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Author Topic: stepping stones  (Read 3548 times)

gnu

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stepping stones
« on: April 08, 2018, 07:56:23 PM »
ive got a park with a stream, lots of forest stuff, all looking ok.   there are stepping stones leading down to stream.  client is complaining that they are sitting *on* the grass not *in* it.  they are flat stones which if i lower them have grass sticking out through the tops of them.

however it seems impossible to neatly cut out holes for the stepping stones.   its based on a grass field preset so the clumps are pretty big.

if i use an exclude spline,  edge mode is greyed out.  (why?   that would solve all my issues if i could just have an exclude spline with clean edge mode cuts..)

i cant attach exclude spline to include one,  as i have a 1.5m  falloff in scale towards boundary spline edges which would be repeated around the stepping stones.

any tricks ive missed?    It looks like im going to have to just render the stones again without the grass and photoshop em in.    amusingly, this is the first time i think ive found something you *cant* do in FP.

Rokas

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Re: stepping stones
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2018, 02:10:08 PM »
I would suggest following workflow:

1.
Have two grass areas:
  • First for fine precision around stones with Detail preset
  • Second large area for everything else
Blending areas should not be the problem (see attached scene).

2. Always use spline for areas instead of default surface mode. This way You can enable edge mode for precise control.


3. Add Stones (RailClone Pro Works perfectly for this kind of style and with ForestPack pro integration (even as one Editable object!) ) as exclude objects. 



4. Adjust some parameters for edge detection: Resolution and Exclude distance




Hope You find this technique useful. Hope that helps. And I wish You best results using iToo Software plugins.
Rokas

gnu

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Re: stepping stones
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2018, 05:12:07 PM »
hi, thanks very much for the wonderfully detailed reply..    animation and everything..wow! 


i can see that this is the way to do it, however deadline pressures mean i will be forced to go the photoshop route.. ill render it as-is and clonestamp out any gaps or intersecting blades of grass.   not to mention the client wants it *very* neat, with sides of stones precisely cut into a clipped lawn.. i think it would take some fiddling to get this method to do such a clean job.


in any case, is there any chance that edge mode will be expanded to work with individual exclude shapes/geometry in future?   Its a very powerful feature and would remove the need to fiddle around with multiple forest objects..



Rokas

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Re: stepping stones
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2018, 08:24:13 AM »
in any case, is there any chance that edge mode will be expanded to work with individual exclude shapes/geometry in future?   Its a very powerful feature and would remove the need to fiddle around with multiple forest objects..

Could You please explain in more detail what You want to do. It works now pretty much like You described.
Rokas

GT4505

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Re: stepping stones
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2018, 04:36:22 PM »
Hi there,

check this workflow, worked very well for me:
https://forum.itoosoft.com/railclone-pro-(*)/clipping-proxies/
Pieter van Stee