.................................................................................................... 263 Global EcoSystem Object............................................................................................... 264 Global EcoSystems vs. EcoSystem Materials ................................................................. 265 ECOSYSTEM SELECTOR ...................................................................................................... 266 Selecting EcoSystem Instances....................................................................................... 266 Manipulating Selected Instances.................................................................................... 267 EcoSystem Display Options............................................................................................ 268

ATMOSPHERES

269

LOADING AN ATMOSPHERE ................................................................................................ 269 SUN TAB ............................................................................................................................. 270 LIGHT TAB .......................................................................................................................... 271 SKY TAB ............................................................................................................................. 276 CLOUDS TAB ...................................................................................................................... 277 Simple Cloud Animation................................................................................................. 279 Volumetric Clouds.......................................................................................................... 279 Spectral Clouds .............................................................................................................. 279 Cloud Layers as Objects ................................................................................................ 280 Cloud Layer Zone........................................................................................................... 280 FOG AND HAZE TAB ........................................................................................................... 281 Fog ................................................................................................................................. 281 Haze ............................................................................................................................... 282 SKY, FOG & HAZE TAB....................................................................................................... 283 WIND TAB .......................................................................................................................... 286

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Adjusting Breeze .............................................................................................................286 EFFECTS TAB .......................................................................................................................289 SAVING AN ATMOSPHERE ....................................................................................................294

LIGHT EDITOR

295

LENS FLARE TAB .................................................................................................................295 LENS FLARE REFLECTIONS EDITOR .....................................................................................298 GEL TAB ..............................................................................................................................301 VOLUMETRIC LIGHT TAB ....................................................................................................302 Volumetric Light Controls...............................................................................................302 SHADOW TAB ......................................................................................................................303 LIGHTING TAB .....................................................................................................................307 INFLUENCE TAB ...................................................................................................................308

MATERIAL EDITOR

310

COMMON MATERIAL CONTROLS .........................................................................................311 BASIC MATERIAL EDITOR ...................................................................................................315 Simple Materials in Basic Editor ....................................................................................316 Mixed Materials in Basic Editor .....................................................................................318 Layered Material in Basic Editor....................................................................................318 ADVANCED MATERIAL EDITOR ...........................................................................................319 Driving Material Settings with Functions .......................................................................319 Published Parameters .....................................................................................................320 SIMPLE MATERIALS .............................................................................................................320 Color & Alpha.................................................................................................................320 Texture Placement Editor ...............................................................................................323 Animated Texture Options...............................................................................................325 Bumps..............................................................................................................................326 Highlights........................................................................................................................329 Transparency ..................................................................................................................330 Reflections.......................................................................................................................333 Translucency ...................................................................................................................334 Effects..............................................................................................................................336 Environment ....................................................................................................................339 MIXED MATERIALS .............................................................................................................340 Materials to Mix..............................................................................................................341 Influence of Environment ................................................................................................342

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VOLUMETRIC MATERIALS .................................................................................................. 344 Color and Density .......................................................................................................... 344 Large Scale Density ....................................................................................................... 347 Lighting and Effects ....................................................................................................... 348 ECOSYSTEMS ...................................................................................................................... 351 General........................................................................................................................... 352 Temporary Global Settings for Quality Display of EcoSystems..................................... 356 Density ........................................................................................................................... 356 Scaling & Orientation .................................................................................................... 359 Color .............................................................................................................................. 361 Presence ......................................................................................................................... 363 LAYERED MATERIALS ........................................................................................................ 364 Multi-Layer Materials .................................................................................................... 364

EDITING FUNCTIONS

366

Description ..................................................................................................................... 366 The Basics ...................................................................................................................... 366 SmartGraph................................................................................................................ 369 PRESENTATION ................................................................................................................... 370 Top Toolbar.................................................................................................................... 370 Nodes Toolbar................................................................................................................ 372 Function Graph .............................................................................................................. 376 Node/Link Details........................................................................................................... 378 METANODES ...................................................................................................................... 379 SCENE GRAPH APPROACH .................................................................................................. 381 Object Graphs ................................................................................................................ 382 FUNCTION NODE PREVIEW ................................................................................................. 384 FUNCTION OUTPUT OBSERVER ........................................................................................... 385 NOISE NODES ..................................................................................................................... 386 Common Parameters...................................................................................................... 386 Cellular Patterns ............................................................................................................ 386 Distributed Patterns ....................................................................................................... 390 Flat Patterns................................................................................................................... 395 Line Patterns .................................................................................................................. 396 Math Patterns................................................................................................................. 397 Other Patterns ................................................................................................................ 400 Perlin Noises .................................................................................................................. 400

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Square Patterns...............................................................................................................402 FRACTAL NODES .................................................................................................................403 COLOR NODES .....................................................................................................................419 Color Creation Nodes .....................................................................................................419 Color Correction Nodes..................................................................................................421 TEXTURE MAP NODES .........................................................................................................423 Mapping Nodes ...............................................................................................................423 UV Coordinates Node .....................................................................................................427 FILTER NODES .....................................................................................................................428 Environment Sensitive Filters .........................................................................................428 Recursive Nodes ..............................................................................................................430 Other Filters....................................................................................................................432 CONSTANT NODES ...............................................................................................................436 TURBULENCE NODES ...........................................................................................................437 COMBINER NODES ...............................................................................................................441 MATH NODES ......................................................................................................................444 Conversions.....................................................................................................................444 Vector Operations ...........................................................................................................445 Other Math Nodes ...........................................................................................................447 DYNAMICS NODES ...............................................................................................................448 EXAMPLES ...........................................................................................................................451 Creating Turbulence .......................................................................................................451 Slope Dependent Scale....................................................................................................451 Variable Color-Texture Mapping....................................................................................451

EDITING FILTERS

453

Description......................................................................................................................453 Profile Tab ......................................................................................................................455 Influence of Environment Tab .........................................................................................457

EDITING COLOR MAPS

459

Description......................................................................................................................459 SELECTING COLORS .............................................................................................................461 Quick Color Selection .....................................................................................................461 Color Selection Dialog....................................................................................................462

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SUMMARY OF MATERIALS OPTIONS AND PREFERENCES

464 465

General Preferences Tab................................................................................................ 465 Display Options Tab....................................................................................................... 470 Units and Coordinates Tab ............................................................................................ 477 Operations Tab............................................................................................................... 479 INTERFACE COLORS ............................................................................................................ 481 GAMMA OPTIONS DIALOG .................................................................................................. 483

SCATTER/REPLICATE OBJECTS

485

Scatter Objects Tab ........................................................................................................ 485 Replicate Objects Tab .................................................................................................... 486

MACROS

487

Recording Macros .......................................................................................................... 487 Playing Macros .............................................................................................................. 487 Macro QuickLaunch....................................................................................................... 487

Animating ScenesANIMATING FROM SCRATCH 491

ANIMATION PROPERTIES TAB ............................................................................................. 491 Types of Motion.............................................................................................................. 491 ANIMATION WIZARD .......................................................................................................... 493 Step 1: Introduction........................................................................................................ 493 Step 2: Selecting a Motion.............................................................................................. 494 Step 3: Global Animation Settings ................................................................................. 494 Step 4: Advanced Effects ................................................................................................ 496 Step 5: Object Path ........................................................................................................ 498 Step 6: Animation Setup ................................................................................................. 500 Step 7: Animation Preview ............................................................................................. 500 Step 8: Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 500

ANIMATING WITH THE TIMELINE

501

Navigating Inside the Animation .................................................................................... 501 Keyframes....................................................................................................................... 502 Animation Properties ..................................................................................................... 502

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ANIMATING OBJECTS...........................................................................................................505 Creating the Animation ...................................................................................................505 Working with Keyframes .................................................................................................506 Editing Paths in 3D Views ..............................................................................................510 Changing Rigged Mesh Motion.......................................................................................511 Multi-Spins ......................................................................................................................511 Animating Terrain Geometry ..........................................................................................511 Animating Plants.............................................................................................................512 Animating Torus Thickness .............................................................................................513 Camera Switching ...........................................................................................................513 Animated Post Processing and Motion-Blur Length.......................................................514 ANIMATING MATERIALS ......................................................................................................515 Material Surface Animation ............................................................................................515 Material Velocity Animation ...........................................................................................516 Complete Material Animation.........................................................................................517 SmartGraph Material Animation ....................................................................................517 Published Parameters for Animated Materials...............................................................517 ANIMATED ECOSYSTEM POPULATION .................................................................................518 ANIMATING THE ATMOSPHERE ............................................................................................518 Atmosphere Keyframes....................................................................................................518 Animating Clouds............................................................................................................519 Animating the Sun ...........................................................................................................519 WORKING WITH ANIMATIONS..............................................................................................519 Pasting Animation...........................................................................................................519 Destroying Item Animation .............................................................................................520 Shifting the Start of an Animation ...................................................................................520 Changing the Duration of an Animation.........................................................................521 USING TIME SPLINES ...........................................................................................................521 Editing Time Splines .......................................................................................................521 ANIMATION TOOLBOX .........................................................................................................525 Motion Options Dialog ...................................................................................................526 LINKING AND TRACKING .....................................................................................................528 Loose Linking and Tracking............................................................................................529 Forward Dynamics Options ............................................................................................529 Camera Mapping ............................................................................................................531 RENDERING THE ANIMATION ...............................................................................................532

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Animation Render Options ............................................................................................. 532 Advanced Animation Options......................................................................................... 537 Animation Preview Options............................................................................................ 539 Recovering TMP Files from an Aborted Render ............................................................ 540 TECHNICAL NOTES ............................................................................................................. 540 SYNCHRONIZING CAMERAS AND LIGHTS ............................................................................ 540 Installing Plug-Ins.......................................................................................................... 541 Generating Synchronization Data.................................................................................. 541 Synchronizing Objects.................................................................................................... 541 Importing Motion Tracking Information ........................................................................ 542 Importing Vertex Keyframe Animation .......................................................................... 543

TutorialsINTRODUCTION 547

QUICK REFERENCE HOW-TOS ........................................................................................... 547 Rendering and Saving a Picture..................................................................................... 547 Rendering a Full Screen Picture .................................................................................... 547 Rendering a High Resolution Picture............................................................................. 548 Creating a Rock Material............................................................................................... 548 Mapping a Material Using a Picture ............................................................................. 548 Creating Fog at Low Altitudes ....................................................................................... 549 Making a Custom Canyon Terrain ................................................................................. 549 Creating Terrains with Snow Covered Tops .................................................................. 550 Adding a Sense of Depth to Scenes................................................................................. 551 Mixing Materials with Tilted Stratum ............................................................................ 551 Creating Undulated Furrows ......................................................................................... 551 Adding Color Variations to Materials............................................................................ 552 Modifying a Terrain ....................................................................................................... 552 Modifying a Terrain Externally...................................................................................... 553 Importing Multi-Part DEMs........................................................................................... 553

ELABORATE FEATURE TUTORIALS

554

BOOLEAN OBJECTS ............................................................................................................. 554 Building a Simple House ................................................................................................ 554 CLIPPING TERRAINS ............................................................................................................ 555 Making a Stone Arch ...................................................................................................... 555

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FUZZY MATERIALS ..............................................................................................................556 Modeling Clouds .............................................................................................................556 ADDITIVE MATERIALS .........................................................................................................558 Faking Volumetric Lights................................................................................................558 USING PICTURES INSIDE SCENES .........................................................................................559 Making a Road Sign ........................................................................................................559 Glowing Neon Lights.......................................................................................................560 DISTANT PLANETS ...............................................................................................................561 UNDERWATER SCENERY ......................................................................................................562 SIMULATING RAIN ...............................................................................................................563 CONVINCING IMAGE BASED LIGHTING ................................................................................564 VARYING MATERIALS ON ECOSYSTEM POPULATIONS ........................................................565 CREATING A PISTON RIG .....................................................................................................566 INTERACTIVE PROCEDURAL TERRAIN MODELING ...............................................................569 PAINTING MATERIALS ON TERRAINS ...................................................................................571 CAMERA MAPPING ..............................................................................................................572 ANIMATED DYNAMIC ECOSYSTEMS ....................................................................................575 CLOUDS MODULATING WITH LANDSCAPES .........................................................................578 CREATING A PLANET ...........................................................................................................580

BUILDING A COMPLETE SCENE

583

SHAPING OUT THE FOREST ...................................................................................................583 ADDING A DISTANT BACKGROUND .....................................................................................584 TUNING THE ATMOSPHERE ..................................................................................................584 ADDING VEGETATION .........................................................................................................585 IMPORTING THE SUBJECT .....................................................................................................586 TUNING THE LIGHT ..............................................................................................................586

ANIMATION TUTORIALS

588

A PURSUIT ...........................................................................................................................588 GETTING A SPIN ...................................................................................................................590 OPENING A WINDOW ...........................................................................................................591 MORPHING TERRAINS ..........................................................................................................592 ANGULAR PATHS .................................................................................................................593 DROP AND BOUNCE .............................................................................................................594 FLICKERING LIGHTS ............................................................................................................596 ANIMATING A FISH ..............................................................................................................598

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A STEAM POWER TRAIN ..................................................................................................... 600 MAKING WAVES ................................................................................................................. 602 ANIMATING CLOUDS .......................................................................................................... 604 MOVING CAUSTICS ............................................................................................................. 605 STONED FROG ..................................................................................................................... 606 ANIMATING GROUPS AND BOOLEAN OBJECTS.................................................................... 607 USING SPIN AND VIBRATE EFFECTS.................................................................................... 608 DYING PLANTS ................................................................................................................... 610 ANIMATING AN OCEAN ....................................................................................................... 611 USING ANIMATED BILLBOARDS TO CREATE A FIRE ............................................................ 612 DYING FLESH...................................................................................................................... 614 LOOSE DYNAMICS .............................................................................................................. 615 CRASHING METEOR ............................................................................................................ 616

AppendicesMOUSE AND KEYBOARD OPERATIONS 621

Mouse Operations .......................................................................................................... 621 Mousewheel Operations ................................................................................................. 623 Keyboard Operations ..................................................................................................... 623

VUE 9.5 XSTREAM

626

Standalone and Integrated Modes.................................................................................. 626 Vue 9.5 xStream Licenses............................................................................................... 626 Vue 9.5 xStream Installation .......................................................................................... 626 Supported Versions of the Host Applications................................................................. 628 Adding the Vue xStream Menu and Toolbars................................................................. 628 XSTREAM INTEGRATION ..................................................................................................... 633 Vue 9.5 xStream Commands........................................................................................... 634 Vue Dialogs.................................................................................................................... 636 Proxy Objects ................................................................................................................. 636 xStream Proxy Objects ................................................................................................... 637 Editing the Vue Elements ............................................................................................... 638 Special Case for Lights and Cameras ............................................................................ 638 Animating Your Vue Elements........................................................................................ 639 Further Edition of the Vue Scene ................................................................................... 639 Display of the Proxy Objects.......................................................................................... 640

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Editing Proxy Objects .....................................................................................................641

ABOUT XSTREAM INTEGRATION

642

Where is the Vue Interface? (Vue 6 xStream Users) .......................................................642 Scene Updates .................................................................................................................642 Versioning .......................................................................................................................643 XSTREAM DIALOGS .............................................................................................................644 xStream Options Dialog..................................................................................................644 General Tab ....................................................................................................................644 Render Options Tab ........................................................................................................648 xStream Light Options Dialog.........................................................................................650 Vue Scene Options Dialog ..............................................................................................652 xStream Render Options Dialog .....................................................................................653 Export Animation to Vue.................................................................................................653 XSTREAM ECOSYSTEM PAINTER .........................................................................................654 RENDERING WITH VUE 9.5 XSTREAM ..................................................................................655 Render Quality ................................................................................................................656 G-Buffer and Multi-Pass .................................................................................................657 Post-Processing ..............................................................................................................657 Advanced Rendering Effects............................................................................................658 SAVING YOUR WORK WITH VUE 9.5 XSTREAM ...................................................................660

E-ON LICENSE SERVER

663

Node-Locked vs. Floating Licenses.................................................................................663 About the License Server.................................................................................................663 Using a Floating License from Vue.................................................................................663

NETWORK RENDERING

665

RenderCows vs. RenderNodes.........................................................................................665 DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................................................665 HyperVue Network Rendering Manager .....................................................................665 RenderCow..................................................................................................................666 Additional RenderCow Licenses .....................................................................................666 Installing RenderCow Packs ...........................................................................................667 SETTING UP RENDERCOWS .................................................................................................667 Installing a RenderCow...................................................................................................667 Launching RenderCows at Boot......................................................................................667 RenderCow Port Numbers ..............................................................................................668

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RenderCow Processor Count ......................................................................................... 668 Installing a RenderCow on the Computer Running Vue ................................................ 668 RENDERING WITH HYPERVUE........................................................................................ 669 Configuring HyperVue ............................................................................................... 669 Putting RenderCows to Work ......................................................................................... 670 Starting a Render ........................................................................................................... 670 Monitoring the Render Farm ......................................................................................... 670 Aborting a Render .......................................................................................................... 670 MANAGING RENDERCOWS ............................................................................................. 671 Showing RenderCow Status............................................................................................ 671 Adding RenderCows During Render .............................................................................. 671 Shutting Down a RenderCow ......................................................................................... 671 Updating RenderCows ................................................................................................... 671 RENDERNODES ................................................................................................................... 672 RenderNode Network Options........................................................................................ 672 Sample Setup for BackBurner ........................................................................................ 674 Setting Up RenderNodes ................................................................................................ 675 Controlling RenderNodes via Command Line................................................................ 675 XSTREAM NETWORK RENDERING ....................................................................................... 676 Saving Native Scenes for Network Rendering ................................................................ 676 Vue 9.5 xStream Licenses for Network Rendering ......................................................... 676 Setting-up Your Workstation for a Network Render....................................................... 676 Behavior without License ............................................................................................... 677 Rendering with Mental Ray Satellites ............................................................................ 677

PYTHON SCRIPTING

679

Python Scripts ................................................................................................................ 679 Running Python Scripts.................................................................................................. 680 Startup Scripts................................................................................................................ 680 Running Python from Command Line ............................................................................ 680 Creating Python Scripts ................................................................................................. 681 Python Console .............................................................................................................. 681 Python Documentation................................................................................................... 681

HOT TIPS

682

Resuming Render............................................................................................................ 682 Using Layers for Faster Display .................................................................................... 682

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Resuming Animation Render...........................................................................................682 Using Motion Blur in Still Pictures.................................................................................682 Avoiding Object Detection in Wizard..............................................................................683 Rendering Time Dependent Materials ............................................................................683 Reducing Animation Render Times .................................................................................683 Compressing Video .........................................................................................................684

TROUBLESHOOTING

685

Scenes Take Ages to Render............................................................................................685 Camera Moves by Itself...................................................................................................686 Bright Fringes Appear at Wall Base in Radiosity ...........................................................686 Render Time Estimation Is Pessimistic ...........................................................................686 Long Preparation Time for Small Image ........................................................................686 Program Crashes Randomly ...........................................................................................686 Noise Appears in Volumetric Effects...............................................................................687 Atmosphere Is Different in Preview and Final................................................................687 Undesired Lens Flares Appear on Lights........................................................................687 Missing Details ...............................................................................................................687 Vector Graphics Dont Load in Text Editor....................................................................688 Invisible Objects..............................................................................................................688 Unable to Select Objects .................................................................................................688 Objects Dont Render......................................................................................................688 Close-up Materials Look Like Tiles ................................................................................688 Look Ahead Objects ........................................................................................................689 Objects Overreact to Motion...........................................................................................689 Materials Dont Move With Objects ...............................................................................689 Objects Keep Getting Animated ......................................................................................689 Animations Flicker ..........................................................................................................690 Animations Pulsate..........................................................................................................691 Dark Triangles Appear on Terrains................................................................................691 Wrong Material Scale .....................................................................................................692 Soft Shadows Look Noisy ................................................................................................692 Vue Objects Lose Relative Positions ...............................................................................692 RenderCow Not Responding ...........................................................................................692 Unable to Export Object .................................................................................................693 Maya Mental Ray Renders Black ....................................................................................693 Native Objects Dont Reflect xStream Objects................................................................693

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Volumetric Plugin Conflict............................................................................................. 693

INDEX LICENSE AGREEMENT

694 703

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Section 1

Getting Started

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What's New in Vue 9.5The new features in 9.5 are: GPU Anti-Aliasing Fast Hybrid Depth of Field Matte Shadow MDD File Format Velocity Pass World-Browser Accessibility (in Vue xStream) Atmosphere Relighting Improved EcoPainting Localized Cloud Layers Advanced Cloud Control Interactive Texture Placement

GPU-Accelerated Anti-AliasingVue 9.5 will now use the additional processing power provided by your GPU to accelerate the antialiasing of thin polygon meshes. As a result, anti-aliasing of such components is faster and produces much smoother results (with no missing parts in animations). For more information, refer to page 195.

Fast Hybrid Depth of FieldVue 9.5 features a new method for rendering depth of field swiftly while optimizing visual accuracy. This new technique represents a good alternative to blurring the picture in post, as it replicates depth of field effects that cannot be achieved this way (such as hidden objects becoming visible through the blur). For more information about this feature, refer to page 99.

Matte Shadow / Reflection MaterialsVue 9.5 now features the ability to create matte shadow or reflection materials that generate all inf

Vue 9.5 Reference Manual

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