e-on Vue 5 Esprit review

Other options for adding to your scene include seven standard 3D primitives, from spheres to planes, and new text support complete with control over bevel and extrusion. This might seem strange as text isn't exactly a natural phenomenon, but it can be useful for producing animated titles and, when used with symbol fonts, it effectively opens up the range of primitives available. Sadly, these text-based primitives can't be used with Vue 5 Esprit's new Metablob modelling system, which lets you melt and merge the other primitives to produce more organic shapes.

In combination with the new option of advanced node-based material control, there's no doubt that Vue 5 Esprit's internal modelling capabilities are better than they were, but they're still of limited creative use. You're better off bringing in and positioning 2D bitmaps as alpha planes or, preferably, externally created 3D models. Thankfully, Vue 5 Esprit can import files in the standard 3DS, DXF, LWO and OBJ file formats, as well as static Poser 4 and 5 models. With the separate Mover 5 module (£75) you can also import Poser animations, and thanks to the Animation Wizard, it's easy to set up animation paths, which now include dynamic reaction to motion. Vue 5 Esprit also supports pre-animated Vue meshes, though we'll have to wait for the new Vue Professional to be able to create them.

When you're happy with your scene or animation it's time to render. The main Render Settings dialog doesn't look very different, with the biggest change being the new Superior preset. Behind the scenes though, the new rendering engine now works with full 96-bit colour for increased subtlety and better lighting dynamics. You can also now apply camera-based post-processing effects, such as gamma and colour correction, and switch between cameras during animations.

If you need the maximum level of editing power and control, and especially if you want to integrate your work with other 3D applications, then hold off for the new version of Vue 5 Professional that's due shortly. Otherwise, assuming you have a system to do it justice, Vue 5 Esprit makes it easy to produce truly beautifully naturalistic scenes and animations at a great price.

Author: Tom Arah