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Author Topic: forest material, forest color  (Read 6247 times)

lukx

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forest material, forest color
« on: May 30, 2011, 08:12:29 PM »
I read the online reference but I think I do something wrong.
I want to create random tint on my trees. I have multisubobject material sperate mat or leaves and separate for bark. So reference says that:
" Random Tint needs "Forest Material" to work. Be sure that the materials used in the Forest object (assigned in the Geometry rollout or applied directly to the object) uses the "Forest Material" plugin as a base. Without it, these effects won't work."

So I assigned to leaves forest material and in that material I have vraymat with just diffuse color.
Now when I check color tint in forest material rollout (plugin) nothing is happening.

The only way to make color change is when instead of using forest material I use in vray material diffuse slot Forest Color. So my question is what I'm doing wrong that with forest material I can't achieve the effect of random tint. Also I can't quite find explanation of difference between Element and Item in Variation setting.



iToo

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2011, 10:03:35 PM »

Your configuration of Forest Material seems correct, it should work. Have you defined the Tint Range ? By default it is set to 0%, that doesn't generate any tint.

Anyways, if you are using 3D objects i suggest to use Forest Color. We have introduced this plugin in the latest versions, and it's specifically designed for meshes/proxies. Instead, Forest Material was designed and works better with billboards.

The explanation of Element and Item is not described in the online reference because it is updated to Forest 3.4.1, but Forest Color was included in the latest betas. In the next days we will update the website to reflect these changes.

The Elements are the mesh pieces that define an Item, as the leaves or the branches of an individual tree. Note that the Elements are not the faces of a mesh, but an upper hierarchy. Internally, Forest Color consideres an Element as each group of adjacent faces of a mesh that share the same material ID.

The Variation slider defines the amount of Color Tint applied by Item or by Element, using a weight scale from 0% (Item) to 100% (Element). You can see some sample images here:

http://www.itoosoft.com/forum/index.php?topic=786.0

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

lukx

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2011, 11:35:30 AM »
ah my bad yeah I forgot about tint :-[.

Good to know that forest color is made for proxies.
Thanks again for patience and tips Carlos !

lukx

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2011, 12:14:46 PM »
Ok last question... why the yellow color and dark blue doesn't show:


« Last Edit: May 31, 2011, 12:17:09 PM by lukx »

iToo

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2011, 07:32:54 PM »

- The default color (yellow) is used only when there are none of the other random colors enabled.
- The dark blue color doesn't show because a statistical coincidence, there are few items in the distribution and the random algorithm are not choosed any sample for this color. Try creating a larger distribution or change the General->Seed value.

Anyways working with this test scene i've found a bug: the tint by element creates many cloned items with the distribution of colors. We will fix it.

PD: i just updated the online reference to include the latest changes.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

lukx

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2011, 09:45:00 PM »

Anyways working with this test scene i've found a bug: the tint by element creates many cloned items with the distribution of colors. We will fix it.


So I'm OFFICIALLY betatester ;)

Abstract Canvas

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2011, 11:24:28 AM »
Sorry to jump on this thread but my issue is related.

I can't find forest color anywhere. I understand you place it in the diffuse slot.

So if i had a Mental ray Arch and Design shader i would place it in the diffuse slot of this shader correct?

Well it's just not on my list, cann't find it anywhere. Any ideas?

Only things i could find were:
Forest Material 3
Forest Texture 3

Forest Shadow 3 and Forest Geomshad 3 show up in the base of Forest texture.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2011, 11:32:07 AM by Uddie »

iToo

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2011, 07:08:12 PM »

What version of Forest do you use ? Forest Color is included in the latest betas only (3.5.x).

Forest Texture and Forest Shadow are custom shaders used by Forest Material, normally you don't need to use them directly. In fact, both shaders are hidden by default in Forest 3.5.x.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

Abstract Canvas

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2011, 11:56:31 AM »
Ah, that will be why its not there. Im using the latest release version 3.4.1 as i just purchased the plug-in and was trying to get my head around how it worked.

So your online materials are referencing the latest beta version? I should maybe switch to that instead then as it seems its functionality is more in line with what i need. (proxy tinting etc)

iToo

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Re: forest material, forest color
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2011, 01:03:26 PM »

Yes, the online documentation is updated to the latest beta. Usually we don't change the help reference until the final version is available, but i know that many users are using this beta so exceptionally we have updated it beforehand.

Considering the current state of the beta you can switch to it safely. It is stable and there would not be many changes with the final version.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software