3D modeling and CGI imagery is being used in more and more movies these days, both animated and live action. One program that has been used in several recent motion pictures is Vue Infinite (Vue). Vue is a 3D environment and landscape creator. It allows users to create entire scenes, including land, sea, sky and vegetation. They can then use plug-ins to either import animated figures into Vue for rendering, or export the environments to another program for use. One thing that Vue is particularly good at creating is an island. Using Vue you can shape an island just as you want it and populate it with plants, rocks and other items of your choosing.
Instructions
1. Open Vue. In the program's interface you will see that there is a standard menu at the top, a toolbar full of icons on the left, a "Properties" panel on the upper right and a "Layers" panel on the lower right.
2. Click on the "Add Water" icon in the toolbar. This will place a water plane in the scene. Now click on the "Standard Terrain" icon. This will add a mountain like shape to the view. This terrain is currently laying on the ground plane. Click on the side view and use the "Positioning" arrows to place the "island" nearer to the surface of the water plane.
3. Click on "Object" in the menu and select "Edit Object." In the dialog box that opens, use the various tools (Dig, Raise, Effects) to edit the surface shape of the island. Raise the "Clip" setting to about 10. Hit "OK." When you are done, hit the "Drop Object" icon to drop the now clipped island onto the surface of the water.
4. Select "Object" again and click "Change Object Material." In the dialog that opens, browse to the "Ecosystems" materials. Click on the one you want to use. The standard "Island" one works well. Click "OK." Then click on the "Material Editor" in the upper right. In the dialog that opens, click on the "Populate" button. This will add the plants and rocks. Click "OK." If the plant scale is not right, go back to the editor, hit "Clear", change the scale, and hit "Populate" again.
5. Select "Atmosphere" and click "Load Atmosphere." In the dialog that opens, browse through the various atmospheres and select one. Then click "OK."
6. Right-click on the "Render Settings" icon and in the dialog select "Final." Then hit "Render." Save the resulting render of your 3D island by clicking on the little "Disk" icon in the corner.
Tags: dialog that, dialog that opens, that opens, This will, opens browse, plane Click, plants rocks