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General => Terragen Discussion => Topic started by: reck on November 26, 2008, 03:54:13 PM

Title: Florawork plant query
Post by: reck on November 26, 2008, 03:54:13 PM
Hi. I've purchased floraworks Ground cover Deluxe pack but when I render the objects i'm getting some strange white colours in the plant.

In this example i've rendered the dock leaf and swamp grass and in both the white colour is present. I've taken a look at the image maps and don't see where this is coming from so I guess it must be some setting somwhere. Theses are the objects loaded straight into terragen with no modifications, any ideas?
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: PG on November 26, 2008, 03:55:59 PM
Are there any errors in the errors and warnings box?
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: reck on November 26, 2008, 04:13:14 PM
No errors.

I wonder if it's something to do with the png files and opacity. I removed the leaf.png file from the opacity image field and the white area became bigger.

I've just tried it with with the field nettle object which is also in this pack and it renders ok. Taking a look at the image maps I can see that the dock leaf and swamp grass use png files and the nettle uses a tiff file. This could just be a coincidence though.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: PG on November 26, 2008, 04:44:14 PM
Possibly. Most of the objects I've got are jpg textures but I keep getting errors saying they haven't loaded. Have you tried reloading the object? By that I mean go to the filename textbox and delete it's contents then load it again with the folder button to the right. Might just've been a wonky load. Can't imagine it would be the texture itself. PNGs are famously good at opacity blending.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: reck on November 26, 2008, 04:59:10 PM
Yes i've loaded these objects into a couple of projects and I still get the white colour. I've had these objects a while and I don't remember this problem before so maybe its something to do with the beta. But its also possible I just used some of the other objects that may not have this problem.

Hopefully Jack or o-b can shed some light on this when they pop up.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: choronr on November 26, 2008, 05:51:01 PM
I believe those white spots are the result of the specular (luminous) settings for the leafs and branches. Go to the specular tab and change the setting from 1 to zero. That should do it.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: reck on November 26, 2008, 05:58:21 PM
Which setting should be set to zero under the specular tab choronr?

The settings I have under the specular tab are:

Reflectivity = 0
Reflection tinit = 1 (White)
Index of refraction = 1.5
Specular roughness = 0.2

This is all in a default shader.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: buzzzzz1 on November 26, 2008, 05:59:52 PM
choronr is most likely correct because I've had to change several of Jack's tgo's for too high a reflectivity.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: PG on November 26, 2008, 06:16:49 PM
Try the luminousity slider on the colour tab
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: reck on November 26, 2008, 06:21:11 PM
Quote from: PG on November 26, 2008, 06:16:49 PM
Try the luminousity slider on the colour tab

luminousity is already at 0.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: reck on November 26, 2008, 06:32:14 PM
OK the problem is with the png image files. I've just converted the png image maps to tiff and relinking them into the objects and re-rendered. The objects are now rendering ok.

So the question is has something broken with png files in this new build? I hope I won't have to go through all my objects and convert every image map to tiff and relink them, that would be a nightmare
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: choronr on November 26, 2008, 06:35:12 PM
@ reck; at reflectivity you should be rid of the white spots when set at zero. Also, you might try a very low setting of reflectivity setting and adjust the tint from white to a darker shade the the leaf (or branch) colors for better results. You need to experiment here.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: buzzzzz1 on November 26, 2008, 06:35:31 PM
Quote from: reck on November 26, 2008, 06:32:14 PM
OK the problem is with the png image files. I've just converted the png image maps to tiff and relinking them into the objects and re-rendered. The objects are now rendering ok.

So the question is has something broken with png files in this new build? I hope I won't have to go through all my objects and convert every image map to tiff and relink them, that would be a nightmare

Ah, good you got it! I was going to suggest the image maps next. All the plants I've purchased from Jack and Paul in the last 2 or 3 weeks had tiffs with them so maybe that was an old batch created earlier.
Title: Re: Florawork planet query
Post by: reck on November 26, 2008, 06:53:27 PM
Quote from: buzzzzz1 on November 26, 2008, 06:35:31 PM

Ah, good you got it! I was going to suggest the image maps next. All the plants I've purchased from Jack and Paul in the last 2 or 3 weeks had tiffs with them so maybe that was an old batch created earlier.

Yes i've had this pack for a few months now. I don't remember seeing this issue before though but like I said it might be that I just happened to be using the objects in this pack that use tiff images instead of pngs. So at the moment i'm not sure if the problem with png files have always been there or if it's something new in one of the more recent terragen builds. It seems best to avoid pngs and use tiffs until this problem gets sorted.

I do though have a lot of other objects that use png files, I shall have to load some of them and see if I have this same issue.
Title: Re: Florawork plant query
Post by: reck on December 01, 2008, 01:17:59 PM
Hey Lightning, do you have anything to say regarding the floraworks objects and the problem with png files? Have you had the same problems?

Just wondering what the best cause of action to take.
Title: Re: Florawork plant query
Post by: rcallicotte on December 01, 2008, 03:04:51 PM
You could send a private message or email him at Floraworks.  It's my guess the support email address there still works.


Quote from: reck on December 01, 2008, 01:17:59 PM
Hey Lightning, do you have anything to say regarding the floraworks objects and the problem with png files? Have you had the same problems?

Just wondering what the best cause of action to take.
Title: Re: Florawork plant query
Post by: reck on December 02, 2008, 05:27:45 PM
Yeah looks like it might be the best way Calico.
Title: Re: Florawork plant query
Post by: moodflow on December 02, 2008, 06:49:09 PM
Gentlemen, be sure to keep in mind that everything has some type of reflectivity/specularity (except for 100% true blackbodies).  Adding some will greatly (or subtely) add to the realism of the object.   8)
Title: Re: Florawork plant query
Post by: Oshyan on December 15, 2008, 02:46:42 AM
I believe the PNG issue has been a long-standing problem. If you can verify this being new to the beta though that would be helpful. Regardless it should be fixed in the future, and in the meantime definitely use the other image types preferrentially.

- Oshyan