Recent Posts
21
RailClone Pro (*) / Clipping area issue for cladding
« Last post by spomenik on December 19, 2025, 12:20:14 am »When applying a cladding preset to a new spline, it has hilariously applied itself to almost the complete inverse of where it should be. I was wondering if the suggestions in the official YT video on cladding might help, in the Expand Hierarchy section, but so far no.
The spline came from using the Create Shape from Edges function on layer CH-EXT-LapSiding-7IN_Lap Siding - 7", so I'm not sure if it might just be a generic issue with the spline to begin with.
The spline came from using the Create Shape from Edges function on layer CH-EXT-LapSiding-7IN_Lap Siding - 7", so I'm not sure if it might just be a generic issue with the spline to begin with.
22
RailClone Pro (*) / Re: Controlling "chamfer" on Cladding Preset?
« Last post by spomenik on December 17, 2025, 05:55:03 pm »EDIT: found it! Map #17 is a CoronaRoundEdges node. That was adding the effect. Thanks for the response
So, it's definitely not the source geometry - that is just a simple box shaped to be a plank. I think it's coming from somewhere in the rc_plank_cladding material? I threw that material on this new box object, and you can see the edges showing up what I believe to be the same effect.. but I can't find what exactly in the RC material would be causing it
So, it's definitely not the source geometry - that is just a simple box shaped to be a plank. I think it's coming from somewhere in the rc_plank_cladding material? I threw that material on this new box object, and you can see the edges showing up what I believe to be the same effect.. but I can't find what exactly in the RC material would be causing it
23
Forest Pro (*) / Help with Forest and Unreal
« Last post by Arphalax on December 17, 2025, 05:10:11 pm »Not sure if this is the correct forum, but I’m hoping someone has run into this before.
I’m following the official iTooSoft tutorial for exporting ForestPack to Unreal using Datasmith, specifically the “Replace References” method:
https://www.itoosoft.com/tutorials/how-to-export-forest-pack-to-unreal
The initial export works perfectly, the bounding boxes get replaced with the correct plant meshes, materials look good, performance is fine, etc.
The problem appears when I need to make changes in 3ds Max (which is very common in production):
When I re-export and reimport the Datasmith scene in Unreal, Datasmith:
This means that for every small Forest change, I have to:
which is extremely time-consuming and error-prone.
I’ve tried many combinations of Datasmith reimport options but I haven’t been able to prevent this behavior.
What I’m trying to achieve:
My questions:
Any insight, alternative workflows, or confirmation that this is a known limitation would be greatly appreciated.
Unreal 5.6
Max 2024
Forestpack 8.2.2
Thanks!
I’m following the official iTooSoft tutorial for exporting ForestPack to Unreal using Datasmith, specifically the “Replace References” method:
https://www.itoosoft.com/tutorials/how-to-export-forest-pack-to-unreal
The initial export works perfectly, the bounding boxes get replaced with the correct plant meshes, materials look good, performance is fine, etc.
The problem appears when I need to make changes in 3ds Max (which is very common in production):
- adjusting Forest density / distribution
- moving or deleting individual instances
- small layout tweaks requested by the client
When I re-export and reimport the Datasmith scene in Unreal, Datasmith:
- replaces all the plants back to the original bounding boxes
- removes all the Static Mesh references that were manually replaced
This means that for every small Forest change, I have to:
- re-replace ~30 different plant references again
- redo all the assignments manually
which is extremely time-consuming and error-prone.
I’ve tried many combinations of Datasmith reimport options but I haven’t been able to prevent this behavior.
What I’m trying to achieve:
- Reimport only transform / instance data from ForestPack
- Keep the already-replaced Static Mesh assets in Unreal
- Avoid resetting everything back to bounding boxes
My questions:
- Is there a way to reimport ForestPack via Datasmith while preserving replaced Static Mesh references?
- Is this workflow fundamentally not supported?
- Am I missing a specific Datasmith or ForestPack setting?
- Is there a better production-safe workflow for iterative Forest updates?
Any insight, alternative workflows, or confirmation that this is a known limitation would be greatly appreciated.
Unreal 5.6
Max 2024
Forestpack 8.2.2
Thanks!
24
RailClone Pro (*) / Re: Expressions - section length between corners
« Last post by nubo on December 17, 2025, 02:26:59 pm »Thanks Michal,
Now I realized that I'm not even able to determine which section is the longest even without the presence of evenly so this is a more complex problem than I previously thought.
Any chance on introducing loop statements for expressions?
If so it would be also very helpful if more iterable data was exposed like spline segments indeces.
Best regards,
Przemek
Now I realized that I'm not even able to determine which section is the longest even without the presence of evenly so this is a more complex problem than I previously thought.
Any chance on introducing loop statements for expressions?
If so it would be also very helpful if more iterable data was exposed like spline segments indeces.
Best regards,
Przemek
25
RailClone Pro (*) / Re: Expressions - section length between corners
« Last post by Michal Karmazín on December 17, 2025, 02:12:14 pm »You’re right. This attribute doesn’t help in this case. Unfortunately, I can’t currently see a style setup that would work for this purpose, due to the consecutive way in which RailClone evaluates base splines. We’ll see what can be done in future versions.
Best regards,
Best regards,
26
RailClone Pro (*) / Re: Expressions - section length between corners
« Last post by nubo on December 17, 2025, 12:16:55 pm »Thanks Michal,
But the XSectionAdjustedLength will return the real distance left for the default segment. What I need is the length between one vertex and another regardless of whether there is any evenly subdivision and regardless of the X size of the segments assigned to start, evenly, corner and end nodes. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Maybe I didn't explain my case clearly.
Let's say I have a spline that is an uneven edged triangle. I need the evenly segments generated only along the longest side of the triangle. Will XSectionAdjustedLength help me here?
But the XSectionAdjustedLength will return the real distance left for the default segment. What I need is the length between one vertex and another regardless of whether there is any evenly subdivision and regardless of the X size of the segments assigned to start, evenly, corner and end nodes. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Maybe I didn't explain my case clearly.
Let's say I have a spline that is an uneven edged triangle. I need the evenly segments generated only along the longest side of the triangle. Will XSectionAdjustedLength help me here?
27
RailClone Pro (*) / Re: Expressions - section length between corners
« Last post by Michal Karmazín on December 17, 2025, 11:50:41 am »Hi,
Yes, the XSectionAdjustedLength attribute returns the length of the current section on the X Spline, subtracting the size of any adjacent Start, End, Corner, Evenly, or Marker segments. I hope this helps.
Best regards,
Yes, the XSectionAdjustedLength attribute returns the length of the current section on the X Spline, subtracting the size of any adjacent Start, End, Corner, Evenly, or Marker segments. I hope this helps.
Best regards,
28
RailClone Pro (*) / Expressions - section length between corners
« Last post by nubo on December 17, 2025, 11:46:16 am »Hi,
I was wondering if there's a way to get current line length of the actual spline (between vertices) regardless of evenly and markers divisions?
My precise use case is that I need to find the longest line of a closed spline and then generate evenly segments along that line only. Unfortunately XSectionLength is affected by the evenly so it gives me only the virtual spline section length not the actual spline's line length.
I was wondering if there's a way to get current line length of the actual spline (between vertices) regardless of evenly and markers divisions?
My precise use case is that I need to find the longest line of a closed spline and then generate evenly segments along that line only. Unfortunately XSectionLength is affected by the evenly so it gives me only the virtual spline section length not the actual spline's line length.
29
RailClone Pro (*) / Re: Controlling "chamfer" on Cladding Preset?
« Last post by Michal Karmazín on December 17, 2025, 08:46:06 am »Hi,
You should edit the object used in your style directly, just like any other object in the scene (for example, by using an Edit Poly modifier in the Animate mode, so you can adjust it later as needed). At the moment, this can’t be accessed directly from the RailClone plug-in. I hope this helps.
Best regards,
You should edit the object used in your style directly, just like any other object in the scene (for example, by using an Edit Poly modifier in the Animate mode, so you can adjust it later as needed). At the moment, this can’t be accessed directly from the RailClone plug-in. I hope this helps.
Best regards,
30
RailClone Pro (*) / Controlling "chamfer" on Cladding Preset?
« Last post by spomenik on December 16, 2025, 08:17:02 pm »I'm using custom geometry - a simple box - as the object the cladding preset is plugged into. What I'm struggling to find, though, is which part of the RC settings control this chamfer-type effect on the edges of each cladding piece.
