[Plugin] Component Spray Tool 1.3.

majid · 9 Aug 2008, 09:40

tanx tanx tanx and a word : tanx Didier

jiegou · 9 Aug 2008, 12:17

thanks.

sbthomas · 21 Aug 2008, 21:51

I am trying to use the component spray tool to place trees on terrain from google earth. The trees intersect the ground fine on the hills but in the valley they are hovering above the surface. What am I doing wrong??

Thank you guys

plot-paris · 22 Aug 2008, 06:38

do you have any geometry on a hidden layer in that valley (buildings for example). because the Component Spray Tool does regard hidden layers as well.

@Didier,

is it possible to change that, so that only active layers are taken into consideration? that would be awesome.

Didier Bur · 22 Aug 2008, 14:02

@unknownuser said:

is it possible to change that, so that only active layers are taken into consideration? that would be awesome

No, because the raycast ruby method does not support hidden entities or inactive layer

sbthomas · 22 Aug 2008, 18:10

I have not added anything to the su file but the image/terrain from GE and the bilboard style tree that I'm trying to multiply. When you import the tree it will fall on the surface on the hilltops or in the valley, but when you try to spray the tree (even with the point style) the tree doesn't want to drop to the ground in the valleys. Is the Z placement limited to the zero elevation(I see negative and positive elevation limits in the spray dialog box)?

Thanks for trying to help.

STAN

Chris Fullmer · 23 Aug 2008, 05:03

Hi Didier, I have some requests that I wouldn't mind seeing in a script like this. I'll list them below and if any are interesting to your or easy to incorporate, I'd be thrilled! Ok, so I mostly like to use 2d faceme components, so I think my ideas might be more useful for 2d faceme plants/trees and people.

The ability to create pre made lists of components. So currently you have 6 slots to set the components. But editable lists would be cool. So I could make a large list of all my 2d faceme people, then a different list of all my 2d faceme sillhouette people. Both of these lists are much larger than 6 components, so it would be cool if there was something of a component group editor. So instead of selecting the components one by one, I could choose from my lists I had previously put together. This is probably my #1 request if you want to add it
Skip this one, it was random size. I got it work - excellent!
The point and click method should be random (I think). So it doesn't just go in the order of the list. Or maybe a radio tickbox allowing for random order, or following the list order.
Perhaps being able to save different default profiles. So I can set up a default spray for people, then a default for large forrest trees, one for small bushes, etc. This might not be the most important thing to implement, but could be interesting?

I think that is it for now. I had put a lot of thought into a similar script a while ago, but I can't rememebr everything. So if I think of anything more, I'll be sure to add it to this thread

Again, awesome work Didier. I plan on using this regularly.

Chris Fullmer

Gaieus · 23 Aug 2008, 09:14

Stan,

Can it be the case that your terrain valleys are under the ground level in SU (I mean they have negative values on the z axis)?
Because if so, the GE Snapshot (which is a horizontal face on 0 z axis) would stop the trees falling under it.

Didier Bur · 23 Aug 2008, 18:21

Hi,
Spray tool doesn't mind if there are negative coordinates. This must be something else that prevents the trees to land on the terrain...

sbthomas · 24 Aug 2008, 00:33

Gaieus; I think you are right. The GE snapshot seems to be limiting the z placement of trees even if I toggle terrain on. I'll break the GE snapshots up to smaller sections to see if I can get around the problem for now. If there is a way to adjust the axis of the snapshot to make this work better let me know.

Thanks
STAN

Didier Bur · 24 Aug 2008, 07:23

@unknownuser said:

the GE Snapshot (which is a horizontal face on 0 z axis) would stop the trees falling under i

Yes. The ruby "raycast" method don't care of hidden layers or entities (no way to get rid of this). You should make a component of your GE snapshot, save it outside your model, delete it in the model, spray your trees, and bring the GE snapshot component back afterwards.
Regards,

Gaieus · 24 Aug 2008, 12:17

If you unlock it and cut it,you can insert it into another model with the Edit > Paste in place command. At the end you can bring it back in the same way to make it sure it is really at the same place.

Chris Fullmer · 26 Aug 2008, 16:21

Any thoughts on my requests Didier? Look back a few posts. Especially the first one. It's really important to my workflow. Would it be possible to include? Thanks for looking,

Chris

Didier Bur · 26 Aug 2008, 21:45

Yes, it is possible to include your requests, but you'll have to be patient
I'm on a huge project now and I'm afraid I must leave my freebies as they are for a couple of weeks...

Chris Fullmer · 26 Aug 2008, 23:14

Oh I can be patient I just wanted to make sure you saw my thoughts and would see if they were good ideas or useless. Thanks for looking at it Didier, you're the best!

Chris

sbthomas · 27 Aug 2008, 13:40

Gaieus & Didier;
Using your suggestions I have been able to overcome the issue of spraying in the valleys of GE snapshots. The process is as follows:

Get GE snapshot
toggle terrain
save-as "snapshotname"
unlock terrain
explode terrain
edit>copy terrain
file>new sketchup project
edit>paste-in-place
insert component
spray component
delete terrain
import saved snapshot
place model back to GE

thanks again for your help.
STAN

Gaieus · 30 Aug 2008, 09:39

Hi Stan,

In order to make sure your original terrain remains intact,after the step where you copy it,you can just undo the steps in the original model (the copied version will remain on the clipboard and you can use the paste in place command in the new model to spray the components).

thomthom · 3 Sept 2008, 09:50

This is one of my absolute favourite rubies. I just detailed a large terrain model with 4000 trees in no time. I would never have gotten such a rich detail to it manually.

Chris Fullmer · 5 Feb 2009, 06:57

Hi Didier, I have found that this script is conflicting with progressbar.rb, and therefore crashing all scripts that are using progressbar (makefaces in particular!, but I found the problem while developing my own script). There is a pb.update() method in the progressbar that seems to not work so I'm guessing that is where the conflict is - but I could be WAAAAY off. Thanks Didier!

I was wondering if anyone else could confirm this?

Chris

thomthom · 15 Jun 2009, 12:23

Does it make use of the disable UI argument for .start_operation ?