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Author Topic: Wavy roof structure  (Read 782 times)

Macker

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Wavy roof structure
« on: November 12, 2019, 11:10:52 AM »
Hey guys,

I'm pretty sure what I'm about to ask is bread and butter work for railclone, but I'm stumped.

I've created a mesh that represents a roof I'm making, and I went down the route of spline mapping to try and get the timber slat texture to sit correctly, but to no avail; so I'd like to now have all of the slats modelled in railclone and follow the shape of the structure if possible? (screenshot attached).

Obviously the roof rises and falls in a sinuous nature, so o get a mesh to follow this would be perfect. Have also attached the max object.

I'm sure ages ago I saw an example similar to this of a race track that had the sides banked... Not sure if it applies here, and couldn't find it anyway!
« Last Edit: November 12, 2019, 11:16:15 AM by Macker »

iToo

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Re: Wavy roof structure
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2019, 10:03:24 AM »
Hi, i'm afraid it's not possible to create this roof completely with RailClone. The plugin is not designed to work over complex UV Surfaces.

RailClone includes a Surface feature, but just to conform the segments along the local Z axis (similar to the XY mode of Forest Pack).
There are some limitations, as well. I.e. Segments must not extend beyond the Surface limits, and geometry is not conformed along the Y axis, only aligned with the Surface normal at the Segment's position.

In the attached scene you can find an example of this technique, to generate the slats (similar to the race track case). Please note it's far from perfect:

- I created a Spline following the middle point along the Surface perimeter. It's used as Base Object for the Linear Generator.
The Surface normal is used to align the slats in the Y axis (Segment->Deform->Align Y with Surface).

- I generated other spline from the Surface border, which is used as Clipping area to cut the slats.

I had to generate long slats and cut them with the Clipping Area, because actually RC has not a Generator along two splines (that's in our to-do list).
For this reason, some slats doesn't align well at both sides of the Surface border. You could refine the banking angle, adjusting manually the vertices of the base spline.

I know this is not a real solution. But i hope it helps as proof of concept.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

Macker

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Re: Wavy roof structure
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2019, 10:12:47 AM »
That is so better than I had imagined it could look to be honest; that's absolutely perfect for what I need (though I will need the slats to be a lot more dense which is likely to cause issues at those tight corners - but maybe I create a seperate railclone object for the corners or something? I can't believe how simple a setup that is; and it completely eluded me!

Thank you so much!

iToo

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Re: Wavy roof structure
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2019, 10:26:21 AM »
I'm glad i could help out.

The separation between slats is defined by the Evenly distance. And yes, if you need more density at corners, the best way would be to use two generators.
For example, creating different sections at the spline with unique Material IDs, and filtering each Generator by that ID.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software

Macker

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Re: Wavy roof structure
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2019, 10:44:47 AM »
RC has not a Generator along two splines (that's in our to-do list).

Do you have an expected date for this (this year? 2020?)

iToo

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Re: Wavy roof structure
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2019, 01:24:44 PM »
Do you have an expected date for this (this year? 2020?)

Not really. This is only one of many features we have in the wishlist.

Not for this year, that's sure. RC4 is very recent.

Carlos Quintero
iToo Software