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Author Topic: Bluestone Pavers  (Read 2641 times)

Bobby Parker

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Bluestone Pavers
« on: June 02, 2016, 06:22:57 PM »
This seems like it would be easy, however, I am having issues in getting it right. Any help would be appreciated. (pavers with grass)

« Last Edit: June 02, 2016, 07:33:15 PM by UC3472 »

Paul Roberts

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2016, 01:38:24 PM »
Hi,

This is an interesting question. How about a combined RailClone and Forest Pack approach where you create the base mesh with RailClone and then scatter grass on only the areas between the pavers using material IDs. To do this you would use the following approach:

1 - Create a RailClone style with the pavers and spacers.
2 - Assign an Material ID of 1 to the pavers and an ID of 2 to the spacers
3 - In the Display rollout, turn off Use Instancing Engine and set the Display Mode to Mesh. You can now use this RailClone object as a surface in Forest Pack.
4 - Create a Forest Pack object and assign the RC object as a Surface.
5 - Choose a Detail grass preset, or use your own. It need to small enough and the distribution dense enough to get into the gaps.
6 - In the Areas Rollout, set the Surface Material ID to 2 to match the ID on the spacer geometry.



You should now have grass only between the paving stones. If your paving stones are high poly, you may wish to create two RailClone objects. One as a surface for FP and a more detailed version for the render.



Alternatively you could create the whole thing with RailClone. If there isn't a lot of clipping this approach could be much more efficient. To do this you'd just create RailClone segment's that incorporate the grass:



Add these segments to the default input of an A2S array and adjust the padding until they overlap correctly to account for the overhanging blades of grass.



You could also add them to a Forest Object if you like and use the Full Distribution map, adjusting the Density to create the correct size for the grid.

All three of these approaches are demonstrated in the attached files. I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

Many Thanks,

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

Bobby Parker

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2016, 04:06:39 PM »
Thank you! I work through it, using another method, however, I'll try yours.

http://bobby-parker.com/#exterior-rendering (3rd image down)


Paul Roberts

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2016, 05:01:34 PM »
Glad you sorted it out. Nice renders!
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

Bobby Parker

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2016, 05:29:09 PM »
Thanks. And thanks for the help.

Bobby Parker

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2016, 04:58:34 PM »
I am trying the railclone and forest pro way, because I have a lot of clipping, however picking the surface has caused MAX to sit and spin for 25 minutes. I have tried 3 times and all 3 times does the same thing. Any tips?

Bobby Parker

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2016, 06:04:22 PM »
The only Railcone way doesn't work because of all the clipping.

Paul Roberts

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2016, 10:54:10 AM »
Is your area very large? Also I would consider trying a RailClone object that is just the spaces (no pavers) and don't bother with the Material ID step. It might speed things up a bit.

If you send me what you have I can take a look.

Thanks!

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

Bobby Parker

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Re: Bluestone Pavers
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2016, 05:00:36 PM »
Thanks for the help. The client ended up doing a 180 and decided against the pavers.