Itoo Software Forum
Forest Pack => Forest Pro (*) => Topic started by: thefox on September 21, 2014, 12:51:22 PM
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Hey,
I'm a little confused about this: the placing of objects does not align to the given texture.
I was wondering why the control of translation of objects did not work properly- and this seems to be the solution.
Probably I'm doing something very simple wrong but cant figure what..!
See attachment: noise map in override distribution slot..
?
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Please show us the render not viewport grab.
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Yes, when using procedural textures the result on viewport may not match with render. If possible, please upload also a test scene.
Thanks,
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Hi,
thanks for your reply.
Alright, that was helpful - but its really not good not to be able to preview the scattering in the viewport properly.. why this?
I'll attach the render.
Alongside this one - as it fits the thread title - I'll post another with some strange behavior of controling objects rotation by color / value.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong too... ;) Should result in some circular appearance, all objects facing center- right?
Another question (maybe better another thread?): how to achieve jagged edges in paint area distribution that the objects distribution gets more rough at the edges of an area?
Painting an area by lowering the brush size is a little tedious.
Converting to spline and adding a noise modifier was not really successful too (even with optimizespline mod).
Using a distribution map instead is an option but tedious too- like viewport canvas or a baked or on the fly rendered dirt texture map...
..the test scene is 2,5 mb..
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Pf. Same with gradient controlled rotation.
Procedurally not possible?
Not only in viewport but even in render?
This one is with an gradient image from the web, works..
Viewport canvas works too. (Sure, not procedural..)
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..did not upload..
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Should result in some circular appearance, all objects facing center- right?
(http://i.imgur.com/XI83Hl1.png)
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Another question (maybe better another thread?): how to achieve jagged edges in paint area distribution that the objects distribution gets more rough at the edges of an area?
Painting an area by lowering the brush size is a little tedious.
Density fall off is designed just for that, or am I not understanding what You want to do:
(http://i.imgur.com/MvXgcJL.gif)
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Gradient rotation: it does produce strange results when the color gradient is from blue to black and does work properly from black to blue???
I was swapping textures and produced strange results, as I remember there was even the same setup (same texture, kind of, in the same slots) producing different results and once by swapping a texture wich did not work it suddenly did..
Falloff: yes, know about and I love it. But it still remains "smooth" along the original edge. Was imagining something like a gradient range of edge which could be controlled by a texture slot. Like a noise map, or checker, or dirt to have greater control. The edit curve function gives something but is limited.
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Oops. Forgot attachments of rotation issue..
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Hi,
Regarding the "Gradient Ramp" map rotation:
The rotation value is calculated from the luminance channel values of applied map - from 0º for 0 (black) to 360ª for 255 (white) - these values are absolute. So, as shown on attached screenshots its behaviour is pretty predictable. By using arrows, you can see, that in case of "inverted map" it's still working on the same logic - going from black colour to white the arrow rotates from 0º to 360º.
Hope this clears the usage of "Rotation Map" in Forest Pack, but in case of any further question or doubt, please don't hesitate to ask.
Kind regards,
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Not quite yet..
I was assuming its luminance value is represented absolute- as you mention.
So 0 is 0°, 128 gray is 180°, 255 is 360°.
Did not show up properly, only after swapping back and forth- maybe some strange behaviour of MY 3dsmax version...
I dont really get the second image- the orientation of the arrow has been changed by rotating the sub-object / or objects pivot?
The third and fourth I dont get all all.. It's the same "strange" orientation I produced as well- how does this get together with the absolute representation of luminance values?
Well, as I'm german, there is some saying - I'm standing on the hose. Literally. Means no current to my brain obviously.. :D
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Hi,
No worries, I should have explained a little bit more what's on images.
First two images are using the same map (Gradient Ramp map) - on the second image, the UVW Map for used surface is rotated by 45º.
The third and fourth images are using the "inverted" version of the original map - so the gradient goes "clockwise" as the absolute angle values for rotation maintain the same logic - rotating from 0º to 360º (using absolute values - "counterclockwise") upon the corresponding luminance value. So, it may look strange, but it's totally correct.
The fourth image is once again the same map just with the UVW mapping is rotated by 45º to show more variations using the same principles.
Best regards,
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Got it. Thanks!
At last, what about the idea of paint a direction?
How would YOU solve that task?
The viewport canvas / or vertex paint is an option (vp canvas preferred in this case) BUT does not give the ability to take the direction the stroke is coming from and where its going to into concideration..
Actually you'd need to paint a gradient value depending on direction- this is not possible by hand- only if the objects (eg. people) look or walk or whatever in only ONE direction - limiting this procedure.
Surprise me :)
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Hi,
I'm afraid there is no way to paint colour depending on the "movement direction".
Anyway, it's handy, when using the Vertex Paint, to have a palette with colours corresponding to 0º - 360º angles prepared. These colours could be used to paint the desired direction. As under Brush Options you can adjust the curve and it supports pressure sensitivity, it's relatively easy to get desired results and smooth gradients. Attaching screenshot. Hope you'll find this workflow useful.
Kind regards,
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Yes.
Watched the Boston presentation from 2012 (actually got a little nervous of his wild movement in the recorded viewport while explaining- but well..) and saw the vertex paint part.
He did not show the process of making the orientation follow the painting but showed how to use vertex paint in general (as he had collapsed the stack by that time already..) so I can only assume he did it by hand but this would have taken quite a while to get it done right!
If there's some magic trick I missed tell me, otherwise the same procedure applies to vertex paint as well as to viewport canvas use in a similar way- both with its advantages.
Not REALLY practical so far. Maybe with some 3rd party plugin, I recently posted some request on cgarchitect, maybe..
Thanks a lot for your effort!! I really appreciate it! :)
There is still this question of how to gain a more jagged edge for distribution as mentioned above..
I dont want to mix and mess this all up, should I recreate the question in another thread?
Regards
Niko
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Hi,
If you don't mind creating your maps in a separate app, It might be helpful to know that GIMP, an open source alternative to photoshop, does have the ability to paint maps according to brush direction. It's not ideal because you can't paint directly in max but it's another option, and in the past I've found it's a quick way of painting direction maps.
(http://lonelymonk.com/forum_images/729f02370862449fb0905b43be825dc4.jpg)
Cheers,
Paul
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Hi,
Regarding the "jagged edge":
Probably the most flexible and easy way is to "paint" your custom Distribution Map. I'll recommend you to use the Viewport Canvas tool as this way you'll be able to choose your Custom brush for Color / Mask under Brush Images. Please check screenshot attached.
Just take in mind, as mentioned on this post (http://forum.itoosoft.com/index.php?topic=900.msg3023#msg3023) regarding use of Viewport Canvas with Forest Pack:
"Forest is not updated while painting with the brush, you must release the "Paint/Erase" button to update the bitmap and see the result in Forest."
Kind regards,
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Thanks Paul!
Yes. But no. ;) Yeah, works and definitely IS a workaround, even though not too practical. But as long as there is no native function it may be more or less harder to achieve things in general. Seems like there are not too many beside me requesting that feature? Would be like using the comb tool in Max' hari&fur modifier..?
Thanks Michal!
That's a way, yes. Same as above for Paul (its alright and definitely even more applicable than going down the GIMP route (using a mask as brushtip is VERY good!)) it would be great to have the ability to control the edge of a distribution area with some texture for distribution, maybe scaling, maybe transformation and so on. Would see benefint in that. But maybe there's some program internal limitation for this (splines are no texture nor can they be controlled with one) and I honestly dont have much knowledge of things behind the curtain.
Thanks for your effort- maybe one day ;)