Arbaro on Windows

[Harvey Birdman]

A minor contribution - Here's a little batch file that you can use so you don't have to do the command line thing to start Arbaro. Edit the first line to point it at your installation directory then create a shortcut to it. I also created an .ico file so you can associate it with the shortcut so you don't have the ugly default icon.

Like I said, a minor contribution.

<edit>

Just uploaded the new version with the memory allocation tweak and user notes. Earth-shattering stuff - don't miss it!



</edit>

[bigben]

This should be helpful for those people new to java.

You might also want to add a memory allocation to the command with an explanatory note on how to modify it. By default my system doesn't give java enough memory to fully create a tree model. It doesn't crash, it just stops exporting prior to completion. I use

java -Xmx900m -jar arbaro.jar

to assign 900Mb just to be overkill sure.

[Harvey Birdman]

I'll do that right now. I had exactly the same issue with the memory allocation. I ended up setting mine to 1024 to get it to do the willow, and even then I had to reduce the tree levels from 3 to 4. (Did you have trouble with the willow, too?)

[bigben]

Now that you mention it..... my willow model appears to be missing some leaves and possibly some branches so it looks like I'll have to set it higher as well.  The annoying thing is that there are no error messages to indicate a failure.  If it gets to the last creation stage and fails, it outputs whatever it's made to that point. Failures in the earlier stages were easier to pick.

[Harvey Birdman]

Well, maybe I wasn't getting the memory configured correctly either. I just succeeded in doing the willow at the default settings. The obj is massive - after running it through PoseRay to give it normals, materials, etc, it's over 84 Mb.

It looks a hell of a lot better than the last attempt! It's remarkable how good you can get these things to look with a little judicious work on the material colors. My quaking aspen looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

[old_blaggard]

Could any of you possibly share these awesome models ?

[Harvey Birdman]

-

[Oshyan]

We are glad to host models of any size on Ashundar. Special arrangements will need to be made for anything over a few MB, but we will definitely set something up for larger models. Be sure to compress using .7z or .rar first. 7-zip seems to have superior compression with OBJ format objects and it's free. A self-extracting archive is preferred.

- Oshyan

[Harvey Birdman]

Errr.... ummm.... ok, I'll ask the stupid question. (As my pappy once told me, 'there are no stupid questions, just stupid people that ask questions'.)


Where's the upload link? I just poked around Ashundar and didn't spot one.

[old_blaggard]

I think Oshyan will have to get in contact with you to give you upload information.  If it can be compressed below 10MB, you could email it to me and I could stick it up for you.

[Oshyan]

Not a stupid question. Unfortunately the upload system is a bit unintuitive and clunky on Ashundar at the moment. Basically you have to either A: use your own "PFS" (Personal File Space) or B: use your own web space, then go to the appropriate area in the Files section and click "Submit New Page" at the top and specify the URL of the file - either locally or on another server - at the bottom. This will certainly be made better in the future. The better approach for you considering the size of your objects and that they likely won't fit into your PFS would be to arrange for FTP or other large-file transfer. You can use the Submit New Page here *now* and fill out the info then an admin will change the URL to the actual file and approve it once the transfer has been made.

- Oshyan

[bigben]

It might also be useful to include the xml file for Arbaro so that people can make different versions of a model.

An alternative might be to post an Arbaro xml and a TGD template to link the OBJ into. This would use far less bandwidth.

[Oshyan]

Although any additional resources are welcome, bandwidth isn't much of a concern for us and given the convenience of an already produced (and textured?) object, I'd opt for the model itself if possible. In other words don't shy away from sending the full model on our account, but if it's more convenient for you to send only the definition files or whatever, that's fine too.

- Oshyan

[bigben]

Here's a temporary link to a basic willow for those too impatient to wait

Arbaro -> PoseRay -> TG2 with a basic colour added to each group.  4 groups, 3 branch levels and leaves. TGD included in the archive

http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/tgdemo/weeping_willow_1137_poseray.rar (21.5Mb... WinRar, Best compression)

http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/tgdemo/weeping_willow_1137_poseray.zip (23.7Mb... ZipGenius, Brutal compression)

The 1137 refers to the seed used for the tree in Arbaro. I might release a version of my willow model when it's done.  A few other things to do before I need it yet.

[Harvey Birdman]

-