population object node slots

[FlynnAD]

Quick beginner question:

Is there a way to move the Population Object Node's internal slots (the Object Maker and the Density Shader) outside, so they are available in the main node network?

All that's available outside the Population node is the Terrain Shader input slot.

Thanks,
-Matt

[jo]

Hi Matt,

Yes. All you need to do is connect them to a node which is at the same network level as the Populator node. The connections will change automatically. The way to do it is to create the node you want to connect first and then make the connection using the Assign button for that parameter. The Assign button has a green plus icon. Choose the node you want to connect from the Assign submenu in the menu that pops up.

I think you're probably thinking of doing it the opposite way, that you want to somehow show the connection first and then make the connection in the network view.

If you want to still use the object that was created when you created the population you can do that. Go to the internal network of the populator, select the object node and Cut it (Edit menu > Cut). Navigate back up to main network and paste the object node. Now make the connection using the Assign button as above.

Regards,

Jo

[FlynnAD]

Excellent. That worked, thank you.

However, now there's another follow-up question:

I made a population of an OBJ object. The OBJ object has an internal Parts Shader node. No problem, I can copy/paste/connect the OBJ node and the OBJ's Parts Shader node so that they are on the main network level. However, once the parts shader is copied and pasted someplace other than the internal OBJ network, I cannot seem to delete the parts shader - either one, the new parts shader I just pasted on the main network (if I realize I don't need it anymore) or the internal parts shader that was originally made with the OBJ node and now no longer used.

What am I doing wrong that I can't delete a parts shader node?

[freelancah]

You aren't doing anything wrong. It just cant be deleted

[FlynnAD]

Guess not. Even after I've deleted the original OBJ importer node that contained the parts shader I can't delete the parts shader.

So then, do people who use many OBJs have lots of "dead" parts shaders floating in the corner of their networks, or do they copy clip all their used nodes into a new, clean file routinely?

Thanks

[jo]

Hi Matt,

Honestly I think people end up with Parts shaders floating around. We did have a good reason for not allowing them to be deleted but it's something we're going to need to reassess. I suppose it would be possible to copy all the other nodes to a new file and clean things up that way.

Regards,

Jo

[dandelO]

A fix in the meantime is to open the .tgd in a text editor, remove all the .xml relating to the parts shader you want to delete(the text looks like this; "<parts_shader ... ... ...</parts_shader>", remove it all). Close and save the .xml document and when it's reloaded in TG you won't have the unwanted parts shader/s in the file anymore.

[Dune]

I think Volker (or someone else) once mentioned to ctrl+D the useless node, select them both and delete both. It works, and I use it often.... very often.

[dandelO]

That was Klas but I thought Jo had fixed that a while ago. If it still works then, great. I've never needed to do it recently and just assumed it no longer worked. I remember I also found a nice way to speed up some progress boxes when they were working by wiggling the mouse pointer, that got fixed too, but I think that one was fixed for the better and progress boxes now go at the faster speed without this mouse wiggling. Hopefully the parts shader thing will still work for a while yet.