Hello,
This thread is for the collection and distribution of information regarding the use of Ivy Generator with TG2. If you know anything at all about how to use Ivy Gen with TG2, tips, tricks or you have a link to a tutorial please post it here.
free software for the production of ivy plant objects, and abstract .obj(s) - Mac, PC, linux
http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/
If you have already made a comment on this subject in another thread (and if you have a few seconds) please post a link to that thread here. Or better yet, copy and paste the information into a new statement and post it here.
The intention here is to make an easily searchable hub on the subject.
Thank you
M.
I am currently working on a project that I intend to use IvyGen in. As I progress I will post what I learn here. Likely I will also be posting a lot of questions too... I hope to be able to produce a simple tutorial to post here in the end, based off the information collected. The Idea of making a tutorial on this subject has been mentioned by others before.Perhaps there will be enough info here to compile into a comprehensive instruction manual.
I see what you want to do here, to centralise the info, but isn't the forum a searchable hub anyway?
Anyway, here are some links:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=13500.0 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=13500.0) which refers to http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=7718.0 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=7718.0)
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=4231.msg47427#msg47427 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=4231.msg47427#msg47427)
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=4420.0 (http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=4420.0)
These links contain some hints on possible problems.
Best would be to get started, I think, and post your problems here for us to shoot.
Cheers,
Martin
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on November 23, 2011, 12:49:02 PM
I see what you want to do here, to centralise the info, but isn't the forum a searchable hub anyway?
lol, Yes, of course you are right. But as Im sure you have found, searching using key words that include common words, even just community centric words, can bring back many listings of useless information (pertaining to the search). I wanted to try, to try, to organize my threads a little better, Hence a very un-imagintive title. I realize a hundred threads titled 'transparency node', for example, could be just as much a problem but I'll complain about that when it happens ;)
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on November 23, 2011, 12:49:02 PM
Best would be to get started, I think, and post your problems here for us to shoot.
Cheers,
Martin
True that ;D I hope to have myself bothering everyone I can with questions tonight, after a nice long nap that is. Thanks for helping Martin!
I don't know what you want to achieve with this thread so I just type about my experiences with IvyGenerator in combination with TG.
For a couple of years now I do use IvyGenerator but it wasn't until recently that I did discover the ivy objects had flaws when rendered in TG: The leaves did look like "little photographs dangling from the branches." (As described in the last post TU mentioned) I roughly followed the method TU did describe to get rid of the "photographs"; with success, because now the leaves are showing properly.
The obj's rendered in IvyGenerator I do use directly in TG and I assign the textures manually; I don't process them in PoseRay because most of the time the assigned settings like images/ specularity/transparency/bump don't stick.
Working with IvyGenerator for me is a matter of trial and error, still; I'm a slow learner.
What I do is start with the default settings and see how that develops. If I don't like the results I move the sliders I think (judging from the description in the balloon help) that need to be moved; sometimes the results are what I had in mind, sometimes not and then I move some sliders some more.
Always check the 'birth' button. This gives you the chance to see exactly how your plant will look in the OpenGL renderer, and so the opportunity to fine tune your plant. A lot of people missed the function of that button so, just chipping in with that as a good bit of advice before exporting.
I've used the IG many times, from covering objects, to making actual full trees, as shown on the example images on the site, great piece of free kit!
Hello,
Sorry for the delay in my efforts here, a holiday and two birthdays snuck up on me, pesky things.
@AndyWelder, what you wrote is just what I was after. Whatever you know on the subject has a place here. Thanks for sharing.
@dandelO, Thank you.
@Tangled-Universe
In the first link you posted is a description of the process by which you brought ivy into a scene. At the end of the tut you said "it should be easy now". Why now? Also, can you clarify the sphere thing? That is, it read as though you put your terrain in a sphere, to bring into IvyGen? I think I'm misunderstanding you.
In the scene Im working on, the terrain is made up of walls of the same hight and width, but not length. Perhaps I should go at this in two ways, 1-just as you have, and 2- I should find a way to measure my walls and make a simple object in a free 3D program to bring into IvyGen in order to make Ivy objects that will fit my shapes.
I said it will be easier now, because we have an improved micro-exporter which retains the coordinates from TG2 in the model + a wireframe preview which allows much easier tweaking of positioning your model.
About the improved exporter: as you may know TG2's coordinate system is the most accurate near the 0,0,0 coordinates. So if you export something from TG2 then try to have your region of interest at or nearby the 0,0,0 coordinates.
For this you can use a transform shader as final shader before the planet and move the whole scene to the correct position, then export, do your ivy thing, re-import, match position of ivy with terrain and correct for the transform shaders input.
For example, if you had to move your terrain + 1000m on X-axis to get your region of interest @ 0,0,0 then after matching your ivy with you terrain you remove/disconnect the transform shader to your planet and set the ivy's position to -1000m.
I only used a small sphere WITHIN the scene as a reference point in ivy generator, because all of the above possibilities weren't available then.
In ivy generator I let the ivy start growing onto that tiny sphere from where it grew on my terrain.
By doing that I knew that the starting root of my ivy needed to be at the same position as my sphere.
So I only used it as a reference and did not put my entire scene in a sphere ;)
Hi T-U
Ok, so you have given me some very key information here. I went through all the related threads, from above and also looked through the threads relating to the "micro exporter". I was able to get a large chunk of my terrain into IvyGen, though I skipped the step relating to the transform shader. I just wanted to make sure I understood how to export first.
So it seems that IvyGen is not at all a difficult thing to understand-just a lot of sliders. The real work is in exporting a terrain, and importing the Ivy to the place you want it to appear.
Here are the steps
1)Transform shader (as you have instructed above^^)
2)Micro exporter (as you instructed here: http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=fdcc073f924ae32981fa0b1f088ebecd&topic=12743.0
and here: http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=fdcc073f924ae32981fa0b1f088ebecd&topic=12743.0 )
3) Open the .obj from Terragen in IvyGen and grow
4) import new Ivy object as you instruct above ^^
5) Repeat as needed.
Yes? If so it will be an easy tutorial to make (I just think its good to have one out there) The important aspects will obviously be using "Transform Shader" and "Micro exporter" nodes. IvyGen already has a tutorial on using IvyGen that can be downloaded from the main page of their site.
So my only question now (3:00am ::)) is where the hell is the transform shader at ??? I know I have seen it before, I just cant find it now.
Something may be wrong with me :-\
Ghehe, epic ;D I know that tired feeling and you're nearly there but can't get to something easy anymore :P
By heart I think you can access a transform shader by right clicking in the node network and choose "create shader -> other shader -> transform shader".
Make sure you do NOT use the left input port to translate your entire setup, but the right input port saying "shader".
Good luck!
Cheers,
Martin
LOL, This is funny, its right where I left it, and I still would not have found it if you hadn't told me. I'm going to bed now. ;)
Hi guys,
The easiest way to find a node you know the name of is to go the View menu > Node Palette > Library. This will open a Node Palette showing all nodes. Now you can either scroll down the list to find the one you're after, or just start typing its name. Create the node by hitting the Return/Enter key, double click it in the list or drag and drop it from the list onto a network view.
Regards,
Jo
Quote from: jo on November 30, 2011, 04:39:42 AM
Hi guys,
The easiest way to find a node you know the name of is to go the View menu > Node Palette > Library. This will open a Node Palette showing all nodes. Now you can either scroll down the list to find the one you're after, or just start typing its name. Create the node by hitting the Return/Enter key, double click it in the list or drag and drop it from the list onto a network view.
Regards,
Jo
You're absolutely right Jo.
However, without the possibility of docking/fixing the node palette somewhere in the UI (and have it there by default) I think I'll never get accustomed to using it.
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on November 30, 2011, 05:03:04 AM
However, without the possibility of docking/fixing the node palette somewhere in the UI (and have it there by default) I think I'll never get accustomed to using it.
In 2.4, you just hit the N key to bring up with the Quick Node Palette and start typing :) Also I think the normal Node Palettes remember if they were open when you close Terragen and automatically reopen next time you start Terragen.
Matt
Thanks Matt, I need to try that (using more keyboard shortcuts in general as well).
Cheers,
Martin
Quote
In 2.4, you just hit the N key to bring up with the Quick Node Palette and start typing :) Also I think the normal Node Palettes remember if they were open when you close Terragen and automatically reopen next time you start Terragen.
Matt
Quote
Ahhhh, 2.4? Am I missing something here? 2.4 perhaps? :-\
Hi again,
So I have done everything as discussed in the previous posts, and I repeated the process just to feel more comfortable with it. I can get my terrain into IvyGen each time, and am able to find the point of view I am interested in. The model has great detail and looks nice.
However,
1) My terrain .obJ that I bring into IvyGen is 1.5G, is this normal?
2) My terrain always appears flipped or inverted. That is, looking at the terrain in IvyGen, everything is where it should be, only reversed (what should be screen right is now screen left and visa versa). Is this normal, and what should I do about it?
3) My terrain alway appears a good distance beneath the floor in IvyGen, making the plants grow like they are on LSD (no it doesn't look cool, and its not fun to watch) I think this may have something to do with my Transform shader and render camera, and the fact that my terrain falls below "0" anyway. ??? What to do ???
Quote from: TheBadger on December 01, 2011, 05:49:43 AM
1) My terrain .obJ that I bring into IvyGen is 1.5G, is this normal?
Being in a mood for silly jokes I'd say "yes that's normal" :)
The reason it is so big is because you exported your terrain at quite a high detail level I suppose or you have exported a very large junk, or perhaps both.
In the micro exporter you'll see two parameters controlling the clipping distance of the exporter. By default it is 1+06 metres (if I'm correct), which is 1000km. You need to determine the maximum distance required:
So make a separate camera and position it nearby your region of interest and make sure your region of interest is in the render view.
Then set the distance of the micro-exporter to the distance from your region of interest to your camera + 5-10% to make sure it will be exported.
You can measure the distance by moving your camera up and have it face down upon itself...you can do this because you did NOT update the coordinates for the camera, so that's why you can have the camera look at itself in the preview. Let the preview finish and use the measure tool to measure the distance from your camera to your region of interest and put that value + 5-10% into the max distance setting in the micro exporter.
Then render out your terrain using a detail value of ~0.25. The higher the detail the more polygons there will be exported.
You should now have a much smaller obj file. Mostly <100MB.
Quote
2) My terrain always appears flipped or inverted. That is, looking at the terrain in IvyGen, everything is where it should be, only reversed (what should be screen right is now screen left and visa versa). Is this normal, and what should I do about it?
I noticed that too, so it seems that didn't change :( I flipped it with Poseray I believe. Not sure anymore, sorry.
Quote
3) My terrain alway appears a good distance beneath the floor in IvyGen, making the plants grow like they are on LSD (no it doesn't look cool, and its not fun to watch) I think this may have something to do with my Transform shader and render camera, and the fact that my terrain falls below "0" anyway. ??? What to do ???
It's still possible your region of interest is at the 0,0 coordinates for X and Z, but still is -Y metres in Y.
There might also be a unit conversion issue in Ivy Generator where 1m in TG2 = 10m in Ivy Gen.
I'd actually need to go through this entire process again to see how it precisely works nowadays.
Good thread and good information. Looking forward to 2.4.
Hi Martin,
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on November 30, 2011, 05:03:04 AM
However, without the possibility of docking/fixing the node palette somewhere in the UI (and have it there by default) I think I'll never get accustomed to using it.
You can't dock it as such but you don't really need to. The normal node palettes (not the Quick Node Palette) will stay where they're put and any palettes that are open when you quit are recreated next time you start TG2. If this isn't happening for you go to the General prefs panel and make sure that "Restore Node Palette windows at startup" is checked.
Regards,
Jo
Quote from: calico on December 01, 2011, 09:09:12 AM
Good thread and good information...
Thanks calico,
I always think my threads are not useful to anyone else. Its good to know others get something out of it, don't feel like I'm just taking up space then.
QuoteThen render out your terrain using a detail value of ~0.25. The higher the detail the more polygons there will be exported.
Thanks T-U. I read on the forums that .5 detail is the highest I should go, so I just went with .5. Obvious now I could have just lowered it, but when Im just starting to get to grips with something I usually wait to deviate until I feel like I really got it.
As to the rest of what you wrote, I will happily design a tutorial, lay it out in
in-design and give you full credit. If you can teach me we can teach everyone.
Update
Ok, so I was able to get my terrain into IvyGen above "0" by making "Y"="0", and rendering with a different camera... Just as T-U described, however Y must = 0!
The terrain then took the Ivy which grew properly (I think).
I was able to save out the Ivy and import it into TG2 where the Ivy automatically showed up in the correct place (I think), this is with the transform shader still hooked up. The fact that everything is reversed in IvyGen does not seem to matter. It was fist good result, so ill try again to see if its really working or I just got a random result.
However I got some errors relating to the Ivy (See attachment) Where do I go in TG to show it where the files are now?
You have to import the files inside the object(s) node.
Quote from: TheBadger on December 01, 2011, 05:49:43 AM
However,
1) My terrain .obJ that I bring into IvyGen is 1.5G, is this normal?
2) My terrain always appears flipped or inverted. That is, looking at the terrain in IvyGen, everything is where it should be, only reversed (what should be screen right is now screen left and visa versa). Is this normal, and what should I do about it?
3) My terrain alway appears a good distance beneath the floor in IvyGen, making the plants grow like they are on LSD (no it doesn't look cool, and its not fun to watch) I think this may have something to do with my Transform shader and render camera, and the fact that my terrain falls below "0" anyway. ??? What to do ???
Ok, some new information based on more tests attempts:
1) This problem is fixed as T-U posted.
2) The terrain will always appear as a mirror image, but it does not matter at all. When you import the ivy into TG2 it appears just as it should in the correct place. Attempting to reverse the image in another program so it appears correctly in IvyGen is not necessary unless, perhaps, your scene is so complex in the fist place that you cant tell what your looking at.
3)It seams that it is not necessary to use a transform shader at all. The fact that the terrain falls below the floor in IvyGen does not matter. The problems I described before about plant growth were related to a difference in the controls for the PC version and mac version. I was using a tutorial for a pc version but working on a mac. The sliders both appear differently and work differently between a PC an mac (but not by much).
However, I am not yet sure that, if without the transform shader, the Ivy will be placed in the correct spot upon import.
It looks like that whatever is in the render camera view (or the camera your exporter is working through) will appear in the center of the IvyGen work space regardless of how far away from 0,0,0 the scene is in TG2. More conformation on this would be nice.
Was able to attach textures to the Ivy, however now there are new problems. There is a post by andy in this thread that seems to be about the same thing? Not sure how to fix it though.
T-U answered that thread but the work was done in privet.
hereis the thread: http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=4420.0
EDIT in
I have redone everything to see for sure how everything works.
Transform shaders are not necessary!
As T-U said, the smaller the terrain.obj the better! I cannot stress this enough, make it as small a file size as possible. Ivy grows much much better.
Still getting the white blotches. But as you can see they do not cover everything.
If anyone can explain the white blotches please do.
That looks like a texture issue to me, but also it seems that AA-bloom is enabled in the renderer and that a lot of bloom is applied, further suggesting that some textures use high reflectivity values.
So first disable reflectivity in shaders and render again. Still white? Texture problem.
I think in one of my first posts I pointed to the necessity to convert the .tiff files which come along with Ivy Gen need to be saved as bmp files (both diffuse and alpha).
Badger, I got them looking OK by using the .png images that are in the textures directory that came with IvyGen (or was that a separate download...? I can't remember.) Anyway, I did NOT convert the images. What I did do though was flip some of the texture images so the leaves were all pointing the same way.
The settings for the leaf shaders can be seen at the first image, the second image shows how the image directory looks like on my system.
I thought I'd already posted about this before here but I must have decided against hitting the 'post' button, I do remember writing it recently, though. Probably too many sheets-to-the-wind and lost myself in my own blethering somewhere and so thought better! ;)
Do as Martin suggests, I found that as soon as converting the default 'efeu' images I lost these white areas, either change them to a .tif with opacity channel saved for TG to use or, make a set of alpha images to go with them and save the colour images as .jpg for a smaller file.
* I never did try Andy's simple flip the image idea, probably that's all that was needed!
Anyway, it's not uncommon that I regularly tend to take the long way around to get to a shortcut! I keep myself amused on the way there, though, so don't worry for me, I beg you! ;)
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on December 03, 2011, 03:58:13 AM
That looks like a texture issue to me, but also it seems that AA-bloom is enabled in the renderer and that a lot of bloom is applied, further suggesting that some textures use high reflectivity values.
So first disable reflectivity in shaders and render again. Still white? Texture problem.
I think in one of my first posts I pointed to the necessity to convert the .tiff files which come along with Ivy Gen need to be saved as bmp files (both diffuse and alpha).
Quote from: dandelO on December 03, 2011, 12:56:46 PM
I thought I'd already posted about this before here but I must have decided against hitting the 'post' button, I do remember writing it recently, though. Probably too many sheets-to-the-wind and lost myself in my own blethering somewhere and so thought better! ;)
Do as Martin suggests, I found that as soon as converting the default 'efeu' images I lost these white areas, either change them to a .tif with opacity channel saved for TG to use or, make a set of alpha images to go with them and save the colour images as .jpg for a smaller file.
* I never did try Andy's simple flip the image idea, probably that's all that was needed!
Anyway, it's not uncommon that I regularly tend to take the long way around to get to a shortcut! I keep myself amused on the way there, though, so don't worry for me, I beg you! ;)
Quote from: AndyWelder on December 03, 2011, 05:18:19 AM
Badger, I got them looking OK by using the .png images that are in the textures directory that came with IvyGen (or was that a separate download...? I can't remember.) Anyway, I did NOT convert the images. What I did do though was flip some of the texture images so the leaves were all pointing the same way.
The settings for the leaf shaders can be seen at the first image, the second image shows how the image directory looks like on my system.
The files I have are all .jpg or .png no .tif(s). Some of the information above conflicts, and I am quite far out of my depth with this stuff anyway. I am using textures from the IvyGen website, but not the ones that come in the software, the ones that are additional. Here is the link: http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/#download
If anyone could fix them for use in TG2 and post them here for everyone to use that would be so great. There are 3 leafs young, old and dead. I think that everything you need is there. But Im not the person to say.
*
After searching the net I found that others using Modo have similar problems. It sounds like the alpha channel is bad and they say that it just needs to be replaced re-saved. Here is the thread: http://forums.luxology.com/discussion/topic.aspx?id=16856
It is short. But all of this is new to me. could some one help me understand this aspect of things?
Don't bother about me saying .tiff....I just do these things from heart, so I was just incorrect there.
So like I said you only need to separately save the diffuse (colour) and alpha images for every texture.
If the textures are .jpg .png or .tiff doesn't matter then ;)
I'll have a look at them...
I just made this very quickly so please don't look at the weird shades in the render.
What I did was inserting a fake stone clipfile I had somewhere and positioned the camera @ 0,5,0 metres and -90 degrees tilt to have it face down.
Rendered a 320x240 @ detail 0.25 with the micro exporter enabled and imported the TG2 generated obj file into Ivy Gen.
I used the settings in the image below for growing the ivy. I mostly use these range of settings for growing Ivy's.
I didn't had to flip the obj eventually, so I don't know why I didn't have to now and why you and I should in the past. Weird.
Anyway, here's also a download link to the converted textures:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1KVRZ7MK (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1KVRZ7MK)
Once you imported your Ivy you need to go to the parts shaders and replace the efeu0.png for efeu0.bmp and in the opacity tab load the efeu0_alpha.bmp as opacity image.
That should be it!
Cheers,
Martin
Oh here's the render...
I accidentially kept the exporter enabled and I rendered this at 960x720 and detail 0.7.
The exported obj was 2.4GB! :P
HI T-U
Sweet! Thanks so much. I just downloaded your file and will start in on it in a few seconds. Will let you know how it goes.
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on December 04, 2011, 07:37:35 AM
I just made this very quickly so please don't look at the weird shades in the render.
What I did was inserting a fake stone clipfile I had somewhere and positioned the camera @ 0,5,0 metres and -90 degrees tilt to have it face down.
Rendered a 320x240 @ detail 0.25 with the micro exporter enabled and imported the TG2 generated obj file into Ivy Gen.
I used the settings in the image below for growing the ivy. I mostly use these range of settings for growing Ivy's.
I didn't had to flip the obj eventually, so I don't know why I didn't have to now and why you and I should in the past. Weird.
Anyway, here's also a download link to the converted textures:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1KVRZ7MK (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1KVRZ7MK)
Once you imported your Ivy you need to go to the parts shaders and replace the efeu0.png for efeu0.bmp and in the opacity tab load the efeu0_alpha.bmp as opacity image.
That should be it!
Cheers,
Martin
As to the not having to flip it, I think he (the IvyGen developer) has done some work on the program since your last posts on the subject (before this thread) But if you look at the website, he says that the next version of IvyGen is delayed and has been for well over a year. Its too bad, Its a great free program. If I had tons of money I would donate and ask him to build a plug-in for terragen.... Also, I will use the settings you mention above.
Thanks again Martin, its really good of you.
On a side note...
Those rocks you have in your image above look just like (or very close to) rocks that are very common in my neck of the woods
http://blog.travelwisconsin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/devils-lake-state-park.jpg?w=300
http://www.mattbauza.com/Image362.jpg
http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/files/storyphotos/Devils_Lake_Valley-Ice_Age_Reserve_WI_DNR.jpg?0
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/4/2935180-Hiking_route_I_would_suggest_Devils_Lake_State_Park.jpg
http://highlander1.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Landscapes/DSC02339/220095931_9jqp3-L.jpg
I really like the Lichen you have there! just like the real thing. Would love to know how.
T-U
It works perfectly!!!! Thank you so much. I'm sure it was simple for you, but I was really stuck. Upon learning of IvyGen I started to base everything I was doing (plant wise) in this project I'm working on, on getting ivy. So as far as this thread goes back in time, thats how long I have been stuck. Now I can move forward!
Oh yeah, did I mention I was thankful! ;D ;D ;D ;D
One question though. Did you find that there was nothing wrong with the dead leaf? I haven't even tried to use it yet but intend to at some point.
Did anyone know you can change the parameters while the ivy is growing? Say, you have an ivy that's climbed high enough in a tree and you want it to climb no more but dangle down instead: Push the "Grow" button, the process will halt, change the parameter for "Gravity weight" to something like 1.9, "Max float length" to something like 0.6 and then push the "Grow" button again. The ivy will now continue to grow in downward direction with lots of long, dangling shoots.
Hey, that's interesting! Thanks.
Hey Andy,
I found that out recently too! Its a great little program.
Once I finish the project I'm working on I'll do a nice little tut so people don't have to spend so much time on the basics like we have. Or rather, I'll write down everything T-U shared and put some photos with it ;) :P
~160 branches on a single tree...
Looks quite nice here with so many direct light, but is virtually impossible to light indirectly in TG2. I used GI 4/8/6 and couldn't get any detail in it.
Nonetheless it's a nice combination of software :)
Maybe a situation where GI Surface Details is actually useful? ;D Or try upping translucency?
- Oshyan
Quote from: Oshyan on December 11, 2011, 03:51:40 PM
Maybe a situation where GI Surface Details is actually useful? ;D Or try upping translucency?
- Oshyan
Absolutely worth trying :) Thought about it yesterday-night, but didn't think about doing it...sounds stupid I know :) I was merely thinking "which GI relative detail would equal GI SD?" something along that line :)
Hello,
Sorry for the delay on this (if anyone is still interested)
Im still planing on compiling two tutorials on this subject, a quick start and an in-depth pdf. But I want to finish the project Im working on first its rather large, and uses hundreds of ivy (s). So the information in the tutorials should be rather detailed.
A quick question now. After I use a terrain as an .obj in IvyGen, and import it back as a terrain with ivy 'object' .obj. I was expecting that the object would be a massive file size. But happily, I found that even a massive terrain .obj, 'once ivy-ed', makes only a 2-4 mb file. No complaints! Just want to understand whats happening. Can any one explain why it works this way? Again not a problem, just want to know more than I do. :)
Thanks.
The terrain obj size remains the same after you grew an ivy on it.
The software grows the ivy on the terrain and once you save it only the ivy itself will be exported as obj.
A 2-4MB size for the terrain obj is small, but possible.
It depends on how large the chunk is in metres and at which detail you rendered the export.
As I explained before the lower the detail the less triangles and thus the smaller the filesize.
I'm pretty sure it's a combination of both in your case.
Thanks T-U,
The reason I was wondering is because the tutorial for using the IvyGen UI, from the IG website, says that a new object is created with ivy on it. So I thought that must mean that my terrain was copied with ivy, adding to the size of the terrain. But clearly this is not, and may never have been the case. Although, I may have miss understood in my agitation of the narrators constant burping, if anyone downloaded that tut with IvyGen than you'll know what I mean. An argument for PDF(s) if you ask me.
lol ;D
Best Practices
When exporting for .obj (a terrain) disable all light and atmosphere. This will allow you to export a massive terrain area at low cost. Im seeing about 200-350 mb .obj (s) covering very large areas of my TG2 landscapes. Do this in addition to above ^^ mentioned methods.
For me this is very beneficial as it allows me to grow ivy without continually having to re-export for different potions on the terrain. I expect knowing this should make things easy for others as well.
Hi,
I thought it would be good to update this thread with some current information.
A full and better working version is now included in Blender. IF you have the latest version of blender than you have a better working version of IvyGen.
I would use that from now on. I don't think they are ever going to update the stand alone.
Some of you may have already known this but I just found out And I wanted this thread to have the info, sorry for bringing up old posts. Also I feel better about not getting to write that tut on this, since the info is out dated.
Handy to know. I was going to be looking for that in a few weeks for a project, replacing the leaves with some textures for Ficus pumila
Hi BigBen,
I just found this tut for it. http://www.blendernerd.com/ivy-generator/
The tut covers some rudimentary stuff in the beginning so if your already handy with blender just skip to 4m12s in and it will give you the run down. As for me It was best I viewed the entire thing.
here is the wiki for the plug-in, just to save you a min or two. http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Curve/Ivy_Gen
IvyGen is a lot easier to use now. For one, everything is no longer reversed! And the ivy is somewhat easier to control. And bringing in massive objects like a terrain, no longer slows growing ivy to a crawl! So thats nice.
Thanks, that was helpful. Never really used Blender much
Quote from: bigben on September 10, 2012, 09:20:12 PM
Never really used Blender much
I've used Blender since V2.4x. I use to liken it to a an empty room where the walls, floor and ceiling were covered by switches, bells, illustrations, circuits and lights. All you had to do was figure out how all that stuff worked together and it would make fantastic things. But the documentation was archaic, incomplete, non-existant or just plain wrong.