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Author Topic: Question about footage...  (Read 1658 times)

NP2889

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Question about footage...
« on: September 30, 2016, 05:47:04 PM »
Dear Itoo team,

we now use our Softwar, Forest Pack, as well as Railclone for some while and are realy happy about it.

now i got a Question about footage..

When installing your cataloges theres a katalog for xfrog trees as well as other ones... 

now we thought about ordering an xfrog bundle.   from there we get linked to the xfrog website where we can by the package... 

my question now is, if ordering this , theres no problem using it together in 3ds max with vray ! and if it is embeded as smooth as for example the hd trees ?

what do we have to pay atention to ? 

we too have bought some older evermotion grass collections  i think  124 ....   but it cant be integrated as smooth as the hd trees for example..

is there another version of theese packages, or a script to embed them ? 

thanks for answers..

Michal Karmazín

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Re: Question about footage...
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2016, 06:05:37 PM »
Hi,

As for many vegetation libraries on the market, there is integration within the plug-in available - the Xfrog Catalog add-on.

In case of Xfrog models the folder structure is "more complicated" and you need to configure texture path by yourself, as mentioned on our web site:

"XFrog Catalog does not configure the texture paths, this is responsibility of the user. Usually the texture paths must be added to the Max configuration, using Customize->Configure User Paths->External Files, but XFrog uses a texture folder for each model, so the number of paths may be very high, when using multiple libraries.

In this case we suggest to copy all textures in an unique folder, adding the folder to User Paths. To help you with this process, we have written a Max script that collects all textures with a single click. You can download the script from here.

Unzip the .ms file and launch it from MAXScript->Run Script. Select the source and destination folders, and click Collect to copy the files. When finished, add the destination path to the Max's configuration (User Paths)."


We understand, that in combination with the XFrog Texture Maps Collector the installation process is quite complex, but unfortunately as this libraries are done by third party company (Xfrog Inc.) we can't modify it's folder structure. Thanks for your comprehension. Please feel free to check our Forest Pack support for XFrog plants page, where you can find some more information like about the Material Optimizer.

Generally, it's very hard to say which models suits best to your scenes. As posted here:

"Each library has its own pros and cons. HQ Plants include native materials for VRay and Mental Ray and doesn't use opacity maps (renders may be slightly faster). XFrog catalog is much more larger and includes species that are not available in other libraries.

In any case, both includes free samples, so users may evaluate them and see what fits better to their needs."


The same applies for Laubwerk / Evermotion / MaxTree models. As there are free samples available, probably the best way is to do some tests with them and than decide.

Best regards,

NP2889

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Re: Question about footage...
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2016, 06:11:41 PM »
Thank you....  :)

NP2889

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Re: Question about footage...
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2016, 06:19:46 PM »
one further question..

does the integration of evermotion Trees work better ? or is the way to integrate it the same as decribed on top ?

thanks


Michal Karmazín

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Re: Question about footage...
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2016, 11:43:15 AM »
Hi,

The Evermotion Catalog integration is a very similar to the HQ Catalog (there's no need to collect used textures). Just let me mention, that not all archmodels vegetation collections published by Evermotion up to now aren't supported yet. We would like to release a new version of this catalogue, but it's hard to say, when the next update of this add-on will be published (we'll try to prioritize it & release it soon).

Let me add, that any model can be used as a Custom Object under the Geometry tab. So, if you Merge (or link as XRef) any model into your scene and then create Forest object, you can pick it as a Custom Object. Please feel free to check our "Creating Libraries" tutorial covering related "libraries" topic in detail.

Best regards,

NP2889

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Re: Question about footage...
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2016, 11:15:41 AM »
Sorry to come back to this topic.

we´ve got bougt the evermotion Archmocels 124 Footage, and this is also in the Evermotion Catalog we ve installed. 

I copied the footage to a place on my harddive. collected all the maps to a folder inside this place and now tried to point from the Forest libary to the installation path on my harddrive.

but forestpack  tells me, that this directory doesnt contain Evermotion Plants AM124libary.

what is wrong ?

Michal Karmazín

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Re: Question about footage...
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2016, 11:46:24 AM »
Hi,

In the Select Installation Path window you should select the "top" folder that contains all other folders (Vray / Mentalray / Scanline). In the Evermotion Catalog 1.0 you need to have available also the mental ray's version of models (if the Library Browser can't find those, you'll get the error "The selected directory does not Contain Evermotion Plants AM124 library").

We are currently preparing a new version of this catalogue (with support from other packages 42, 61, 113, 117 & 154) and only with verification of the V-Ray folder and if you want to avoid the need of extract also mental ray models, you can replace the file "evermotionplants.ms" located at:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Itoo Software\Evermotion Catalog\lib


with the "new" one that comes attached (this version is looking just for models with V-Ray materials).

Best regards,

NP2889

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Re: Question about footage...
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2016, 01:18:40 PM »
Thank you...

this works now...