Itoo Software Forum

Forest Pack => Forest Pro (*) => Topic started by: GF1991 on July 11, 2013, 02:09:21 PM

Title: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on July 11, 2013, 02:09:21 PM
Hi guys,
i made move to MAX2014 SP1 + i have installed my FP, the latest version.

ALL my scatters not display as red!  Although they render fine.

Any idea whats wrong?

Cant really work like this so i am hoping for solution.

THANKS!

M
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on July 11, 2013, 02:17:48 PM
Please, try clicking Geometry->Reassign Material and tell me if there is some change.

Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on July 11, 2013, 02:18:56 PM
great that fixed it THANKS!!!!
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on August 15, 2013, 09:23:07 AM
although the reassign materials helped, it also killed the tinting.

even if i start with a fresh scene and try using "forest color" for tinting, it always turns out to be red. not reflecting the color of the tint and the grass render with no tinting at all.
something is messign up the display of the tint override for sure in the max viewport.

any idea guys?

shoudl i send the scene somewhere?

Thnaks

Martin
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on August 15, 2013, 10:20:47 AM
Yes, please. Send us the scene to support@itoosoft.com.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on August 15, 2013, 05:45:31 PM
Hi guys, i am sending the scene to email provided.

Problem is this:
I want to achieve the effect that the grass meches pick the color from the tinting map.

i have:
* ground map on channel 1 (visible in render)
* tinting map as channel 2

i am using the tint map in FOREST COLOR material in override mode 100/100 to get exactly the same color i have on the tint map.

However the magic is not happenning. So there mush be something wrong i am doing obviously

Further more, then i apply this mapped tint, my point cache goes all sorts of various colors but not greens (from the map).

Whatever scene i open ...older ones ....i get the pointcache in red...

Reasign material button gets rid of tint completely and thus cannot be used....my meshes render red :-/

Please help, i really love the plugin and have no clue whats wrong all of the sudden.

Happy to cooperate on the solution.

Youll receive the download link soon from uschovna.cz

Best Regards

Martin

PS:also sending this message by mail.

Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on August 15, 2013, 07:30:35 PM
Thanks for the files. I see you are not using correctly Forest Color:

- It must be aplied to the texture you want to tint. I.e. to the diffuse slot of the grass. In this case there are multiple plants, so to each one of them. You can use "Material->Optimize Materials" to apply FC to all materials with a single click.
- The tinting map (where you want to get the color), is assigned to "Forest->Material->Get Color from Map" (globally), or to the "Override" section of Forest Color (if you want to redefine it locally). This map must be a simple bitmap texture, without Forest Color.

The Autumn Park tutorial (http://www.itoosoft.com/forestpack/tutorials/tutorial_forestcolor.php) may help you to learn the Forest Color concepts. And here (http://forum.itoosoft.com/index.php?topic=985.msg3356#msg3356) you can find more information about tinting map, together a sample scene.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: CO2263 on August 16, 2013, 08:44:29 AM
Hi Carlos,
Thanks for the references, I found that tutorial very usefull )
one more question - what kind of a plugin or script you are using to see before/after images in the same window and just swap them with a slider
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on August 16, 2013, 09:12:38 AM
Hi, the VRay Frame Buffer includes this functionality: just click the "H" button to show the history panel, store a couple of images with "Save", and set them clicking "Set A", "Set B".
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: CO2263 on August 16, 2013, 10:09:15 AM
thanks! )

small question out of topic...
cannot find some tick-box if any exists - to turn on/off forest object
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: CO2263 on August 16, 2013, 10:23:35 AM
here again )

was trying to apply forest color
but options for other slot maps are kind of disabled, see the screenshot
what is that mean?
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on August 16, 2013, 10:39:49 AM
Strange. It seems a problem with the Material Editor, the slot maps should be enabled when their checkbox is on. At least, it works fine here using Max 2014.

Is there some difference using the Compact Material Editor ? And restarting the Slate ?
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: CO2263 on August 16, 2013, 10:40:45 AM
PS
see the screen above
the gradient is not working when I change colors - its always the same

problem fixeв when I delete forest color map and create again

the first one was created by 'optimize materials' button
the second one - manually

...maybe some bug exists
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: CO2263 on August 16, 2013, 11:07:55 AM
here is the buggy scene
don't know what is wrong, maybe 3dmax issue

when I change gradient for the first forest color - the changes are propagated automatically to other ones
and the rest cannot be edited
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on August 16, 2013, 11:24:14 AM
I cannot reproduce the problem here: both the map slots and gradient work fine (FP 4.0.3, Max 2014 SP1).

There are a couple of missing plugins (MultiScatter and RichDirt2), but i think that should not be important.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: CO2263 on August 16, 2013, 11:28:32 AM
so - if you change the second forest color gradient it accepts changes, right?

Then I think its 3dsmax, I'm still on 2012 design x64 version

Quote
small question out of topic...
cannot find some tick-box if any exists - to turn on/off forest object

is there any? thx
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on August 16, 2013, 11:49:26 AM
Quote
so - if you change the second forest color gradient it accepts changes, right?
Then I think its 3dsmax, I'm still on 2012 design x64 version

Yes, i can confirm the problem in Max 2012. Clearly it's a bug of the Slate on this Max version. Instead, it works perfectly with Max 2014.

Quote
small question out of topic...
cannot find some tick-box if any exists - to turn on/off forest object

No, there is not a checkbox for that. If that helps, we usually put our Forest objects in a separate layer. In this way, it's easy to hide/show them.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: CO2263 on August 17, 2013, 05:05:53 PM
Hi Carlos,
one more question...
it looks like tint by element (forest color map) doesn't work if the object is vray_proxy, it can only do by item
please confirm or maybe I'm missing some settings
thx
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on August 18, 2013, 09:38:47 AM
That's right. Tint by Element cannot be used with proxies.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on August 23, 2013, 08:26:41 AM
Thanks for the link Carlos, this explains much :)
Anyway, you guys must have changed something in the code that makes all my former Forest pack setups appear red.
It definitelly has to do with me applying something wrong, but it worked before :)

Doesnt matter now, ill create some new setups the correct way.

Thnaks again!
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on September 10, 2013, 10:10:04 AM
Hello again,

in case when i want the scattered objects to pick the tint from a map that has been applied to the surface object....
should i use the "forest material" instead of "Forest color"?

or would it be better for the grass strands to use the "Forest material" with tint OVERRIDE with "as texture on surface" ticked?

This stuff is missing in the tutorial .

Thinnk about this as if i wanted to make a carpet with patterned tinted hairs or for example a football pitch.

Whats the correct approach

Thanks bunch for clarification!

Martin

Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on September 10, 2013, 11:35:20 AM
You must use Forest Color with "Override" and "As texture on surface". You can find a sample scene and details here (http://forum.itoosoft.com/index.php?topic=985.msg3356#msg3356). We'll release a tutorial specific for this feature soon.

Forest Material is used only for billboards.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on September 10, 2013, 12:40:34 PM
i did as you suggested and it works...but i can only preview it after rendering.
it doesnt display in viewport.
Please have a look at the pictures to better understand.
In my opinion it should be clearly visible in viewport whats being tinted.
Clearly i am still missing some button.
Please advise.

Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on September 10, 2013, 01:10:32 PM
Preview on viewport is available only assigning the tint properties at Forest->Material (in the Forest object, not in Forest Color). These parameters are equivalent to the tint properties of Forest Color, but applied globally.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on September 10, 2013, 03:02:22 PM
ok, but then you cant choose the blending mode is that correct?

I ve applied a colorful map in the global COLOR TINT in the material rollout but all it does in the viewport is that it make the greens more defined in various areas....as per my map....so for example if i have a maps with a white background and red fish (i know its silly) all it does is that it darkens the areas where the fish is to more deeper green in viewport, but in render it renders in color.

so the viewport still doesnt show any maps colors

in the material editor i ve got the forest color set to COLOR blendign mode.

in Material rollout in FOREST object there is no such option.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on September 10, 2013, 03:02:49 PM
shall i send the file?
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on September 10, 2013, 04:36:00 PM
That's correct. Some features as blending mode are available only in Forest Color.

If you want to get exactly the color of the map, try setting the base color to pure white. Also in this way it's easier to adjust the result.

Quote
shall i send the file?

Sure. You can send it support@itoosoft.com.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on September 10, 2013, 04:48:53 PM
sending the file right now....thatnk you very much guys! Great support.
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: iToo on September 11, 2013, 09:14:11 AM
Thanks for the file.

In this scene, since the map is the same for all instances of Forest Color, you can switch off "Override" and assign the texture directly at Forest->Material parameters. Once adjusted the range (100% to 100%), the map is visible on viewport.

Regarding Blending Mode, you can use "Normal" with a white base color (i.e. without grass textures), or set "Color" mode. Both generates a similar result.

Note: there are tons of items generated on this scene. To optimize it, you would use a more dense map (even a "Full") or lower Distribution->Threshold, while increasing X/Y Units. You can find more information about these parameters here (http://forum.itoosoft.com/index.php?topic=1546.0).
Title: Re: Problem with Forest Pack display in Max 2014 viewport
Post by: GF1991 on September 11, 2013, 09:30:24 AM
Great! Thanks for the pointers!