Please be patient while the page loads, it contains several large images.....thank you.

Vue d’Esprit 4

e-on Software

www.e-onsoftware.com

Maureen Shannon, NJPCUG

Vue d’Esprit is an application for creating 3D scenery. I discovered this company several years ago by following a recommended link and I just love this software. You can create the most amazing scenes, animate them too if you wish. Everything about this application is pleasing to the eye. The interface is pale blue and tools/editors are laid out very nicely, it’s easy to understand, and the included atmospheres and materials are beautiful. I open this program up and get lost in it when I am using it. I am a far from accomplished in 3D applications but I have been able to make some fairly impressive things for a beginner and I hope to learn how to create the gorgeous underwater scenes that are included in the examples. I’m not sure why more people don’t know about this company but hopefully those interested in doing 3D scenes will look at their site and maybe even try their software. I like it very much and recommend it to anyone who is would like to work with a 3D application.

I know this image is small and difficult to make out but I will include larger images in the online review (click here to view a flash demo – please be patient while it loads.) and I will include examples of samples that came with the application as well as a few scenes that I made. Certainly there’s no comparison between mine and theirs but you will be amazed at what was created with this application. This image shows the interface and the scene being built. Items on the various layers include foliage, a leopard, water, and rocks. This is one of the many sample scenes that was included in the application. You can add the elements to the scene and then press the “Render” icon to view the scene in a preview and the (final) finished state. You can also see the rendered thumbnail view in the right side panel. Below that is the list of layers with each object and element in the design listed. By selecting any of the items, you can edit it or move it around. The trackball feature moves the camera angles. You can view the scene from the main or top camera. Objects selected can also be resized, rotated, and moved around inside the scene.

To create a new scene you begin with a blank background/new scene and add an atmosphere. There’s a large variety of atmospheres to choose from including daytime, bad weather, simple sunset, sunshine, realistic sunset, volumetric, unusual, animated, others, and personal (your own collection). The selection of skies is quite beautiful and you can even add your own to enlarge the selection choices. The depth and richness of the colors in "Vue" is terrific.

There is also an atmosphere editor where you can further add to or alter the state of the atmosphere.  Options include standard or volumetric atmosphere and then tabbed sections where you can edit sun, light, fog and haze, clouds, and effects. Each of these options allows you to create a unique sky for your scene or create an undersea backdrop and edit out the distinct horizon line for the water scenes. You can also save the atmospheres that you edit and add them to your personal collection. Experimenting with these adjustments and additions, create some very interesting effects.

            Sun: sun color, position of the sun, size of the sun, sunlight masked by clouds, glow intensity

            Light: light color & ambient light color,  global lighting adjustment, apply settings to all lights or only to sunlight, auto decay sunlight color

            Fog & Haze: fog color, density, falloff; haze color, density, falloff, and quality boost, and a fog profile

            Clouds: No clouds, altitude, thickness near horizon, global exposure, contrast, global illumination, near the sun, cover, and density

            Effects: stars, rainbows, ice rings, and lens flares for directional lights and all other lights

After you have added the atmosphere for your scene and edited it to your liking, you need to add to or edit the lower half of the scene. You can create a water plane, create a ground section with a mountainous terrain, or a flat surface with rocks, a jungle, etc. All of these options are added with the various icons on the side toolbar along with a great selection of objects and Boolean objects. Selection options under the water plane icon are water, ground plane, and cloud plane. If you choose a terrain, you can apply any of the included material, add one of your own, or use the terrain editor to model the terrain to whatever specifications that you choose. This image to the left shows a terrain that has been added to the scene. Right clicking on the terrain image (sphere in the right upper area of the right side) you will launch the selections for editing the terrain or apply a material to it.

This is a screen shot of the terrain editor. Once you have added a terrain to the scene you can edit its appearance by using the terrain editor. With the terrain editor you can sharpen or round off peaks, erode areas, dig out sections, raise others. You can also create canyons, dunes, mounds, make a lunar surface, or an iceberg. Use brush tab settings on the terrain to raise, dig, and even create effects such as fir trees, erosions, grit, gravel, pebbles, stone, peaks, plateaus, terraces, cracks, stairs, craters, or sharpen the features.  The erosion tab options include fluvial, thermal, diffusive and wind with rock settings ranging from soft to hard. The effects tab has all the brush effect settings: grit, pebbles, gravel, stone, peaks, plateaus, terraces, stairs, fir trees, craters, cracks, and sharpen. Each of these effects can be immediately seen in the editor by clicking on each of the buttons for these selections. You also have the option to export the terrain you have edited.

This image is an example of a terrain that I edited. I put in the spiky bits, rounded off the peaks, an added other bumpy elevations to the terrain. I added spheres to the sky area. The spheres have a shiny, reflective material to make them appear more alien and glowing.  I edited the atmosphere to include more stars and a lens flare. The island is surrounded by water. This was a very simple scene but I liked the little touches that took it from a plain island in the water to an alien looking world with the use of atmosphere and terrain editing. This type of scene is not at all difficult to achieve and this is what makes this product so appealing to all levels of users. It is recommended for everyone from a hobbyist or novice user to a professional.

I mentioned that I wanted to create underwater scenes after seeing the beautiful samples that came with the program. My first few attempts were far from what I wanted to achieve. I had some problems figuring out how to make the horizon line and the atmosphere blend with the look of the water. I kept experimenting because I was fairly sure I needed to edit the atmosphere to create a less definitive sky/water line and more of a blending of the depth of water and the sunlight coming through it. Since I really was out of my element here, I was very pleasantly surprised when I finally edited the atmosphere to create a more pleasing effect. (The example included in this parapgraph) I was able to make a simple but much better looking undersea scene then my first attempts because I kept experimenting with settings until I found the right combination for the undersea scene. I may not have mastered this technique but I am on the right track now! I didn’t go looking for a tutorial to do this because I wanted to see if someone totally unfamiliar with how to do it could figure it out…..and I did. I now find myself opening the application just to try and create new things for fun. It is so nice to work with and with all of the objects that are included with it make it even more fun to try new designs. 

I used the Mover Wizard that is part of the application.  I know absolutely nothing about animating a scene so I am completely amazed that I actually made the fish move at all! I followed the wizard and guessed at what I should try. The camera moved through the scene rather than the fish moving toward the camera. I went back and tried it again, this time reading the various setting more closely, having the fish selected in the wireframe scene, and I tried adjusting the “Way Points”. This time the fish moved more smoothly. The fins didn’t move though. I went back and tried selecting the fins and then rendering the scene again. Whatever I did, I had the fins traveling on their own path rather then moving on the fish! I think it’s time for me to read the animation chapter instead of winging it just to see if I could create an animation. Thing of it is though I did make a animation simply by following the Mover Wizard. "Vue" proved to me that if I was able to do it anyone can. This application continues to amaze me each time I use it because it really is something that a novice can figure out. Click here to view animation.
(Animation is 4.42 Megs - please be patient while it downloads.)

Vue d’Esprit 4 ships on two CD’s. It has an abundance of features, allows the user to import models created in other 3D applications, and the scenes can be animated. Version 4 is Windows XP compatible. Extra vegetations are available on their web site individually or in a bundle. They also have other products separately and in bundles with Vue d’Esprit 4. There is a Community with links and a gallery of pictures created by "Vue" users.

Vue d’Esprit 4 features SolidGrowth 2, which is e-on’s vegetation system. This creates exceptional vegetation. I found by using basic items like a dead or leafless tree, changing the material from bark to a greenish, plant-like coloration, then enlarging the object, that I could use this for a look of underwater plants. By adjusting the rotation and hiding the tree trunk, the branches spread out into the water and looks just like underwater plants or weeds. Pretty cool!

New features also include a new interface design; volumetric atmospheres, clouds, lights, and materials; Lens flares, stellar and atmosphere objects; SoldiGrowth 2 – for more realistic vegetation and more vegetation options; Solid 3D terrain modeling, random rock generator; luminous and glowing materials, caustics; increased rendering speed (40% faster on the average); new import/export filters (static Poser import, QuickTime VR). Also an advanced OpenGL engine allowing for the selection display quality of an object on a “per view object basis” – meaning you can make one view wire frame and the others can be shaded. You also have a camera control center which displays a real-time render of a scene and comes with a set of tools that enable you to manipulate the camera settings (rotate, pan, move in and out, focal). More features are the symmetrical terrains; planets (moon and other planets of the solar system); Real-time thumbnail render preview; stars, rainbows, and ice rings; two new lights – quadratic point light and quadratic spot light; adjustable light shadow density, negative lights; ability to do everything with the main view; improved anti-aliasing, pictures can be printed directly from within Vue d’Esprit 4, objects can be locked/hidden independently; and many more features. All of these are new features new since version 3. Previous versions had features such as: soft shadows, blurred reflections and transparencies, depth of field; animate objects, materials, atmospheres, clouds, waves, etc.; Dynamic Motion Reaction and Animation Wizard for easy setup of animations; Motion blur, field interlacing, non-square pixels, flicker reduction, spline time control, primitive and Boolean modeling; textured terrains exports, hundreds of preset atmospheres, objects, scenes, materials, etc.  This is not a complete list of all the features available in "Vue" 4!

To those who are experienced users of this type of application, I apologize if I have omitted important features or more detailed information. I am not proficient in 3D but I am both fascinated and determined to be able to work with it. I may never be able to design scenes like I will show in the included examples in the online review but if I am able to create scenes that please me and I have fun doing it, I will be very happy that I have this software to work with.  For those who are novices or interested in trying your hand at 3D work, I hope I have encouraged you to get your feet wet and try this product. I am very pleased with the things I have created. I find the tools easier to understand than other applications I have used and it has more features and objects to work with. The more I try, the more things I discover about the application.  I am very impressed with the large variety of objects to use in pictures and while I still get some of them in the wrong place, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Vue d’Esprit 4. If I can create scenes with "Vue" 4, so can you! Please visit the e-on Software web site to learn more about Vue 4 and visit the Community section for more ideas, links, and tutorials created by enthusiastic users and design professionals. I encourage you to check out this web site and look at the application for yourselves. This is an excellent addition to any designer’s software applications.

A few pictures that I made with "Vue" 4