Trees won't Render...

Dark Fire · February 16, 2007, 04:04:42 PM

Quote from: Jane on February 16, 2007, 12:54:31 PM

This screenshot has reminded me of a feature request I've been thinking about for some time now. The feature, basically, would be a square on the Terrain showing us where an object is relative to the terrain. I was thinking about this because it is pretty hard to judge where objects are relative to the terrain - are they above it, or below it, are they near or far, and are they large or small. I'm not sure if anybody else is having this problem, but I would find the suggested feature very helpful - especially when trying to place trees on steep slopes or on some terrain far away, without having to constantly move the preview camera between the ideal position for placing the tree and the render position (to see if the tree is where I want it)...

choronr · February 16, 2007, 05:20:57 PM

Hi Jane; you need to determine the slope number by placing your mouse on a specific area - then, look at the settings below the preview window. Use this number to constrain the trees to this area. Also, I would suggest to change the green layer to be more of an 'olive green' shade ...I think it would look better.

You can have a 'thick' or 'thin' population of trees depending upon your 'coverage' setting; and, the 'space' between the trees. Scale is also important so as to match the size of the terrain. Another consideration is the variance of tree sizes in the population which is adjustable with the available setting.

Have fun!!

Jane · February 16, 2007, 05:51:19 PM

Thanks again! All this info is great, and I will pass it on to my classmates. Tho the class is ending tomorrow, we do plan to keep in contact with eachother, and we sure will be watching here.

I think as I work with this, I should be writing down some of the settings.
Anyway, your suggestions are wonderful,, and I will work early tomorrow on some new renders.
This is so much fun, it does take a while for us beginners to understand all this stuff, its like flying an airliner,,,,,
Jane

Will · February 16, 2007, 05:57:18 PM

Hmm well I guess it time that I get into this thread (although its kind of late). If I may ask Jane what class was this that you where studying or using TGTP? Oh and that tutrial that I promised that I was going to do a while ago will be done soon for those who want to do nice planets either for their atmosphere or for orbital renders.

Regards,

Will

Jane · February 16, 2007, 07:01:43 PM

This was a class in TG2 and its over now, darn, I was just catching on.
I can give the URL for the school if any newbies are interested,,,,,,,the class will be repeated next semester.

Your help here is a godsend to us, as we are really new at this type of software, and we sure are having fun with it.
But a lot of the terminology and talk is way way over our heads, so we cannot do much with it. But when you answer things like this tree problem, you really help us.
So you can see how valuable the basic tutorials are to us! Like the ones in the User Guide, the Quick Start was so amazingly helpful!
We need to know ALL the steps, like we didnt know to highlight the trees in the upper left box, and all these little things that we had no idea we had to do, and all the settings, so very many of them! The moving of the camera? Wow that just floored us.
So any more of the basic tutorials that you all write, we are ready for!
Jane

Will · February 16, 2007, 07:04:01 PM

Well I'm trying to write in such a way that I will go though all the steps with detail without making it seems like a textbook.

Regards,

Will

Jane · February 16, 2007, 08:28:49 PM

Oh, that would be great! Yet I dont really mind the textbook format as long as its in great detail.

I have in the past come across some amazing video tutorials but I have not a clue of how people make them, just know they are done on Macs and they follow the whole process along. I assume they do take a lot of time to create. And I know that most of you experts here are young and have other things in your lives, like work. I am old and retired.

Anyway, we sure love the tuts that are put up here, we have had great success with the basic and the more detailed ones.
And it is so important that you have gathered them all together, links that have them all listed together!
Thanks again and again!
Jane and classmates

OK, the kitchen is cleaned up, dinner was great, so you can only guess what I am going to do now! Yup, right back to my Macs and attack TG2. Its like a Big Mac Attack. Yet I am going to attack TREES.

Will · February 16, 2007, 08:38:29 PM

Well yea I'm in High School so yea I fall in that youth group. I use a PC but it all the same now really.

Regards,

Will

Jane · February 16, 2007, 09:58:41 PM

Ah, you youngsters are so smart! And you have such a wonderful life ahead of you, think of what you have the opportunity to learn and do. So much neat stuff!
When I was your age, scuba diving was new, and thats what I wanted more than anything. So I learned.

Anyway, my classmates and I sure thank you all!
I must sign off tonight, and I might just leave a render on, my Macs 'need' the exercise. This particular render is from a great tut here.
Jane

Jane · February 17, 2007, 05:19:46 PM

Finally I got some trees! (Looks like an orange grove, but they arent orange trees.) Thanks everybody,

Jane

Will · February 17, 2007, 05:23:50 PM

Great job Jane! kinda looks like a X-Mas tree farm near my house, oh and I Scuba Dive too, its fun.

Regards,
Will

Oshyan · February 18, 2007, 03:38:27 PM

choronr, sorry for the delay. I have looked at the file you attached but am not sure the results I'm getting confirm the diagnoses. I will look at it again in the next day or two and let you know what I've discovered.

- Oshyan

choronr · February 18, 2007, 04:04:26 PM

Thank you Oshyan; I appreciate your attention to this matter. I have since reduced the strata/outcrops and fake stones settings to 1/3 of the original resulting in the trees being set on the surface without being partially under the terrain.

An additional issue here can be noted in the upper right corner - you can observe a sharply defined contrast of colors on the terrain - not unlike what you see in many of the MojoWorld renders. See the attached file for another example regarding this issue; also in the upper right corner.

twistednoodle · February 18, 2007, 04:51:28 PM

I myself have an underground tree prob .... I'm glad Bob fixed his! I'm wondering if you can help me with this? I have changed the y value from negative (even tried the magic -3.5), 0 and positive numbers to no avail. I removed all displacement nodes and put the tree on a plain terrain but still no luck... The object is a .obj -> saved as a .tgo and then used in the latter format .... Any ideas?

2nd question: what shader do I use to colour it?

Thank you in anticipation of a solution!!

Kath

Oshyan · February 18, 2007, 05:20:44 PM

Given that the object is not attached it's impossible to test, but I would say it looks like an object that may have its "object center" in the vertical middle rather than at the bottom. I would try a *positive* Y offset in this case.

For texturing you can attach any shader that provides color. If the original object had UV mapping applied you should have a .mtl file which specifies texture placement. Otherwise you will only be able to texture it as one solid object.

- Oshyan