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Instances Plus

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 26,231

    Haslor, thank you for reporting on your experimentation. The vendor should have provided information like this with the product. I've been extremely frustrated with this tool, the lack of vendor documentation (blurry videos or raw screen captures without narration are useless to me), and the lack of support for the product. For me it is a "buyer beware" lesson when deciding on future purchases.

  • AtiAti Posts: 9,185

    This has been on my whishlist for a while, I grabbed it in today's sale.

    I have to say that my first impressions are pretty good. It does a great job randomizing the instanced items. Nothing that could not be done without it, but it certainly saves LOTS of time if I need a big random number of stuff, like trees in a forest, or flowers and grass on a field, or whatever I may end up using it for.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,924
    barbult said:

    Haslor, thank you for reporting on your experimentation. The vendor should have provided information like this with the product. I've been extremely frustrated with this tool, the lack of vendor documentation (blurry videos or raw screen captures without narration are useless to me), and the lack of support for the product. For me it is a "buyer beware" lesson when deciding on future purchases.

    Pretty sure the vendor hasn't seen the thread. 

  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408

    @ Novica

    Actually DraagonStorm has:

    DraagonStorm said:

    I didn't write a user's guide... I'm just not that good at writting in human..... It always tends to look like sudo-computer code.

    As for the quality of the video, I'm pretty sure that's from the compression when adding titles and such for upload... I do have the original screen captures that are readable in .avi format. The link to download those is: http://www.draagonstorm.com/tempdl/BSR_Instances.zip

    And yes, Thank timmins.william for making the suggestion in the product suggestions forum :)

    I am hoping DraagonStorm update and upgrades it's abilities.

    I would like to see the saving of some of the suggestions I made added to the tool.

    • Saving the Setting, so you can the configurateion, so you spend less time reentering the setup, of you have to drop out ot save the scene.
    • Offering the ability for grouping the instances, you create.
    • The ability to select multiple assets and create instances in the same bounding box, all at once.

    Halsor

     

     

     

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,924

    Let me rephrase that- hasn't seen it recently. Back in January is pretty much not seeing the thread's contents for four months. BTW, lovely renders on the previous page!

  • Pack58Pack58 Posts: 750

    OK a quick question if anyone is around that has this.

    I assume Instances Plus only works in 4.9 and maybe 4.8 but if I set up groups of instances and save them as subsets is there any reason that I couldn't open them in 4.6 and 4.7?

    Cheers.

  • DraagonStormDraagonStorm Posts: 748

    Instances was introduced to Daz Studio in 4.5, and Instances Plus+ should have no problem running in any version of Daz Studio 4.5 and above.

  • Pack58Pack58 Posts: 750
    edited May 2016

    Awesome. Cheers for that. You just got another sale.

    Edit: Well 3 actually but you were going to get one whatever. Now I'm off to play.

    Post edited by Pack58 on
  • Ralf1958Ralf1958 Posts: 688

    I have a question folks. Has anyone tryed to cover a huge scene instancing grass from the "G3D-DA Plants and Grass pack"? How resurce consuming is it? Asking because I tryed to do it manually and my PC crashed once I was almost done. Bummer!!! So... seriously thinking about buying InstancesPlus.

  • AtiAti Posts: 9,185
    Ralf1958 said:

    I have a question folks. Has anyone tryed to cover a huge scene instancing grass from the "G3D-DA Plants and Grass pack"? How resurce consuming is it? Asking because I tryed to do it manually and my PC crashed once I was almost done. Bummer!!! So... seriously thinking about buying InstancesPlus.

    This script creates instances. Which you can do in DS even without this script. This script helps in placing them in a given area, randomizing their placement, size and rotation. You will still end up with X amount of instanced objects. So if your computer cannot handle that amount of instances, then this script won't help either.

    Are you sure you created instances, and not new individual props? Instances are usually resource-friendly. Group all of them, and you can hide all of them with a single click, so you can navigate the scene better.

    That said, I haven't actually tried it with the mentioned pack.

  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408
    edited May 2016

    I don't have that Grass, but I to have grass from the PC+ products (originally from Runtime DNA). 

    In the Castle scene there are over 400 instanced plants in the field.

    Instances don't act like complete models and I haven't had an issue with it crashing.

    The large grass scene I posed earlier has almost 2000 items and I didn't see any issue with crashing (Save whem trying to delete a Large Numbers of Instances)

    If you pu the instances in a Group, it makes them easier to handle and to know which are teh Blue Plants and which are the Red.

    Hole that helps.

    Haslor

    Post edited by Haslor on
  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,581

    I bought this yesterday, and I have only just started to mess around with it.

    One of the features I was most keen to try out was the drop to floor based on an uneven (ie hilly terrain). This is very useful, as the usual drop to floor (Cntrl-D) command always takes the item to the logical floor (ie y == 0), and takes no notice of what is actually the floor of the scene. For a non-even surface this is critical, particularly when scattering some hills with bushes, grass patches or trees. I would be tedious if the script took them all to the same y position and expected the user to then move them up or down to fit the surface.

    I have just tried it out, and so far it seems to work well.

  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408

    Havos, it is not Drop to Ground, it using. There is a Drop to Surface Script that DraagonStorm wrote, which I am sure is what is being using.

    But it works great, you can see it in the large grass scene which is a slope.

    Haslor

  • Ralf1958Ralf1958 Posts: 688
    Ati said:
    Ralf1958 said:
     
    Ati said:
    Ralf1958 said:

    I have a question folks. Has anyone tryed to cover a huge scene instancing grass from the "G3D-DA Plants and Grass pack"? How resurce consuming is it? Asking because I tryed to do it manually and my PC crashed once I was almost done. Bummer!!! So... seriously thinking about buying InstancesPlus.

    This script creates instances. Which you can do in DS even without this script. This script helps in placing them in a given area, randomizing their placement, size and rotation. You will still end up with X amount of instanced objects. So if your computer cannot handle that amount of instances, then this script won't help either.

    Are you sure you created instances, and not new individual props? Instances are usually resource-friendly. Group all of them, and you can hide all of them with a single click, so you can navigate the scene better.

    That said, I haven't actually tried it with the mentioned pack.

    Yes, they were all instances. That crash surprised me because I own a pretty fast and strong PC which got built especially for DAZ. I thought maybe the gras, over the huge area, used to much on resources. I didn't give another try. I was trying also to reduce the height of the gras towards the far back, so that it would slowly fade into the ground. That looked ok, it avoided that noticeable line where the grass cover ends. smiley

  • Ralf1958Ralf1958 Posts: 688

     

    Haslor said:

    I don't have that Grass, but I to have grass from the PC+ products (originally from Runtime DNA). 

    In the Castle scene there are over 400 instanced plants in the field.

    Instances don't act like complete models and I haven't had an issue with it crashing.

    The large grass scene I posed earlier has almost 2000 items and I didn't see any issue with crashing (Save whem trying to delete a Large Numbers of Instances)

    If you pu the instances in a Group, it makes them easier to handle and to know which are teh Blue Plants and which are the Red.

    Hole that helps.

    Haslor

     

    Thanks for your advice, I guess I am going to buy it and try. smiley

  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,581
    Haslor said:

    Havos, it is not Drop to Ground, it using. There is a Drop to Surface Script that DraagonStorm wrote, which I am sure is what is being using.

    But it works great, you can see it in the large grass scene which is a slope.

    Haslor

     

    Correct I called it the wrong thing, I was refering to drop to surface, ie where the surface is my hilly ground prop

  • Leo ChenLeo Chen Posts: 697

    Can not locate the "Instances Plus"?

     

  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408
    edited May 2016

    here it is Instances Plus+ for Daz Studio

     

     

     

     

    Post edited by Haslor on
  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408

     

    Havos said:
    Haslor said:

    Havos, it is not Drop to Ground, it using. There is a Drop to Surface Script that DraagonStorm wrote, which I am sure is what is being using.

    But it works great, you can see it in the large grass scene which is a slope.

    Haslor

     

    Correct I called it the wrong thing, I was refering to drop to surface, ie where the surface is my hilly ground prop

     

    That part works excellently, save when there is no surfce to drop to. In that case it just leave the asset hanging in the air. I have an interesting pick of that I will share.

     

  • Leo ChenLeo Chen Posts: 697
    Haslor said:

    here it is Instances Plus+ for Daz Studio


    Thank you,Haslor.

    I already have the product.
    And had installled it.

    Just can not locate the product?

  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408
    edited May 2016

     

    Leo Chen said:
    Haslor said:

    here it is Instances Plus+ for Daz Studio


    Thank you,Haslor.

    I already have the product.
    And had installled it.

    Just can not locate the product?

    DOH! laugh I had thought about that when answering.

    It is under Scripts /  Instances Plus  

     

    Post edited by Haslor on
  • Leo ChenLeo Chen Posts: 697

    Thank you, Haslor.

    There is no that script!！

     

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  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,689

    Content Library > Daz Studio Formats > Scripts > Instances Plus

  • Leo ChenLeo Chen Posts: 697
    edited May 2016
    Fixmypcmike said:

    Content Library > Daz Studio Formats > Scripts > Instances Plus


    Yes, you are right.
    Thank you, Fixmypcmike.

    PS:
    In Mac, it is under Content Library > Daz Studio Formats > My DAZ 3D Library > Scripts > Instances Plus

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    Post edited by Leo Chen on
  • avmorganavmorgan Posts: 219

    Well, I'm not happy to learn that there really is no documentation for this script. I tried to use it to add some grass to a hill in my scene and got the following error: 

    "You have no nodes in scene to instance"

    This is far from true, The node list for this scene expands to about 18 pages, and features dozens of instanced groups.I intended to use Instance+ to add to and distribute the existing instances across a sloped surface. Now I'm thinking I wasted good money for a useless tool. My only hope is to throw this problem out there hoping someone understands it and how to go about fixing it. 

    Any one?

  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408
    avmorgan said:

    Well, I'm not happy to learn that there really is no documentation for this script. I tried to use it to add some grass to a hill in my scene and got the following error: 

    "You have no nodes in scene to instance"

    This is far from true, The node list for this scene expands to about 18 pages, and features dozens of instanced groups.I intended to use Instance+ to add to and distribute the existing instances across a sloped surface. Now I'm thinking I wasted good money for a useless tool. My only hope is to throw this problem out there hoping someone understands it and how to go about fixing it. 

    Any one?

    Slopes are an issue with Instances Plus+ and large flat assets.

    I did speak about this within this thread. If you noticed on page one of this thread, there is an image with a large flat asset of Ivy, which is sitting on top of a hill and another sitcking out of the hill.

    Due to your question, I am doing a video on this and a few other issues.

    Another factor which the script can't control is the zero point of the asset you are instancesing.

    If it is half way up a tree, it could be sunk into the ground.

    Now DragonStorm does have a second scrip which might help you and it is free and it is part of this Script. It is a Stand alone verions of the Drop Down, called Come On Down. What you would need to do is place everything above the area you want and then drop it to the surface. the scrip also Requires a Free Script mcjCollider plugin for DS4.5. These might solve your issue.

    You will need to make a plane above you target surface, distribute your instances on that, then use the Come On Down Script to drop the instances into position on the target surface.

    I hope this helps.

    Haslor

  • avmorganavmorgan Posts: 219

    i appreciate the advice, and I'll follow up on it if I ever get past that first "no nodes to instance" glitch when I try to run Instances Plus+

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 40,082

    Sadly Draagonstorm passed away recently so I am not sure who can help with that.

    I too would like to know how to instance instance groups.

  • HaslorHaslor Posts: 408
    edited December 2016
    avmorgan said:

    i appreciate the advice, and I'll follow up on it if I ever get past that first "no nodes to instance" glitch when I try to run Instances Plus+

    Here watch this and hopefully it will help.

    https://1drv.ms/v/s!AlBk328_19GugY9m0y4KtAUlftt_cQ

     

    Post edited by Haslor on
  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,587

    It's a while since I used this script, but from memory, I think the nodes you want to instance need to be top level; they can't be buried in a group. For me it was a case of move them, instance them, put them back.

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