UltraScatterPro Experiments and Experiences

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  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    Ok, so some postfiltering, but yay ultrascatter!

  • Hello. I've tried to get some sea plants to scatter on a sunken ship but some of the objects float in mid-air. I would like the sea plants to follow the contours and angle of the target object: I used alignment >> surface normal and same results. I've looked at the manual and tried most settings but I have no idea what I am missing. Thanks.

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411

    AnEye4Art said:

    Hello. I've tried to get some sea plants to scatter on a sunken ship but some of the objects float in mid-air. I would like the sea plants to follow the contours and angle of the target object: I used alignment >> surface normal and same results. I've looked at the manual and tried most settings but I have no idea what I am missing. Thanks.

    What sea plants did you scatter (product link, please; maybe I own it and can test)?

    • It may be that the origin of the plant is not at the logical bottom center of the visible part of the plant. If you start a blank scene and add just one of the sea plants, does it load into the world origin of the scene (where the axes cross at 0,0,0)? If not, that could be the problem.
    • What options have you tried for the Rotation Point on the Rotation Tab? Choices are Origin (default), Top, Center, Bottom. Maybe Bottom would work. Or maybe Origin would work with "Ignore origin transform" box checked.
    • If you choose Alignment to be Surface Normal, you might want to check the "Clamp Y axis" box so your plants grow upright.
    • If a plant has a very wide base, like some of the MartinJFrost plant clusters, even if the center bottom point is on the surface, the rest of the plant might hang off the edge in mid air.
  • AnEye4ArtAnEye4Art Posts: 767
    edited November 2023

    Thanks for your reply. The plant prop is from:  https://www.daz3d.com/v176-iray-coral-reef

    The plant origin is close, but not on the mark, to where the axes cross at 0,0,0.

    "What options have you tried for the Rotation Point on the Rotation Tab? Choices are Origin (default), Top, Center, Bottom. Maybe Bottom would work. Or maybe Origin would work with "Ignore origin transform" box checked."

    Honestly, I don't use Daz enough to know what that all mean. I just rotate and move stuff around without diving deeper. I have never moved the origin of a prop before. I've tried rotating the prop to my liking, then reset all axis to 0,0,0 while keeping the rotation but never knew how.

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411
    edited November 2023

    AnEye4Art said:

    "What options have you tried for the Rotation Point on the Rotation Tab? Choices are Origin (default), Top, Center, Bottom. Maybe Bottom would work. Or maybe Origin would work with "Ignore origin transform" box checked."

    I meant rotation Tab within the UltraScatter script. 
    I have that Coral Reef product. Let me give it a try. I probably don't have the ship, though.

     

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  • AnEye4ArtAnEye4Art Posts: 767
    edited November 2023

    Ok, thanks. I've never noticed subtle, but important things like origin. It makes a lot of sense now. Awesome that you have the reef product and can test to help me out.

    EDIT: I did the rotation >>>> origin >>> then I checked "ignore origin transform" and it worked for the one sea plant prop. No more floating here. But I will try it with a group scatter and see. Thanks again for your help.

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  • AnEye4ArtAnEye4Art Posts: 767
    edited November 2023

    Same settings as above but this time I had a grouped scatter - and a couple of them floating. Also, how do I get the plants to grow outward from the sides of the ship and not vertical.

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411
    edited November 2023

    Progress!

    I'm rendering now. I don't get any corals completely disconnected like in your original image. I look forward to seeing what your group scatter looks like.

    Edit: I see your group scatter now. I have to leave the computer for a little while. I'll be back.

    Post edited by barbult on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411

    If you don't want them all pointing up, use Surface Normal and don't check Clamp Y Axis.

  • AnEye4ArtAnEye4Art Posts: 767
    edited November 2023

    barbult said:

    If you don't want them all pointing up, use Surface Normal and don't check Clamp Y Axis.

    That helped. I am so grateful for your help. You're amazing!!

    Side note: with one prop I get no floating, or as you call it "disconnected". But as a group of two I get some disconnected objects from the surface.

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411
    edited November 2023

    AnEye4Art said:

    barbult said:

    If you don't want them all pointing up, use Surface Normal and don't check Clamp Y Axis.

    That helped. I am so grateful for your help. You're amazing!!

    Side note: with one prop I get no floating, or as you call it "disconnected". But as a group of two I get some disconnected objects from the surface.

    That's unexpected. Try rendering. The Texture Shaded preview can have some strange display anomalies. It might render OK.

    Here is my Coral Reef UltraScatter render with Surface Normal. I don't think anything is floating, but you can see the issue with props with large flat bases not completely conforming to the curved surface of the reef rock, so parts of the base are hanging off the rock surface. Of course, your ship looks much much larger that this reef rock, so there my be some issue with huge surfaces that I'm not aware of.

    Edit: In this scene, I also set a minimum distance between instances of 60 CM so the large props didn't overlap too much.

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  • AnEye4ArtAnEye4Art Posts: 767
    edited November 2023

    Awesome!! This information is more than enough to get me going. I think scattering one object at a time is best, rather than as a group.

    Post edited by AnEye4Art on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411

    I would also suggest that you set the Y rotation to +- 180 and leave the X and Z rotations at 0. That way you will get more variety in the look of the instances.

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411

    You can also increase the appearance of variety by setting random scaling upper and lower bounds.

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  • I'm trying to scatter several different kinds of plants. I changed the scale, rotation, seed and even the number of scatters and they're still loading right on top of each other. How can I change that?

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411

    jhogenboom_da69c035a9 said:

    I'm trying to scatter several different kinds of plants. I changed the scale, rotation, seed and even the number of scatters and they're still loading right on top of each other. How can I change that?

    When you say "right on top of each other", do you mean:
    1) Every individual plant instance is right on top of an individual plant instance of a different kind?
    Or
    2) The entire scattered group of instances of one kind covers the same ground area as the entire scattered group of instances of the other plants (the whole scatter covers the same ground area, even if individual instances my be in slightly different locations)?

    When you say you "changed the seed", which seed(s) did you change? The seed in the Distribution tab is the one that will affect placement of individual instances.

    If you want several kinds of plants mixed randomly together over a single area, you can use the Daz Studio Create menu to create a New Group. Then parent all the plant objects to that group. Then in UltraScatterPro, scatter the group instead of individual scatters or each type of plant. That will mix the plants randomly over the area and you only have to do one scatter if the group, instead of individual scatters of each plant.

    If you want each plant scattered in a different area of the ground (a clump of each kind separate from the clumps of others), you can create masks to use in the Image Map section of the Distribution tab. Alternatively, you can create Selection Sets with the Geometry Editor tool and use those on the UltraScatterPro Settings tab in the "Limit scatter to" setting.

  • Option 1. They look like one somewhat larger plant. Even changing repel values in the affinity tab resulted in identical scatters.

    I'm pretty sure the seed I changed was the one in the Distribution tab.

    When I tried  to scatter the group I got large clumps. I want a bunch of different plants not touching each other. I suspect I've got a tedious job ahead.

     

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411

    jhogenboom_da69c035a9 said:

    Option 1. They look like one somewhat larger plant. Even changing repel values in the affinity tab resulted in identical scatters.

    I'm pretty sure the seed I changed was the one in the Distribution tab.

    When I tried  to scatter the group I got large clumps. I want a bunch of different plants not touching each other. I suspect I've got a tedious job ahead.

     We should be able to figure this out and get it working better for you.

    1. How many different plants are you using?
    2. How many individual UltraScatterPro scatters are you doing in this one scene? One scatter per plant type?
    3. Are the plants all about the same size, or do they vary in size a lot (like some trees and some small weeds)?
    4. Can you upload screenshots of the problem so I can understand your process and the result better?
  • It's the new Rock Rose set by Martin J. Frost. I've been trying to scatter four or five different colors over a 10 meter square plane. It just worked more or less OK on my desktop, so I think I just have to have a little chat with the laptop that was making such a mess of it -- update its driver or something. Thanks so much for your help.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411
    edited July 19

    jhogenboom_da69c035a9 said:

    It's the new Rock Rose set by Martin J. Frost. I've been trying to scatter four or five different colors over a 10 meter square plane. It just worked more or less OK on my desktop, so I think I just have to have a little chat with the laptop that was making such a mess of it -- update its driver or something. Thanks so much for your help.

    For that scenario I would definitely put the different color plants into a group, and do one scatter of the group. UltraScatterPro will mix the items in the group, without putting any two in the same spot. Example scene and render is attached.

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  • Oh wow!! Thanks so much. That's what I want it to look like!!

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,411

    jhogenboom_da69c035a9 said:

    Oh wow!! Thanks so much. That's what I want it to look like!!

    Load the scene file I attached above and expand the Plane item in the Scene pane to see the UltraScatterPro item parented to it. Select that UltraScatterPro item and open the UltraScatterPro script. It will open with the setting I used in the scatter. You can examine the settings or modify them to experiment.

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  • Thanks!! Both my computers opened this beautifully. Now that I see how things are supposed to be parented, a certain Ultrascenery hillside may be next.

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