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Author Topic: Hay bale?! Possible with Forest Pack?  (Read 2216 times)

BI1654

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Hay bale?! Possible with Forest Pack?
« on: July 03, 2015, 09:28:19 PM »
Any ideas? Ive tried scattering over a box, but the edges dont work very well. The straw/grass oversails all the edges (to be expected I suppose)
Tried Vray fur, same problem really, and also just didnt look quite right.

I guess PFlow is an option, but would really rather not....

Is this possible with either Forest or RC maybe?

Thanks


iToo

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Re: Hay bale?! Possible with Forest Pack?
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2015, 09:16:04 AM »
Hi, i think it could be done with Forest, using UV Surface mode over a chamferBox (to avoid the sharp edges), and modifying the rotation/scale where needed using maps.
You can find useful this discussion, about how to modify interactively the rotation and scale using Vertex Color maps.

I hope that helps.
Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

BI1654

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Re: Hay bale?! Possible with Forest Pack?
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2015, 09:21:53 AM »
Hmm I cant get the vertex paint technique to work at all.

Here's what im doing.
I have forest added to a chamfered box, UV mode, auto ticked.
In Rotation, map ticked for Z and Vertex Color map added (default settings)
Color map ticked.

Add a vertex color to chamfered box and paint away, nothing happens.

What am I doing wrong?

Paul Roberts

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Re: Hay bale?! Possible with Forest Pack?
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2015, 11:36:46 AM »
Hi!

The problem is probably related to the mapping channels. In the Vertex Paint modifier Set the Mode to Map Channel and then assign the channel you wish to use (2 in this example)



Then in the Forest Pack Object, make sure that the Transform > Rotation > Map Channel value correlates with the channel selected in the Vertex Paint modifier.



Live painting should now work as expected. Please find attached a sample file containing this setup.

This also post got me thinking about how to create a hay bale with FP, so I've had a quick go but tackled it slightly differently. From what I can see the majority of the individual hay strands in a bale run vertically. On the top and bottom you would therefore see the ends which get bent over as the bale is handled.

So to do this I've tried an approach that uses 2 separate FP object, one for the sides and another the top and bottom. To create the surface, start with a chamfer box but then split it to separate sides from the top and bottom like this:



You can then use the sides marked in green to create a FP object that scatters vertically aligned straw segments (with a little randomised variation), but for the top I've created a small patch of segments that are stood on end with some strands bent over at the end, like this:



These are scattered on the polygons marked in blue. This should give you the impression of hay running vertically throughout the entire bale without needing to fill the whole volume with geometry.



I've attached a sample file of this setup, in case it's of use.

Many thanks!

Paul
« Last Edit: July 06, 2015, 12:32:06 PM by Paul Roberts »
Paul Roberts
iToo Software