well.. there may be a time when.. let's say you want to move your vines from your umbrella to something else that you've created in another creation. How would you save it for future use without the umbrella??? I'm thinking the sphere vine shape could be used for lots of things...
I missed out on Totte's instances to objects sale... I''ve got it on my wishlist... So many uses for objs... my brain is exploding.. lol
I bought the MR version but as far as I can tell there is no way to package and sell/share what I've created... I know the product is new... there are a lot of how to instructions that need to be written.
In the case of the vines on the umbrella, it does not use instanced objects. I could export it as OBJ. Then it could be shared as a single object, I suppose. But really I should stop giving advice, since I don't know what the MR terms even are.
The more I play... the more I think I need Totte's Instances to Object program... I'm waiting for it to go on sale again. I've been playing all day and I can't get a group to a prop... Even if I didn't by the MR... I'd still wanna know for personal reasons. I am using the Foliage Maker with my own prop.... I have an idea. I rarely use programs for what they are for... I like using them in unusual ways. ;) I'm convinced I need Totte's program... so I'll wait :) Don't quit giving advice Barb... you have been a huge help so far :) Thanks oodles.
I don't see any reason that you would need to convert the instances to objects to distribute them, unless that is stipulated in the MR terms. There are many products in the Daz store that contain instances. I think you are looking at this the wrong way, but then I don't know what your idea is.
For example, look at Predatron's Cypress Lane. Every one of the items in the Environments category of that product is a scene subset. Some of those scene subsets contain instances. Instances are the most efficient (less drain on the customer's computer resources) way to distribute this stuff.
ahhhhhhhhh.. ok.. I'm slooooooooooowly understanding... Save as a scene subset then distribut that as a SET... duhh... It takes me a while... but I think I got it :)
But... I still want to save as OBJ for another project so I'm waiting for Totte's product to go on sale again... lol. I had it in my cart last night and when I woke up it was back to regular price... ughhh... That's what I get for sleeping... lol
That's right. As also Barbuit and others said, converting instances into real geometry is not a good idea: you will end up with a monster geometry count and file size, probably unusable. You can indeed redistribute assets as Scene Subset: I've done that quite many times and never had issues. Of course, when redistributing assets it's your responsibility to check the copyright of 3rd party library objects used, and eventually ask authorization.
I just instal the Foliage maker with itys sn and content prop.I did a test with a cube ok But how to choose the props from the content props foliage because i always have the same foliage and how to mix Foliage maker bark o1 with for example foliage maker 07 , Another thing io see the pdf doc but i cannt see inside the plugin where are these setting
I just instal the Foliage maker with itys sn and content prop.I did a test with a cube ok But how to choose the props from the content props foliage because i always have the same foliage and how to mix Foliage maker bark o1 with for example foliage maker 07 , Another thing io see the pdf doc but i cannt see inside the plugin where are these setting
Thanks
Hello. You can change leaves textures after creating the foliage. Select the node "FM_leaves", then go to Surfaces and select the material "FM_leaves"; go to Content Library, where all the FoliageMaker leaves materials are and just apply the one you like.
If you want to mix leaves textures you will have to create multiple FM foliages, and assign a different leaf texture to each.
I sometimes get no foliage. I get this error in the log:
2023-09-25 14:33:08.062 [WARNING] :: C:\DAZDevel\Hudson\HUDSON_HOME\workspace\NB_DS_Dev_cmake\src\sdksource\shapes\dzfacetmesh.cpp(1840): DzFacetMesh::preSizeFacets() called outside of editing mode - call beginEdit() first!
Am I doing something wrong in those cases?
Does it lead to a crash or are you able to run the plugin again? I think that's probaby caused by a null geometry (so no foliage as you mentioned) and so the construction routine get puzzled. It's a warning, however, not a "real" error.
In any case, mind that there is also a dedicated FoliageMaker log file in Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\foliageMakerAM\foliageMakerLogFile.txt
That usually gives a better idea at what's going on.
It does not crash. I can run it again. I think it might have to do with the item I am trying to build foliage on being large ( A large tree with a big trunk) and the starting position being too far from the actual geometry of the item. If I do custom and move that custom marker close to the edge of the geometry, it sometimes works properly.
Thanks for the info about the dedicated log. I'll look there next time I have a problem.
I sometimes get no foliage. I get this error in the log:
2023-09-25 14:33:08.062 [WARNING] :: C:\DAZDevel\Hudson\HUDSON_HOME\workspace\NB_DS_Dev_cmake\src\sdksource\shapes\dzfacetmesh.cpp(1840): DzFacetMesh::preSizeFacets() called outside of editing mode - call beginEdit() first!
Am I doing something wrong in those cases?
Does it lead to a crash or are you able to run the plugin again? I think that's probaby caused by a null geometry (so no foliage as you mentioned) and so the construction routine get puzzled. It's a warning, however, not a "real" error.
In any case, mind that there is also a dedicated FoliageMaker log file in Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\foliageMakerAM\foliageMakerLogFile.txt
That usually gives a better idea at what's going on.
It does not crash. I can run it again. I think it might have to do with the item I am trying to build foliage on being large ( A large tree with a big trunk) and the starting position being too far from the actual geometry of the item. If I do custom and move that custom marker close to the edge of the geometry, it sometimes works properly.
Thanks for the info about the dedicated log. I'll look there next time I have a problem.
When using large props (for now, until I account for those in next update), a quick fix is scaling the object say at 50% (or 25% if it's really large), run FoliageMaker and when it's done rescale the object to 100%. That works pretty well.
Here's my silly tree, with lacy balls on the top and several different colored leaf vines on the bottom.
This is the tree that I had the problems with (getting the log errors) when doing the vines on the trunk. Another frustration was that I had to scale the tree to 50% or smaller to get any foliage at all. I understand that issue is on your list for update.
I have a couple other wishes, if you would consider them:
I wish there were a way to have a more random height cut off. Vines that all stop at exactly the same height looks unreal. Is there a setting that would help with that already?
Sometimes I want the vines to stay closer to the item they are growing on. The vines I grew on this tree trunk extend out quite far, I already had the distance at 1 (the minimum). I don't know if the issue was that I had to scale the tree down to 50%, or because the point cloud swelled out from the trunk to include part of the large tree canopy.
It does not crash. I can run it again. I think it might have to do with the item I am trying to build foliage on being large ( A large tree with a big trunk) and the starting position being too far from the actual geometry of the item. If I do custom and move that custom marker close to the edge of the geometry, it sometimes works properly.
Thanks for the info about the dedicated log. I'll look there next time I have a problem.
When using large props (for now, until I account for those in next update), a quick fix is scaling the object say at 50% (or 25% if it's really large), run FoliageMaker and when it's done rescale the object to 100%. That works pretty well.
I was typing my silly tree message when you posted this, so I didn't see it until later. Yes, I had to scale it down to get any foliage. Even at 50% I had the error message problem until I moved the custom start marker to the edge of the tree geometry. The tree trunk is hollow, so my theory is that the start point in the center of the trunk was too far from actual geometry. What do you think of that theory?
It does not crash. I can run it again. I think it might have to do with the item I am trying to build foliage on being large ( A large tree with a big trunk) and the starting position being too far from the actual geometry of the item. If I do custom and move that custom marker close to the edge of the geometry, it sometimes works properly.
Thanks for the info about the dedicated log. I'll look there next time I have a problem.
When using large props (for now, until I account for those in next update), a quick fix is scaling the object say at 50% (or 25% if it's really large), run FoliageMaker and when it's done rescale the object to 100%. That works pretty well.
I was typing my silly tree message when you posted this, so I didn't see it until later. Yes, I had to scale it down to get any foliage. Even at 50% I had the error message problem until I moved the custom start marker to the edge of the tree geometry. The tree trunk is hollow, so my theory is that the start point in the center of the trunk was too far from actual geometry. What do you think of that theory?
If the geometry has a hole (like it seems in your tree), setting the growth root where the cavity is might lead to inconsistent results because the branches might not be able to reach any point and even if they do, they might still fail if they don't find any adjacent polygon (because of the cavity). So in this case the best approach is to set the root just on the side/bottom of the bark, so that branches have consistent geometry to grasp on. Of course this is the initial release so I will refind the algorithm further and try to make it more "intelligent".
Here's my silly tree, with lacy balls on the top and several different colored leaf vines on the bottom.
This is the tree that I had the problems with (getting the log errors) when doing the vines on the trunk. Another frustration was that I had to scale the tree to 50% or smaller to get any foliage at all. I understand that issue is on your list for update.
I have a couple other wishes, if you would consider them:
I wish there were a way to have a more random height cut off. Vines that all stop at exactly the same height looks unreal. Is there a setting that would help with that already?
Yes I agree with that, some randomness would help. I'll add it to the list.
Sometimes I want the vines to stay closer to the item they are growing on. The vines I grew on this tree trunk extend out quite far, I already had the distance at 1 (the minimum). I don't know if the issue was that I had to scale the tree down to 50%, or because the point cloud swelled out from the trunk to include part of the large tree canopy.
Mmmmhhhh no actually even if you scale down the object, if the surface distance is set to 1 the branches should still be quite tight to it. Can you replicate the issue?
Why is it impossibly slow to delete the FM instances after saving a scene and reopening it? After many minutes, I gave up and killed DS with the Task Manager. I believe Llola Lane mentioned not being able to delete them either. During the session that builds the instances, they can all be deleted easily and quickly. After saving and reopening, it no longer works. Do you know why? I am running DS 4.21.1.80 Public Build.
Edit to add: I can use UltraScatter to scatter 4000 planes on another plane, save the scene, close DS, Open DS, Open the scene, and delete all 4000 instances instantly. They are created as instance groups. FM instances appear as individual instances in the reopened scene. It an instance group vs. individual instances the difference?
Why is it impossibly slow to delete the FM instances after saving a scene and reopening it? After many minutes, I gave up and killed DS with the Task Manager. I believe Llola Lane mentioned not being able to delete them either. During the session that builds the instances, they can all be deleted easily and quickly. After saving and reopening, it no longer works. Do you know why? I am running DS 4.21.1.80 Public Build.
i don't know, it's something I should probably ask Daz, but I'm not sure if I will get a reply. However, you should be able to delete the group containing all the instances, or not?
Why is it impossibly slow to delete the FM instances after saving a scene and reopening it? After many minutes, I gave up and killed DS with the Task Manager. I believe Llola Lane mentioned not being able to delete them either. During the session that builds the instances, they can all be deleted easily and quickly. After saving and reopening, it no longer works. Do you know why? I am running DS 4.21.1.80 Public Build.
i don't know, it's something I should probably ask Daz, but I'm not sure if I will get a reply. However, you should be able to delete the group containing all the instances, or not?
I edited my message while you were replying. I commented that I can delete UltraScatter instances instantly. No, I cannot delete the group containing 1000 MF instances. The computer just hangs for minutes - longer than I am willing to wait. I don't know if it would ever actually finish deleting or how long that would take. Do you not see the same problem?
Why is it impossibly slow to delete the FM instances after saving a scene and reopening it? After many minutes, I gave up and killed DS with the Task Manager. I believe Llola Lane mentioned not being able to delete them either. During the session that builds the instances, they can all be deleted easily and quickly. After saving and reopening, it no longer works. Do you know why? I am running DS 4.21.1.80 Public Build.
i don't know, it's something I should probably ask Daz, but I'm not sure if I will get a reply. However, you should be able to delete the group containing all the instances, or not?
I edited my message while you were replying. I commented that I can delete UltraScatter instances instantly. No, I cannot delete the group containing 1000 MF instances. The computer just hangs for minutes - longer than I am willing to wait. I don't know if it would ever actually finish deleting or how long that would take. Do you not see the same problem?
I waited over 20minutes for mine to delete and they never did... I finally ended up forcing Daz to close... Instances just don't go away... LOL... They are there to haunt me... ooooo
I don't have enough information to understand why that happens but I will investigate that.
I built foliage on a vertical plane with a primitive cube as my instance object. Right after building, I can delete the "FoliageMaker on Plane" from the Scene pane instantly. If I save the scene and reopen the scene, when I try to delete "FoliageMaker on Plane", the Daz Studio becomes unresponsive. I have attached the scene file. See if you can open it and delete the foliage.
Why is it impossibly slow to delete the FM instances after saving a scene and reopening it? After many minutes, I gave up and killed DS with the Task Manager. I believe Llola Lane mentioned not being able to delete them either. During the session that builds the instances, they can all be deleted easily and quickly. After saving and reopening, it no longer works. Do you know why? I am running DS 4.21.1.80 Public Build.
i don't know, it's something I should probably ask Daz, but I'm not sure if I will get a reply. However, you should be able to delete the group containing all the instances, or not?
I edited my message while you were replying. I commented that I can delete UltraScatter instances instantly. No, I cannot delete the group containing 1000 MF instances. The computer just hangs for minutes - longer than I am willing to wait. I don't know if it would ever actually finish deleting or how long that would take. Do you not see the same problem?
Instead of deleting, can you do a File - New? That might be quicker.
The only thing I can think of is when deleting, it gets recorded in memory in case you want to do an Undo. HowieFarke's instances are probably optimized, but in the past it has taken a bit to delete a USC group.
Maybe saving the FM instances as an instance group, instead of a group of instances, would make a difference. An "instance group" is a single object. It is not the same as a regular group of individual instances objects.
I don't have enough information to understand why that happens but I will investigate that.
I built foliage on a vertical plane with a primitive cube as my instance object. Right after building, I can delete the "FoliageMaker on Plane" from the Scene pane instantly. If I save the scene and reopen the scene, when I try to delete "FoliageMaker on Plane", the Daz Studio becomes unresponsive. I have attached the scene file. See if you can open it and delete the foliage.
I've tried it, took about 10 seconds to load and 6 seconds to delete. Did it twice to make sure.
I don't have enough information to understand why that happens but I will investigate that.
I built foliage on a vertical plane with a primitive cube as my instance object. Right after building, I can delete the "FoliageMaker on Plane" from the Scene pane instantly. If I save the scene and reopen the scene, when I try to delete "FoliageMaker on Plane", the Daz Studio becomes unresponsive. I have attached the scene file. See if you can open it and delete the foliage.
I've tried it, took about 10 seconds to load and 6 seconds to delete. Did it twice to make sure.
Thanks for testing. Are you running the same DS version that I am running = DS 4.21.1.80? I have 32 GB RAM on Windows 10. How about you?
Why is it impossibly slow to delete the FM instances after saving a scene and reopening it? After many minutes, I gave up and killed DS with the Task Manager. I believe Llola Lane mentioned not being able to delete them either. During the session that builds the instances, they can all be deleted easily and quickly. After saving and reopening, it no longer works. Do you know why? I am running DS 4.21.1.80 Public Build.
i don't know, it's something I should probably ask Daz, but I'm not sure if I will get a reply. However, you should be able to delete the group containing all the instances, or not?
I edited my message while you were replying. I commented that I can delete UltraScatter instances instantly. No, I cannot delete the group containing 1000 MF instances. The computer just hangs for minutes - longer than I am willing to wait. I don't know if it would ever actually finish deleting or how long that would take. Do you not see the same problem?
Instead of deleting, can you do a File - New? That might be quicker.
The only thing I can think of is when deleting, it gets recorded in memory in case you want to do an Undo. HowieFarke's instances are probably optimized, but in the past it has taken a bit to delete a USC group.
I don't want to do File/New, because I want to retain most of my scene and just delete the foliage.
I understood why it happens. It's because I omitted "physically" adding instances to the scene. Doing that makes instance generation very fast, but the cons are that they misbehave when the user wants to make them visible or delete them. The procedure hangs because probably Studio is looking for data reference and waits and waits there. I wish there was more support for the SDK because investigating things like these it's nuts. Anyway, I will add that line of code in next update. As I said, instance generation will be slower but at least they will behave as expected (and I checked that they can be made visible and deleted safely).
I understood why it happens. It's because I omitted "physically" adding instances to the scene. Doing that makes instance generation very fast, but the cons are that they misbehave when the user wants to make them visible or delete them. The procedure hangs because probably Studio is looking for data reference and waits and waits there. I wish there was more support for the SDK because investigating things like these it's nuts. Anyway, I will add that line of code in next update. As I said, instance generation will be slower but at least they will behave as expected (and I checked that they can be made visible and deleted safely).
I understood why it happens. It's because I omitted "physically" adding instances to the scene. Doing that makes instance generation very fast, but the cons are that they misbehave when the user wants to make them visible or delete them. The procedure hangs because probably Studio is looking for data reference and waits and waits there. I wish there was more support for the SDK because investigating things like these it's nuts. Anyway, I will add that line of code in next update. As I said, instance generation will be slower but at least they will behave as expected (and I checked that they can be made visible and deleted safely).
Thank you for investigating and finding the solution. This one is pretty critical, I think.
I tried to grow foliage on a horizontal plane. I always got this message: "No points generated. Try with a different geometry, with more resolution." So I kept creating a new plane with more resolution (divisions). It never worked, and that is a dense resolution plane in the screenshot. Does the surface to grow on have to have vertical height?
Comments
That's right. As also Barbuit and others said, converting instances into real geometry is not a good idea: you will end up with a monster geometry count and file size, probably unusable. You can indeed redistribute assets as Scene Subset: I've done that quite many times and never had issues. Of course, when redistributing assets it's your responsibility to check the copyright of 3rd party library objects used, and eventually ask authorization.
Allo
I just instal the Foliage maker with itys sn and content prop.I did a test with a cube ok But how to choose the props from the content props foliage because i always have the same foliage and how to mix Foliage maker bark o1 with for example foliage maker 07 , Another thing io see the pdf doc but i cannt see inside the plugin where are these setting
Thanks
A quick experiment
Hello. You can change leaves textures after creating the foliage. Select the node "FM_leaves", then go to Surfaces and select the material "FM_leaves"; go to Content Library, where all the FoliageMaker leaves materials are and just apply the one you like.
If you want to mix leaves textures you will have to create multiple FM foliages, and assign a different leaf texture to each.
Cool!
It does not crash. I can run it again. I think it might have to do with the item I am trying to build foliage on being large ( A large tree with a big trunk) and the starting position being too far from the actual geometry of the item. If I do custom and move that custom marker close to the edge of the geometry, it sometimes works properly.
Thanks for the info about the dedicated log. I'll look there next time I have a problem.
Oh! you gave me an idea.
When using large props (for now, until I account for those in next update), a quick fix is scaling the object say at 50% (or 25% if it's really large), run FoliageMaker and when it's done rescale the object to 100%. That works pretty well.
Here's my silly tree, with lacy balls on the top and several different colored leaf vines on the bottom.
This is the tree that I had the problems with (getting the log errors) when doing the vines on the trunk. Another frustration was that I had to scale the tree to 50% or smaller to get any foliage at all. I understand that issue is on your list for update.
I have a couple other wishes, if you would consider them:
Suggestions?
I was typing my silly tree message when you posted this, so I didn't see it until later. Yes, I had to scale it down to get any foliage. Even at 50% I had the error message problem until I moved the custom start marker to the edge of the tree geometry. The tree trunk is hollow, so my theory is that the start point in the center of the trunk was too far from actual geometry. What do you think of that theory?
If the geometry has a hole (like it seems in your tree), setting the growth root where the cavity is might lead to inconsistent results because the branches might not be able to reach any point and even if they do, they might still fail if they don't find any adjacent polygon (because of the cavity). So in this case the best approach is to set the root just on the side/bottom of the bark, so that branches have consistent geometry to grasp on. Of course this is the initial release so I will refind the algorithm further and try to make it more "intelligent".
Yes I agree with that, some randomness would help. I'll add it to the list.
Mmmmhhhh no actually even if you scale down the object, if the surface distance is set to 1 the branches should still be quite tight to it. Can you replicate the issue?
It's now working, thanks to Alessandro
You're welcome
Why is it impossibly slow to delete the FM instances after saving a scene and reopening it? After many minutes, I gave up and killed DS with the Task Manager. I believe Llola Lane mentioned not being able to delete them either. During the session that builds the instances, they can all be deleted easily and quickly. After saving and reopening, it no longer works. Do you know why? I am running DS 4.21.1.80 Public Build.
Edit to add: I can use UltraScatter to scatter 4000 planes on another plane, save the scene, close DS, Open DS, Open the scene, and delete all 4000 instances instantly. They are created as instance groups. FM instances appear as individual instances in the reopened scene. It an instance group vs. individual instances the difference?
i don't know, it's something I should probably ask Daz, but I'm not sure if I will get a reply. However, you should be able to delete the group containing all the instances, or not?
I edited my message while you were replying. I commented that I can delete UltraScatter instances instantly. No, I cannot delete the group containing 1000 MF instances. The computer just hangs for minutes - longer than I am willing to wait. I don't know if it would ever actually finish deleting or how long that would take. Do you not see the same problem?
I waited over 20minutes for mine to delete and they never did... I finally ended up forcing Daz to close... Instances just don't go away... LOL... They are there to haunt me... ooooo
I don't have enough information to understand why that happens but I will investigate that.
I built foliage on a vertical plane with a primitive cube as my instance object. Right after building, I can delete the "FoliageMaker on Plane" from the Scene pane instantly. If I save the scene and reopen the scene, when I try to delete "FoliageMaker on Plane", the Daz Studio becomes unresponsive. I have attached the scene file. See if you can open it and delete the foliage.
Instead of deleting, can you do a File - New? That might be quicker.
The only thing I can think of is when deleting, it gets recorded in memory in case you want to do an Undo. HowieFarke's instances are probably optimized, but in the past it has taken a bit to delete a USC group.
Maybe saving the FM instances as an instance group, instead of a group of instances, would make a difference. An "instance group" is a single object. It is not the same as a regular group of individual instances objects.
I've tried it, took about 10 seconds to load and 6 seconds to delete. Did it twice to make sure.
Thanks for testing. Are you running the same DS version that I am running = DS 4.21.1.80? I have 32 GB RAM on Windows 10. How about you?
I don't want to do File/New, because I want to retain most of my scene and just delete the foliage.
I understood why it happens. It's because I omitted "physically" adding instances to the scene. Doing that makes instance generation very fast, but the cons are that they misbehave when the user wants to make them visible or delete them. The procedure hangs because probably Studio is looking for data reference and waits and waits there. I wish there was more support for the SDK because investigating things like these it's nuts. Anyway, I will add that line of code in next update. As I said, instance generation will be slower but at least they will behave as expected (and I checked that they can be made visible and deleted safely).
Yes, and the same specs and OS.
I only suggested the File - New to test if it was quicker.
Thank you.
Thank you for investigating and finding the solution. This one is pretty critical, I think.
I tried to grow foliage on a horizontal plane. I always got this message: "No points generated. Try with a different geometry, with more resolution." So I kept creating a new plane with more resolution (divisions). It never worked, and that is a dense resolution plane in the screenshot. Does the surface to grow on have to have vertical height?