[Plugin] Sketchup Ivy

Alan Fraser

All it needs now is a parameter to add bunches of grapes...and the designers of Greek tavernas will be very happy.

leedeetee

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

My ivy leafs appear with borders?

(Thanks to Earthmover for answering previous question).

solo

What render engine?

The answer is because they are jpg and have no alpha channel, they need to be .png or you need to have the alpha mask in the right slot.

leedeetee

Just playing with SU output at the moment, Solo.

driven

hi

question for the experts?

I'm going out to the garden to collect some english dog rose stem, leafs, buds and flowers to make up a set.

what would be the best size, resolution, etc... to use with this. The originals seem huge to me, is that necessary?

Obviously transparent background png's

john

Frederik

@leedeetee said:

Just playing with SU output at the moment, Solo.

Looked so to me as well, nonetheless, you need to use png-files where the white parts are actually transparent as Solo already have pointed out...
If you don't have one, you can play with this ivy leaf EarthMover posted earlier...

leedeetee

@frederik said:

@leedeetee said:

Just playing with SU output at the moment, Solo.

Looked so to me as well, nonetheless, you need to use png-files where the white parts are actually transparent as Solo already have pointed out...
If you don't have one, you can play with this ivy leaf EarthMover posted earlier...

Super, thanks, and thank-you Solo.

Pixero

@driven said:

hi
question for the experts?
I'm going out to the garden to collect some english dog rose stem, leafs, buds and flowers to make up a set.
what would be the best size, resolution, etc... to use with this. The originals seem huge to me, is that necessary?
Obviously transparent background png's
john

That depends on how close the camera will be. A general rule is to use sizes such as 256x256 pixels, 512x512 etc. since they use the least amount of memory compared to it's size.

tomot

@solo said:

Oh yes,I agree the leaves need to be .png's with alpha channel, especially for render purposes, I'd like to have something similar to fur plugin that I can choose what to use as leaves if possible.

Face me would be awesome.

I don't know where all this **"png with alpha channel"**stuff is coming from, certainly one can do a precise cutout using PS and SU only, that's how I make the new Ivy leaves I posted in my rar file. Granted its a little more work. Also everyone in the photo-reproduction industry I know, is NOT a .png fan, and will always ask to convert to .jpg before printing.
If you use my .jpg ivy files they will also load easily into the fur plugin.

solo

Tomot, the reason I insist in .png is because for ivy you going to have a lot of geometry with the branches, now using your jpg cut out leaves will add 112 edges per leaf as opposed to 4. So imagine having 1000 leaves. I was more concerned with the huge geometry than the shadows in SU as I would be rendering anyway.

rodrigonotor

@solo said:

So imagine having 1000 leaves. I was more concerned with the huge geometry than the shadows in SU as I would be rendering anyway.

Good point Solo.

Regards

tomot

@solo said:

I was more concerned with the huge geometry than the shadows in SU as I would be rendering anyway.

fair comment! I very rarely use Vray rendered images for presentations, I'm more a fan of the Dennis presentation technique hence I want leaves without borders. I suppose that's the trade-off

rodrigonotor

@tomot said:

fair comment! I very rarely use Vray rendered images for presentations, I'm more a fan of the Dennis presentation technique hence I want leaves without borders. I suppose that's the trade-off

Sorry, you are rigth, I was thinking only in the render process. I'm also denni's tech fan.

Alan Fraser

Is there a way to change the parameters of the number of segments in the stems? To be honest, I don't think it's necessary to be using hexagonal stems metres off the ground. You could probably start with a square cross section and quickly move to triangular(as in earlier releases) without any visible difference...especially as most stems will be hidden behind leaves.
This plugin is looking really good.

justinplunkett

It looks like an awesome Plugin, unfortunately as previously mentioned it's not working on Mac Sketchup 8.
Hope you resolve it as it would be fantastic to use on an upcoming project.
Tx
Justin

driven

@justinplunkett said:

It looks like an awesome Plugin, unfortunately as previously mentioned it's not working on Mac Sketchup 8.
Hope you resolve it as it would be fantastic to use on an upcoming project.
Tx
Justin

Hi Justin,

it does work on Mac with SU version 8, but I need to load it after startup from ruby console, or with as_pluginloader.rb.

to use with either method of loading, I would suggest the following-

go to LiveIvy.rb (in your plugins folder) >> right click and color it green >> drag it into LiveIvy Folder >> start SU >> open Ruby Console >> type load "LiveIvy/LiveIvy.rb" hit return >> draw or select a surface/shape/group... >> last item in plugins menu should be Ivy.

or use plugin loader to do the same, navigate to then select the green file... that's why I color it...

the standard image files can be improved by editing the .skp's in the folder, and I haven't got my head around all the settings yet.

but they do work.

john