UltraScatterPro - v1.0.1 released [commercial]

genejoke

gerster said:

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

Will UltraScatter be able to scatter just on a selected material zone of a prop? If not, would it be feasible to add this feature?

 

UltraScatter (and therefore UltraScatterPro) does already have this feature.

Yeah nice! I found this feature.

What I want to achive is to fill the grass areas from Collective3d Neighborhood (https://www.daz3d.com/collective3d-neighborhood-block-1) with scattered grass.

Is there a way to limit the boundaries of scattered objects to the uv maps? Currently, the scattered objects can go a little bit outside of the uv maps (see screenshot). Which looks a little bit odd of there is grass on the sidewalk ;)

It would be also nice if the random rotations could be have some "steps". Thinking of a random rotation in 90° or 45° steps. In the case of 90° steps, the scattered objects would be rotated by 0, 90, 180, 270 or 360°.

I think this is an issue from the origin point of the grass model. I've been having a similar issue and have been trying to work out how to get around it. One option would be the repel function, but as far as I can tell that doesn't work if only using one surface. It's an either or. I think anyway, I'm still playing with ultra scatter and figuring things out. One work around would be using a primitive sized and placed just below where you want the grass. The ultra scattered instances can be translated independently of the primitive so can be placed more precisely. I have no idea if any of that will be useful to you.

HowieFarkes

gerster said:

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

Will UltraScatter be able to scatter just on a selected material zone of a prop? If not, would it be feasible to add this feature?

 

UltraScatter (and therefore UltraScatterPro) does already have this feature.

Yeah nice! I found this feature.

What I want to achive is to fill the grass areas from Collective3d Neighborhood (https://www.daz3d.com/collective3d-neighborhood-block-1) with scattered grass.

Is there a way to limit the boundaries of scattered objects to the uv maps? Currently, the scattered objects can go a little bit outside of the uv maps (see screenshot). Which looks a little bit odd of there is grass on the sidewalk ;)

It would be also nice if the random rotations could be have some "steps". Thinking of a random rotation in 90° or 45° steps. In the case of 90° steps, the scattered objects would be rotated by 0, 90, 180, 270 or 360°.

UltraScatterPro will have the last feature you described - it has the ability to set a rotation increment.

As for the other ideas - yeah I've tried to think of ways to confine instances cleanly within an area but you just into the whole problem of having to do edge detection on the target object and collision detection on the instances and it gets very complicated and really slow. Maybe one day I'll have a bright idea but today is not that day.

Only way I can see to do this with UltraScatter in its current state to create separate zones for different sized patches of grass. Make one for the edges for small clumps that will give a crisper look then another for the larger areas. However this would be quite tedious to set up.

Hurdy3D

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

Will UltraScatter be able to scatter just on a selected material zone of a prop? If not, would it be feasible to add this feature?

 

UltraScatter (and therefore UltraScatterPro) does already have this feature.

Yeah nice! I found this feature.

What I want to achive is to fill the grass areas from Collective3d Neighborhood (https://www.daz3d.com/collective3d-neighborhood-block-1) with scattered grass.

Is there a way to limit the boundaries of scattered objects to the uv maps? Currently, the scattered objects can go a little bit outside of the uv maps (see screenshot). Which looks a little bit odd of there is grass on the sidewalk ;)

It would be also nice if the random rotations could be have some "steps". Thinking of a random rotation in 90° or 45° steps. In the case of 90° steps, the scattered objects would be rotated by 0, 90, 180, 270 or 360°.

UltraScatterPro will have the last feature you described - it has the ability to set a rotation increment.

As for the other ideas - yeah I've tried to think of ways to confine instances cleanly within an area but you just into the whole problem of having to do edge detection on the target object and collision detection on the instances and it gets very complicated and really slow. Maybe one day I'll have a bright idea but today is not that day.

Only way I can see to do this with UltraScatter in its current state to create separate zones for different sized patches of grass. Make one for the edges for small clumps that will give a crisper look then another for the larger areas. However this would be quite tedious to set up.

 

Hey,

ok, if edge detection is complicated I have a suggestion for a workarround: Add a „padding“  parameter.
The padding (like in HTML/CSS) will reduce the inner area of the UV map where objectes can be scattered.

With this solution the edges of my grass area would be missing the scattered grass, but I can add them manually.

An other option would be if the scattered objects would be selectable like the instances created in „Instance Plus“ (https://www.daz3d.com/instances-plus-for-daz-studio), than I could move the not fitting objects manually.

HowieFarkes

gerster said:

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

Will UltraScatter be able to scatter just on a selected material zone of a prop? If not, would it be feasible to add this feature?

 

UltraScatter (and therefore UltraScatterPro) does already have this feature.

Yeah nice! I found this feature.

What I want to achive is to fill the grass areas from Collective3d Neighborhood (https://www.daz3d.com/collective3d-neighborhood-block-1) with scattered grass.

Is there a way to limit the boundaries of scattered objects to the uv maps? Currently, the scattered objects can go a little bit outside of the uv maps (see screenshot). Which looks a little bit odd of there is grass on the sidewalk ;)

It would be also nice if the random rotations could be have some "steps". Thinking of a random rotation in 90° or 45° steps. In the case of 90° steps, the scattered objects would be rotated by 0, 90, 180, 270 or 360°.

UltraScatterPro will have the last feature you described - it has the ability to set a rotation increment.

As for the other ideas - yeah I've tried to think of ways to confine instances cleanly within an area but you just into the whole problem of having to do edge detection on the target object and collision detection on the instances and it gets very complicated and really slow. Maybe one day I'll have a bright idea but today is not that day.

Only way I can see to do this with UltraScatter in its current state to create separate zones for different sized patches of grass. Make one for the edges for small clumps that will give a crisper look then another for the larger areas. However this would be quite tedious to set up.

 

Hey,

ok, if edge detection is complicated I have a suggestion for a workarround: Add a „padding“  parameter.
The padding (like in HTML/CSS) will reduce the inner area of the UV map where objectes can be scattered.

With this solution the edges of my grass area would be missing the scattered grass, but I can add them manually.

An other option would be if the scattered objects would be selectable like the instances created in „Instance Plus“ (https://www.daz3d.com/instances-plus-for-daz-studio), than I could move the not fitting objects manually.

That's still edge detection though - needing to know if a line between 2 vertices is an "edge" of our scatter area and then calculating how far away from that edge we are, etc, etc.

Other option also not feasible as UltrasScatter uses DzInstanceGroups which are 1 node that contains 1000's of instances instead of each instance being a node - for reasons of efficiency and actually be able to place 1000's of instances without killing your PC.

Don't think I haven't tried to look at this problem from every angle already haha

Hurdy3D

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

HowieFarkes said:

gerster said:

Will UltraScatter be able to scatter just on a selected material zone of a prop? If not, would it be feasible to add this feature?

 

 

That's still edge detection though - needing to know if a line between 2 vertices is an "edge" of our scatter area and then calculating how far away from that edge we are, etc, etc.

 

 

I thought more of „virtually shrinking“ the uv map with the padding parameter.

If you use a padding of 2 the uv maps shrinks 2 cm.
If it‘s easer you can call it „size“ and use a perentual value.
E.G. 80% to shrink the size uv map to 80%. 

I don‘t know how this is coded, but if you can shrink the UV for the scatter calculation than you shoudn‘t need edge detection. If this wouldl work you could also add offset parameters for the UV map.

I belive you that you invested a lot of brain power in this missing feature ;) Just trying to help :)

barbult

@gerster, I think you could experiment with the UV map shrinking idea on you own, if you want to see if it helps. I think you could make a template image of the object's UV (assuming it is not overlapping of some other nightmare) and then use an image editor to make the center area white and the outer edge area black. Then use that as a distribution map in UltraScatter. It would require manual work on your part for every UV area you wanted to "shrink".  I haven't tried it, but it seems like an interesting idea.

chris-2599934

Interested to see the new version of UltraScatter, I have the current version and it's very powerful.

There's one thing I'd like to be able to do, that doesn't appear to be possible in the existing product (or at least, I haven't figured out how to do it):

Say you have a tree which you want to turn into a forest. You feed it into ultrascatter and it generates 100 instances of the tree all cunningly scaled and positioned as requested. But they appear in the scene tab as a single object - just one thing which determines the position and visibility of all 100 trees. What if I want to fine-tune the position of a particular tree, or move or delete some to make paths and clearings? It'd be great to have the option of creating the scattered instances as individual objects instead of one object to rule them all.

Still love your stuff though.

barbult

chris-2599934 said:

Interested to see the new version of UltraScatter, I have the current version and it's very powerful.

There's one thing I'd like to be able to do, that doesn't appear to be possible in the existing product (or at least, I haven't figured out how to do it):

Say you have a tree which you want to turn into a forest. You feed it into ultrascatter and it generates 100 instances of the tree all cunningly scaled and positioned as requested. But they appear in the scene tab as a single object - just one thing which determines the position and visibility of all 100 trees. What if I want to fine-tune the position of a particular tree, or move or delete some to make paths and clearings? It'd be great to have the option of creating the scattered instances as individual objects instead of one object to rule them all.

Still love your stuff though.

You can use Code66's Instances to Objects to turn the instances into objects and manipulate each individual one, but then they are memory hogging objects again, not instances. I don't know of a way to turn the instance groups into individual instances. It would be handy some times.

Or you can create distribution maps before scattering to keep scattered instances away fron path areas. It still doesn't give you control of individual inscance locations, though.

Sylvan

I was about to ask if the license allows for the scattered items to be exported and packaged for commercial uses. But I would also have to check Code66's license as that script makes it possible to convert it to individual objects.

genejoke

-Niko- said:

I was about to ask if the license allows for the scattered items to be exported and packaged for commercial uses. But I would also have to check Code66's license as that script makes it possible to convert it to individual objects.

I can't imagine there being an issue with either, but for peace of mind confirmation would be great.

HowieFarkes

-Niko- said:

I was about to ask if the license allows for the scattered items to be exported and packaged for commercial uses. But I would also have to check Code66's license as that script makes it possible to convert it to individual objects.

There are no restrictions on including UltraScatter objects in commercial packages and a number of PAs have released products with scatters made with UltraScatter.

3dOutlaw

Oh...wow, yea, this is what I needed.    Will be a Christmas present to myself (and you, and Daz, I guess)! 

Thanks for pointing me to the thread.

DigitalSteam

I should read the forums more often... I bought UltraScatter like a week, week and a half ago.  >.>;;

 

3D-GHDesign

Me too .... I bought some weeks ago ... :(

Sfariah D

3D-GHDesign said:

Me too .... I bought some weeks ago ... :(

I got it a long time ago.  Right now too broke to get it, but maybe one day.

Oso3D

Been waiting on this for a while, snatched it up sooo fast!

Thanks!

evilded777

So, for those of us who are a little slower on the uptake... are there any tutorials for these products? I own the original (of course I do, I have a problem)... but I never got it to work the way it seemed to suggest it should work.

And yes, I DID read the manual, but clearly it didn't gel for me.

I'd dearly love to use it with TerraDome to create forests, etc.  Seems like I should be able to do these things (based on examples) but... no.

3dOutlaw

So, does this combine the stuff in UltraScatter (original) with new Pro features into one product, or is it a set of new tools/options altogether (i.e. you would still need the original for those original features)  Based on the higher price, I was thinking this "replaces" the original?

scorpio

evilded777 said:

So, for those of us who are a little slower on the uptake... are there any tutorials for these products? I own the original (of course I do, I have a problem)... but I never got it to work the way it seemed to suggest it should work.

And yes, I DID read the manual, but clearly it didn't gel for me.

I'd dearly love to use it with TerraDome to create forests, etc.  Seems like I should be able to do these things (based on examples) but... no.

Same here, got to admit I'm a bit reluctant to spend this sort of money again on something that just frustrates me.

DigitalSteam

I guess while we're asking questions, does anyone know if either this or the original does just a very simple array - lick sections of road or corridor lined up against each other?

HowieFarkes

DigitalSteam said:

I guess while we're asking questions, does anyone know if either this or the original does just a very simple array - lick sections of road or corridor lined up against each other?

Yes, UltraScatterPro can do that with a matrix scatter.

HowieFarkes

3dOutlaw said:

So, does this combine the stuff in UltraScatter (original) with new Pro features into one product, or is it a set of new tools/options altogether (i.e. you would still need the original for those original features)  Based on the higher price, I was thinking this "replaces" the original?

UltraScatterPro does contain (and enhances) all of the original script's features.

barbult

Here are 99,990 small colored cubes, volume scattered inside a large cube. I aimed for the max of 100,000 and got pretty close.

DigitalSteam

HowieFarkes said:

3dOutlaw said:

So, does this combine the stuff in UltraScatter (original) with new Pro features into one product, or is it a set of new tools/options altogether (i.e. you would still need the original for those original features)  Based on the higher price, I was thinking this "replaces" the original?

UltraScatterPro does contain (and enhances) all of the original script's features.

Thank you.  I still  wish I'd waited a week, but at least now I know I'm gonna have to buy it again someday :)

barbult

DigitalSteam said:

HowieFarkes said:

3dOutlaw said:

So, does this combine the stuff in UltraScatter (original) with new Pro features into one product, or is it a set of new tools/options altogether (i.e. you would still need the original for those original features)  Based on the higher price, I was thinking this "replaces" the original?

UltraScatterPro does contain (and enhances) all of the original script's features.

Thank you.  I still  wish I'd waited a week, but at least now I know I'm gonna have to buy it again someday :)

You can return a product for a refund within 30 days of purchase. That policy saves you from problems like this. Just submit a help request to the sales department and ask for a refund of your UltraScatter purchase. Then purchase UltraScatterPro instead. Problem solved.

DigitalSteam

barbult said:

DigitalSteam said:

HowieFarkes said:

3dOutlaw said:

You can return a product for a refund within 30 days of purchase. That policy saves you from problems like this. Just submit a help request to the sales department and ask for a refund of your UltraScatter purchase. Then purchase UltraScatterPro instead. Problem solved.

Somehow I got it in my head it was seven...   Thank you!

barbult

I made a popcorn and cranberry string for the Mall Santa Christmas tree. I found a couple popcorn kernel models, and my cranberry is just a primitive sphere. I put them into a group and scattered the group, so I got some of each in my scatter. I scattered them along the "light string" surface of the tree by limiting my scatter to that surface. I used some random scaling and rotation to give them variety. I set a minimum distance in the distribution tab so they didn't land on top of each other. Then I saved the result as a separate prop and rotated it so it didn't superimpose exactly on the lights.

Td3d

Very cool. It's sitting in my Products Library already Very nice job. Can't wait to put it to good use. Thanks for the good work.

Melissa Conway

NICE!! 

barbult said:

I made a popcorn and cranberry string for the Mall Santa Christmas tree. I found a couple popcorn kernel models, and my cranberry is just a primitive sphere. I put them into a group and scattered the group, so I got some of each in my scatter. I scattered them along the "light string" surface of the tree by limiting my scatter to that surface. I used some random scaling and rotation to give them variety. I set a minimum distance in the distribution tab so they didn't land on top of each other. Then I saved the result as a separate prop and rotated it so it didn't superimpose exactly on the lights.

 

Misselthwaite

Does the Pro make anything easier to understand than the original?  I only ask, because I have the first one, and never managed to get it to do anything, and felt like I bled out trying ;-P  All I ever got was error messages.