OMG! fur plugin is AMAZING!

d12dozr · 14 May 2010, 15:29

Pete that's crafty! Can I make that component work in Twilight? I did a quick test and it didn't look right..

michaliszissiou · 14 May 2010, 15:38

Pete, nice grass, really convincing!

solo · 14 May 2010, 16:13

marcus, I'm not sure it will work, as there is no option to insert an alpha map as far as I can see.

Here is another one, I used some low poly coconut palms. (whole model is only 1.6mb)

Frederik · 14 May 2010, 16:32

Looks GREAT, Pete...
I only wish there were an option to avoid components from intersecting (like we've both requested for the component spray tool)...
Perhaps this can be added in a future version...

One question...
For this particular component, why have you turned it upside down...??
It will only work correct if you apply/spray it to a surface showing the backface - or am I missing something...??

Regarding Twilight Render:
As Pete already have mentioned, you can't get this Buffalo grass to work correct, since you're unable to apply a seperate clipping mask (alpha mask) in the current TWR material editor...
However, if you're able to save the texture with a transparent background (I.e. as a .png file), it will automatically be made into an alpha-channel...

boofredlay · 14 May 2010, 16:37

Nice Pete.

briggs · 14 May 2010, 16:49

@solo said:

Briggs, it's pretty simple really, create a plane, import the component you want to populate, select it in the drop down window as the component to populate and enter.
Then in your render app, use the supplied alpha map as the clipmap as it's already UV mapped and will work without fail.

Righto, I'll give it a go in podium.... Clipmaps have always been my enemy in podium but I'll give it a whirl! Those palm trees look great solo

solo · 14 May 2010, 18:13

This is an addictive plugin.

xrok1 · 14 May 2010, 18:41

and with thea, you could use fur in combination with displacement to double the flexibility!

briggs · 14 May 2010, 18:50

With what you've done there Solo does SUp slow down massively? If it doesn't I can't wait to give it a try and make some full scale scenes I thought would only be capable using something like 3DS max!

Oh, and here's one of mine......

Grass through the grid:

d12dozr · 14 May 2010, 20:10

Thanks for the component, Pete, and for the tech support, Frederick.

Here is Pete's component Twilight-ready

bufalo grass png.skp

olishea · 14 May 2010, 20:42

briggs: if you put the grass on hidden layer it will not slow down sketchup. just turn the layer on before rendering...i assume you are using podium. i place all my heavy geometry on hidden layers, its so much better

nice one d12

Rico91 · 14 May 2010, 21:16

briggs · 15 May 2010, 00:28

@olishea said:

briggs: if you put the grass on hidden layer it will not slow down sketchup. just turn the layer on before rendering...i assume you are using podium. i place all my heavy geometry on hidden layers, its so much better

nice one d12

Cheers for the tip oli. I'd just seen your post about doing this earlier on, it works too. Not a chance my puny little laptop can take progressive renders with all that geometry now though Think I might move onto Maxwell soon, that should hopefully open up a few more doors for me! I've been toying with getting Twilight but I like the idea of having an outside "studio" program to work in.

I honestly think if Pete's technique is fully explored then it will enable SU to create some renders that are up there with the best in terms of scene composition and environment construction! Who needs 3ds?

mitsubishi_becloud · 15 May 2010, 04:33

Using the fur plugin for the first time, I used default settings as well as mixing them up a bit. This is the best I can come up with and it still looks like crap. Anybody got any suggestions as to why the grass is showing up blotchy over the selected area?

Gaieus · 15 May 2010, 05:18

Hi Bran,

"Tune up" the Density and the Max number settings (top two) considerably. The first is set to 200 pieces per 1 m2 (or about 9 square feet) which is obviously too low for a real, dense grass.

Be carefully however NOT to populate your scene with too many instances as they can (and definitely WILL) slow down SU considerably. Experiment with smaller areas first to see what results you get.

massimo · 15 May 2010, 06:20

Bran, you can also hit the "make fur" button many times on the same surface.

Fletch · 15 May 2010, 07:48

@frederik said:

However, if you're able to save the texture with a transparent background (I.e. as a .png file), it will automatically be made into an alpha-channel...

simply "fix" the buffalo grass component to contain the .png file with the alpha mask already inside it
voila... then everything is automatic in Twilight.

oops - thanks dozer, I see you "fixed" it for Twilight .

Frederik · 17 May 2010, 19:06

Like so many others, I'm having a blast with this new toy...

I've made some "Make Fur Components" based on some of the models from Solo's garden pack 1 , which I highly recommend...

Some of these components are based on parts of the models (I.e. the ivy is only 3 leaves that have been positioned a little different)...

This is SO COOL and have opened up for so many new possibilities...

boofredlay · 17 May 2010, 20:57

O dear Lord what have I done

michaliszissiou · 17 May 2010, 21:11

Yeah Boofredlay, what have you done?