VUE: Integration & Export

Integration & Export

Artwork by Alen Vejzovic

Seamless Pipeline Integration

VUE includes a wide variety of export options as well as free integration plugins. Choose whichever method works best for your pipeline and let the application assist you with presets, automatic shader creation or even with VUE's complete environment creation toolset, directly accessible from within your favorite DCC application.

Compatible with

...and many more!

Export

A large range of export formats for both 2D and 3D makes it easy to integrate VUE scenes seamlessly into any production pipeline. Texture maps are saved to disk and written as basic materials into the mesh file. Any type of VUE static or animated geometry can be exported to the following 3D formats:

*.3DS

*.ABC

*.C4D

*.DAE

*.FBX

*.GOZ

*.LWO

*.OBJ

*.TPF

*.USDA/C/Z

Export entire Ecosystems to FBX, Alembic or Pixar USD. Skies and clouds can be exported to 32bit-HDRIs and animated OpenVDB files with multiple grids.

Using the GoZ-bridge, VUE geometry can be edited in Pixologic™ ZBrush® 2021 and the changes will be synched back to VUE.

The following 2D export formats are available:

*.BMP

*.EXR

*.GIF

*.HDR

*.IFF

*.JPG

*.PCX

*.PNG

*.PSD

*.TGA

*.TIF

Alternatively to export, VUE includes integration plugins for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, Maya and Lightwave. These plugins open up new ways to integrate scenes with your target application and might be even preferrable to generic export formats. See below for more details.

Integration Plugins

The VUE integration plugins for 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Maya and Lightwave introduce three distinct workflows that can serve as an alternative to export.

1. Create environments natively in your host application

VUE runs as a sandboxed software-within-a-software in the host application. You can access all VUE toolbars and functionalities and do not need to use VUE as a standalone software to design environments. Build everything from scratch inside your target application or open already saved VUE scenes and continue editing them. Then render the scene with one of the following two options.

2. Convert scenes into native objects and render them with any render engine

With the Convert Tool, procedural VUE elements can be converted to native host application objects. This includes support for native instances or proxy objects such as Arnold Procedurals / Stand-ins or C4D multi instances. During conversion, the plugins will automatically create materials for a variety of different render engine. This includes each application's native render engine as well as Arnold, Redshift, Renderman and V-Ray^®.

After conversion, the VUE render engine is no longer needed for rendering and the VUE scene can even be closed altogether. The converted elements can now be rendered immediately with the render engine of your choice.

Using each host application's native render engine native shader conversion option, you can also render VUE scenes with any render engine that is not covered by the convert tool, for example Octane, Corona or others. Just use the native materials as a starting point and convert them on your own for the dedicated target render engine.*

*Note: The Convert tool is not available in the Lightwave plugin.

3. Render scenes in Hybrid Rendering Mode

Native procedural VUE elements can be rendered together with native host application meshes and assets in one pass with the Hybrid Rendering mode. In this mode, both the VUE render engine and the native render engine communicate with each other and match GI, lighting, reflections and anti-aliasing settings.

Native VUE objects and lights will cast shadows and reflections onto native host applications and contribute to their GI and vice versa. This mode is great for lookdev and eliminates the need to compose render passes from two different engines in post.

Please note that due to limitations in the Lightwave SDK, not all of the features from the 3ds Max, Maya and Cinema 4D plugins are supported in the Lightwave plugin.

For the currently supported renderer and host application versions, please see our FAQ.

NVIDIA Omniverse Live Sync And Extension

VUE includes a live synchronization with the USD stage in Omniverse. Edit your scene in VUE and trigger a synchronization to the Nucleus core with a single click.

Find out more about the integration with Omniverse on our dedicated Omniverse page.