Vue 6 was introduced at Siggraph and began shipping during the last part of 2006. The software is used for creating, animating and rendering natural 3D environments and the release brought numerous enhancements. We will soon be doing a review of the new version, but in the meantime here is an overview of what the latest release offers.
We recently looked at Vue 5, at Siggraph 2006 a new version was shown. Here are some of the new features that will be available in Vue 6*:
EcoSystems Generation II with interactive real-time EcoSystem painting and layered EcoSystem materials
Spectral atmosphere engine with Spectral clouds and MetaCloud technologies
Flicker-free SolidGrowth 4 plant technology
Ventilators for local wind effects
An entirely re-written radiosity engine for fast indoor and outdoor realistic lighting
New animation graph editor for precise control over keyframes and time curves
Absorption and multiple internal scattering (Sub-Surface Scattering)
Large Amplitude displacement mapping
Volumetric shaders and HyperTextures
Motion Tracking import from Boujou or MatchMover
Multi-shape area Lights (convert any object into a light emitter)
Re-posing of Poser characters directly inside Vue
Vue Infinite and xStream are e-on software’s flagship solutions for the creation, animation and rendering of natural 3D environments. ILM produced over 60 shots of the Cannibal Island set using Vue 5 Infinite and xStream to model, texture, animate, light and render the different parts of the natural environment.
“We started playing around with Vue and it rapidly became our primary tool for big, exotic 3D environments,” said John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor at ILM.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is the second installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga. ILM produced the visual effects for the majority of the shots.
“Creating a photo-realistic digital representation of Cannibal Island without Vue would have been a great challenge. Vue gave us full flexibility to do such work: when asked to change the lighting or camera angle, all we had to do was re-render with a different setting!”, said Susumu Yukuhiro, Digital Matte Artist at ILM.
ILM blended the live action footage that was shot outdoor with a complete digital environment created using Vue. “It only took us a few days to learn the program and we were able to create awesome animation right away (including wind swept trees – which was really difficult to achieve before). With Vue in our toolkit, we can tackle complex organic environments with confidence!” adds Susumu.
Some of the most impressive shots created with Vue were achieved when live action footage was blended with CG environments to create stunning fly-overs of Cannibal Island.
E-on’s revolutionary EcoSystems, “One of the greatest technological advances in many a year” (3D World magazine) is taking yet another leap. With full interactivity and precise control, EcoSystems Generation II will revolutionize the way you create animations, architectural renders, matte paintings or landscape design.
Spectral Atmosphere Engine
Based entirely on real-world atmospheric behavior, the new spectral engine produces ultra-realistic environments with volumetric clouds, accurate light dispersion and natural phenomena such as Godrays. Control the air density, humidity, dust, aerial perspective, overall turbidity and more to create a plethora of atmospheric conditions.
Spectral Clouds and MetaClouds
The highly optimized volumetric cloud layers let you create convincing fly-throughs or simulate realistic low-lying fog with mountains peaking through.
MetaClouds are stand alone volumetric clouds that can be freely moved around. Choose from a library of preset cloud models to generate clouds that are different each time. Edit the shape of the clouds and combine them to create elaborate formations
Full Interactivity
You can now paint EcoSystems directly onto the surface of objects. Use pressure sensitive tablets to control any parameter as you paint. Add, remove, and change color or size of EcoSystems on the fly, paint-select individual instances (or groups of instances) and move/resize/rotate them directly, convert instances to real objects, and put them back into the EcoSystem later.
Local Wind Generators
The directional and omni ventilator let you apply local wind effects to plants, and can be moved around or linked to other objects in the scene. These wind generators greatly expand the possibilities of using Vue’s realistic SolidGrowth wind reaction.