Itoo Software Forum

RailClone => RailClone Pro (*) => Topic started by: theedge on November 30, 2016, 10:45:14 AM

Title: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: theedge on November 30, 2016, 10:45:14 AM
Hi,

I am modeling some buildings that will have a cladding similar to the attached reference.
Building this in railclone is very easy. But the issue I have is that I don't want to randomize the colors. I need the panels colors to mimic a provided motif.
How can I achieve this ?

I tried to use VIZPARK Crossmap which is supposed to have this function but it didn't work.

Thank you.
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: Paul Roberts on November 30, 2016, 12:47:41 PM
Hi,

At present the only way to do this solely with RailClone would be to control the material IDs on the source objects. This quicktips tutorial shows how this could be done to create a tiles gradient.

(http://i.imgur.com/af4mDua.jpg)

Alternatively I have had some success using Crossmap. I've attached a sample file to illustrate but the basic workflow is:

- Use UV channel 1 for the normal tile's mapping
- Use UV channel 2 for the pattern's mapping
- In RailClone use the automatic box mapping feature to set the size and scale of the pattern. Note that it is set to map channel 2.
(http://i.imgur.com/AJCFiOu.png)
- In Crossmap, set Image Selection to Use Input Map
- Set Image Distribution to Rail Clone (sic)
- Add your coloured tile maps to Crossmap in the usual way. Remember that Crossmap automatically derives an averaged colour for these that's used to match the pattern, but these can be edited manually for different effects.
- Add your pattern image to the Input Map > Source slot. The bitmaps will be selected based on the colours of this map.
- Enable Nearest Color Match.
(http://i.imgur.com/orsRPDV.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/QxZWrqL.png)

Hopefully that works for you. I would also like to mention that RailClone 3 will include a new colour map that will allow you to tint tiles based on a bitmap applied to a surface which could be useful for situations like this.

Many thanks,

Paul




Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: Paul Roberts on November 30, 2016, 01:07:01 PM
Just to add that we've also identified an issue when using Crossmap's Colour Variation features with RailClone. This has been reported to Vizpark and they're fixing the issue. If you need this feature urgently you can get in touch (http://www.vizpark.com/support/direct-support/) with them and they should be able to send a new build with the fix when it's available.

All the best,

Paul
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: theedge on November 30, 2016, 02:34:01 PM
Thank you very much !
That tip is very useful. I managed to nest 5 if loops to have a 5-color gradient and it works beautifully. Alas that doesn't match the client pattern  :-\
So I tried the crossmap method but it just renders black if I set it to use Railclone as image distribution. Plus it almost systematically crashes on any parameter change , and the license keeps dropping.  I won't use this in production for sure.
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: Paul Roberts on November 30, 2016, 03:23:11 PM
Hi, Rendering black with crossmap is related to the issue I menioned in my previous post. For me it rendered fine if I turned off the HSV colour variation in Crossmap. I'd recommend contacting Vizpark to see if they can send you a fixed version. It might resolve the crashing too, though I didn't encounter that issue.

Thanks,

Paul
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: theedge on November 30, 2016, 04:21:37 PM
Thank you Paul. I appreciate your valuable help. I finally got it somewhat working with HSL.
Hopefully Railclone 3 will be out newt time I have such a project, and it will make the workflow smoother.
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: Paul Roberts on November 30, 2016, 05:59:27 PM
No Problem. I'm glad you got it to work.

All the best,

Paul
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: theedge on January 18, 2017, 07:51:15 AM
Btw, is there an estimated release date for Railclone 3 ?
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: rivoli on January 25, 2017, 12:12:21 PM
HI Paul,
I'm trying to get the arithmetic node to work, as in your example, but instead of a random gradient I just get two solid blocks of colour. I must surely be doing something wrong, I was wondering if you could share a file with tiles working as in your tutorial.
thanks
m
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: Paul Roberts on January 25, 2017, 01:09:48 PM
Hi,

No problem, please find attached a sample file that allows you to create a gradient with 5 different material IDs. I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

Many Thanks,

Paul
Title: Re: Driving material distribution by map
Post by: rivoli on January 25, 2017, 03:43:53 PM
Hi Paul,
looking at your style I found out I had to set generate on segment in the random node, which I totally overlooked. everything seems to work as expected now.
thank you for the very quick reply and great support.