Itoo Software Forum

Forest Pack => Forest Pro (*) => Topic started by: MU3245 on January 25, 2017, 11:37:20 PM

Title: Forest Materials
Post by: MU3245 on January 25, 2017, 11:37:20 PM
I have a 4 separate variations of a 3D tree model that all use the same multi-sub object material in Max/Vray.

I want to change/alter the leaf diffuse bitmap. I want to do this in a way that the "original leaf bitmap" that FP is referencing remains unchanged. The edited/altered leaf bitmap would only be used in the current scene. Any other scene that is making use of the same materiel and leaf bitmap would not render with the edited leaf bitmap.

I'd like to edit the leaf bitmap, for instance maybe de-saturate, and then have all 4 trees that share that material render with the edited de-saturated version of the leaf bitmap.

What would be the best way to go about this? TIA for any help or advice
Title: Re: Forest Materials
Post by: MU3245 on January 26, 2017, 03:23:02 AM
looking thru the past forum posts. maybe this answers my question?

http://forum.itoosoft.com/index.php?topic=3344.0

It at least gives a better understanding of whats happening "under the hood" with materials
Title: Re: Forest Materials
Post by: Michal Karmazín on January 26, 2017, 01:31:22 PM
Hi,

The material assigned to such item (as shown on attached screens-shot) should be edited (not the "auto-material" assigned to whole Forest object) - once having any material assigned, Forest uses this material instead of the material assigned to the "source object".

Best regards,
Title: Re: Forest Materials
Post by: MU3245 on January 26, 2017, 05:07:26 PM
Thanks for your reply! I did a little test. I created a forest object with two variations of a tree. Both trees source objects have the same material assigned. They are different geometry variations but the same multi sub object material is assigned to each.

In forest pack geometry roll out, I drag/instance the material for one of the trees into the mat editor. I change the appearance of the leaf bitmap. Only one of the trees changes appearance. The other tree, even though it shares the exact same source material, remains un changed.

I want to be able to change all the trees that share the same material all at once not one at a time. I'm thinking that post I linked to above provides the solution. I need to clear out those auto assigned materials and then just edit the one source material that all the trees share.

Could anyone point me to the section(s) of the user guide that explains how materials work in this regard. I think it would help me if I understood the mechanics of how forest pack handles this.

forest Pack is the coolest and best thing I have added into my tool/skill set in a long time. Fantastic!
Title: Re: Forest Materials
Post by: Michal Karmazín on January 26, 2017, 05:28:54 PM
Hi,

Under the Add Geometry > Properties group (http://docs.itoosoft.com/display/FORESTPACK/Add+Geometry#AddGeometry-Propertiesgroup)  part of our on-line reference guide you can find following info :

"Forest needs to build a single multi-sub object material combining all the materials applied to the items in the Geometry List. Because creating this material and correctly assigning the material IDs manually would be a complex and time consuming procedure, Forest performs this action automatically.

Subsequently applying materials to items is very different compared with the normal workflow in 3DS Max. The material is NOT applied directly to the object using the Material Editor, but instead selected as a parameter in the Geometry rollout, using the "Material" pick button. For Custom Objects, if material is not specified, Forest uses the material assigned to the source object. If you accidentally assign another material to a Forest object, use the "Reassign Material" button to recover the auto-material."

Hope that clears it up, but in case of any further question or doubt, please feel free to ask.

Best regards,