Artwork by Daniel Seebacher
(VUE / PlantFactory / Carbon Scatter / Ozone / LumenRT versions 2016 and below)
First, thanks for being a loyal customer!
To log onto your new account, just hit the My account button on top of this page (or go to https://store.e-onsoftware.com/login.php).
If your account wasn’t transferred, that does not mean you cannot get activation help on these legacy products (see further articles below).
If you are still uncertain what to do at this point, contact the support team and we’ll be happy to help you out.
The subscription system tries up to four times to process the monthly renewal payments: on the day of the renewal, 24 hours after attempt # 1, then 48 hours after attempt # 2, and finally 72h after attempt # 3 (so four payment attempts over the course of six days).
At every failed payment the system sends a “payment failed” e-mail like the one you have received.
At failed payment # 4, the subscription gets canceled entirely, and you will receive a cancelation notice.
When you receive the first failed payment notification e-mail, the only thing you should do is to check with us and/or your bank why the payment would have been declined. On our end, we only receive sparse reasons in these instances. Nonetheless, one of the main reasons we see is when the bank automatically refuses transactions from abroad – and the solution to that is to inform your bank that this would be a valid recurring transaction – so that they can add us to your/their trusted vendors.
Your bank is your best contact though to get more specific reasons as to why your payment was declined.
If you receive four failed payment notifications and the cancelation notice, then your subscription will be canceled completely, and you will have to re-subscribe (i.e. place a new order) to resume using the products.
Canceling a monthly subscription is allowed for Creator and Professional solutions monthly subscriptions at any time. However, for Enterprise solutions you may cancel your monthly subscription plan only after 12 monthly installments were successful.
To cancel your subscription, go to your account page, under the Orders tab, you will see a "My Subscriptions" link. This is where you will find the cancel option.
During the last month of validity for your annual license, the software will start warning you that it is time thinking about renewing.
Step 1 – renew: You just need to place an order online for any of our Solutions (there’s no restrictions on you changing your Solution level when renewing). There is no dedicated extension product in our store. Once your order will be finalized, you will receive a new activation key with your invoice. Keep this activation key secured (you can always find this back on your user account, in your order details anyway), as you’ll need it for step 2.
Step 2 - extend: 7 days prior to your current annual license expiration date, the software will prompt you a new dialog and offer you the opportunity to input your new activation key. Grab your new activation key and enter that in the dialog. Add the other necessary information in the dialog and let the software finalize the automatic activation process.
Note that your current license at this stage will still be valid, so we recommend you only apply the new key once the previous license is completely expired (so that you don't lose any overlapping license use-time).
Once the automatic activation process is finalized, you're good to go!
Please note that selling assets that would include or be derivatives of the content that ships with e-on products (additional content, material files, or PlantCatalog content for instance) is forbidden, in any way, shape or form.
If you are still unsure about your personal use case, feel free to contact our sales department for further clarifications.
Nothing changes. You can still use these as long as you’ll be able to run them on a compatible OS. We can’t predict what Microsoft or Apple have in mind for their next OS updates and upgrades, but it should still give you plenty of time.
Just keep in mind that we are not supporting these legacy products anymore, and that activating these legacy licenses is a paid-for service.
There is absolutely no guarantee that we will be able to run the legacy license activation back-office systems and service in the long term though.
You will find the application build number you are running on the splash screen (that appears when you open the software) or by going to the Help|About VUE (resp. About PlantFactory) menu entry in the software.
Then you need to go to the Software Center page and check from the “Incremental updaters” list if there is a more recent build number available. If the build number on the software center page is higher than the build number you are currently running, you can update your software.
There is no need to download the full installer if your software is already installed. Just download the incremental updater instead.
In such instance, you don’t need to re-download the full installer. You will need to download the standalone plugins installer that you will find on the Software Center, in the “Incremental updaters” list. You will also need to download the most recent updater file (it will have the same or a higher build number).
Simply unzip the plugins installer zip file to a temporary folder on your hard drive and execute:
The installation process will be similar to the one you already went through when you installed VUE.
You will then have to install the latest Update to make sure both the plugins and the VUE core version have a similar build number.
Absolutely not!
It is not mandatory to own VUE and PlantFactory to use PlantCatalog.
PlantCatalog comes with its own standalone tools (PlantCatalog Exporter, and a set of third party importer plugins) so that you are up and running without any additional hidden costs. You can of course use the PlantCatalog collections directly in the most recent versions of VUE and / or PlantFactory though (provided you activate the PlantCatalog within each application - see below for more information).
PlantCatalog Creator ($99/year) is a specific activation key that allows loading the PlantCatalog vegetation assets in VUE and PlantFactory Creator. The activation key for PlantCatalog Creator will not work with PlantCatalog Exporter. To export PlantCatalog content from a Creator version, you can use the VUE or PlantFactory export options or the VUE and PlantFactory integration plugins.
PlantCatalog ($249.95/year) provides access to the PlantCatalog vegetation collection in all e-on applications: VUE, PlantFactory and PlantCatalog Exporter, independently from their flavor (Creator/Professional). All integration plugins are included.
The Enterprise solution includes access to PlantCatalog content natively in VUE and PlantFactory, and the Enterprise annual activation key will also allow you to install PlantCatalog Exporter, at no additional cost.
Supported Unreal Engine versions:
First, if you own an Enterprise Solution (monthly or annual), the PlantCatalog is already built in, you just need to download the PlantCatalog archive files from the Software Center tab on your user account page and add the content to your collections by running the content installer for each archive. If you had setup a custom directory for PlantCatalog content during install, the content installer will automatically install the content to that location instead of the default locations.
If you own a Creator or Professional Solution (monthly or annual), you first need to place your order for your PlantCatalog activation key from the store. Once your order is complete, you will receive an Activation key by e-mail, together with your invoice. In the software (VUE or PlantFactory), go to the Help | Activate PlantCatalog menu entry. Input the activation key you have received, enter your e-mail in the dialog, and let the software activate itself.
Once the automatic activation is successful, go to the Software Center on your user account page, and download all PlantCatalog archive files and add the content to your collections by running the content installer for each archive. If you had setup a custom directory for PlantCatalog content during install, the content installer will automatically install the content to that location instead of the default locations.
Since we release new species on a regular basis, keep an eye on our blog and / or social platforms for the announcements. You’ll then just have to go to the Software Center again to download your new collection content for free and install that following the above process.
Yes, you can, but that wouldn't be the most cost effective solution.
In VUE and/or PlantFactory Creator, you will be able to load the PlantCatalog content directly from the collection browser.
We would recommend you get PlantCatalog Creator instead, as it will be a better deal for you.
No, the software will reject the key and prompt you to get a regular PlantCatalog License.
If you have purchased a PlantCatalog Creator license by mistake, please contact our sales support to discuss possibly exchanging your license.
No, the software will reject the key and prompt you to get a regular PlantCatalog License.
If you have purchased a PlantCatalog Creator license by mistake, please contact our sales support to discuss possibly exchanging your license.
Yes and No.
No: Technically, the PlantCatalog assets were authored in the most recent PlantFactory builds and use the most recent PlantFactory feature sets. Therefore, it would be impossible for a legacy VUE or PlantFactory to open the plant species as is. Additionally, PlantCatalog is tied to the licensing mechanism we introduced with the current solutions (RLM based) which the legacy products can’t work with.
Yes: Legacy VUE versions can load generic geometry assets, such as .3ds, .obj or.dae (the latest legacy versions of VUE 2016 can also load .fbx and .abc). So technically speaking, you could get PlantCatalog Exporter (which requires a full PlantCatalog license) and export the plant species as standard geometry to use within your legacy VUE software. You will however not be able to retain the procedural definitions within VUE (to populate EcoSystem with different instances for instance).
So, it’s not technically impossible, but we strongly recommend you get under the most recent versions of VUE and PlantFactory to give the PlantCatalog content its full potential.
Yes and No.
The PlantCatalog procedural vegetation collection is an annual license-based offering, where you get access to the entire vegetation collection together with all associated software tools, incl. all new species additions, while your license is still running.
However, you can purchase individual pre-exported assets in standard formats from our Sketchfab online store. Note that not all PlantCatalog assets may be available on Sketchfab though.
Yes, we collect user requests to prioritize our species development roadmap. The more requests we get for a given species (or plant type, region, biome etc.), the quicker it’ll get developed. You can submit your request (please be as specific as possible in your initial request) using the form on this page.
If you are in a rush or have very specific vegetation needs that are not addressed by the current offering, we can also offer custom development deals. Contact us using the PlantCatalog form on this page (please be as specific as possible in your initial request), and we’ll start the discussion.
Yes, there’s nothing preventing that. However, please understand that your right to use the collections starts once you have activated the PlantCatalog license and is valid for a period of 365 days after that. So, to get the most bang for your bucks, we recommend you keep your Solution monthly plan running during the whole duration of your PlantCatalog license.
We will NOT prorate (i.e. extend) PlantCatalog usage, should you use the stop and restart option for the Creator and Professional monthly subscriptions. We will also NOT refund unused time for your PlantCatalog license should you completely cancel your monthly plan.
Yes, you are allowed to use all plants in commercial projects, be it for moving or still images or for embedding models into compiled applications such as games, provided that they cannot be extracted by the end user.
Please note that you may not resell or distribute plants from the PlantCatalog on 3D marketplaces. See the following question for more details on commercial use and our EULA.
In short, no. Using PlantCatalog is subject to your acceptance of our standard End User License Agreement (EULA). This EULA states that it’s perfectly fine to create images/animations that use the built-in content (even if you intend to sell those images/animations). What you are NOT allowed to do is to export such content – altered or not - and provide it elsewhere, be it free or for a fee. This is valid for both the vegetation geometries, but also all texture maps and additional content that ships with PlantCatalog.
Example # 1: you can use and embed the PlantCatalog content (original or modified) within your games, provided there is no way for the end user to extract and re-use the content from the engine.
Example # 2: you are in violation of the EULA if you sell or share publicly a plant species you have created from scratch, but such species uses any of the texture maps (unchanged or modified) that ship with PlantCatalog content.
You may however use PlantCatalog content as a means of training yourself and learning how to create your own vegetation species from scratch using PlantFactory.
There’s no one size fits all answer to this question 😊
It depends on the vegetation itself (weeds won’t have the same polygon footprint as the giant Sequoia 😉), at what stage it is in its maturity, what’s the chosen mesh resolution etc. Since it’s procedural based as well, every instance will have its own polygon count.
It also depends on whether you want quads or triangles. There’s a product page for each species in the PlantCatalog Browse section which gives more details with regards to polygon count for any given species. All plants are provided at default mesh resolution of 0.4 but you can play and ramp this up at will. In PlantCatalog Exporter, the info menu option gives precise info about all this so that you can set the plant exactly to your own requirements before exporting (same information is displayed in the 3rd party importer plugins too). We tried to be as flexible as possible here and let you set the species quality you really need.
Texture maps are custom tailored to each species as well. When there’s no need for an 8k map (for instance flower pistils…), we did not include 8k maps. Overall most of the maps range between 8k and 128p depending on what the map caters for, and the given quality (HD/LD/FG/RT). We’ve tried to pre-optimize all species so that you have fewer editing steps afterwards.
RT quality content was introduced at a later stage to the catalog (as opposed to HD/LD content being already available for Enterprise Solution users since the initial release in December 2018). Therefore, you can expect more RT quality species to come (for the existing species) progressively.
Additionally, when there’s no need for an LD version, we won’t develop it as the benefit of LDs isn’t worth multiplying the references (hence fewer LDs than HDs).
There’s currently only one species that has no HD version, which is the Giant sequoia. That’s on purpose as it would be practically unusable ‘as is’ in any DCC tools – using the vegetation in its full grandness. Given the physical size of that particular species, HD quality would only be useful for closeups on branches or the trunk (and even in LD, the branches and trunk details are already pretty decent 😉), and therefore overloading the destination software with the full plant geometry when you only need a few branches in your shot would be an overkill.
This message appears when you are trying to load items directly from the software content collections and such items are only optional and are displayed for purchase at Cornucopia3D (the item thumbnail displays the Cornucopia3D logo icon overlaid).
As the Cornucopia3D marketplace is no longer, you receive this error message. We are sorry for the inconvenience. You can switch off the display of optional items in the preferences (the little gear in the upper right-hand corner) of each content browser. Then you will only see what you already own or have access to.
For Windows: unzip the extra content zip file to this location:
C:\ProgramData\e-onsoftware\Vue [Infinite|xStream|] 201X\
For Mac: unzip it and move the content to the related folders if they exist (otherwise move the folder over) to this location:
…/users/shared/ Vue [Infinite|xStream|] 201X
The short answer is unfortunately no. VUE versions prior to VUE 11 used a proprietary technology that automatically personalized the installers to a specific account. Unfortunately, this technology is no longer available, and we do not anticipate reviving it in the future.
Please try to find the old installers you had either as a CD/DVD medium or from an old backup you might have and install from there.
Automated online activation for legacy products are no longer available. Therefore, the software activation process redirects you to our support form to follow the manual activation procedure. Please note that since October of 2022, legacy software activation is a paid for service, and may be deprecated in the near future.
Please fill out the support form here. You will need to provide us with your software Installation Code (starting with INST-). Such code can be retrieved from the software’s interface Help menu. If you can’t locate this code, please copy and paste the URL the software redirects you to (from your web browser), and copy that within the form field.
You will also need to provide us with your Legacy License re-activation token order ID*.
This information is mandatory for us to be able to generate an activation key on your behalf. We will then send an activation key to you by e-mail.
*You need to order as many activation tokens as licenses you need to re-activate. One activation token will be valid for one activation request for one license, for one given system (i.e. one Installation code).
There is no association process required with PlantFactory included in the new Creator, Professional or Enterprise Solutions.
You may require an association between older versions of PlantFactory though (2016 and below). To do this, we need the actual installation codes from both PlantFactory and the second software (VUE, Carbon Scatter or LumenRT). We will then create a new activation key for PlantFactory where the association is embedded and send this to you by e-mail. Please fill out this support form.
As long as your target application and PlantFactory are already activated and running on your system, the association process will not require an additional re-activation token order.
If you are re-installing your old license on some new hardware, you will have to activate it for that new install. You can’t use a previous activation key file for a new install on different hardware. You can request a new activation key file from our support form here.
Make sure that you copy/paste the new installation code that starts with INST-[…] (the one for this new hardware).
Please note that from October 2022, re-activating a Legacy License for a new system is a paid for service.