Denise Vitola
December 2004
If the great 15th Century Dutch painter, Jan Vermeer, were alive today, he would use Vue 5 E'sprit. Vermeer concerned himself with light--the way it fell across a figure, the way it reflected, and the way it brought intensity to the painting. Now, E-on Software has developed an art package that can make a Ver Meer-caliber painting using image based lighting, and, it can do it in a few simple steps.
What an advancement in 3d software! Vue 5's new lighting features allow you to map any picture to the background or use High Dynamic Range Images (HDRI) to illuminate your Vue Scenes. It can be combined with Vue's volumetric atmosphere system and will automatically set up the ground plane to catch shadows and light. It also offers Global Ambiance, Global Illumination and Global Radiosity, all options that are easy to implement through Easy GI (TM). These new features bring a new depth and realism to your renders.
For those who have previously used Vue d'esprit 4, you will be happy to know that E-on has maintained the uncomplicated and uncluttered interface you've come to expect, while adding new menu items. You will find a Metablob Organic Modeling System that will enable you to simulate puffy cloud shapes, lava, water sprinkles and organic shapes. There is a 3D Text Editor which is useful for video effects. It allows you to customize the the text with extrusion and beveling features, opening up a new dimension in modeling. There is Integrated Post Processing and Camera Switching feature, allowing you to apply basic post processing effects such as gamma and color correction.
I was very impressed with the goodies that set Vue 5 apart from other moderately priced 3d graphics packages. It comes with a complete atmosphere system and vegetation system based on the third iteration of SolidGrowth technology. Plants can be 'grown' randomly and no two plants will ever be identical. Let us not forget Vue's terrain and rock editors, the standard on which you can build realistic environments or fantasy worlds. You can animate your worlds with an extensive range of animation tools, too. E-on delivers ease of creation by supplying you with Dynamic Motion Reaction technology, designed to simplify setting up camera and object motion.
Of course, the heart of any good 3d graphics package is the material editor, and Vue 5 has a powerful one. It is divided into three areas of use: Basic Material Editor, Advanced Material Editor, and Function Editor. Basic is the 'entry level' to material customization--change the overall color, adjust, transparency, highlights, reflections, etc. You can import pre-made textures at this point and then manipulate them further in the Advanced Material Editor. Then, to further define your materials, you can leap into the Function Editor and use the brand new SmartGraph technology that lets your grow your function like a tree. I had no problem using it and found it to be intuitive and easy to use.
I believe one of the most powerful features of Vue 5 Esprit is its ability to import Poser 4 and 5 static and pre-animated mesh models. Simply save them in .pz3 format in Poser and select the Import Object feature in Vue 5. It finds and applies all material zones automatically. It also gives you the full import capabilities so that you can import export all standard 2D and 3d file formats.
To make things even easier, Vue 5 uses a dual-resolution OpenGL engine that allows both fast and detailed previewing of scenes in real-time. It will automatically detect OpenGL compatibility of your hardware, but will give you the choice to use default software implementation and wireframe modes. I like to be able to see what I'm doing in terms of texture and placement and this option proved invaluable.
One of the things that I've discovered in the past is that 3d packages render an image slowly, but not so with Vue 5 Esprit. It gives you many different rendering options which allows you to maximize the use of your computer system. The following picture was rendered in Vue 5's Broadcast Mode and took 9 minutes to complete. I used the same set up (Poser figure, Cyclorama prop) in a comparable package and it took a little over 6 hours to render!
Vue 5 Esprit came out of production amazingly bug free. For the few release issues, E-on has quickly provided updates to solve the problems. The software comes with a sample cd that includes scenes, materials, objects, and atmospheres. It also includes a 340 page User Guide.
This is leading edge software. E-on has opened up new possibilities with this release and I highly recommend Vue 5 Esprit for home users, hobbyists, and budding artists. I know Jan Vermeer would have, too.
Pricing: $249 for complete package. Upgrade available from Vue d'Esprit 4 for $149 with a special price for Vue d'Esprit 4 late buyers of $129. Vue 4 Professional sidegrade for $99.
Company Website or URL: www.e-onsoftware.com
Requirements:
Windows
- Windows NT4/2000 or XP
- 512 MB, recommended resolution 1024 x 768
- 1GHz Pentium 4/Athlon or better
Macintosh
-
OS X, version 10.2.8 and higher
- 512 MB, recommended resolution 1024 x 768
- 1GHz G4 or better
Copyright (c) 2004, Denise Vitola, All Rights Reserved