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Author Topic: At a loss to start  (Read 602 times)

FT2008

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At a loss to start
« on: May 02, 2020, 06:32:46 AM »
I used Forest Pak Pro a few years ago.  Had no problems.  Upgraded to 6.23 recently.  Installed on Max 2016 under Mental Ray.  Watched the same boat in canal Parts 1,2,3 tutorial as a refresher.  All makes sense, just like I remember.  I have a mesh.  I have grass 3D geometry.  I select Itoo, then Forest Pro.  From there, nothing is like the tutorial.  Selecting the mesh does not auto distribute the template objects on the surface as a start.

I have to select my mesh plane with the '+' icon under Surfces.  Area rollout will not let me do anything.  I select 3D grass as custom object.  No point representation of the grass distributes on the mesh.  Dense image is pre-selected in Distribution and all options locked out.  Poking around in the scene, I notice one pointcloud representation of the 3D grass appears off in space away from the mesh plane.  If I zoom on it, it is a pointcloud version of one 3D grass object.  It renders and looks like the grass.  But there is no grass being distributed on the plane that under surfaces.

I understand the tutorial perfectly.  What is happening as I launch Forest Pro does not match my previous experience nor what I see in the tutorials.  At a complete loss. I really need to add some grass, trees and shrubs and start rendering.  I only have this weekend to finish the project.  It is a completed POV auto accident.  I only need to add some foliage along the roadway and then I'm done.  Not a good start.  Anyone know what is going on?

Rokas

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Re: At a loss to start
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2020, 08:39:16 AM »
It would help to see Your max file. We could analyze it and help You faster.
General tips:

reset xform for the surface.
Use correct scale for terrain objects.
Rokas

FT2008

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Re: At a loss to start
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2020, 09:12:20 AM »
After it doing what I said in my project, I started with a new Max file and created a plane, camera and imported the same grass 3D object. Very simple.  I got the same result there, so I think it's an overall issue, not project specific.  Here's the simple test project.

Rokas

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Re: At a loss to start
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2020, 09:23:35 AM »
Thank You for the file

First of all, upon opening Your file we found that You have been infected with 3dsmax virus. Please read through this information.

Regarding the problem, I see You are in Custom Edit mode.

Please use "Generate" mode when creating a forest object. It should work better in this case:
Rokas

FT2008

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Re: At a loss to start
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2020, 01:39:10 PM »
Oh man, I knew it was something simple and stupid I was doing.  I was confusing Custom mode with Custom geometry.

The virus popped up on Max2015 on my old graphics computer.  This new computer has Max2020 for Arnold (which I'm weaning myself over to) and Max2016 to continue my MR workflow on short deadline jobs where I'm not comfortable with Arnold yet.

The virus showed up on the new computer with Max 2016 as well.  Loading Max files into Max2020 cleans the corruption.  I should be completely on Arnold before the year is out.


Thanks for the info.  Coffee is ready.  Onward and upward.

FT2008

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Re: At a loss to start
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2020, 01:50:05 PM »
Script loaded, corruption removed.  :)