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Select an object, then from the menu, select Create > "New Node Instance", then press the Accept button.
Now you have an instance of the original object that you can move wherever you want in the scene.
Very quickly and not to derail the thread: Instances - a method of cloning an object using minimal memory. Menu and tool icons exist to create just one instance, or a user-defined number (Create> New Node Instance... and Create> New Node Instances..., icons look liek the Create Null icon but are a paler grey with one + for the create 1, or two +s for multiple instances). What you get are clones of the selected figure (including items conformed/parented to that figure). You can move, rotate and scale any of the clones seperately, as well as the origial object. However, the textures/shaders and Pose applied to the original are held across the clones and cannot be altered except by changing the original (in which case all the clones change).
Geometry Shell: it is, quite simply, a shell around the geometry of the selected object (Create> New Geometry Shell... icon is an isometric square with filled-in faces). The shell can be adjusted for offset/distance from the original, including 0 and negative values. By default it has a grey diffuse and 50% Opacity and has the same surface textures zones as the original. It has many uses, but the one suggested is to use it to put an additional texture/shader on - only of use if the shader/texture used opacity maps to make the unused portions transparent. The UV map of the shell can also be altered from the original, allowing, for example, the application of Jepe's Body Jewels for V4 on a G2F figure using a non-V4 UV map.
Fantastic!
Thank you both, Sean Riesch and SimonJM. Very helpful.
Checked store....saw all 3 sets.....bought it all. :)
As always, these are fantastic!
Immediate sale!
OK, I combined all your suggestions to lighten my grass, and I think it now looks more like what I had in mind for this scene. I flattened the terrain some, too, because I wanted it flatter. There are still so many options to explore. It is like Christmas morning!
...been waiting for something like the Grass Shader for uneven ground props. Have P3D's Grass One but that is best only for flat surfaces (such as footy pitches or nice manicured lawns).
Again, for now it goes to the wishlist.
OK, I'm beginning to get the hang of this, I think. An AoA spot with Gobo made all the difference in the lighting of this one for me. It uses the rock shader on the ground, the grass shader on a geometry shell with displacement map, a rock wall from the bonus items, leaf fall from the Nature Variations, AoA lights (all 3 types), MPC for backdrop, and the new Aave Nainen outfit on Nyssa.
New question: Is there a good way to get things like the leaf fall prop to conform to the rock shader layer? All that displacement makes that hard, unless there is a trick I haven't figured out.
Ummm, there's not really any way to get the leaves to conform like that. Especially with the rocks using displacement since that is a render time effect and conforming requires base geometry (same problem with poke through on clothing when displacement is used on figures). Personally I think it looks a bit better or more accurate how you have it than it would conformed though, real leaves would fall into the crevasses while being blown off the peaks etc.
Also just a side note, changing the ratio of negative to positive displacement on the walls or rock piles will help you change their styling a bit. For example, using -10 and +5 on the walls will make bigger cracks between rocks while +10 and -5 will join individual rocks together more (giving it a sort of composite cement look). Not suggesting your wall needs anything, just an idea that might be fun to mess with :)
A bit of trial-and-error in matching objects to touch displaced surface, but it shouldn't be too much hard work with a wee bit of practice
Spot render is your friend when placing items on displaced geometry. That and a lot of patience for do-over. :)
DT, thanks for the displacement ideas. I'll continue to experiment. My rock wall was straight out of the bundle, with no modifications. I'll see what the other settings do to it.
When I have trouble matching multiple contact points between an object and an irregular ground, I find sometimes the easiest way is to just cheat. Get one tire or foot lined up, then instead of trying to modify the ground or pose to match, just stick a rock or primitive with the same texture as the ground under the others and raise/lower it. It's fast and easy to make adjustments if you only have to worry about a single foot/tire at a time instead of all of them at once, and nobody can tell that isn't just part of the ground.
Spot render is your friend when placing items on displaced geometry. That and a lot of patience for do-over. :)Aye, don't you worry, I give the spot render tool plenty of strategic use ;-)
Playing with the shaders and subdivided primitives. :)
Used one of the terrains that are in the Grass/Rock bundle.
Note to self: do a TEST render before final because the displacement means you won't see her standing waist deep in a rock..... :D
Just curious if these work with Reality and/or Luxus?
Most likely not as they are 3Delight shaders, not texture based materials.
Most likely not as they are 3Delight shaders, not texture based materials.
Good to know.
Thanks ;)
How tall the grass could be extended? All store renders show very carpet-like grass, so I wonder if it can be made taller (knee-length or higher) and if yes, how would it look.
The grass was length 10 in he picture I did with the woman in the woods. The slider goes to 100. I imagine you could even turn off limits and make it longer. I am re-rendering for you with length set to 100. I'll post it when it finishes. So far, it is looking good.
OK, here it is. The grass looks pretty nice on the left. On the right, it looks a little stiff and straight. The only thing I changed from my previous render settings was Length, though, so some other tweaks may make it more natural looking and less stiff.
The grass was length 10 in he picture I did with the woman in the woods. The slider goes to 100. I imagine you could even turn off limits and make it longer. I am re-rendering for you with length set to 100. I'll post it when it finishes. So far, it is looking good.
Thank you for making a render! I really wish to see how it looks.
Thank you for making a render! I really wish to see how it looks.
I updated the previous post with the image.
Edit: I tweaked a couple more settings and I'm rendering again. This is a good learning exercise for me.
Thank you very much, it does look pretty good
The new one finally finished! It took about 1.75 hours at shading rate 0.1. It would need some post work to fix the grass growing into her leg.
Edit: Oops. I see I messed up my light flagging. Maybe it would have been a lot faster if I had flagged it correctly.
Thank you again, very much!
Wow! Thanks for all the wonderful renders everyone. And thank you all for your support!
I'm so pleased to see all your creative uses and everyone getting such great results. Every time I release something that is more technical I cringe, fearing we missed some big bug or that it will not be reasonably intuitive. Seeing all these great renders is such a comfort :)
@ nowefg about the geometry shells and instancing: Sorry about that. I intended to do a couple short videos showing how to load them and ideas for those features but, as always, things take longer than expected and I didn't get around to making them. I'll see if I can't find some time over the next week to work on them.
For now though, both instances and geometry shell options are under the Create menu in the top bar of DS. Just select an item in the scene then go to Create - New Node Instance(s) or Geometry Shell. and that's about all there is to it.
The geometry shell creates a new layer of geometry just slightly to the outside of, and enveloping, whatever you had selected. Instances create copies of a scene object. I believe they are both much more memory efficient than loading actual copies of items. Instances are great for things like copying many trees and, because you can rotate and scale each instance separately, you can make each look somewhat unique... Even more so with DT's Nature shader ;)
DS has a lot of very cool features which aren't advertised or used much. Some of them actually seem a bit pointless at first (like the geometry shell) until you end up having a specific need for it then you wonder how you ever lived without it hehe.
Again, thank you all for your support. I am so blessed to have this job and to be a part of such a creative community.
OK, now, this is just too much fun.
Straight into the cart before I even saw this thread. :) Fantastic work, guys!
Oh man, oh man, oh wow, oh wow!! These shaders are terrific!! The grass is to die for--do you (AoA and DT) have any idea what a breakthrough the grass (well, all of them, I've just played with the grass so far) is...how much it changes the calculus for our outdoor scenes? Between you and Allesandro's animal furs I'm in heaven.
This really is a quicky. I clicked some icons and moved some sliders and got something that looked like cabbages LOL then I twiddled sliders a bit more, not knowing what I was doing, and got this. Added some Flink flowers, the little unicorn, a background sky, AoA ambient (natch) and one distant light, a melancholy filter (blurred edges) in PS and here ya go.