E-on ships Vue Infinite 2015 and Vue xStream 2015
The new non-photorealistic renderer in Vue Infinite 2015 and xStream 2015. The latest release of e-on’s environment-creation tools also improves pipeline integration and UI customisability. Image: Lutz Lehmann.
Originally posted on 1 April 2015. Scroll down for news of the free PLE edition.
E-on software has released Vue Infinite 2015 and Vue xStream 2015, a significant new update to its professional environment-creation products.
The update adds a non-photorealistic renderer to the software, boosts performance and pipeline integration, and makes the UI more customisable.
Rendering improvements
The main new feature in Vue 2015 is the non-photorealistic renderer, which provides 40 preset NPR styles, such as paint, chalk and halftoning. Users can create custom effects by combining line and shading styles.
There is also a new displacement mapping engine, which should make it possible to generate high-amplitude displacement effects – for example, faulting in rock faces – and reduce render times.
Render performance has also been improved across the board, with e-on claiming that the software is now “up to 30% faster on a modern GPU” and that photometric rendering is up to twice as fast.
Scene previews should also launch quicker, and complete up to eight times as fast.
Other new rendering features include energy-conservative anti-aliasing, which smooths images but preserves highlight detail; support for double-sided materials; and if you use xStream, the option to generate AO passes.
Pipeline integration
Building on the 2014 release, pipeline integration options have been extended and the UI further overhauled.
New integration features include import and export of scenes, models and camera paths in Alembic format, and the option to exchange data with ZBrush via GoZ, in the same way as general-purpose 3D applications.
Rocks and baked HyperBlobs can be exported to “any standard 3D file format”; and real-world geographic data can be imported in DTED, SDTS/DDF, and GeoTIFF data formats, on top of the existing DEM import.
Users of the xStream edition also get the option to export materials using the Ptex format.
UI standardisation
Vue 2015 also goes some way towards standardising the software’s user interface, with the option to set interface controls and shortcuts to match “other popular 3D apps”.
The layout of the UI can now be customised, including by detaching panels to a second monitor, and the layout saved as a preset. Frequently used dialogs can be integrated into the interface itself, cutting back on pop-ups.
There is also a new content browser for searching, browsing and previewing large numbers of files.
Other new features in the 2015 releases include support for network rendering files over 4GB in size, and further improvements to the clouds and atmosphere functionality.
Pricing and availability
Vue Infinite 2015 and xStream 2015 are available now for 64-bit Windows XP+ and Mac OS X 10.6+. Pricing remains unchanged at $1,495 for Infinite and $1,995 for xStream, including one year’s maintenance.
Updated 2 July 2015: e-on software has just released the free Personal Learning Edition of Vue 2015.
The edition is not time-limited, but is not licensed for commercial work and saves in its own file format. Renders are watermarked, and capped at full HD resolution for stills or 720p for animations.
In addition, e-on has released Vue 2015.2, its latest update to the software for registered users.
According to the firm’s newsletter, it features “vastly improved export plugins”, although the release notes on the website only list bugfixes and new versions of the linking plugins for 3ds Max and Maya 2016.
Read more about the new features in the Vue Infinite 2015
Read more about the additional new features in Vue xStream 2015
Download the Vue 2015 Personal Learning Edition
(Registration required)