Modules For Vue 10 - EcoSystem

Instantly populate your scenes with massive forests, cities or crowds of characters

The EcoSystem revolution has redefined the way CG artists create natural scenery. Create and edit your own EcoSystem materials by easily controlling the size, color, orientation, placement, density, etc. of your EcoSystem populations.

The Vue 10 EcoSystem module is an optional module for Vue Pioneer, Vue 10 Frontier, and Vue 10 Esprit. It is part of Vue 10 Studio and Vue 10 Complete.

EcoSystem Technology – Redefining Natural Scenery Creation!

Massive Polygon Count Handling

There is almost no such word as “too much” when populating your scene.

EcoSystems are designed to handle millions of objects, billions of polygons, yet keep Vue’s performance and display running smoothly.

Beyond Simple Duplicates

The EcoSystem works hand in hand with e-on’s acclaimed SolidGrowth™ technology.

Select a single plant type and the EcoSystem will populate your scene with numerous variations of that plant, every single one one will be unique!

Unlimited Number of Items

Of course, an EcoSystem can contain more than one plant type.

Add an unlimited number of plant species, rocks and other objects to the population list, and control each item’s relative presence and size within the EcoSystem.

Automated Smart Scattering

The EcoSystem does not merely scatter the objects randomly across the surface, but actually decides where to place them according to the relief of the terrain.

So just like in nature, more trees will grow on flat areas than on steep slopes, and no objects will be placed where they are likely to “fall down”.

In addition, Vue will automatically recognize foreign objects, and reduce the presence of EcoSystem items around them.

Using other Types of Objects

The EcoSystem is by no means limited to plants and stones. In fact, every type of object, including imported meshes, can be used. You can create sprawling cities, huge crowds, giant ship armadas... the possibilities are limitless!

Density Control

Controlling millions of Ecosystem instances altogether can be tough, especially if you need to work only on specific parts.

To ease up your control over EcoSystems, use group or individual layers, and create layers affinities to get the perfect homogeneity.

Dynamic EcoSystem Population

The Dynamic Population Technology featured in Vue lets you create dense EcoSystems that extend way beyond the horizon, without concern over the number of instances!

This revolutionary technology is capable of handling the near-infinite number of instances required to populate terrains in the far distance. To maximize efficiency, it will also dynamically populate areas of your scene, only as they become visible to the camera.

The EcoSystem Material – A Breakthrough Concept

The EcoSystem behaves just like a regular material!

You can save it as a material and create a whole library of EcoSystems, which can be used later for other scenes and objects.

It also means that, just like mixed materials, you can mix two or more EcoSystems, with environment influences such as altitude, slope and orientation!

Unprecedented Control

The fact that the EcoSystem is treated like a material means that you can take advantage of Vue’s powerful function editor to control almost every aspect.

For example, use a fractal noise generator to control the distribution of EcoSystem objects, or use a bitmap to limit distribution to specific areas. You can add color variations to the EcoSystem for even greater detail and realism.

Layered EcoSystem Materials

EcoSystems behave just like regular materials. You can save them as a material and create a whole library of EcoSystems, which can be used later for other scenes and objects.

The fact that the EcoSystem is treated like a material means that you can take advantage of Vue’s powerful function editor to control almost every aspect. For example, use a fractal noise generator to control the distribution of EcoSystem objects, or use a bitmap to limit distribution to specific areas. You can add color variations to the EcoSystem for even greater detail and realism.

It also means that, just like mixed or layered materials, you can mix or layer two or more EcoSystems, with environment influences such as altitude, slope and orientation!

A single EcoSystem material can have any number of layers, each layer with its own population list and full set of controls.

This means you can effectively mix different EcoSystems together, and still have complete independent control over each part of the EcoSystem. In addition, each layer can have its own independent reaction to altitude, slope and orientation.

Layered EcoSystem materials give you precise control over the EcoSystem’s characteristics, and let you use functions or bitmaps to define any parameter, from density and size to color variations.

In addition, all the tools available in the EcoSystem painter and the instance selector can be used to interactively paint and modify layers inside an EcoSystem material.

Affinity and Repulsion

Layers in an EcoSystem material can also influence one another. By using the affinity and repulsion parameters, it’s possible to define a relationship between two layers. For instance, using affinity, trees in the first layer can affect the distribution of grass in the second layer, so that the grass grows only around the trees.

EcoSystem Phase Control

The EcoSystem module, together with the KronosFX module for Vue will allow you to individually control the phase (animation offset) of animated elements inside your EcoSystem populations. Thanks to new advances in the EcoSystem technology, Vue can now automatically add phase variations on top the geometrical and material variations that are present in SolidGrowth-based EcoSystems.

You can fully control this phase on a per instance basis, using the function graph (Also requires AdvancedGraph). This is ideal for creating waves of wind blowing across fields of grass, or violent explosions that blow out surrounding trees.

This new ability to control animated instances on an individual basis is not limited to SolidGrowth plants. You can control any type of animated object, including pre-animated meshes (e.g. to create crowds of people that don't all walk together).

Spline EcoSystem Effects

A spline is a new editable object that can be used for EcoSystem effects, terrain effects, roads and object creation. The spline is created by defining points that are joined to create the shape.

Thanks to the EcoSystem and the EcoPainter module for Vue, you can use EcoSystem effects to populate EcoSystems along a spline and in the area defined by a spline. You can also use a spline as an EcoSystem mask to erase other EcoSystem instances.

Complete Feature List

• EcoSystem patented technology to easily distribute millions of objects in scenes
• Create EcoSystems from multiple objects
• Scatter millions of animated objects
• Mix EcoSystems with standard materials
• Mix several EcoSystems together depending on environment (slope, altitude, orientation)
• Automatic placement of EcoSystem population according to a user defined SmartGraph density function (that can depend on position, altitude, slope)
• Advanced coloring control to vary the colors of the population over the EcoSystem
• Accurate control over the orientation of the EcoSystem population
• Accurate control over the size and variation in size of the EcoSystem population
• Accurate control over the layers of the EcoSystem population and layers affinity
• Automatic decay of EcoSystem density near foreign objects
• Optional size reduction and color decay at low EcoSystem densities
• Full quality display of EcoSystem instances near camera, adjustable radius.
• Dynamic EcoSystem unlimited population
• Dynamic EcoSystem density adjustments for improved control of density on slopes
• Layered EcoSystems to control individual EcoSystem populations
• Refresh dynamic EcoSystem population previews anytime with Preview button
• Easily control the intensity of the coloring applied to EcoSystem populations
• Ability to drag multiple objects from a browser into the EcoSystem population
• Control the intensity of the EcoSystem coloring through the function graph - also requires AdvancedGraph
• EcoSystem populations can be made to evolve over time
• Manually adjustable EcoSystem population threshold before triggering a warning
• OpenGL preview of EcoSystem instances as billboards, boxes or full geometry
• Dynamically populated EcoSystems around the camera can be viewed in viewports
• Adjust EcoSystem display quality on individual population elements
• Control displaying at full quality of EcoSystem instances near the camera on individual population elements
• EcoSystem instances can be controlled based on the EcoSystem density so that instances can automatically lean out on low density areas
• EcoSystems can be populated along a spline.(Also requires EcoPainter)
• Areas defined by Splines can be populated with EcoSystems.(Also requires EcoPainter)
• Splines can be used as EcoSystem masks. (Also requires EcoPainter)
• Control animation phase on a per SolidGrowth instance basis through the function graph. (Also requires AdvancedGraph and KronosFX)
• Individually control the phase (animation offset) of animated elements in your EcoSystem populations. (Also requires KronosFX)
• Automatic addition of variations of animation phase to SoliGrowth based EcoSystems. (Also requires KronosFX)
• Control the animation phase of any type of animated object, including pre-animated meshes. (Also requires KronosFX)
• Control animation phase on pre-animated mesh EcoSystems through the function graph. (Also requires KronosFX)
• Control animation phase on EcoSystems made of any kind of animated objects. (Also requires KronosFX)

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Interactive EcoSystem painting is not included in this module. If you wish to paint your EcoSystems using your mouse or pressure-sensitive tablet, please consider getting the EcoPainter module - read more here.

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This module is only available from the Cornucopia3D store. Click here to purchase it now for $99 only!

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