I'm sure it's right in front of me, but can anyone point me in the right direction on how to do this.
Click on your pop object in your objects window. You will see a tab called color..............click it and you have two choices of variation. I have only used the tint diffuse with a PF so far but once you get your scale set it works wonders. :)
Yep, not working. Am I the only one who can't figure this out? I haven't seen anyone else mention this. Do you set the colour variance in the PF shader itself?
Use a PF as the color variance. The scale will affect the variance..............it works really well. You might have to adjust your diffuse color to get the color range you want.
This should get you started.
Thanks, guys. I finally got it started. The feature gets a 9 for usefulness and a 4 for user-friendliness.
Looking at RArcher's example I can see that my 'colour blindness' is an issue with this feature as it's dealing in areas I have little differentiation on. Such is life.. ...
Thank you, Ryan, for the .TGD! I distilled a clipfile from it for use in other projects (In other words I did save the PF used for the colour variation and named it "Colour Variation PF" ;D)
Hi,
Quote from: UponInfinity on August 29, 2013, 11:51:32 PM
The feature gets a 9 for usefulness and a 4 for user-friendliness.
Well, not to defend the user friendliness too much, but it works basically like a colour overlay that tints the population. You can use any colour shaders/functions to create the colour map, not just power fractals. You can use an image map shader for example.
I notice the documentation for the Populator v4 Colour tab hasn't been added yet, I'll get onto that.
Regards,
Jo
I haven't used it yet actually (no need for me) but I believe it does work on all parts of an object, doesn't it? So if you only want the bark or leaves of a tree to vary you'd need the 'old' setup.
That is correct Dune which means it's really only suitable for distance shots until it can be restricted to certain parts of the object.
Matt posted a workaround for this limitation which involved getting rid of the default shader (colour variation only works with the default shader) and replacing with something else.
QuoteMatt posted a workaround for this limitation which involved getting rid of the default shader (colour variation only works with the default shader) and replacing with something else.
Reck, could you post a link, please?
Here you go Andy
QuoteThere will be a way to do this in a future version, but not in the current version. However, the population tinting currently only affects Default Shaders, so knowing this you might be able to replace the trunk's shader with an Image Map Shader (but don't forget to set its projection mode to UVs like the Default Shader).
Matt
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,16385.msg161138.html#msg161138
Well I got some gumption up and tried the colour variance...only on a grassy field but I like it...Will most def experiment further.
Thanks for all the input here....something twigged in my brain through it all.....
Thank you Ryan, this will make an important reference.
Thank you, Reck!
Ryan, thanks for the sample, I could not get it right either until I downloaded the example. Here's a render with two populations (Walli's dry bushes) using the same variation setup (two merged powerfractals). I love the results. This will be especially welcome for users of the free version, as now single populations can be made to look a lot better with minimal setup. Thumbs up for this new feature!
otakar, that is a fine looking scene there. Would like to see the finished product.
Ryan, I noted in your example render with the Willow trees that some have the original color; and, some have the color variation. Is this two populations (one as with color variation via PF - one without)? Having tried your file, I find that the entire population gets tinted by the PF. I thought that setting up a pop with this method would give one a mix of both - some with - some without.
Hi Bob,
The render is the direct result from the file posted. It is just one population of Willows.
Quote from: RArcher on September 04, 2013, 01:33:58 PM
Hi Bob,
The render is the direct result from the file posted. It is just one population of Willows.
Thank you Ryan. Why then, am I getting the entire population tinted rather than random tinting?
Bob, try adjusting the scale on the PF. ;)
Thanks Richard, I'll get back.
Thanks Ryan and Richard, that was the key to the color variation - adjusting the scale in the Power fractal as per Ryan's example.
Gotta read more - living in a world of 'instant everything' things run a muck.
Which setting to adjust is best for color variation in the Power fractal, Feature scale, Lead-in scale or Smallest scale?
Quote from: choronr on October 01, 2013, 07:08:58 PM
Which setting to adjust is best for color variation in the Power fractal, Feature scale, Lead-in scale or Smallest scale?
All three will be relevant, it depends on the scale of the objects (the population is comprised of) and on your desired kind of variation. In my example above I have used the following values:
Feature scale - 1
Lead-in scale - 45
Smallest scale - .1
Thank you for this information. I will give it a try.
I suppose if you rewire the fractal to some blank ground, you can easily see at what scale it works and how strong.
Thanks Ulco, will give that a try.
Any chance on getting this implemented into the 3D preview in future updates, or am I just being greedy?
You mean having the population tinting be visible? That would depend on having shaders (other than image maps) be visible on objects in the 3D preview, which means the shaders need to be calculated, then presumably rasterized and sent as pixel data to the OpenGL rendering process. Certainly possible, but it does require a good deal of additional work. The general issue is something we're aware of and hope to improve in the future.
- Oshyan
The problem with all these gadgets is that the more 'luxury' in the preview, the slower it all gets. I think.
Quote from: Oshyan on November 23, 2013, 12:25:37 AM
You mean having the population tinting be visible? That would depend on having shaders (other than image maps) be visible on objects in the 3D preview, which means the shaders need to be calculated, then presumably rasterized and sent as pixel data to the OpenGL rendering process. Certainly possible, but it does require a good deal of additional work. The general issue is something we're aware of and hope to improve in the future.
- Oshyan
Yeah, I figured I was being greedy. One of those "luxury" features. Ah, well, I'll make do without. Thanks for the response.
Quote from: Dune on September 02, 2013, 03:34:55 AM
I haven't used it yet actually (no need for me) but I believe it does work on all parts of an object, doesn't it? So if you only want the bark or leaves of a tree to vary you'd need the 'old' setup.
I would guess in the future PS might want to apply colour variation only to a specified surface name or list of surface names in the populator object. Hopefully surface names are preserved after loading OBJ's. I gather the PF people are talking about stands for Power Fractal?
PF=Power Frcatal, yes. And that's why I use the olde method, I want to make a distinction between bark and leaves, if necessary. Furthermore, I now tend to make my objects including color variation PF's, so I only have to load them.
An issue I'm having with color variation in populations is that after I add the PF and set the scale, I do get the color variation - however, the objects are much darker than the original object. This has happened on several different objects.
That's because you multiply the original color by a range between white and black, so all except the whitest will turn darker. You should up the main color, or reduce the blackness of the PF by adding a grey color instead of the black or shifting the slider up a little.
Thank you Ulco, will experiment with your suggestion.
Dune's explanation is correct but his proposed solutions are not the best way. You want to use the Diffuse Color Multiplier on the Colour tab of the population (the same place colour variation is enabled) to correct for this. Try values above 1...
- Oshyan
Thanks Oshyan. I was actually setting the scale of the PF; then, adjusting its color to a light yellow/orange for dry/dead bushes. After this, I found that I had to take the default diffuse color up from the 0.5 to 1. This was still too dark. Had to almost double that to get the desired color variance.
Yes, again you really want to use the Diffuse Color Multiplier instead (and do NOT do the other adjustments, to keep your base setup the same as it would be without color variation).
- Oshyan
Thanks Oshyan. We'll see how this will work for a new project I'm working on.
Ah, yes of course, you're working with the new color variation setup. I don't and that's why I wrote what I did. Sorry.