Controlling primitives with a texture map

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

I found these beautiful renderings on Ronen Bekermans blog:

http://www.ronenbekerman.com/xgen-ar...ps-lee-griggs/

and Lee Griggs Blog:

http://leegriggs.wordpress.com/2014/06/28/xgen-color/

He is using Xgen for Maya:
http://area.autodesk.com/tutorials/c..._a_texture_map

How would you go about getting similar results in 3DS Max? Maybe one could use Parray with a texture map for the particle generation?

I love the precisely placed primitives and the possibility the density options give:

[AlexP]

Ive been playing with Forest Pack to achieve similar results.
Provided you have the ram to get the distribution dense enough it works very well.

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

Ive been playing with Forest Pack to achieve similar results.
Provided you have the ram to get the distribution dense enough it works very well.

Thats a fabulous idea!
are you talking about RAM for the rendering or the distribution in the viewport (cause that could be solved with a point cloud I guess)..
If for the rendering, it shouldnt be a problem if using VrayProxys, no?

[Vizioen]

Thats a fabulous idea!
are you talking about RAM for the rendering or the distribution in the viewport (cause that could be solved with a point cloud I guess)..
If for the rendering, it shouldnt be a problem if using VrayProxys, no?

Grant Warwick has promised us a free tutorial on this specific matter using ForestPack. Check his facebook page (4th post or something): https://www.facebook.com/masteringcgi?ref=ts&fref=ts

Today on Ronens blog I came across an Area tutorial showing how to use texture maps to control primitives in Xgen/ Arnold.
Unfortunately for Xgen, Forest Pack is God when it comes to scattering and I've been using this technique for a few years now to great effect in production.

The Best part is there is no technical expressions or other complex nonsense required to set things up in Max, it's all possible in a clean and easy to understand interface.
Animation, displacement, layered textures including height gradients and forest color plus a huge number of other features are available.

Below I've linked to the Xgen tutorial and attached a couple images of my own. I don't know how much geometry Xgen or Arnold can truly handle but if you were looking to create this effect I'll be creating a free tutorial today for all of you.

In the past I've even taken it one step further to create 3D Painting effects so stay tuned and I'll get the tutorial up ASAP.

http://area.autodesk.com/tutorials/c...ture_map#step6

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

oooooh! that looks promising! I am excited!
Probably its not too hard with Forest Pack, but I am looking forward to a tutorial of him!
Thanks for the heads up!

[AlexP]

Thats a fabulous idea!
are you talking about RAM for the rendering or the distribution in the viewport (cause that could be solved with a point cloud I guess)..
If for the rendering, it shouldnt be a problem if using VrayProxys, no?

For the rendering. I could be wrong, but I don't think proxys would be any help as the individual object is only a few faces (if using a box for example)
I was potentially trying to cover too large an area

[Morne]

Forest Pack renders instanced geometry faster than Proxies. Forest does its own memory management either way

[Neilg]

I dont know why you need a tutorial, all the forest pack controls have a section where you can have it driven by a map. color, scale, even the object it uses.

There's forest color for controlling the diffuse (select 'get color from map') http://docs.itoosoft.com/display/FOR...K/Forest+Color
transforms using a map - http://docs.itoosoft.com/display/FORESTPACK/Transform
using a map to change objects - http://docs.itoosoft.com/display/FOR...ap+-+Diversity

[Vizioen]

Bertrand Benoit has jumped in on this too and he took it a little further haha: http://bertrand-benoit.com/blog/2014/08/07/griggles/

[Neilg]

The floodgates are open, should we take bets on the number of these images submitted to various forums over the next 2 weeks?

I'm going with 15 unique users and 4 images per post on average.

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

The floodgates are open, should we take bets on the number of these images submitted to various forums over the next 2 weeks?

I'm going with 15 unique users and 4 images per post on average.

haha, yeah, its going to be crazy. I mean, its so easy to make something neat! I just had a first go, nothing special, just a first 20 minute test. It is really fun!

Bertrand Benoit had some nice ideas though, so just throwing out some primitives from a pattern wont cut it

I will play around a bit more with this in the next weeks.

[Neilg]

just throwing out some primitives from a pattern wont cut it

can you use forest as an object inside another forest...?

[Itoosoft]

can you use forest as an object inside another forest...?

Yes, here is a tutorial using that technique.
Even it's possible to randomize colors within the inner object (Forest Color->Tint/Map by element).

Interesting thread by the way.

[AJ Jefferies]

The floodgates are open, should we take bets on the number of these images submitted to various forums over the next 2 weeks?

Haha! I'm not ashamed to admit that I've started mine!

Ok, I am a little ashamed.

[MANUEL_MOUSIOL]

Haha! I'm not ashamed to admit that I've started mine!

Ok, I am a little ashamed.

looking forward to seeing it! we have to get really creative so not to bore Neilg