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Author Topic: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp  (Read 9636 times)

UF7753

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Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« on: May 27, 2008, 12:50:31 AM »
i'm having considerable difficulties applying new materials to the library in forest3. i've tried adding in the details in the index.dat file and then adding the diffuse&opacity maps into the folder where the high res images are. i also added a reduced image to the thumbnails folder. is there any examples of how to do this?

i notice that nothing happens when i check-decheck 'get size from material'.

also are the xls files in the high definition folders of any use? i thought that you could create a dat file from them, but i've had no luck doing that.

iToo

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2008, 04:01:42 PM »

But, can you see your materials in the library or the problem is only with 'get size from material' option ? Please, post here your index.dat file to check it.

Don't worry about the xls files, we used them to create the index.dat but are not needed by the plugin. We will remove them for the next release.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

UF7753

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2008, 09:31:03 PM »
i have been back at it again and i must have been tired last night, because the 'get size from material' works, once you have it checked before you select a material from the library.

but this still leaves me with the problem of using my own bitmaps for trees. i like the idea of using the xls file, because it's a lot easier to make entries into that than the dat file. if you have any methods on how to setup a custom library i'd like to hear it.

iToo

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2008, 11:44:01 PM »

If you only want to use your own bitmaps, you can create new materials using "Forest Material" plugin and assigning them to the "Material" property in the Geometry List. The index.dat file is only needed to customize the Library Browser, but the materials may be assigned manually as well:

http://www.itoosoft.com/english/menu.php?id=forest_refgeometry

What do you want to do exactly ? Create your own 3DS materials or customize the Library Browser ?

You can use a xls file and export it to a CSV delimited text file to create index.dat, but for small libraries is more easy to edit it with a text editor.
Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

UF7753

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2008, 10:29:37 AM »
well create my own materials would be easier, but i want to be able to get size from material with any material i create. with forest 2 the ability to specify the plant size was in the material.

iToo

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2008, 04:24:30 PM »
Ok. The library browser is used only to assign the material and properties (as size) to the Forest object, but the material must already exists in a 3DS material library. The index.dat file defines the properties of each type of tree as described here:

http://www.itoosoft.com/english/menu.php?id=forest_install

So, to add a new item you must:

1.- Create a new material (use always Forest Material plugin as base)
2.- Save it to a material library. You can use the included with Forest or create a new library
3.- Add a new line to index.dat, defining the properties of the plant

That's all. If you have any problem in the process, please post here your index.dat.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

UF7753

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2008, 11:12:27 PM »
i've tried and cannot get it to work. i have attached the index.dat and the index.xls files i've used.

EDIT: i just noticed that when i assign a material to a forest using the Library button the trees auto resize, but when i add a iToo material using the material button they do not auto resize. so far i cannot get my material to show up in the library to add it from there.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2008, 12:50:43 AM by UF7753 »

iToo

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2008, 09:37:53 AM »
You are using a comma to separate the fields, not a semicolon as is required, that's the problem.

Auto resize only works with the Library Browser, because the size parameters are in index.dat, not in the material.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

UF7753

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2008, 05:27:36 PM »
i only got to correcting the .dat file last night with semi-colons for comma's and it worked. i copied a thumbnail into the thumbnail folder and i can now use my own bitmaps from the library.

it is a bit cumbersome though, since i had materials already defined with the correct sizes from forest 2. is there any way that the sizes can be set in the material like before? maybe it could be included in an update.

iToo

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2008, 07:38:22 PM »
We are modifying the Library Browser to add new items or edit them. It will allow to drag & drop materials from the Material Editor, creating automatically a new item. Dragging a "Planes Material" that includes the size values, will create a tree entry on a single step.

« Last Edit: June 04, 2008, 10:43:35 PM by Itoo »
Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

UF7753

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Re: Forest Materials - difficult to grasp
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2008, 09:21:11 PM »
i look forward to the update. i work for landscape architects who normally use photoshop to place trees into a scene. i'm trying to get around them to use this plugin. i think this saves a lot of time and is quite accurate, but i'm not sure the others agree on the time and they don't seem to care about the accuracy. anyway, i'll know more next week.