Itoo Software Forum

Author Topic: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?  (Read 11181 times)

JS4753

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 54
tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« on: December 18, 2013, 09:15:57 PM »
Hey,

I am thinking about working with railclone and have a specific question about the programme's abilities: Is it possible to create roof tiles on round roof shapes with rail clone lite or pro? And if so, is there any tutorial treating that or are there any pictures that show the feature?

Sorry if that question has been asked in the forum before, I didnt find such a topic.

Kind regards to everyone :)

Paul Roberts

  • iToo Software
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2991
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2013, 09:59:18 PM »
Hi,

If you have an example of the type of roof you are trying to create I can give you a more accurate answer but it is possible to use railclone to distribute tiles in a conical pattern or a dome.


But this would require to Pro version as it uses two dimensional arrays. In both cases it uses a simple circle spline around the perimeter of the roof. For the conical pattern you can then use X rotation parameter for the pitch of the roof. For the curved example the profile of the roof is determined by a second spline.

Thanks,

Paul
« Last Edit: December 18, 2013, 10:30:30 PM by Paul Roberts »
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

JS4753

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 54
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2013, 10:17:32 AM »
Hey,

thx for your answer! The picture shows the roof shape I am dealing with at the moment. It looks really simple but at it is not a regular circle, proved itself not to be that simple. I have also been trying with another roof tool which already reached its limits.  :-\ I am really hoping for rail clone now :).

Greetings,
Betty

Paul Roberts

  • iToo Software
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2991
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #3 on: December 19, 2013, 10:55:18 AM »
Hi Betty,

Thanks for the clarification. I can't see why you couldn't use RailClone for that type of roof as it can use a spline of any shape as the X axis for a 2d array. I've had a quick go using a single spline for the ridge and I can get something similar. This uses two 2d arrays, one for each pitch (and duplicated object just to add the extended section. You would need RailClone Pro for this style though.



Excuse the tile models  ;)

Hope that helps,

Many thanks,

Paul

Paul Roberts
iToo Software

JS4753

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 54
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #4 on: December 19, 2013, 11:35:46 AM »
Hey Paul,

Thx a lot for your answer and the example. That looks really promising :)

Is it also possible to leave out the holes for the windows like in the attached picture? It shows the complete shape of the roof, it's a beast  :P

Greetings
Betty

Paul Roberts

  • iToo Software
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2991
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #5 on: December 19, 2013, 12:35:47 PM »
Hi Betty,

That's quite a roof!

It would be possible to use a spline object drawn in plan view as clipping paths to cut holes through the array. Looking at your roof this will not be a one click solution, you'll probably have to create a few railclone objects and quite a few clipping paths to achieve that result. It should be possible though.



Thanks,

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

JS4753

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 54
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2013, 12:47:53 PM »
Hey Paul,

thats looks great, I think it's worth a try!

Thanks a lot for your help!!!!   ;D ;D ;D

Paul Roberts

  • iToo Software
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2991
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2013, 12:49:20 PM »
No problem at all,

happy to help out  :D
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

Pierre

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 108
    • Studiosezz
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #8 on: July 10, 2014, 06:25:02 PM »
Hello Paul,
I try to make your roof according to your method with railclone 2.3.3 and the new surface tool.
I don't know how to rotate the segment according to the part of the roof. Can you explain me?
Thank you
Pierre

Studiosezz PARIS
www.studiosezz.com

Paul Roberts

  • iToo Software
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2991
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2014, 11:31:36 AM »
Hi Pierre,

Thanks for your question. Though is seems logical, the surfaces tool is not currently the best solution for roofs. As you've found, the tiles need to be different for each face, mirrored from the ridge and using a single array that covers the entire roof makes this difficult to achieve. Moreover, using surfaces can adversely affect the instancing performance, and geometry behaves unpredictably if it is not over a surface. 

At present our recommendation for solving roofs with RailClone is to use Clipping splines and X Rotation as discussed earlier in this thread, as it produces more efficient instancing and greater precision.

I hope that helps, please let me know if you further questions.

Thanks,

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

Pierre

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 108
    • Studiosezz
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2014, 02:10:00 PM »
Thank you Paul for your answer
is it possible to attach your file so i can see how it is done?
I'm having trouble to understand how the y spline works. I thought it gave the direction and the lenght to follow but it's not. Is-it the x Rotation (Array 2S / Geometry) should gives the direction ?
Pierre
Studiosezz PARIS
www.studiosezz.com

Paul Roberts

  • iToo Software
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2991
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2014, 02:26:39 PM »
Hi Pierre,

My apologies, I thought the scene file was already uploaded. Please find it attached to this post.

In this example I've used the X spline for the ridge and Y Size for the slope length, then used X Rotation to determine the pitch.



But you could use the Y Spline to determine the length and pitch of the roof if you'd prefer. Though you'd need one for each side of the roof.

I hope that helps,

Thanks,

Paul

Paul Roberts
iToo Software

Pierre

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 108
    • Studiosezz
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2014, 03:17:04 PM »
Thank you very much Paul !
Studiosezz PARIS
www.studiosezz.com

Rokas

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3324
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #13 on: July 25, 2014, 09:21:49 PM »
Paul, I can't recreate Your examples in threads 2nd post.
Could You please see what is wrong in my scene, or attach Yours?

Rokas

Paul Roberts

  • iToo Software
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2991
Re: tiles on round roof shapes with railclone lite or pro?
« Reply #14 on: July 26, 2014, 01:19:59 PM »
Hi Rokas,

Turning up the number of Curve Steps found in the Style Rollout should ensure that the segment deform smoothly.



Hope that helps,

Thanks,

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software