UltraScenery Experiments and Experiences

Paper Tiger

This hurts my soul, only because for some reason, since i downloaded some add-ons for ultrascenery, Daz now hard locks on any render i attempt using it. They rendered normally before, when all i had was the base Ultra Scenery, and now just ... nothing. :c

Catherine3678ab

Does the log file provide any helpful info?

 

barbult

The number one cause of such trouble is having Instancing Optimization set to Speed in Render Settings. Check that first.

Please move this discussion to the product commercial thread.That is where users assist each other with troubleshooting.

rainbud_7f9591930d

@Barbult

Many thanks for your tutorial about using the new Decals-Set with UltraScenery.

MelanieL shows me the link to your tutorial. Many thanks to MelanieL too.

Before it makes me crazy to use the decals. It doesn´t show the decals in my render.

The using of masks was the final solution.

You, barbult, are a great master of UltraScenery.

 

barbult

rainbud_7f9591930d said:

@Barbult

Many thanks for your tutorial about using the new Decals-Set with UltraScenery.

MelanieL shows me the link to your tutorial. Many thanks to MelanieL too.

Before it makes me crazy to use the decals. It doesn´t show the decals in my render.

The using of masks was the final solution.

You, barbult, are a great master of UltraScenery.

 

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that it was helpful and you are happy. 

jjoyner

Paper Tiger said:

This hurts my soul, only because for some reason, since i downloaded some add-ons for ultrascenery, Daz now hard locks on any render i attempt using it. They rendered normally before, when all i had was the base Ultra Scenery, and now just ... nothing. :c

I am having the same problem today as Paper Tiger posted on March 25.  I installed UltraScenery Creator last week and it created scenes without no problem.  Yesterday, I purchased Accelerator for UltraScenery Creator as well as three add-on landscapes and ecologies.  I installed them this afternoon.   Now, when I run UltraScenery to create a landscape, it stops before ending and when I close it and Daz Studio (4.20.0.2), I get a popup window that DS has crashed.

I checked to make sure that Instancing Optimization was set to Memory but that did not resolve the problem.  Any suggestions on what to try/do next?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

barbult

jjoyner said:

Paper Tiger said:

This hurts my soul, only because for some reason, since i downloaded some add-ons for ultrascenery, Daz now hard locks on any render i attempt using it. They rendered normally before, when all i had was the base Ultra Scenery, and now just ... nothing. :c

I am having the same problem today as Paper Tiger posted on March 25.  I installed UltraScenery Creator last week and it created scenes without no problem.  Yesterday, I purchased Accelerator for UltraScenery Creator as well as three add-on landscapes and ecologies.  I installed them this afternoon.   Now, when I run UltraScenery to create a landscape, it stops before ending and when I close it and Daz Studio (4.20.0.2), I get a popup window that DS has crashed.

I checked to make sure that Instancing Optimization was set to Memory but that did not resolve the problem.  Any suggestions on what to try/do next?

Thanks in advance.

Please post your questions in the product commercial thread.That is where users assist each other with troubleshooting. I'll see you there and see if we can figure something out.

jjoyner

Got it.

Gordig

Paper Tiger said:

This hurts my soul, only because for some reason, since i downloaded some add-ons for ultrascenery, Daz now hard locks on any render i attempt using it. They rendered normally before, when all i had was the base Ultra Scenery, and now just ... nothing. :c

Based on the problem you described in your own thread, it sounds like something might be seriously wrong with your system. 

Diomede

Tugpsx said:

Wow! great find and awesome tutorial as usual. I originally added to my cart when it was released but the previous reviews were not favourable, so I moved it to my wishlist. 

Now i'll have to grab the asset. They should see your work with the asset.

I was the OP of that thread.  I did not know how to use the decals.  Asked for help.  Got it.  Even figured out how to use the decals in another program.  The one negative is that the decals do not do a good job of conveying displacement.  I am very happy with the decal product and posted examples of use in the thread for both Daz Studio and Carrara.  Note that the title of the thread now says 'Solved.'

barbult

Diomede said:

Tugpsx said:

Wow! great find and awesome tutorial as usual. I originally added to my cart when it was released but the previous reviews were not favourable, so I moved it to my wishlist. 

Now i'll have to grab the asset. They should see your work with the asset.

I was the OP of that thread.  I did not know how to use the decals.  Asking for help.  Got it.  Even figured out how to use the decals in another program.  The one negative is that the decals do not do a good job of conveying bump/displacement/normal.  I am very happy with the decal product and posted examples of use in the thread for both Daz Studio and Carrara.  Note that the title of the thread now says 'Solved.'

Thanks for the additional feedback. I think it is a good product. I'm glad you are now having success with it.

Diomede

BTW, thanks for the great tutorial.  

 It works great along with masks built by UltraScenery Toolbox - Volume One. The decals help blend the masked area in with the nonmasked area. I'm kind of disappointed in myself for not thinking of this technique before! I've used decals with UltraScenery to put markers on roads, why not use decals on the terrain itself? It turns out, that is a great idea.  Here are a couple scenes I made as a test. 

barbult

I got the new Liquid Decal Materials. They are just as much fun as the Ground Decal Materials. The usage technique is the same.

 

Tugpsx

Wow Barb that looks awesome. I grabbed it also.thanks for sharing your technique. 

Which HDRI did you use for the clouds.So much detail.

barbult

Tugpsx said:

Wow Barb that looks awesome. I grabbed it also.thanks for sharing your technique. 

Which HDRI did you use for the clouds.So much detail.

Thanks, those are many individual volumetric clouds.

Tugpsx

Thanks for clarification. Great composition.

MelanieL

That looks superb, @barbult - by the way, your experiments with the decals made me move both sets from wishlist to cart today (especially with that $5 credit for filling in the survey burning a hole in my pocket and giving me an effective saving of 65% off each of them!)

ETA: By the way, which cows are they? I thought I had all the store's cow sets but I don't recognise that variety of splotch patterns on their coats.

barbult

MelanieL said:

That looks superb, @barbult - by the way, your experiments with the decals made me move both sets from wishlist to cart today (especially with that $5 credit for filling in the survey burning a hole in my pocket and giving me an effective saving of 65% off each of them!)

ETA: By the way, which cows are they? I thought I had all the store's cow sets but I don't recognise that variety of splotch patterns on their coats.

I used LoREZ Cow and Noggin's Cow. I may hae used some textures from the Noggin's Cattle Breeds, but I don't know. I let Smart Content show me the compatible material files that I have, and I selected some, without having to care about what specific product they belonged to. I love Smart Content.

MelanieL

Ah, thanks for the info. (I don't have the Cattle Breeds, but the promos do look feasible). I'm a big Smart Content fan too (but I tend to go in via Products not Files).

barbult

Some Thoughts on UltraScenery Affinity and Repel
(Originally posted in the UltraScenery commercial thread)

This is how I think USC Affinity and Repel work. 

• Affinity and Repel are coded in the JSON file for the Ecology. Each layer can have different settings for affinity and repel, or none at all.
• The affinity and repel settings for a layer specify how the placement of that layer's object instances are constrained based on the instances of another layer.
• Affinity and repel will not cause instances to be placed where they were not placed by the basic ecology and feature chosen in UltraSceneCreator. Affinity and repel only further limit where those instances will be placed.
• Affinity and repel values can be thought of as the radius of a circle extending out from the position of the "other" layer's instances.
• Instances of the layer will not be placed outside the affinity circle.
• Instances of the layer will not be placed inside the repel circle.
• Falloff controls how strict the affinity and repel circle boundaries are.
  • Affinity falloff will create a higher concentration of instances toward the center of the affinity circle and fewer instances at the outer edges of the circle. (Think of it as less force attracting the instances toward the center of the circle.)
  • Repel falloff will allow some instances to be placed at the outer edge of the repel circle. (Think of it as less force pushing the instances away from the center of the repel circle.)

Here are some examples. I created this ecology with Ecology Engineer from UltraScenery Toolbox II. This ecology contains only two layers - bare oaks and base grass. Base grass has affinity to Oaks. I chose base grass for this demo, because it would cover the entire terrain if it had no affinity or repel, so it makes a good demo layer. I changed the terrain ground shader to white for the render so the grass would show clearly and not blend into a green terrain surface.

Base Grass Affinity to Oaks 1000, Falloff 0, Repel 0, Falloff 0

 

Base Grass Affinity to Oaks 1000, Falloff 0, Repel 400, Falloff 0

 

Base Grass Affinity to Oaks 1000, Falloff 200, Repel 400, Falloff 200

AlephGates

Thank you for all of the useful info.

DoctorJellybean

I wish to create a flat terrain, as the scene is a Dutch field. And as we know, The Netherlands is predominantly flat. What would be the best Noise settings, or would I need a Height Map?

barbult

DoctorJellybean said:

I wish to create a flat terrain, as the scene is a Dutch field. And as we know, The Netherlands is predominantly flat. What would be the best Noise settings, or would I need a Height Map?

To get a flat terrain, just turn your Contrast (on the USC Scene tab) all the way down to -100. Or leave it slightly higher for a little height variation. But be aware that many Features override part of the terrain height settings in the Scene tab. For example Dirt Track 1 respects your settings, but Dirt Track 2 will force the dirt track area to a defined height and contour. The only way I know to get around the issue of Feature forcing a terrain height and contour, is to manually edit a copy of the Feature json file.

Form earlier in this thread: Experiment: Modify Feature Dirt Track 2 to Follow the Terrain

DoctorJellybean

barbult said:

DoctorJellybean said:

I wish to create a flat terrain, as the scene is a Dutch field. And as we know, The Netherlands is predominantly flat. What would be the best Noise settings, or would I need a Height Map?

To get a flat terrain, just turn your Contrast (on the USC Scene tab) all the way down to -100. Or leave it slightly higher for a little height variation. But be aware that many Features override part of the terrain height settings in the Scene tab. For example Dirt Track 1 respects your settings, but Dirt Track 2 will force the dirt track area to a defined height and contour. The only way I know to get around the issue of Feature forcing a terrain height and contour, is to manually edit a copy of the Feature json file.

Form earlier in this thread: Experiment: Modify Feature Dirt Track 2 to Follow the Terrain

Thank you! That did the trick.

DoctorJellybean

One more question @barbult: Can one move e.g. Dirt Track 2 to the edge instead of it being in the centre of the terrain?

barbult

DoctorJellybean said:

One more question @barbult: Can one move e.g. Dirt Track 2 to the edge instead of it being in the centre of the terrain?

You would have to edit the Dirt Track 2 feature image maps in an image editor, I think. Runtime/Textures/HowieFarkes/UltraScenery/Features.

DoctorJellybean

barbult said:

DoctorJellybean said:

One more question @barbult: Can one move e.g. Dirt Track 2 to the edge instead of it being in the centre of the terrain?

You would have to edit the Dirt Track 2 feature image maps in an image editor, I think. Runtime/Textures/HowieFarkes/UltraScenery/Features.

Thanks. Too many images to edit, think I'll leave it alone.

barbult

DoctorJellybean said:

barbult said:

DoctorJellybean said:

One more question @barbult: Can one move e.g. Dirt Track 2 to the edge instead of it being in the centre of the terrain?

You would have to edit the Dirt Track 2 feature image maps in an image editor, I think. Runtime/Textures/HowieFarkes/UltraScenery/Features.

Thanks. Too many images to edit, think I'll leave it alone.

You would only have to edit the Dirt Track 2 images, not everything in the folder.  

DoctorJellybean

barbult said:

You would only have to edit the Dirt Track 2 images, not everything in the folder. 

 

Yes, there are 10 of them 

Richard Haseltine

DoctorJellybean said:

barbult said:

You would only have to edit the Dirt Track 2 images, not everything in the folder. 

 

Yes, there are 10 of them 

Could you not load them into your image editor as layers, shift everything, and save out the layers as images if you just want a shift.