How to create distribution maps and use them in Daz Sudio?

EightiesIsEnough

I learned on a thread a few years back about creating realistic cities in DAZ Studio that someone used distribution maps in order to fill select areas of an scene with items such as grass, trees, shrubs and other greenery.

 

I'd like to learn how this could be accomplished.  What software could I use to create distribution maps (Photoshop or something?), how do I create such maps in the software, and how would I use the distribution map in DAZ Studio to fill parts of a scene? Would I need to use a script such as UltraScatter and/or UltraScatterPro (both of which I do have)? 

Richard Haseltine

Yes, you would need Ultra Scatter or Scenery - and yes, you could use an image editor to create them, theya re like opacity maps but controlling the probability of an item being placed in an area.

EightiesIsEnough

So I'd like to ask, will distribution maps work on hilly terrain with regards to putting trees on the terrain on the hilly surface?

Richard Haseltine

That should work, yes.

EightiesIsEnough

I have created a sample distribution map in Photoshop just now, and when I uploaded it to UltraScatterPro and tried to scatter a tree (which is an OBJ file) onto a very large terrain (which is originally an OBJ file), I get no results.  Either I need to read the manual again, or something's not right.  I did set the measuring units to yards due to the size of the scene.

barbult

Show some screenshots of your map and UltraScatterPro setting tabs. I'm sure we can resolve the problem.

EightiesIsEnough

As you requested, here are some screenshots of the work I am trying to do.

First, here is the scene, illustrating its massive size.

 

Now, some illustrations of what I have set in UltraScatterPro:

barbult

I see a couple issues. Most of your distribution map is black, which is not a problem in of itself, but with only 200 instances to generate, you may get none that happen to fall in the white area. The way it works is that it randomly picks a point in the target area and then checks other criteria, like spacing and distribution map to see whether it is allowed to put an instance there. If all 200 randomly selected points fall in the large black area, you won't get any instances. You can increase the number of instances to maybe 2000 and see how many you get. If these are large trees, you should set a spacing larger than 0, something the width of the tree or greater. Another thing you can do is restrict the target area to less than the entire object. I do that by creating a selection set in the geometry editor and then choosingthat in UltraScatterPro. The second issue I see is that you have selected Full for your instance preview. This could overwhelm your computer once you get a lot of instances of complex trees! Bounding box or low res tree is a better choice.

EightiesIsEnough

I did realize the problem.  The tree was too small as opposed to the terrain.  I scaled the tree to a larger size. I will see if that works.

EightiesIsEnough

Well, I did try what I said in my last post, I resized the trees to a larger size, and adjusted the scale size in UltraScatterPro. I seem to be on the right track so far.

However, at times, it appears that the trees end up extending into the ocean along the shore.  I did read something about using some kind of tool to make the edges of the whiteness appear to be faded black in order to avoid extending beyond the whiteness.  I will have to scope it out.

EDIT: I seem to be on teh right track.  I think the reason the trees extended beyond the white area was because the minimum feet (or whatever measurement) was set to -1000.  Setting the minimum to 0 would do the trick.

But now, I'd like to ask, if I were to scatter beyond the maximum of 1000 yards (which is 3000 feet), would the minimum or maximum falloff feature be beneficial for this?

EightiesIsEnough

I realize the falloff feature only applies to elevation, so it's not what I want.

I am on the right track, as there are trees showing after each experiment.  But while I am using as many as 10,000 instances in the distribution area, how come they are only filling a narrow area instead of a wider area of the white area? Could it be that I need to apply a certain number of feet (or any measurement) of spacing in order to cover the wider area?

EightiesIsEnough

I think I may know what the problem may be with regards to my problem with trying to fill the white area.  The white area in question may be very small, and the unusual shape of the white area involves narrow areas.  Is that the problem - the white area being too small?  And/or could it also be the Random Seed Interval count being insufficient (I use a number in the 100,000 range).

 

EDIT: Another possible reason could be that the instances of trees could only fill just the faces on the terrain, and the terrain happens to have larger faces on the surface.  Maybe if I go into Blender and subdivide the terrain into smaller faces, that could possibly work.

EightiesIsEnough

So, if I wanted to place 2000 instances of trees, and use 5 feet of spacing between instances, I'd like to ask something.  What would be the recommended number for the Seed count?