UltraScatter - v1.5.0 released [Commercial]

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  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,878

    Create > New Iray Section Plane

    Right under Iray Decal Node.

     

    It basically hides everything on one side of the plane, which is great for easily and quickly speeding render in big messy environments, particularly when instances are involved.

     

  • SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,495

    Thank you, I actually had never used that succussfully until now. Wish it was actually visible like a pane, but it solves the problem of positioning cameras in rooms where the walls are not removable.

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    Can you show what the interface looks like?

  • HowieFarkesHowieFarkes Posts: 582
    edited August 2016
    PhilW said:

    Can you show what the interface looks like?

    Something like this.

    main_window.jpg
    740 x 571 - 68K
    Post edited by HowieFarkes on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    Thanks Howie!

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,039

    I downloaded it and tried it and can confirm it doesn't work in Studio 4.8. I will probably upgrade to 4.9 at some point in the future so I will use it at some point.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,878

    I just went OOO OOO OOO OOO

    Grabba grab

  • ChuckdozerChuckdozer Posts: 453
    edited August 2016

    Create > New Iray Section Plane

    Right under Iray Decal Node.

     

    It basically hides everything on one side of the plane, which is great for easily and quickly speeding render in big messy environments, particularly when instances are involved.

     

    I've found it most useful for hiding those pesky non-hideable walls in many sets. You can also animate it to create some pretty cool effects (like cross-sectioning cars as seen in many commercial ads). So many uses and so little time to play... 

    Post edited by Chuckdozer on
  • ChuckdozerChuckdozer Posts: 453
    edited August 2016

    I did see the posts from TangoAlpha stating that UtraScatter was used in the creation of a new "Hemlock Folly", so I'm assuming it's okay to use UltraScatter in commercial projects as long as the artist makes or owns rights to the models they use?

    Post edited by Chuckdozer on
  • JOdelJOdel Posts: 6,246

    Related to that question; is this likely to be something that will be ever required of the end user in order to make use of somethig that's been built using it? Or is it only likely to be needed if one is building one's own scene? How about when combining or extending a scene which uses it?

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,878

    I haven't looked at everything, but is there a way to set instances to always have a certain orientation compared to the object? That is, if you are making a bunch of, say, ants on a balloon, can you set it so the ants are always oriented toward the center?

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,203
    edited August 2016

    I haven't looked at everything, but is there a way to set instances to always have a certain orientation compared to the object? That is, if you are making a bunch of, say, ants on a balloon, can you set it so the ants are always oriented toward the center?

    That would be the "Align to Surface Normal" option, which is listed as a feature. (Well, that isn't necessarily going to point them to the centre of an arbitrary object, but it would keep them flat on the surface of the object.)

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • I'd like to know this, too. I populated a plane with billboard trees, but can't figure out how to make them all face center. 

    I haven't looked at everything, but is there a way to set instances to always have a certain orientation compared to the object? That is, if you are making a bunch of, say, ants on a balloon, can you set it so the ants are always oriented toward the center?

     

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Use a rotation map (see the 2nd image on the store page). Red, green & blue control  rotation in x, y and z axes respectively.

  • Melissa ConwayMelissa Conway Posts: 590
    edited August 2016

    Thanks for responding, but I don't understand this. My genius older brother sucked all the math genes out of the pool before I was born. blush A practical example would be awesome! 

    Edit to say: I did make a black map with a green dot in the center and tried that, but it didn't work...

    Use a rotation map (see the 2nd image on the store page). Red, green & blue control  rotation in x, y and z axes respectively.

     

    Post edited by Melissa Conway on
  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,878
    My first attempt is cooking. My one mistake was trying to cover too large an area -- 50000 instances of gtass patches over Ocean Wide. Ended up a little sparse... but I worked that into the scene.
  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Here's a quick worked example. You can save the maps and try them yourselves. I created a simple square map and used it on a square plane primitive (for different shaped surfaces you'll need appropriaterly scaled maps). The distribution map is basically just a big cross with a gap in the middle. The rotation map uses green, since I want to rotate in the Y direction (ie around the vertical). Minimum value is 0, max is 255, so divide into 4 and paint the appropraiate level in each box.

    If you use a gradient fill on the distribution map (say it's white in the middle and fades to black at the edge), you'll get fewer guitars as you get closer to the edge of the plane.

    I used one of Merlin's old guitar props for the scatter object (BTW, the guitar in the front corner is the master object)

     

    Mask_Dist.jpg
    512 x 512 - 15K
    Mask_rotation.jpg
    512 x 512 - 4K
    render.jpg
    800 x 600 - 198K
  • I'm trying to wrap my mind around what's happening in your example versus what I expected based on the reference guide's description. laugh Guess I'm a visual learner. Thanks for the assist!

    Here's a quick worked example. You can save the maps and try them yourselves. I created a simple square map and used it on a square plane primitive (for different shaped surfaces you'll need appropriaterly scaled maps). The distribution map is basically just a big cross with a gap in the middle. The rotation map uses green, since I want to rotate in the Y direction (ie around the vertical). Minimum value is 0, max is 255, so divide into 4 and paint the appropraiate level in each box.

    If you use a gradient fill on the distribution map (say it's white in the middle and fades to black at the edge), you'll get fewer guitars as you get closer to the edge of the plane.

    I used one of Merlin's old guitar props for the scatter object (BTW, the guitar in the front corner is the master object)

     

     

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584
    edited August 2016

    I'm trying to wrap my mind around what's happening in your example versus what I expected based on the reference guide's description. laugh Guess I'm a visual learner. Thanks for the assist!

    Here's a quick worked example. You can save the maps and try them yourselves. I created a simple square map and used it on a square plane primitive (for different shaped surfaces you'll need appropriaterly scaled maps). The distribution map is basically just a big cross with a gap in the middle. The rotation map uses green, since I want to rotate in the Y direction (ie around the vertical). Minimum value is 0, max is 255, so divide into 4 and paint the appropraiate level in each box.

    If you use a gradient fill on the distribution map (say it's white in the middle and fades to black at the edge), you'll get fewer guitars as you get closer to the edge of the plane.

    I used one of Merlin's old guitar props for the scatter object (BTW, the guitar in the front corner is the master object)

     

     

    Yes the green=127 mid-value is no rotation (might explain why my guitars are facing in instead of out! What, me read the manual?). But the principle is still, change the shade of green; change the rotation. :)

    Post edited by TangoAlpha on
  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,878

    First render.

    In retrospect, scattering 50,000 patches of grass over a huge area only to do a render of part of it was kind of dumb. First, took a while to make that many instances. Second, probably 90% of those instances are out of frame. And third, over that much space, even 50,000 patches of grass ended up patchy. But still, pretty nice results.

     

    Ultra Grassy land test Tourism.png
    1080 x 1080 - 2M
  • jardinejardine Posts: 1,190

    very nice...realistic too.

    several spots in my back yard look just like that.  (apart from the beach hut, brontosaurus, and space pod, that is.)  :)

    j

     

  • Took me several hours experimenting, but I figured out how to make a “ring” rotation map that will make all of the instances face inward (except that figure lying on her side in my example – not sure what her deal is). wink

    In case anyone would like the details: Using the color picker in your graphics software, set the hexadecimal value to #00ff00 (green). The pure green value won’t rotate the instances, but adding black to it will. You need to slide the circular mouse pointer down the right side of the color pallet to pick the darker greens (see attached image of color picker). I got weird results if I ventured into the grey area!

    Ring1.jpg
    1000 x 1000 - 61K
    GreenRotation.jpg
    1000 x 1000 - 87K
    ColorPicker.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 283K
    RotationExample.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
  • HowieFarkesHowieFarkes Posts: 582
    edited August 2016

    Took me several hours experimenting, but I figured out how to make a “ring” rotation map that will make all of the instances face inward (except that figure lying on her side in my example – not sure what her deal is). wink

    In case anyone would like the details: Using the color picker in your graphics software, set the hexadecimal value to #00ff00 (green). The pure green value won’t rotate the instances, but adding black to it will. You need to slide the circular mouse pointer down the right side of the color pallet to pick the darker greens (see attached image of color picker). I got weird results if I ventured into the grey area!

    Nice work. Not sure what format you are saving the images as but .PNG is best as it does not introduce any noise artefacts that can add color to the other channels. (that may be why one instance is lying down)

    Post edited by HowieFarkes on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139

    If you are using Photoshop I'm pretty sure that there is a radial gradient type which will do your gradiant in one step rather than having to do it in segments. Other photo editing programs will probably have something similar.

  • WandererWanderer Posts: 956

    I had a really hard time finding the reference guide. Not sure what I did wrong.

  • I had a really hard time finding the reference guide. Not sure what I did wrong.

    There should be a script that links to it sitting right next to the UltraScatter script in your library.

  • ChuckdozerChuckdozer Posts: 453

    I had a really hard time finding the reference guide. Not sure what I did wrong.

    I clicked the little "i" icon in Install Manager before installing in order to find out where the .pdf would be located... the file list said it was in one of the Read Me folders. I looked there after installing and found nothing. After opening the .zip file and looking there, I discovered the link that's sitting right next to the script itself. The Daz online documentation is wrong.

  • ChuckdozerChuckdozer Posts: 453

    I did see the posts from TangoAlpha stating that UtraScatter was used in the creation of a new "Hemlock Folly", so I'm assuming it's okay to use UltraScatter in commercial projects as long as the artist makes or owns rights to the models they use?

    ???

  • Good to know, thanks! 

    Nice work. Not sure what format you are saving the images as but .PNG is best as it does not introduce any noise artefacts that can add color to the other channels. (that may be why one instance is lying down)

     

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