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[Released] Now-Crowd Billboards - Party Time

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  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    RiverSoft Art said:
    EquisVoid said:

    I'll buy it on january, probably. but I would like to see other bundle sets like medieval, victorian/edwardian and generic future space crowds. I think they aren't to niche. 

    Thanks for the feedback.  I am working on Medieval right now.  The Future/Space one I may have to wait as I am unsure if I have enough content to do a crowd yet.

    Considering how big the files are for a full product, It might be an option to do a mini-expansion set, just the billboard images without a script, so the original product, (or the Christmas freebie,) is required. Once you have two or more mini sets in a genre, you could bundle them together. This could work for smaller niche's too, with a single mini-pack for something like "fantasy-space opera, or steampunk-space orbital party time." Less time to create, and you could get a sense for how well a genre sells and create more mini-packs for it. (Who knows, fantasy-space opera might be a big a seller!)

    RiverSoft Art said:
    DoctorJellybean said:
    xyer0 said:
    @DoctorJellybean, do you mean, "Don't render the chair/table"?

    LOL yes, I meant use that as a template for the poses but without rendering it.

    I created 4 new billboard figures sequences but I should have thought about it first.  sad  Unfortunately, this won't work.  In order for a figure to properly render with a chair, some of the figure needs to render behind the chair and some in front of the chair.  In render 1 (I moved the figures away from the table to clearly show the woman), the woman facing us is ok as all of her is essentially rendered on top of the chair.  The woman facing away is a problem.  Her legs need to be behind the chair but her derriere needs to be on top of the seat and behind the seatback.  Only by being creative can I make it look ok (render 2).  I am extremely hesitant to sell those figure sequences and have the user think they can use them easily.  I hate disppointing you all and providing a subpar product.

    This is another niche which might do well as a mini-expansion pack.

    Another option is render these with the chairs, (or table and chairs,) of specific products and release them as a mini-pack for that set. Or partner with a modeller and provide the table and chair props with the set, so the user can populate the scene with matching furniture.

    RiverSoft Art said:
    L'Adair said:

    I can see this being very useful, especially if you release more versions like Shopping Mall, Public Park, Medieval Tournament, SciFi Spaceport, and so on.

    Will the script work with our own billboards, if we are desperate enough to create a set of our own?

     

    Holy cow you just gave me a lot more work!  smiley The script will work with your own billboards (see my reply to BeeMKay).  The billboards themselves are just planes created with the z-axis as the primary axis.

    BTW, I LOL'ed at your squirrel comment in the other thread smiley

    I saw your comment in the sales thread! Thank you for your help there.

    Sorry I haven't been in since I asked that question. (I was hard at work on my entries to the It's Raining Men contest.) A little late, but I'd also like to thank you for the Christmas Now-Crowd freebie. What a generous gift.

  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    L'Adair said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    EquisVoid said:

    I'll buy it on january, probably. but I would like to see other bundle sets like medieval, victorian/edwardian and generic future space crowds. I think they aren't to niche. 

    Thanks for the feedback.  I am working on Medieval right now.  The Future/Space one I may have to wait as I am unsure if I have enough content to do a crowd yet.

    Considering how big the files are for a full product, It might be an option to do a mini-expansion set, just the billboard images without a script, so the original product, (or the Christmas freebie,) is required. Once you have two or more mini sets in a genre, you could bundle them together. This could work for smaller niche's too, with a single mini-pack for something like "fantasy-space opera, or steampunk-space orbital party time." Less time to create, and you could get a sense for how well a genre sells and create more mini-packs for it. (Who knows, fantasy-space opera might be a big a seller!)

    The billboards are what takes all the space.  The scripts are KB at most.  So the mini-set does not necessarily make sense.

    L'Adair said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    DoctorJellybean said:
    xyer0 said:
    @DoctorJellybean, do you mean, "Don't render the chair/table"?

    LOL yes, I meant use that as a template for the poses but without rendering it.

    I created 4 new billboard figures sequences but I should have thought about it first.  sad  Unfortunately, this won't work.  In order for a figure to properly render with a chair, some of the figure needs to render behind the chair and some in front of the chair.  In render 1 (I moved the figures away from the table to clearly show the woman), the woman facing us is ok as all of her is essentially rendered on top of the chair.  The woman facing away is a problem.  Her legs need to be behind the chair but her derriere needs to be on top of the seat and behind the seatback.  Only by being creative can I make it look ok (render 2).  I am extremely hesitant to sell those figure sequences and have the user think they can use them easily.  I hate disppointing you all and providing a subpar product.

    This is another niche which might do well as a mini-expansion pack.

    Another option is render these with the chairs, (or table and chairs,) of specific products and release them as a mini-pack for that set. Or partner with a modeller and provide the table and chair props with the set, so the user can populate the scene with matching furniture.

    RiverSoft Art said:
    L'Adair said:

    I can see this being very useful, especially if you release more versions like Shopping Mall, Public Park, Medieval Tournament, SciFi Spaceport, and so on.

    Will the script work with our own billboards, if we are desperate enough to create a set of our own?

     

    Holy cow you just gave me a lot more work!  smiley The script will work with your own billboards (see my reply to BeeMKay).  The billboards themselves are just planes created with the z-axis as the primary axis.

    BTW, I LOL'ed at your squirrel comment in the other thread smiley

    I saw your comment in the sales thread! Thank you for your help there.

    Sorry I haven't been in since I asked that question. (I was hard at work on my entries to the It's Raining Men contest.) A little late, but I'd also like to thank you for the Christmas Now-Crowd freebie. What a generous gift.

    You are welcome!  smiley

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    edited January 2018
    RiverSoft Art said:

    The billboards are what takes all the space.  The scripts are KB at most.  So the mini-set does not necessarily make sense.

    I was thinking of marketing: Just to clarify what I was thinking: the main idea of a mini-set is to keep the file sizes small, relatively speaking. Two 500MB zip files, for example, rather than 15 files in the 800MB to 1.2GB size range. So maybe 3-6 "figure billboard sequences," in a mini-set. This could easily be a standalone product with the script included, but if it's marketed as an expansion set, one of the base products with the script would be required for the expansion set to work, much like the original clothing product is required for it's texture sets to be useful.

    The advantage to the user for a mini-set is less hard drive space is required. The advantage to you is the mini-sets can be released faster than a full-sized set, and you can test the market for niche genres without putting in the time of a full-sized set.

    I'll continue to buy the sets, regardless of whether they are full-sized or mini... (But I do see a new 4T hard drive in my future... maybe more than one. LOL)

    Post edited by L'Adair on
  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    edited January 2018
    L'Adair said:
    RiverSoft Art said:

    The billboards are what takes all the space.  The scripts are KB at most.  So the mini-set does not necessarily make sense.

    I was thinking of marketing: Just to clarify what I was thinking: the main idea of a mini-set is to keep the file sizes small, relatively speaking. Two 500MB zip files, for example, rather than 15 files in the 800MB to 1.2GB size range. So maybe 3-6 "figure billboard sequences," in a mini-set. This could easily be a standalone product with the script included, but if it's marketed as an expansion set, one of the base products with the script would be required for the expansion set to work, much like the original clothing product is required for it's texture sets to be useful.

    The advantage to the user for a mini-set is less hard drive space is required. The advantage to you is the mini-sets can be released faster than a full-sized set, and you can test the market for niche genres without putting in the time of a full-sized set.

    Ah I see!  I don't see how to make the expansion require a base product though.  Once you have the script, you are good to go.  The expansion could provide "more" of the same genre is the only thing I can see doing.  I was sorta doing that for Medieval City Life with a Fantasy City Life, but the Fantasy City Life is quickly getting as big as the Medieval City Life! 

    BTW, mini-sets are still not that mini.  The Santa's Elves was a mini-set (6 characters) and it was 3GB!

    L'Adair said:

    I'll continue to buy the sets, regardless of whether they are full-sized or mini... (But I do see a new 4T hard drive in my future... maybe more than one. LOL)

    LOL.  smiley  Thank goodness large drives are so cheap!  (and I am glad you like the series)

    Post edited by RiverSoft Art on
  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578

    Please help me out and answer a question I posted in Now-Crowd Billboards - Modern City Life

  • Blind OwlBlind Owl Posts: 501
    edited January 2018

    For what it's worth, I think it would be a mistake to reduce the number of view angles. When Party Time came out, it was that variety--plus the scripts to handle it--that made me reach for my wallet.

    Sure, the file size came as a...let's call it a surprise, but what the heck, HD space is cheap.

    My 3¢ (Cdn; US 2¢)wink

    Post edited by Blind Owl on
  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    Blind Owl said:

    For what it's worth, I think it would be a mistake to reduce the number of view angles. When Party Time came out, it was that variety--plus the scripts to handle it--that made me reach for my wallet.

    Sure, the file size came as a...let's call it a surprise, but what the heck, HD space is cheap.

    My 3¢ (Cdn; US 2¢)wink

    Thanks for the feedback.  It helps.

  • Panzer EmeraldPanzer Emerald Posts: 727

    A little late, but I finally got around to installing this one. And after using it a little bit... well, you've got yourself a customer for life. Because this is awesome!

  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    Finlaena said:

    A little late, but I finally got around to installing this one. And after using it a little bit... well, you've got yourself a customer for life. Because this is awesome!

    Thank you very much!  smiley  Those are great words to read... it makes the hard work worth it.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245

    I haven't purchased any of these products yet, because I thought I'd try the free Christmas elves first and learn how it works. I've been able to get the Now-Crowd Orient Billboard script to orient the elf billboards to the camera just fine. But I can't get the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script to rotate selected items. I moved the Horizontal and Vertical sliders. Live Preview is checked. Preview and Accept buttons don't cause any rotation to occur either. What could I be doing wrong? Or is the script that comes with the free elves broken?

    Screenshot 2018-01-25 00.42.43.png
    422 x 820 - 88K
  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    barbult said:

    I haven't purchased any of these products yet, because I thought I'd try the free Christmas elves first and learn how it works. I've been able to get the Now-Crowd Orient Billboard script to orient the elf billboards to the camera just fine. But I can't get the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script to rotate selected items. I moved the Horizontal and Vertical sliders. Live Preview is checked. Preview and Accept buttons don't cause any rotation to occur either. What could I be doing wrong? Or is the script that comes with the free elves broken?

    That is strange.  The scripts are the same for all products (in fact, I updated Santa's Elves scripts on Jan 5th with the others).  Looking at your screenshot, you have the older script.  You should update that.

    But it should still work. 

    First of all, are you rendering the image? (or using Iray or Texture Shaded in the viewport)?  The script does not actually rotate the billboard, just the image inside the billboard.  

    Second, if you UNCHECK Live Preview and drag around the horizontal slider, does the image change in the script window?  (If it doesn't, that means the script is not finding the other images for the billboards.  Select the billboard and go to the surfaces tab.  In the Diffuse Color channel, you will see the file and folder for the billboard image.  If you go to that folder, there should be >100 png files in there)

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:

    I haven't purchased any of these products yet, because I thought I'd try the free Christmas elves first and learn how it works. I've been able to get the Now-Crowd Orient Billboard script to orient the elf billboards to the camera just fine. But I can't get the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script to rotate selected items. I moved the Horizontal and Vertical sliders. Live Preview is checked. Preview and Accept buttons don't cause any rotation to occur either. What could I be doing wrong? Or is the script that comes with the free elves broken?

    That is strange.  The scripts are the same for all products (in fact, I updated Santa's Elves scripts on Jan 5th with the others).  Looking at your screenshot, you have the older script.  You should update that.

    But it should still work. 

    First of all, are you rendering the image? (or using Iray or Texture Shaded in the viewport)?  The script does not actually rotate the billboard, just the image inside the billboard.  

    Second, if you UNCHECK Live Preview and drag around the horizontal slider, does the image change in the script window?  (If it doesn't, that means the script is not finding the other images for the billboards.  Select the billboard and go to the surfaces tab.  In the Diffuse Color channel, you will see the file and folder for the billboard image.  If you go to that folder, there should be >100 png files in there)

    Hi, I really appreciate your reply. You give great customer service, even to people who aren't paying customers yet! yes

    I installed the Now-Crowd Billboards - Santa's Elves with DIM. Dim doesn't show any update, so I uninstalled and reinstalled it for good measure today. It has two parts, as you know, and I installed both of them. The DIM package date is 12/11/2017 and I "ordered" the product on 12/19/2017, so I should have your latest version, I guess. But the script interface still looks the same. DIM installed the scrips to N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Scripts\Now-Crowd Billboards. This looks OK to me. I am running Windows 10 64 bit and Daz Studio 4.10.0.123. Windows properties says the script has 4608 bytes.

    I have been looking at the image in the viewport with the Texture Shaded style.  I tried Iray preview, too. The image on the billboard does not change when I move the sliders with Live Preview checked. If I click Preview, nothing in the viewport changes. If I click Accept, nothing in the viewport changes. If I render, the elf has not rotated at all. 

    If I uncheck Live Preview and drag the sliders, the image does NOT change in the script window. I selected the billboard, went to the surfaces pane Diffuse Color channel and browsed to the location of the image. I have a folder of 144 PNG files there. There is one colored billboard and one mask PNG for each angle. So everything looks OK there, I think. The file path is N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Runtime\Textures\RiverSoft Art\Now-Crowd Billboards\Santa's Elves\Girl Elf Standing.

    The Select button in the script does work to select the billboards in my Scene pane.

    I attached screenshots with Live Preview and the without Live Preview.

    Now-Crowd live preview.JPG
    1265 x 1013 - 131K
    Now-Crowd without live preview.JPG
    1252 x 1000 - 131K
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245

    I don't know if this is a clue or a red herring, but the help text for both the horizontal and vertical sliders in the version of the script I have refers to "resolution of the generated billboards".  I've attached a screen shot of the vertical slider help text.

     

    Now-Crowd help text.jpg
    740 x 820 - 232K
  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    barbult said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:

    I haven't purchased any of these products yet, because I thought I'd try the free Christmas elves first and learn how it works. I've been able to get the Now-Crowd Orient Billboard script to orient the elf billboards to the camera just fine. But I can't get the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script to rotate selected items. I moved the Horizontal and Vertical sliders. Live Preview is checked. Preview and Accept buttons don't cause any rotation to occur either. What could I be doing wrong? Or is the script that comes with the free elves broken?

    That is strange.  The scripts are the same for all products (in fact, I updated Santa's Elves scripts on Jan 5th with the others).  Looking at your screenshot, you have the older script.  You should update that.

    But it should still work. 

    First of all, are you rendering the image? (or using Iray or Texture Shaded in the viewport)?  The script does not actually rotate the billboard, just the image inside the billboard.  

    Second, if you UNCHECK Live Preview and drag around the horizontal slider, does the image change in the script window?  (If it doesn't, that means the script is not finding the other images for the billboards.  Select the billboard and go to the surfaces tab.  In the Diffuse Color channel, you will see the file and folder for the billboard image.  If you go to that folder, there should be >100 png files in there)

    Hi, I really appreciate your reply. You give great customer service, even to people who aren't paying customers yet! yes

    I installed the Now-Crowd Billboards - Santa's Elves with DIM. Dim doesn't show any update, so I uninstalled and reinstalled it for good measure today. It has two parts, as you know, and I installed both of them. The DIM package date is 12/11/2017 and I "ordered" the product on 12/19/2017, so I should have your latest version, I guess. But the script interface still looks the same. DIM installed the scrips to N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Scripts\Now-Crowd Billboards. This looks OK to me. I am running Windows 10 64 bit and Daz Studio 4.10.0.123. Windows properties says the script has 4608 bytes.

    Actually, the latest version should be from Jan 5th.  Strange.  I can tell from the screenshot that you do not have the latest version.  

    barbult said:

    I have been looking at the image in the viewport with the Texture Shaded style.  I tried Iray preview, too. The image on the billboard does not change when I move the sliders with Live Preview checked. If I click Preview, nothing in the viewport changes. If I click Accept, nothing in the viewport changes. If I render, the elf has not rotated at all. 

    If I uncheck Live Preview and drag the sliders, the image does NOT change in the script window. I selected the billboard, went to the surfaces pane Diffuse Color channel and browsed to the location of the image. I have a folder of 144 PNG files there. There is one colored billboard and one mask PNG for each angle. So everything looks OK there, I think. The file path is N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Runtime\Textures\RiverSoft Art\Now-Crowd Billboards\Santa's Elves\Girl Elf Standing.

    This tells me the script is failing for some reason.

    barbult said:

    The Select button in the script does work to select the billboards in my Scene pane.

    I attached screenshots with Live Preview and the without Live Preview.

    Ok, two things:

    1. Please edit the BBConstants.dsa file in Data/RiverSoft Art/Common.  Change output_debug = false to output_debug = true  Run the script again and post your log, that might tell me the problem.
    2. Please send me a PM with your email address.  I will send you the latest scripts.

     

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:

    I haven't purchased any of these products yet, because I thought I'd try the free Christmas elves first and learn how it works. I've been able to get the Now-Crowd Orient Billboard script to orient the elf billboards to the camera just fine. But I can't get the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script to rotate selected items. I moved the Horizontal and Vertical sliders. Live Preview is checked. Preview and Accept buttons don't cause any rotation to occur either. What could I be doing wrong? Or is the script that comes with the free elves broken?

    That is strange.  The scripts are the same for all products (in fact, I updated Santa's Elves scripts on Jan 5th with the others).  Looking at your screenshot, you have the older script.  You should update that.

    But it should still work. 

    First of all, are you rendering the image? (or using Iray or Texture Shaded in the viewport)?  The script does not actually rotate the billboard, just the image inside the billboard.  

    Second, if you UNCHECK Live Preview and drag around the horizontal slider, does the image change in the script window?  (If it doesn't, that means the script is not finding the other images for the billboards.  Select the billboard and go to the surfaces tab.  In the Diffuse Color channel, you will see the file and folder for the billboard image.  If you go to that folder, there should be >100 png files in there)

    Hi, I really appreciate your reply. You give great customer service, even to people who aren't paying customers yet! yes

    I installed the Now-Crowd Billboards - Santa's Elves with DIM. Dim doesn't show any update, so I uninstalled and reinstalled it for good measure today. It has two parts, as you know, and I installed both of them. The DIM package date is 12/11/2017 and I "ordered" the product on 12/19/2017, so I should have your latest version, I guess. But the script interface still looks the same. DIM installed the scrips to N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Scripts\Now-Crowd Billboards. This looks OK to me. I am running Windows 10 64 bit and Daz Studio 4.10.0.123. Windows properties says the script has 4608 bytes.

    Actually, the latest version should be from Jan 5th.  Strange.  I can tell from the screenshot that you do not have the latest version.  

    barbult said:

    I have been looking at the image in the viewport with the Texture Shaded style.  I tried Iray preview, too. The image on the billboard does not change when I move the sliders with Live Preview checked. If I click Preview, nothing in the viewport changes. If I click Accept, nothing in the viewport changes. If I render, the elf has not rotated at all. 

    If I uncheck Live Preview and drag the sliders, the image does NOT change in the script window. I selected the billboard, went to the surfaces pane Diffuse Color channel and browsed to the location of the image. I have a folder of 144 PNG files there. There is one colored billboard and one mask PNG for each angle. So everything looks OK there, I think. The file path is N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Runtime\Textures\RiverSoft Art\Now-Crowd Billboards\Santa's Elves\Girl Elf Standing.

    This tells me the script is failing for some reason.

    barbult said:

    The Select button in the script does work to select the billboards in my Scene pane.

    I attached screenshots with Live Preview and the without Live Preview.

    Ok, two things:

    1. Please edit the BBConstants.dsa file in Data/RiverSoft Art/Common.  Change output_debug = false to output_debug = true  Run the script again and post your log, that might tell me the problem.
    2. Please send me a PM with your email address.  I will send you the latest scripts.

    I have attached my log file with the debug statements. At first I forgot to select the billboard, so I used the Select button to do that. Then I dialed the horizontal and vertical sliders. I have sent you a PM with my email address.

    txt
    txt
    log.txt
    113K
  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    barbult said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:

    I haven't purchased any of these products yet, because I thought I'd try the free Christmas elves first and learn how it works. I've been able to get the Now-Crowd Orient Billboard script to orient the elf billboards to the camera just fine. But I can't get the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script to rotate selected items. I moved the Horizontal and Vertical sliders. Live Preview is checked. Preview and Accept buttons don't cause any rotation to occur either. What could I be doing wrong? Or is the script that comes with the free elves broken?

    That is strange.  The scripts are the same for all products (in fact, I updated Santa's Elves scripts on Jan 5th with the others).  Looking at your screenshot, you have the older script.  You should update that.

    But it should still work. 

    First of all, are you rendering the image? (or using Iray or Texture Shaded in the viewport)?  The script does not actually rotate the billboard, just the image inside the billboard.  

    Second, if you UNCHECK Live Preview and drag around the horizontal slider, does the image change in the script window?  (If it doesn't, that means the script is not finding the other images for the billboards.  Select the billboard and go to the surfaces tab.  In the Diffuse Color channel, you will see the file and folder for the billboard image.  If you go to that folder, there should be >100 png files in there)

    Hi, I really appreciate your reply. You give great customer service, even to people who aren't paying customers yet! yes

    I installed the Now-Crowd Billboards - Santa's Elves with DIM. Dim doesn't show any update, so I uninstalled and reinstalled it for good measure today. It has two parts, as you know, and I installed both of them. The DIM package date is 12/11/2017 and I "ordered" the product on 12/19/2017, so I should have your latest version, I guess. But the script interface still looks the same. DIM installed the scrips to N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Scripts\Now-Crowd Billboards. This looks OK to me. I am running Windows 10 64 bit and Daz Studio 4.10.0.123. Windows properties says the script has 4608 bytes.

    Actually, the latest version should be from Jan 5th.  Strange.  I can tell from the screenshot that you do not have the latest version.  

    barbult said:

    I have been looking at the image in the viewport with the Texture Shaded style.  I tried Iray preview, too. The image on the billboard does not change when I move the sliders with Live Preview checked. If I click Preview, nothing in the viewport changes. If I click Accept, nothing in the viewport changes. If I render, the elf has not rotated at all. 

    If I uncheck Live Preview and drag the sliders, the image does NOT change in the script window. I selected the billboard, went to the surfaces pane Diffuse Color channel and browsed to the location of the image. I have a folder of 144 PNG files there. There is one colored billboard and one mask PNG for each angle. So everything looks OK there, I think. The file path is N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Runtime\Textures\RiverSoft Art\Now-Crowd Billboards\Santa's Elves\Girl Elf Standing.

    This tells me the script is failing for some reason.

    barbult said:

    The Select button in the script does work to select the billboards in my Scene pane.

    I attached screenshots with Live Preview and the without Live Preview.

    Ok, two things:

    1. Please edit the BBConstants.dsa file in Data/RiverSoft Art/Common.  Change output_debug = false to output_debug = true  Run the script again and post your log, that might tell me the problem.
    2. Please send me a PM with your email address.  I will send you the latest scripts.

    I have attached my log file with the debug statements. At first I forgot to select the billboard, so I used the Select button to do that. Then I dialed the horizontal and vertical sliders. I have sent you a PM with my email address.

    This was helpful.  The log file makes me think you have BOTH the old and new versions installed, which is messing things up as Daz is choosing the wrong helper script.  Please try searching your installation directories for the RSBillboardFunctions.dse and the Now-Crowd Change BIllboard Angle.dse scripts.

    I sent you an email with the updated scripts.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:
    RiverSoft Art said:
    barbult said:

    I haven't purchased any of these products yet, because I thought I'd try the free Christmas elves first and learn how it works. I've been able to get the Now-Crowd Orient Billboard script to orient the elf billboards to the camera just fine. But I can't get the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script to rotate selected items. I moved the Horizontal and Vertical sliders. Live Preview is checked. Preview and Accept buttons don't cause any rotation to occur either. What could I be doing wrong? Or is the script that comes with the free elves broken?

    That is strange.  The scripts are the same for all products (in fact, I updated Santa's Elves scripts on Jan 5th with the others).  Looking at your screenshot, you have the older script.  You should update that.

    But it should still work. 

    First of all, are you rendering the image? (or using Iray or Texture Shaded in the viewport)?  The script does not actually rotate the billboard, just the image inside the billboard.  

    Second, if you UNCHECK Live Preview and drag around the horizontal slider, does the image change in the script window?  (If it doesn't, that means the script is not finding the other images for the billboards.  Select the billboard and go to the surfaces tab.  In the Diffuse Color channel, you will see the file and folder for the billboard image.  If you go to that folder, there should be >100 png files in there)

    Hi, I really appreciate your reply. You give great customer service, even to people who aren't paying customers yet! yes

    I installed the Now-Crowd Billboards - Santa's Elves with DIM. Dim doesn't show any update, so I uninstalled and reinstalled it for good measure today. It has two parts, as you know, and I installed both of them. The DIM package date is 12/11/2017 and I "ordered" the product on 12/19/2017, so I should have your latest version, I guess. But the script interface still looks the same. DIM installed the scrips to N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Scripts\Now-Crowd Billboards. This looks OK to me. I am running Windows 10 64 bit and Daz Studio 4.10.0.123. Windows properties says the script has 4608 bytes.

    Actually, the latest version should be from Jan 5th.  Strange.  I can tell from the screenshot that you do not have the latest version.  

    barbult said:

    I have been looking at the image in the viewport with the Texture Shaded style.  I tried Iray preview, too. The image on the billboard does not change when I move the sliders with Live Preview checked. If I click Preview, nothing in the viewport changes. If I click Accept, nothing in the viewport changes. If I render, the elf has not rotated at all. 

    If I uncheck Live Preview and drag the sliders, the image does NOT change in the script window. I selected the billboard, went to the surfaces pane Diffuse Color channel and browsed to the location of the image. I have a folder of 144 PNG files there. There is one colored billboard and one mask PNG for each angle. So everything looks OK there, I think. The file path is N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Runtime\Textures\RiverSoft Art\Now-Crowd Billboards\Santa's Elves\Girl Elf Standing.

    This tells me the script is failing for some reason.

    barbult said:

    The Select button in the script does work to select the billboards in my Scene pane.

    I attached screenshots with Live Preview and the without Live Preview.

    Ok, two things:

    1. Please edit the BBConstants.dsa file in Data/RiverSoft Art/Common.  Change output_debug = false to output_debug = true  Run the script again and post your log, that might tell me the problem.
    2. Please send me a PM with your email address.  I will send you the latest scripts.

    I have attached my log file with the debug statements. At first I forgot to select the billboard, so I used the Select button to do that. Then I dialed the horizontal and vertical sliders. I have sent you a PM with my email address.

    This was helpful.  The log file makes me think you have BOTH the old and new versions installed, which is messing things up as Daz is choosing the wrong helper script.  Please try searching your installation directories for the RSBillboardFunctions.dse and the Now-Crowd Change BIllboard Angle.dse scripts.

    I sent you an email with the updated scripts.

    You are right! I have two instances of Now-Crowd Change BIllboard Angle.dse!
    One is in N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Scripts\Now-Crowd Billboards.
    One is in N:\DAZ 3D\Studio\My DIM Library\Scripts\RiverSoft Art\Now-Crowd Billboards.

    I have only one instance of RSBillboardFunctions.dse. But I have two copies of Now-Crowd Orient Billboard.dse, too, in the same two folders. Both were installed by DIM. This is what DIM shows at the end of the list of installed files:
    /Scripts/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle.dse 
    /Scripts/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle.png 
    /Scripts/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle.tip.png 
    /Scripts/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Orient Billboard.dse 
    /Scripts/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Orient Billboard.png 
    /Scripts/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Orient Billboard.tip.png 
    /Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle.dse 
    /Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle.png 
    /Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle.tip.png 
    /Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Orient Billboard.dse 
    /Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Orient Billboard.png 
    /Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billboards/Now-Crowd Orient Billboard.tip.png 

    So, it seems like the DIM package is wrong for the free elves. 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    edited January 2018

    I'll delete the first folder and keep the second one under RiverSoft Art...I'll test that and then replace the orient  change angle script with the one you emailed me and test that. But I have to leave the house for a couple hours now, so I'll report back later. Thanks for the help. Please tell Daz to fix their DIM package!

    Post edited by barbult on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    edited January 2018
    barbult said:

    I'll delete the first folder and keep the second one under RiverSoft Art...I'll test that and then replace the orient  change angle script with the one you emailed me and test that. But I have to leave the house for a couple hours now, so I'll report back later. Thanks for the help. Please tell Daz to fix their DIM package!

    Well, the DIM package problem for the free Christmas elves goes deeper than I realized. The metadata, which defines what files are included in "product" for the purposes of Smart Content, includes the files in Scripts/Now-Crowd Billobards (the folder with the old script version) but not the files in Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billobards (which I think are the correct versions). So, Daz needs to fix their metadata, too. I got into trouble in the first place by running the script from the Smart Content Products tab,which showed only the scripts in the incorrrect/old script path. I'm not sure whether Daz will even be willing to fix a free Christmas gift product.

    Anyway, I can run the new script directly from the mapped Content Library folder for testing.

    Edit: I am happy to report that with the new version of the script, the horizontal and vertical sliders in the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script are working! Thank you, RiverSoft Art, for truly not notch customer support!

    Post edited by barbult on
  • RiverSoft ArtRiverSoft Art Posts: 6,578
    barbult said:
    barbult said:

    I'll delete the first folder and keep the second one under RiverSoft Art...I'll test that and then replace the orient  change angle script with the one you emailed me and test that. But I have to leave the house for a couple hours now, so I'll report back later. Thanks for the help. Please tell Daz to fix their DIM package!

    Well, the DIM package problem for the free Christmas elves goes deeper than I realized. The metadata, which defines what files are included in "product" for the purposes of Smart Content, includes the files in Scripts/Now-Crowd Billobards (the folder with the old script version) but not the files in Scripts/RiverSoft Art/Now-Crowd Billobards (which I think are the correct versions). So, Daz needs to fix their metadata, too. I got into trouble in the first place by running the script from the Smart Content Products tab,which showed only the scripts in the incorrrect/old script path. I'm not sure whether Daz will even be willing to fix a free Christmas gift product.

    Anyway, I can run the new script directly from the mapped Content Library folder for testing.

    Edit: I am happy to report that with the new version of the script, the horizontal and vertical sliders in the Now-Crowd Change Billboard Angle script are working! Thank you, RiverSoft Art, for truly not notch customer support!

    That's fantastic that it works for you now!  And you are very welcome!  I will look into the DIM version and report it to Daz

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