UltraScenery - new territory [Commercial]

barbult

Tugpsx said:

Looks great Barb. Thanks for sharing. Scattering a few leaves on the path could be a changer. If I recall you had some tips on how to do that properly. Can you mix in a few other color tulips. may be easier in post. I have to review your workflows. 

Just for you...

Tugpsx

AWESOME! For the tulips, did you use a map to distribute?

barbult

Tugpsx said:

AWESOME! For the tulips, did you use a map to distribute?

No, in my ecology tulip layer I just used a variety of tulips and two different pink materials. I let UltraScenery mixing position the tulips. To position the tulips and other flowers around the large oak trees I used affinity and repel in the ecology layer.

Tugpsx

barbult said:

Tugpsx said:

AWESOME! For the tulips, did you use a map to distribute?

No, in my ecology tulip layer I just used a variety of tulips and two different pink materials. I let UltraScenery mixing position the tulips. To position the tulips and other flowers around the large oak trees I used affinity and repel in the ecology layer.

Any tips on affinity and repel settings you can share with us? Thanks for the insight. 

Highland

barbult said:

daveso said:

barbult said:

daveso said:

refresh me on how to get the trees out of the water. Please and thank you. 

 

What ecology and what feature? The Swamp ecology puts cypress trees in the water, because they grow there, but I don't remember other ecologies doing that.

it was one of the oaks... there are 3 or so sitting in the water.  

I've never seen that happen with the Oaks ecologies. What feature did you use? Did you move anything after building the scene for the first time, and then build  it again? That can mess up the position of plants. If file uploads are fixed, attach your scene file here and I'll look at it.

I had it happen to me with Aspens. I turned off - didn't delete - the larger tress and some other items, but a rebuild after adding a decal brought them back, rearranged them, and everything including my figure went partly under water.

barbult

Tugpsx said:

No, in my ecology tulip layer I just used a variety of tulips and two different pink materials. I let UltraScenery mixing position the tulips. To position the tulips and other flowers around the large oak trees I used affinity and repel in the ecology layer.

Any tips on affinity and repel settings you can share with us? Thanks for the insight. 

This is how I think USC Affinity and Repel work. 

• Affinity and Repel are coded in the JSON file for the Ecology. Each layer can have different settings for affinity and repel, or none at all.
• The affinity and repel settings for a layer specify how the placement of that layer's object instances are constrained based on the instances of another layer.
• Affinity and repel will not cause instances to be placed where they were not placed by the basic ecology and feature chosen in UltraSceneCreator. Affinity and repel only further limit where those instances will be placed.
• Affinity and repel values can be thought of as the radius of a circle extending out from the position of the "other" layer's instances.
• Instances of the layer will not be placed outside the affinity circle.
• Instances of the layer will not be placed inside the repel circle.
• Falloff controls how strict the affinity and repel circle boundaries are.
  • Affinity falloff will create a higher concentration of instances toward the center of the affinity circle and fewer instances at the outer edges of the circle. (Think of it as less force attracting the instances toward the center of the circle.)
  • Repel falloff will allow some instances to be placed at the outer edge of the repel circle. (Think of it as less force pushing the instances away from the center of the repel circle.)

Here are some examples. I created this ecology with Ecology Engineer from UltraScenery Toolbox II. This ecology contains only two layers - bare oaks and base grass. Base grass has affinity to Oaks. I chose base grass for this demo, because it would cover the entire terrain if it had no affinity or repel, so it makes a good demo layer. I changed the terrain ground shader to white for the render so the grass would show clearly and not blend into a green terrain surface.

Base Grass Affinity to Oaks 1000, Falloff 0, Repel 0, Falloff 0

Base Grass Affinity to Oaks 1000, Falloff 0, Repel 400, Falloff 0

Base Grass Affinity to Oaks 1000, Falloff 200, Repel 400, Falloff 200

RGcincy

Excellent explanation and illustrations barbult

Artini

Yes, I agree, @barbult has such skills, that her explanations are easy to understand.

Well done.

 

barbult

I'm happy you both found it understandable.

Tugpsx

See, this is why we come here. With TIPS like these we listen to the teacher. Barbult thanks for sharing your wisdom with us.

barbult

Tugpsx said:

See, this is why we come here. With TIPS like these we listen to the teacher. Barbult thanks for sharing your wisdom with us.

 

barbult

While we wait for Howie's tropical pack to be released, I've been playing with a Deep Rainforest product I bought at Renderosity. I'm very pleased with it. I built a Mossy Hollow scene and then placed a couple of the Deep Rainforest groupings in the scene. I used the UltraScenery Toolbox to create masks around the manually placed modules and then rebuilt the scene. Then I used Alienator Pro to swap some other Mossy Hollow plants with plants from Deep Rainforest and the recent MJF Low Res Tropical Ferns. This is the result.

Here's another built the same way.

 

alexhcowley

barbult said:

While we wait for Howie's tropical pack to be released, I've been playing with a Deep Rainforest product I bought at Renderosity. I'm very pleased with it. I built a Mossy Hollow scene and then placed a couple of the Deep Rainforest groupings in the scene. I used the UltraScenery Toolbox to create masks around the manually placed modules and then rebuilt the scene. Then I used Alienator Pro to swap some other Mossy Hollow plants with plants from Deep Rainforest and the recent MJF Low Res Tropical Ferns. This is the result.

Here's another built the same way.

 

Awesome stuff. 

Cheers,

Alex. 

markusmatern

barbult said:

While we wait for Howie's tropical pack to be released, I've been playing with a Deep Rainforest product I bought at Renderosity. I'm very pleased with it. I built a Mossy Hollow scene and then placed a couple of the Deep Rainforest groupings in the scene. I used the UltraScenery Toolbox to create masks around the manually placed modules and then rebuilt the scene. Then I used Alienator Pro to swap some other Mossy Hollow plants with plants from Deep Rainforest and the recent MJF Low Res Tropical Ferns. This is the result.

Here's another built the same way.

 

These really look awesome! Very well done, and thanks for pointing out the assets and the workflow!

Artini

Another winner from @barbult.

Would it be possible to add something similar to UltraSceneryXT?

I still do not understand fully, differences between UltraScenery and UltraSceneryXT.

 

alexhcowley

Artini said:

Another winner from @barbult.

Would it be possible to add something similar to UltraSceneryXT?

I still do not understand fully, differences between UltraScenery and UltraSceneryXT.

 

Ultrascenery is for close up, detailed scenes. UltrasceneryXT generates lower resolution scenesfor the backgrounds. The two are designed to compliment each other. 

Cheers,

Alex. 

Tugpsx

barbult said:

While we wait for Howie's tropical pack to be released, I've been playing with a Deep Rainforest product I bought at Renderosity. I'm very pleased with it. I built a Mossy Hollow scene and then placed a couple of the Deep Rainforest groupings in the scene. I used the UltraScenery Toolbox to create masks around the manually placed modules and then rebuilt the scene. Then I used Alienator Pro to swap some other Mossy Hollow plants with plants from Deep Rainforest and the recent MJF Low Res Tropical Ferns. This is the result.

Here's another built the same way.

 

Ok Barbult, where did you take the photo?  

This is awesome work and thanks for pointing out the assets and your workflow as others have said.

This is an excellent example of assets in the hands of a master world builder. ("we are not worthy, we are not worthy....")

Very detailed including broken branches. Which package included the broken branches? Are those happy accidents or an illusion?

Keep up the outstanding work and the Daz community is lucky to have someone of your talent who willingly share your work and tips with us.

 

barbult

Tugpsx said:

barbult said:

While we wait for Howie's tropical pack to be released, I've been playing with a Deep Rainforest product I bought at Renderosity. I'm very pleased with it. I built a Mossy Hollow scene and then placed a couple of the Deep Rainforest groupings in the scene. I used the UltraScenery Toolbox to create masks around the manually placed modules and then rebuilt the scene. Then I used Alienator Pro to swap some other Mossy Hollow plants with plants from Deep Rainforest and the recent MJF Low Res Tropical Ferns. This is the result.

Here's another built the same way.

Ok Barbult, where did you take the photo?  

This is awesome work and thanks for pointing out the assets and your workflow as others have said.

This is an excellent example of assets in the hands of a master world builder. ("we are not worthy, we are not worthy....")

Very detailed including broken branches. Which package included the broken branches? Are those happy accidents or an illusion?

Keep up the outstanding work and the Daz community is lucky to have someone of your talent who willingly share your work and tips with us.

Actually, other than the river, it looks a lot like my wild and unkempt back yard here in Florida.

Can you circle what you see as broken branches? If so, I can probably figure out what prop they are.

I did another image, this time with Tropical Modules from the Daz store. I didn't use Alienator in this scene. It's funny. It took me a long time to think of just adding this stuff manually to UltraScenery. I always think in terms of swapping props with Alienator. Adding stuff and masking out the UltraScenery plants in the same location opens new frontiers for me. Give it a try.

[email protected]

barbult said:

Tugpsx said:

barbult said:

While we wait for Howie's tropical pack to be released, I've been playing with a Deep Rainforest product I bought at Renderosity. I'm very pleased with it. I built a Mossy Hollow scene and then placed a couple of the Deep Rainforest groupings in the scene. I used the UltraScenery Toolbox to create masks around the manually placed modules and then rebuilt the scene. Then I used Alienator Pro to swap some other Mossy Hollow plants with plants from Deep Rainforest and the recent MJF Low Res Tropical Ferns. This is the result.

Here's another built the same way.

Ok Barbult, where did you take the photo?  

This is awesome work and thanks for pointing out the assets and your workflow as others have said.

This is an excellent example of assets in the hands of a master world builder. ("we are not worthy, we are not worthy....")

Very detailed including broken branches. Which package included the broken branches? Are those happy accidents or an illusion?

Keep up the outstanding work and the Daz community is lucky to have someone of your talent who willingly share your work and tips with us.

Actually, other than the river, it looks a lot like my wild and unkempt back yard here in Florida.

Can you circle what you see as broken branches? If so, I can probably figure out what prop they are.

I did another image, this time with Tropical Modules from the Daz store. I didn't use Alienator in this scene. It's funny. It took me a long time to think of just adding this stuff manually to UltraScenery. I always think in terms of swapping props with Alienator. Adding stuff and masking out the UltraScenery plants in the same location opens new frontiers for me. Give it a try.

You know, this sudden Eureka moment you just shared with us is the mark of a great intellect at work. It takes someone really smart to notice such obvious things. I know I certainly didn't.

Doc Acme

Artini said:

Another winner from @barbult.

Would it be possible to add something similar to UltraSceneryXT?

I still do not understand fully, differences between UltraScenery and UltraSceneryXT.

 

Actually, I just picked up XT last night. Have yet to try it out and was surprised that there wasn't some sort of "Care & Feeding" getting started PDF.  Went looking on YouTube, and only ran into things that were 2-3 HOURS long.

So, something more in line with 2-3 minutes of the basics certainly wouldn't hurt.

alexhcowley

Doc Acme said:

Artini said:

Another winner from @barbult.

Would it be possible to add something similar to UltraSceneryXT?

I still do not understand fully, differences between UltraScenery and UltraSceneryXT.

 

Actually, I just picked up XT last night. Have yet to try it out and was surprised that there wasn't some sort of "Care & Feeding" getting started PDF.  Went looking on YouTube, and only ran into things that were 2-3 HOURS long.

So, something more in line with 2-3 minutes of the basics certainly wouldn't hurt.

There is a PDF. Check the Readmes folder in your content directory. 

Cheers,

Alex. 

Doc Acme

Ah, there it is.  Blind in one eye, and, well...

Thanks Alex.

Artini

alexhcowley said:

Artini said:

Another winner from @barbult.

Would it be possible to add something similar to UltraSceneryXT?

I still do not understand fully, differences between UltraScenery and UltraSceneryXT.

 

Ultrascenery is for close up, detailed scenes. UltrasceneryXT generates lower resolution scenesfor the backgrounds. The two are designed to compliment each other. 

Cheers,

Alex. 

Thanks for the explanation.

It looks like, I need to go back to UltraScenery sometimes.

I like the huge areas, I can create with UltraSceneryXT,

but if I need to make a closeups, I switch to UltraScenery.

Just need to practice more of this magic things,

that @barbult shows us all the time.

 

barbult

Uthgard said:

You know, this sudden Eureka moment you just shared with us is the mark of a great intellect at work. It takes someone really smart to notice such obvious things. I know I certainly didn't.

I've manually put a lot of things into UltraScenery renders, like statues, benches, fences, animals, people, etc. I don't know why I didn't think to to major groupings of plants. I always looked at large groupings and said to myself "That won't work well with Alienator." or "I can't make an ecology out of that.". 

barbult

My real backyard (not UltraScenery).

alexhcowley

barbult said:

My real backyard (not UltraScenery).

A lot more impressive than my backyard, alas.

Cheers,

Alex.  

barbult

alexhcowley said:

barbult said:

My real backyard (not UltraScenery).

A lot more impressive than my backyard, alas.

Cheers,

Alex.  

It is all just wild natural growth, except for a bit of sod that has gone to weeds. I live in an unincorporated area.

barbult

Today's fun experiment:

I used Mossy Hollow 1 again and the Track 2 Hedgerow feature to keep the plants near the path. Then I used UltraScatterPro to scatter plants from UltraSceneryXT - Low Res Tropical Plants to fill in the area outside the hedgerow. The XT plants are smaller than the UltraScenery plants, so I scaled them 250% before scattering. I don't know what the real scaling factor should be, but 250 looked pretty good to me here. These plants are really low res for distant views like XT, and don't work well for closeups. The palm tree trunks look triangular, for example. But here, they are a distance away from the camera and look OK, I think. They add a lot of nice color and shape variety.

Here is my scene without the UltraScattered XT trees

And Here it is with the UltraScattered XT Trees

DoctorJellybean

barbult said:

My real backyard (not UltraScenery).

Now if you could incorporate that in a US scene, maybe as a background, it should look spectacular.

barbult

DoctorJellybean said:

barbult said:

My real backyard (not UltraScenery).

Now if you could incorporate that in a US scene, maybe as a background, it should look spectacular.

Part UltraScenery, part UltraScatterPro, part manual placement, part background image.