UltraScenery [Commercial]
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Well, I could not get it to work, these are 3 images, first was no script, second was 300cm front onll, nothing else, third was 600cm with the word tree, any direction...? It may be bugged, or my system/usage is wrong.
I did notice that the instances may be in groups, so this may turn off a whole instance group, so that may be a problem with this approach?
I will touch base with @mCasual to see what he thinks.
What if the script approached the problem from the other way?
Find spots where there are no trees and create cameras? Then you can test each view point to see if any work?
Not that @HowieFarkes needs any more work, but perhaps the USC script could repel tall objects from a selected camera, somewhat like it currently lets you select a camera and constrain the scatter to within the camera view. Of course, I have no idea how much work such an option would entail, or if it's even feasible. Mostly thinking "out loud" after reading the last few posts…
Even though the script dialog has an entry field for minimum distance, the in actual use, script code has that hard coded to 100.
The script works only on objects and does not work on instances, so I don't think it will be helpful for UltraScenery in its current form.
The text string for matching with object label is case sensitive. I don't know whether that is intentional of not, but it is something to be aware of as a user.
Here is a question for you, because I think you are the closest thing we have to an expert on this...
I've been trying to use UltraScatter with UltraScenery and have been largely successful. Using min and max height works very well.
I then moved on to working with the Scene formats that include the paths. I figured that using the Image Map for distribution would keep items off of the paths... but that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, Scatter seems to completely disregard the image map / mask. It doesn't matter what map I use... Any thoughts?
Well, I'd say HowieFarkes is the actul expert
, but I've used the tools a lot. I'm happy to help where I can.
Using the UltraScenery feature maps with UltraScatterPro is working fine for me. Can you give more details about what map you are using and where you are plugging it on to UltraScatter? Are you using UltraScatter or UltraScatterPro? Did you select UltraScene as the target object to scatter on?
I used a StoneMason red maple tree and scattered it on an UltraScenery terrain using the Track 2 forest map. It worked the way I expected it to.
Really enjoying everyone's renders! I check this thread every day, and it never ceases to amaze me!
Here are a few renders I've done lately that use Ultrascenery, and sometimes the Harpwood Trail add-on (I'll get the others eventually!). I don't think I've posted these here yet, I apologize if I have.
Many thanks for the tip. I'll give this a try when I get a spare minute.
Cheers,
Alex.
Great tips.
I am still enjoying creating height maps in Bryce and bringing them into UltraScenery.
in case someone downloaded my free script to hide objects in front of the camera,
https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts9/mcjgetoutofmyface
in version 2 i corrected the issue with the "minimum distance" field
BUT
as it is now, this script wont work with ultrascenes
because i discovered that the trees and rocks etc are not simple instances
they are instance groups and/or instance proxies
which i didnt know existed before today
if i modify the script for scenes with instance groups/proxies, i'll post in the Daz3D freebies forum
Well
That will be great.
I finally got around topurchasing this on June 30 and it's amazing! I also purchased the Mossy Hollow add on. After some trial and error and reading throug the first 30 pages on the forums I ended up with this image. Definitely not as great as some I've seen here but it's a start.
Here is a question for you, because I think you are the closest thing we have to an expert on this...
I've been trying to use UltraScatter with UltraScenery and have been largely successful. Using min and max height works very well.
I then moved on to working with the Scene formats that include the paths. I figured that using the Image Map for distribution would keep items off of the paths... but that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, Scatter seems to completely disregard the image map / mask. It doesn't matter what map I use... Any thoughts?
Attached is what I tried...
Mask 1 sort of worked. Trees still appeared on the path, but not as frequently. I thought it might have been the gradient at the edge, but the errant trees would appear smack dab in the middle of the path.
Mask 3 didn't work at all. US just dumped everywhere, like it was ignoring the mask.
Mask 2, not shown here, was an inverse of Mask 1. That one worked fine. It made leaf clutter appear just on the path. So it appeared that the masks are the right size and shape and alligned properly.
For a first try, that is pretty impressive. Nice placement of the building. I can just picture what it looks like inside, since I'm sure there are nature things inside it. :)
The only thing I would say is to find a way to populate the background / horizon. Or change the camera angle to minmize how much of the horizon appears. :)
Cloudscape is really good for making decent skies with interesting eye breaks, without having to invest in a bunch of HDRs.
So you can use the UltraScenery base terrain directly with UltraScatter? It seemed like the first time I tried that, DS crashed. I've been duplicating the terrain to scatter on and that's been working. I can raise or lower the duplicate so the ultrascatter plants look better. But it's one more object to fill memory.
Yes, you can scatter directly on the UltraScenery base terrain (called UltraScene in your Sene pane). However, the way you are doing it with a duplicate is better, IMO, because if you decide to rerun UltraScenerylater to change the ecology or something, it will delete all of your UltraScatter groups that are parented to it!!!!! If you UltraScatter on a duplicate of the UltraScene, you are safe from that problem.
That's good to know. I would have probably learned the hard-way. Just like I found out that the Aux Viewport can't handle all the instances. Good for bare terrain lighting tests. I also dropped a random object in the line-of-sight for my camera and used the Aux Viewport Perspective camera to position an Iray Section plane. But NOT with PLANTS! I know - y'all warned us....
This is probably obvious to everyone who isn't a numbskull like me... If you are working with US and US and using masks, you can apply your mask to the preview material in the surfaces tab. This will allow you to see where the masks are falling without affecting your render.
Thanks Jason, for this one I used the render settings that came with it, for my next one I will keep your tips in mind. I already purchased Cloudscape so will give it a try next time :)
Thanks again @barbult for the creative inspiration! Rather than scatter trees, this is an experiment with scattering various grasses from ThePhilosoper's Grass and Meadow product.
* I used UltraScenery to create the terrain with Upland 2 and Oaks 5, and the border and patch grasses and daisies.
* I used UltraScatterPro to scatter the various grass cards and meadow grasses, using the TA_Upland_02_fieldmask for the distribution mask, and repelled the Road Pebbles object by 5-10 cm.
* Because the various grasses are tall, I had to raise the instances of the daisies. I also applied the half-dry mats for the meadow grass so that it wasn't just an all green scene.
* Next time I will play with the rotation of the grass when scattering.
here is a photo a freind of mine took today uup north of here a few hours. i see USC all over this
That's a good tip.Thanks.
I happened upon it by accident. And immediately after I wanted to drive things into my skull for not discovering it sooner.
If you need to use a duplicate for UltraScatter/Pro, you can hide the duplicate. If you need to see it while working, you can also set Visible in Render to Off in the parameters. Either way will prevent it from using memory when rendering, if that's the memory you're talking about.
That is another important tip. You never want two geometries visible in exactky the same place. Iray renders them strangely when that happens. I ususally just hide one with the eye in the Scene pane.
Thanks for this, really great product, absolutely enjoying this, especially the "mossy" addon!
Also thanks to all for all the ideas and hints in this thread, I started playing around with custom maps and made a small track leading up to a clearing.
This is probably clear for most based on all the information available, but if anybody is having problems with the loading of props from Mossy Botanica or other external products even though they are somewhere in the library: UltraScenery refers directly to the original location of the props/figure folders, not the data and texture folders, so if you moved some products to a different location (for instance, I always move stuff to subfolders to keep everything organized), just point the .json files in the ecologies folders to the right location: open the .json files -> edit -> replace -> find "[OLD LOCATION] (for instance "/environments/landscapes/mossy hollow/") -> replace with [NEW LOCATION]" -> replace all -> save -> done. :) I haven't tried replacing specific plants yet, but there are so many possibilites with this! :D
Hey folk, quick question:
Is the Extended Forest option something that came be toggled after scene creation, or once chose, it's part of the scene?
It is part of the scene, but it can easily be hidden by toggling the eye in the Scene pane. The instances that make up the extended forest will have BG in their name, so they are easy to identify in the Scene pane. I usually go ahead and generate them when I generate the scene and turn them off later if I don't want them. If on the other hand, I don't generate the extended forest and later wish I had it, I have to completely regenerate the whole scene again. So, it might take a few seconds longer to generate them the first time, but it is a lot better than waiting several minutes to recreate the whole scene again later to get them if I didn't generate them the first time.
Finally picked up the Pines and wanted to try the "Let it Snow" geoshells on them. It took a while to add the shells and adjust the transparancy on each of the original pines but it hardly seems right to complain, given how much UltraScenery is doing for me
.