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    RpTreeMaker - new version Dec 12, 2008

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    • jujuJ Offline
      juju
      last edited by

      Al, thanks for what seems like an extremely useful app and for free on top of that!

      On another note - I've tried downloading the RpTreeMaker a few times already, ZIP arrives corrupt or server is reset. I was wondering if anybody else seem to be having trouble with downloading the app?

      Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.

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      • Al HartA Offline
        Al Hart
        last edited by

        Give it another try at: RpTreeMaker HL12tm

        I was able to download it OK today.

        Perhaps someone else can try.

        Al Hart

        http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
        IRender nXt from Render Plus

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        • T Offline
          tomasz
          last edited by

          Hi Al,
          Thank you for a brilliant tool.
          I have rendered the group of trees in Kerkythea.
          I had to modify one thing in your model. Image map is applied to Back Face instead of Front.

          I have an idea. Al, would it be possible to export full 3D model from your app as well.
          What I am thinking of is having a 2D tree in SU and then full 3D model in a rendering application as instanced object! It would be an excellent feature.

          I have already implemented it in SU2KT where there is a hidden, high polygon component and a simplified proxy just for SU. Maxwell, Fryrender, Indigo, Kerkythea and other application users would be extremely happy to see it.

          Cheers
          Tomasz


          Trees rendered in Kerkythea. PNG applied to front faces as well.


          SU2KT sample - left side=proxy, right side=rendering

          Author of [Thea Render for SketchUp](http://www.thearender.com/sketchup)

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          • jujuJ Offline
            juju
            last edited by

            @al hart said:

            Give it another try at: RpTreeMaker HL12tm

            I was able to download it OK today.

            Perhaps someone else can try.

            Hi Al, thanks for the reply. I was finally able to download the app, the transfer went dead a few times but I got it DL'ed and extracted fine. Seems like the trouble must have been on my end seeing that nobody else seem to be having trouble.

            Now, to try the app out!

            Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.

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            • Al HartA Offline
              Al Hart
              last edited by

              @unknownuser said:

              Hi Al,
              Thank you for a brilliant tool.
              I have rendered the group of trees in Kerkythea.
              I had to modify one thing in your model. Image map is applied to Back Face instead of Front.

              I have an idea. Al, would it be possible to export full 3D model from your app as well.
              What I am thinking of is having a 2D tree in SU and then full 3D model in a rendering application as instanced object! It would be an excellent feature.

              I have already implemented it in SU2KT where there is a hidden, high polygon component and a simplified proxy just for SU. Maxwell, Fryrender, Indigo, Kerkythea and other application users would be extremely happy to see it.

              Cheers
              Tomasz

              Tomasz, I had attempted to put the image map on bot sides of the tree.

              Take the attached tree, and return it to me with any changes you needed to make to get it to work with KT.

              tree with texture image on both sides
              SKP model with two-sided face tree, and image palm tree.
              (The attached tree also has a palm tree created as an image, rather than a face. Let me know if that works with KT as well.)

              Also, send me a sample of a KT compatible proxy object. RpTools has a tool which creates proxy objects. I have attached one. Let me know what changes I need to make to make it compatible with KT.

              Proxy component from RpTools
              Sample Proxy Object created with RpTools.

              Currently, we use two layers - Proxy HI-POLY and Proxy LOW-POLY to let the user switch between displays. Does KY use a different scheme to store the proxy information?

              We are looking at an option to create 3D trees, but haven't had a chance to do it yet.

              Al Hart

              http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
              IRender nXt from Render Plus

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              • EarthMoverE Offline
                EarthMover
                last edited by

                Al,

                Have you considered the idea of creating a .png to .skp converter to add to your line of RP tools? It seems you already have the coding done for a tool like this. Hypothetically, this tool would allow the user to import a .png, or .tif transparent file and the converter would spit out a .skp file with the shadow mask applied. Also adding a alpha mask output would be invaluable for certain rendering users.

                3D Artist at Clearstory 3D Imaging
                Guide Tool at Winning With Sketchup
                Content Creator at Skapeup

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                • Al HartA Offline
                  Al Hart
                  last edited by

                  @earthmover said:

                  Al,

                  Have you considered the idea of creating a .png to .skp converter to add to your line of RP tools? It seems you already have the coding done for a tool like this. Hypothetically, this tool would allow the user to import a .png, or .tif transparent file and the converter would spit out a .skp file with the shadow mask applied. Also adding a alpha mask output would be invaluable for certain rendering users.

                  That would be a good addition to RpTools.

                  I wanted to get holes working, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. (Its the same algorithm - but applied again to the holes). I decided to release the RpTreeMaker version without holes. As I write this I can't decide whether to wait for holes or not.

                  Also, RpTools already has a tool which converts a color (range of colors) in your image into an alpha channel. So it would be easy to grab the background color of images which are not alpha transparent and use them as well.

                  Al Hart

                  http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                  IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                  • EarthMoverE Offline
                    EarthMover
                    last edited by

                    Al,

                    When you say "holes", do you mean in the shadow mask?

                    3D Artist at Clearstory 3D Imaging
                    Guide Tool at Winning With Sketchup
                    Content Creator at Skapeup

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                    • Al HartA Offline
                      Al Hart
                      last edited by

                      @earthmover said:

                      Al,

                      When you say "holes", do you mean in the shadow mask?

                      Holes in the tree, which should also create holes in the shadow mask so light can pass through the tree.

                      Al Hart

                      http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                      IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                      • AnssiA Offline
                        Anssi
                        last edited by

                        Thank you very much AL,

                        What a versatile tool this has become!

                        Anssi

                        securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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                        • T Offline
                          tomasz
                          last edited by

                          @al hart said:

                          Also, send me a sample of a KT compatible proxy object. RpTools has a tool which creates proxy objects. I have attached one. Let me know what changes I need to make to make it compatible with KT.
                          ...
                          We are looking at an option to create 3D trees, but haven't had a chance to do it yet.

                          Hi Al,
                          Thanks for models and new version. Will try it and come back with comments.

                          I have done proxy objects in SU2KT following way: There are two components Tree1 and Tree1_HIGHPOLY.
                          The highpoly has an attibute set pointing to lowpoly (component name):

                          highpoly_definition.set_attribute("su2kt","high_poly",su_lowpoly_comp.definition.name)
                          

                          That is mainly it.
                          It lets an user to place components on whatever layer they want.

                          I am glad you consider exporting 3D trees is a future!

                          Author of [Thea Render for SketchUp](http://www.thearender.com/sketchup)

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                          • Al HartA Offline
                            Al Hart
                            last edited by

                            @unknownuser said:

                            I have done proxy objects in SU2KT following way: There are two components Tree1 and Tree1_HIGHPOLY.
                            The highpoly has an attibute set pointing to lowpoly (component name):

                            highpoly_definition.set_attribute("su2kt","high_poly",su_lowpoly_comp.definition.name)
                            

                            Doesn't this have the problem that if a user selects Purge then one of the components disappears - or does the user place both in the drawing and turn off one of the layers,

                            Does the low poly component point the high polu component as well?

                            We wound putting the High Poly and Low poly geometry in the same component (option A), or having the low poly component include an instance of the high-poly component in a layer (option B)

                            Al Hart

                            http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                            IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                            • M Offline
                              me3mar
                              last edited by

                              FIRST OF ALL THANKS SOOOOO MUCH FOR THE GREAT TOOL,

                              i would like to ask about rendering with vray, is there a specific way to do it ? i just tried and got a black shadow surrounding the whole tree, is there any trick to do ?
                              thanks in advance

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                              • M Offline
                                me3mar
                                last edited by

                                i just found it out , sorry

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                                • Al HartA Offline
                                  Al Hart
                                  last edited by

                                  @unknownuser said:

                                  Al, I had downloaded the RpTreeMaker - The one big problem I see with it, is that the trees don't cast shadows (or have I missed a step?). Please let me know if I am doing something wrong, or if you get that fixed.

                                  The latest version should cast shadows in SketchUp. We added a shadow mask to cast shadows.

                                  RpTreeMaker-shadows.jpg

                                  Al Hart

                                  http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                                  IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                                  • Al HartA Offline
                                    Al Hart
                                    last edited by

                                    @me3mar said:

                                    FIRST OF ALL THANKS SOOOOO MUCH FOR THE GREAT TOOL,

                                    i would like to ask about rendering with vray, is there a specific way to do it ? i just tried and got a black shadow surrounding the whole tree, is there any trick to do ?
                                    thanks in advance

                                    Note: There is a setting on the advanced settings dialog to create an alpha clipmask for VRay. You can export it from the SketchUp Materials Wizard.

                                    http://wiki.renderplus.com/images/8/8a/Advanced_Settings.jpg

                                    Al Hart

                                    http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                                    IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                                    • Al HartA Offline
                                      Al Hart
                                      last edited by

                                      We put out a new version today.

                                      • Added ability to set the camera height as a percentage of the tree height.
                                      • Added shadow masks so trees cast realistic shadows in SketchUp
                                      • Used faces so trees render more easily in Podium
                                      • Added clipmask for easier rendering with VRay (Of course the trees render easily, and better, with IRender)

                                      Batch Mode
                                      The version has a Batch mode, for those people who have been having problems executing it from SketchUp. See: Batch Mode

                                      Shadows masks in sketchUp

                                      http://wiki.renderplus.com/images/3/30/RpTreeMaker-shadows.jpg

                                      Al Hart

                                      http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                                      IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                                      • C Offline
                                        chango70
                                        last edited by

                                        This is brilliant! Yon've even thought of VRay! 😍

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                                        • M Offline
                                          me3mar
                                          last edited by

                                          it works perfectly 😄 thank you ao much...
                                          is this a free plugin ? or is it yet just a beta vergin?
                                          thanks in advance

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                                          • M Offline
                                            me3mar
                                            last edited by

                                            LOOOOOOOL that was pretty funny, thanks AL for the great plugin and the great " Virgin" Imagination 😉
                                            greetings
                                            me3mar

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