Vue Infinite Import Directions

The export to Vue Infinite requires a fair number of manual steps pending further Vue enhancements. But with a little practice, they should only take a minute or two.

1. Export from SynthEyes using the Vue Infinite setting. The options can be left at their default settings unless desired. You can save the python script produced into any convenient location.
2. Start Vue Infinite or do a File/New in it.
3. Select the Main Camera
4. On its properties, turn OFF "Always keep level"
5. Select the Python/Run python script menu item, select the script exported from SynthEyes, and run it.
6. In the main camera view, select the "Camera01 Screen" object (or the equivalent if the SynthEyes camera was renamed)
7. In the material preview, right-click, select Edit Material.
8. The material editor appears, select Advanced Material Editor if not already.
9. Change the material name to flybys or whatever the image shot name is.
10. Select the Colors tab.
11. Select "Mapped picture"
12. Click the left-arrow "Load" icon under the black bitmap preview area
13. In the "Please select a picture to load" dialog, click the Browse File icon at the bottom --- a left arrow superimposed on a folder 
14. Select your image file in the Open Files dialog. If it is an image sequence, select the first image, then shift-select the last.
15. On the material editor, under the bitmap preview area, click the clap-board animation icon to bring up the Animated Texture Options dialog
16. Set the frame rate to the correct value.
17. Turn on "Mirror Y"
18. Hit OK on the Animated Texture dialog
19. On the drop-down at top right of the Advanced Material Editor, select a Mapping of Object- Parametric
20. Turn off "Cast shadows" and "Receive shadows"
21. Back down below, click the Highlights tab
22. Turn Highlight global intensity down to zero.
23. Click on the Effects tab
24. Turn Diffuse down to zero
25. Click the Ambient data-entry field and enter 400
26. Hit OK to close the Advanced Material Editor
27. Select the Animation/Display Timeline menu item (or hit F11)
28. If this is the first time you have imported from SynthEyes to Vue Infinite, you must perform the following steps:
    1. Select File/Options menu item.
    2. Click the Display Options tab
    3. Turn off "Clip objects under first horizontal plane in main view only", otherwise you will not be able to see the background image.
    4. Turn off "Clip objects under first horizontal plane (ground / water)
    5. Turn off "Stop camera going below clipping plane (ground / water)" if needed by your camera motion.
    6. Hit OK
29. Delete the "Ground" object
30. If you are importing lights from SynthEyes, you can delete the Sun Light as well, otherwise, spin the Sun Light around to point at the camera screen, so that the image can be seen in the preview window.
31. You may have to move the time bar before the image appears. Vue Infinite only shows the first image of the sequence, so you can verify alignment at frame zero.
32. You will later want to disable the rendering of the trackers, or delete them outright.
33. Depending on what you are doing, you may ultimately wish to delete or disable the camera screen as well, for example, if you will composite an actor in front of your Vue Infinite landscape.
34. The import is complete; you can start working in Vue Infinite. You should make probably save a copy of the main camera settings so that you can have a scratch camera available as you prepare the scene in Vue Infinite.

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