Populations: can you set altitude

[tsuki]

On surface layers, you can limit the min and max altitudes; is there a way to do that with populations? I would like to have grasses growing just from the tops of the hills in my terrain, and I was hoping I didn't have to make a separate population for every hill

[Oshyan]

Yes, you can do this easily. Just use a Distribution Shader as an input for the Blend Shader input on your population, then set the altitude constraints correctly in the Distribution Shader.

- Oshyan

[tsuki]

I was sure I tried that earlier Probably did something weird to it XD Thanks, I'll try it out

[tsuki]

Ah, wait, I remember the problem I had with that before: how do I make the shader transparent so that the grass can be seen?

[Oshyan]

If you're using it as a blend shader input to a population, it should not affect color of the objects or terrain, it should only control distribution of the objects. Providing a screenshot of your node network and/or render would help diagnose your problem.

- Oshyan

[tsuki]

Just realized my laptop battery is about to give out, so I will put screenshots up tomorrow if I'm still having trouble. I'm not sure if I'm using it as a blend shader; I went to the object, then the surface shader tab, and loaded the displacement shader.

[tsuki]

I hope this is what you need, but I will gratefully provide screenshots of everything/anything else. Here are the shader nodes (I made it bright pink to easily show where it is):


and here are the objects, and where I put the shader:


Thank you so much for the help.

[Mohawk20]

Disconnect the distribution shader from the rest, so it has no input from the rest, and outputs only into the populations 'density shader' input (the one on the left on the node).

That way, it affects the distribution of the population, but doesn't show up as a surface colour.

Hope that helps.

[tsuki]

When I put the distribution shader into the "density shader", and took it out of the other area (and also out of the planet surface shader, though I don't know how it go there o.o) it became separate from the other shaders (wasn't on the list anymore, at least). The color is gone, but the grass still isn't showing up    I have a doctor's appointment soon, and when I return I can put up more screenshots. I could also upload the entire file, although I'm not sure how to do that and still have the objects work. Anyway, if you have any ideas for the grass not appearing, let me know and I'll try them when I get back. Again, I really appreciate the help. For the past week I've been studying the user's manual and many different tutorials, but I haven't got the hang of all the settings yet   

[tsuki]

Wait! I think it's because the grass is too small to see. The scale settings changed on me. I'll play around with the grass settings til I figure out what does what. I did that yesterday, but didn't completely understand exactly how the settings altered the object.

[tsuki]

Would it be very bad if I tacked on another quick question? o.o  I just changed the grass scale (objects -> /Pop Grass clump 01/Grass clump 01 -> Transform tab). They were at 50 when I couldn't see the grass. I changed them to 100. Too much. I changed it back to 50... and it was perfect. So now I am confused. I have been relying on the values I put into things, in that I write down what I like and then can go back to those values later. But 50 was different between times. How does this happen?

[Oshyan]

The scale values should always give the same result *for the same object*. The scale setting is a multiplier, unlike the most of the other settings that are absolute values in meters. Scale can vary a great deal due to differences in other application's unit support.

The distribution shader should be connected as Mohawk said.

- Oshyan

[tsuki]

Odd, I was sure I had changed it back so that it was the same, but I guess I changed something else Thank you again for all your help. I'm feeling a but overwhelmed by the amount of options and settings in the program, but I've found some great tutorials, mostly from this site

[tsuki]

It seems to have done it again; I had the grass as I wanted it, and it was at scale 70. I saved and quit. When I opened it a few hours later, I could not see the grass. I made sure the enabled boxes were checked. It's frustrating because I think this has happened several times; I blamed myself, but this time I'm absolutely sure nothing was changed. Is there something else I can use to increase the size? Would it be the same if I increased bladelength and clump diameter?

[tsuki]

...I did repopulate it. *headdesk* So basically it was the same mistake which I had before (the first thread I made). When I rendered it still went through a process of loading instances, and I thought that was populating it :\


edit: no, nevermind, that didn't fix it. Where is that delete button o.o;;  I'm worried about using scale now. ^^;;;