UltraScenery [Commercial]

Artini

Really nice diversity - still has not figured out, how to use height maps, though.

So here is a Woodland one.

Lothar Weber

This product is insane....

BeeMKay

It's really simple - you create a map, plug that into the "height map" section and then start doing the usual things (though I'm not quite clear if I can change the height..?)

Martial

Hello

How to use materials USC Woodland 03,04,05 etc  I click on and nothing changing

For now all my trees are summer trees .how to have automn foliage trees?

 

Artini

I have used a map

and get this pretty landscape

Artini

Martial said:

Hello

How to use materials USC Woodland 03,04,05 etc  I click on and nothing changing

For now all my trees are summer trees .how to have automn foliage trees?

 

You need to use the script - that is where all magic happens.

 

Martial

Artini said:

Martial said:

Hello

How to use materials USC Woodland 03,04,05 etc  I click on and nothing changing

For now all my trees are summer trees .how to have automn foliage trees?

 

You need to use the script - that is where all magic happens.

 

 

Thanks for reply

i am now in the script and i see the same features as i see in My library/ environments/ landscapes/ ultraScenery

Where activate the ''all magic`` and use the differents  materials i see in the librariy inside a created scene 

Artini

Ok, one can see the terrain better, when there is no vegetation on it.

SimonJM

Tried the Pond again, and yet again (with random values dialled in) I get the trees and stuff in pond centre:

 

PhilW

SimonJM said:

Tried the Pond again, and yet again (with random values dialled in) I get the trees and stuff in pond centre:

 

Yes I get this too. They are the parent items from which the replicated items are Instanced. In the Scene list you should see an UltraScene Group and then a list of items starting USC. It you hide all of these by clicking the eye icons to the left then they will be made invisible. Ideally this should be done when the script runs. It is most obvious when you have a lake as it is clear that they should not be there!

Sevrin

Very nice product!  Pond and Woodland 2 took less than 20 minutes (7700k 32Gb RAM), which is nice.  Super easy to render.  Motivational posters for days.

Now for the wishlist!

1. Species crossover between Ultratrees and UltraScenery via expansion packs, or some other way to introduce a little imperfection/colour variation into the scenes, i.e., holdover green trees in autumn, diseased trees in summer, etc.
2. Water effects add-on!   There are splashy props available, but they're not terribly easy to align or scale to the size of the product.
3. Post framing deletion!   One typically frames one's shot after one knows what one is looking at, and that can change.  I would prefer generating first so that I can save a full set and then deleting unneeded stuff afterward - once I've framed my image.

Anyways, congratulations on a job very well done.  Landmark product.

mcorr

Howie ... words can't describe how grateful I am for this product (and all th add-ons sure to follow).

(1) It works on MACs

(2) It obviates and eliminates the use of VUE for probably all of my landscape creation needs (and no doubt completely once those add-ons are forthcoming and other modules addeded by Howie).

(3) The detail, realism and sheer beauty generated is nothing short of breath-taking (especially if good lighting/hdris are chosen)

(4) on my machine the scene generation happens pretty speedly

(5) limitless creative possibilities

(6) who needs netflix??

(7) creates a definite sense of self-direction/control, as well happy, serene feelings, in the midst of all the radical things going on in the world now

(8) does all of the above and more for a pittance of a price

THANKS AGAIN, and again and again Howie!! You should take some pride in the fact that you are creating lots of happiness and good feelings for many folks with this superb creation.

[PS: no I don't get a cut of the sales =)]

SimonJM

PhilW said:

SimonJM said:

Tried the Pond again, and yet again (with random values dialled in) I get the trees and stuff in pond centre:

 

Yes I get this too. They are the parent items from which the replicated items are Instanced. In the Scene list you should see an UltraScene Group and then a list of items starting USC. It you hide all of these by clicking the eye icons to the left then they will be made invisible. Ideally this should be done when the script runs. It is most obvious when you have a lake as it is clear that they should not be there!

Ahh good, they are what I thought they wre then = the hiding seems to have worked (now I am aware of what items they are in the scene tab), thank you!

PhilW

Testing the height map function, I imported a map with consecutive squares of different shades of grey, roughly 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% (on a black base). I set the height parameter to 8m for this and reduced the contrast of the noise so that it wouldn't overwhelm the image map, but you can still see a subtle undulation which is down to the noise map. I added the tree on top by hand, just for fun!

Nath

PhilW said:

Testing the height map function, I imported a map with consecutive squares of different shades of grey, roughly 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% (on a black base). I set the height parameter to 8m for this and reduced the contrast of the noise so that it wouldn't overwhelm the image map, but you can still see a subtle undulation which is down to the noise map. I added the tree on top by hand, just for fun!

Nice one!

nonesuch00

HowieFarkes said:

nonesuch00 said:

This is exciting product for DAZ Studio. Are there instructions how we can create our own trees to use as addons?

If not, here is a beginner's list for the addon tree product I'd like to see:

Here's a list of trees from my area (Central Appalachia):

various Rhododendron (both tree & shrub)

various Azalea (only shrub)

Mountain Laurel (both tree & shrub)

blackberry

raspberry

Tulip Poplar

Beech

American Hazelnut

Yellow Pine

Maple (red)

American Chestnut

Oaks (red, black, white, scarlet)

American Ash

Sassafras

Gum (sweet and black)

Hickory (different types)

Black Walnut

Butternut

Northern Pecan

American Persimmon

Paw Paw

There are also things like a wild variety of mosses, blueberry, huckleberry, ferns, grasses, wintergreen and other ground vines, and various native herbs. 

eg

http://www.asecular.com/forests/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian%E2%80%93Blue_Ridge_forests

+++++

That's my first interest but then there are landscapes in other places I've lived that I'm interested in too. It would be nice to have these offered as subsets the way birds, gardeners, outdoorsmen can buy books and media relevant just for their region.

Well it seems I need to seriously consider what the future roadmap for this is going to be - I have so many things that I'd like/need to put in (including enabling users to design their own ecologies) but it can't all be done at once (I know - not fair).

That's cool. I can wait. It's make this product a lot of fun for gardeners & hikers & such people.

barbult

I generated the terrain, stream, and some grass with UltraScenery and then scattered some winter trees with UltraScatterPro. I applied snow and ice from DA Let It Snow and Iray Snow Ice and Ash. The background sky is just a photo I took. It would be nice to have a winter ecology in an UltraScenery addon.

 

PhilW

barbult said:

I generated the terrain, stream, and some grass with UltraScenery and then scattered some winter trees with UltraScatterPro. I applied snow and ice from DA Let It Snow and Iray Snow Ice and Ash. The background sky is just a photo I took. It would be nice to have a winter ecology in an UltraScenery addon.

 

That's lovely - people are getting so creative with this product already, it is wonderful to see. I hope people aren't so engrossed in this that they stop buying everyone else's products though! 

barbult

PhilW said:

barbult said:

I generated the terrain, stream, and some grass with UltraScenery and then scattered some winter trees with UltraScatterPro. I applied snow and ice from DA Let It Snow and Iray Snow Ice and Ash. The background sky is just a photo I took. It would be nice to have a winter ecology in an UltraScenery addon.

 

That's lovely - people are getting so creative with this product already, it is wonderful to see. I hope people aren't so engrossed in this that they stop buying everyone else's products though! 

Thanks, for the nice comment PhilW.

richardandtracy

Just pooteling through the woods in 3DClassics 2CV

barbult

Lothar Weber said:

This product is insane....

Wow, this is just amazing. I am so impressed with the variety of images posted here.

Charlie Judge

Ati said:

HowieFarkes said:

I have so many things that I'd like/need to put in (including enabling users to design their own ecologies) but it can't all be done at once (I know - not fair).

That's okay. We still have two weeks of March Madness. :D

I'm betting on at least 3 more weeks of MM and maybe even 4 more.

escrandall

barbult said:

I generated the terrain, stream, and some grass with UltraScenery and then scattered some winter trees with UltraScatterPro. I applied snow and ice from DA Let It Snow and Iray Snow Ice and Ash. The background sky is just a photo I took. It would be nice to have a winter ecology in an UltraScenery addon.

 

I'd vote for that!  People are being very creative.  Maybe as more of us self quarantine we'll see even more.

golem841

Thank you so much for this wonderful product.

A few more trees, plants, bushes, a rock generator and i will finally stop my costly vue subscrption !

Elettrodado

Hi,

Here is my first attempt. By reading this thread I realised that moving the camera after generating with the camera option is a nono thing, but, the render was intended as not realistic so it still looks ok to me.

Few note and questions: I firstly installed via Connect and it was not working, so I unistalled and reinstalled via DM and now it works, even if it is categorised under "lost and found" in the Smart Content Product page. Is this right?

Then, there is a Camera object in the list, and if I double click it, it drops in the scene just a piramid-like shape, similar to camera view cone, but with no apparent purposes. What is it? Should I use it?

EDIT: By playing now it appears the following message: "runtime/textures/howiefarkes/ultrascenery/terrain/usc_autumnleaves_01_2048_diffuse.png".

Thanks

Drip

HowieFarkes said:

nonesuch00 said:

This is exciting product for DAZ Studio. Are there instructions how we can create our own trees to use as addons?

If not, here is a beginner's list for the addon tree product I'd like to see:

Here's a list of trees from my area (Central Appalachia):

various Rhododendron (both tree & shrub)

various Azalea (only shrub)

Mountain Laurel (both tree & shrub)

blackberry

raspberry

Tulip Poplar

Beech

American Hazelnut

Yellow Pine

Maple (red)

American Chestnut

Oaks (red, black, white, scarlet)

American Ash

Sassafras

Gum (sweet and black)

Hickory (different types)

Black Walnut

Butternut

Northern Pecan

American Persimmon

Paw Paw

There are also things like a wild variety of mosses, blueberry, huckleberry, ferns, grasses, wintergreen and other ground vines, and various native herbs. 

eg

http://www.asecular.com/forests/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian%E2%80%93Blue_Ridge_forests

+++++

That's my first interest but then there are landscapes in other places I've lived that I'm interested in too. It would be nice to have these offered as subsets the way birds, gardeners, outdoorsmen can buy books and media relevant just for their region.

Well it seems I need to seriously consider what the future roadmap for this is going to be - I have so many things that I'd like/need to put in (including enabling users to design their own ecologies) but it can't all be done at once (I know - not fair).

Well, it seems like you'd want to make it as generic as possible.. So if you figure out a method of measuring the size of a prop which the user adds to the scene (like a tree, but for all we care, people use roadsigns), and calculate a default distance rate from that, and add some means to increase or decrease that distance, then those results could be used to populate the scene. Add a big disclaimer that results will depend largely on products used.

Maybe place some temporary pedestal, on which the user has to allign that first prop, so the program can calculate its offset and default rotation relative to the pedestal, to minimize the amount of floating/dug in trees.

 

The other option would be, to release some tool or guideline for creators, to make their vegetation products compatible with yours. They can then update their products if they wish (versatility sells, it's their call!), and it'd no longer be your problem or something you'd have to waste time on. UltraScenery would basically turn into a must-have module for the customers (I think it already is for anyone serious about rendering these kinds of landscapes, just, right now it's a must-have product, but then it'd be a must-have module to fully enjoy other products)

Fae3D

This thread is full of such beautiful renders!  It's no surprise, as I'm finding this product sooooo inspiring! 

I look foward to any add-ons you make to this, but I personally would really love a "clearing" setting, so that we could easily put a house or a bunch of characters in the middle of the frame without them being blocked by trees.  I would also like to see pine trees, and maybe some flowering cherry trees.

A winter option with snow and fozen lake would be fantastic, but I'm not sure if that's realistically possible.  

Thank you so much for this amazing product!

HowieFarkes

PhilW said:

SimonJM said:

Tried the Pond again, and yet again (with random values dialled in) I get the trees and stuff in pond centre:

 

Yes I get this too. They are the parent items from which the replicated items are Instanced. In the Scene list you should see an UltraScene Group and then a list of items starting USC. It you hide all of these by clicking the eye icons to the left then they will be made invisible. Ideally this should be done when the script runs. It is most obvious when you have a lake as it is clear that they should not be there!

It's odd that that is happening - the script should be scaling all the items down to 10% and placing it a few meters below the terrain so they should ever be seen. What version of Studio are you using and is anything being written to the logs?

MelissaGT

HowieFarkes said:

The 

melissastjames said:

dawnblade said:

melissastjames said:

HowieFarkes said:

melissastjames said:

How long should generating a scene take? I probably should have read the manual first, but the interface seemed so straightforward. I went through each tab and made a selection for each, hit "go" and now over 30min later I'm still waiting. System specs - Ryzen 7 1800X, 32GB RAM, GTX 1080TI FTW3. My CPU isn't really going crazy either...it bounces between 10 - 20% load as I sit here and wait. 

That's not outside the realms of expectation but certainly at the longer end. Alas it seems that newer versions of Studio actualy take longer than older ones. I developed this on 4.8 but 4.11 seems to take up to 50% longer to generate a scene :(

It finished at just over 50min. I can live with that if I just have to build the scene once and then I can save and reload it at will. 

Am I to understand from past comments in this thread that we can't use the Iray preview mode? That's certainly a concern with putting together a scene once the instances are all generated. I use it religiously, turning it on and off as needed, in order to put together my lighting and characters, etc. I can understand not being able to move things once it's turned on, but I still like to be able to get an idea of what things are going to look like to make tweaks with it off. 

When I used the "restrict instances to camera" feature on the Build tab, calculating/building took less time (15-20 min.) and I was able to use Iray preview. The downside to it is that if you move your camera, you will need to  select the parent object in the Scene tab and build again.

I believe the advantage to not selecting a camera in the Build tab is that you won't have to repeat the build process if you move your camera. The downside is that for me it took longer to build initially, and with my 1080TI the Iray preview never even got to Iray even after 30 min., so I had to kill it with Task Manager. So if you use this method, stay away from Iray preview, save first and just hit render to see how it looks.

When I read the user guide, I was actually really excited about this feature. I usually build my subject/camera first, and then worry about the background second. So this is perfect. 

I do have one other issue...I've attached a copy of my first test render and the water seems odd...like it looks more like a grey street than a stream. I know there are settings options for water...what settings would be recommended to change the water to look more like those in the promos? Like the rocks and logs are darker where they are wet but the water itself is just perfectly clear. I'm not sure if it looks that light because of the sun scattering in it or what? *shrugs*

This seems like a pretty complete package to me already, but for add-ons, I'd love to see evergreens and maybe some mossy trees. That "old world forest" feel maybe? Definitely excited about the oaks. 

The promos were mostly made with the water settings unchanged or maybe with the murkiness turned down a little - but I've never seen the water look like your render. My initial reaction is that maybe your render settings are doing something there as it looks like there is no refraction going on at all and the scale of the surface noise is huge compared to default. Or the water material didn't get applied properly.

Turns out it didn't apply the water material. 

MelanieL

What a lot of superb renders! Here are a couple of things I did today.

First is just a simple one:.