Subsurface replicator

ManStan

In the first picture below you will see a field with 5K clumps of grass, right?
Don't see the clumps? Easy explanation, they are being replicated below the surface not on the surface. This is actually an on going issue for me with LB plants.Most of the time they replicate below the plane I am trying to replicate them on. And I'm not sure how to fix it. Any suggestions would be helpful.

ManStan

Never mind, just another scene to trash; like a few hundred others, I have hit some weird glitch and the scene is now none functional. Oh it load s fine, the screen cap below is what I am trying to render, the green square is the render.

wetcircuit

it's the hotpoint isn't it? You'r original clump might have it's hotpoint in the middle of the mesh? It should be at the ground plane....

wetcircuit

EDIT 2nd pic:
Something is replicated right ontop of the camera. Pull your cam up out of it, or don't let the plane extend under the camera.

or use zoom instead...

ManStan

Already pulled my hotpoint to ground and I did check, there is nothing between the plant and camera. Like I said, I'm at my whits end; which is always close at hand lol I've deleted everything from the scene except for pre all; ya, no name on the content in scene {preloads don't have them} and lighting. Just start again but this time rather then use a terrain converted to a vertex object, I'll start with a plane.

Not a lot of work, most of my time spent on this scene was setting up shaders and lighting.

Sorry Holly, this is just another of these perplexing, frustrating bugs I run in to all too often. It's like nothing in the scene is where carrara seems to think it is. I do appreciate the suggestions.

HowieFarkes

If you are replicating on a vertex object you might need to check which direction the surface normal is.

So you can try editing the terrain object in the vertex modeller and selecting all the vertices then applying "Model -> Reverse Polygons Normal". Exit the modeller, redistribute your replicator and see if that works.

tbwoq

Terrain editor 'Preview Quality'? The terrain scene preview in Assemble can be different than the actual render.

ManStan

tbwoq said:

Terrain editor 'Preview Quality'? The terrain scene preview in Assemble can be different than the actual render.

Not after it has been converted to a vertex object. ;)

For out door scenes I often use a terrain converted to a vertex object so I can model in roads, paths, flat spots for buildings and such. The only thing I can figure is the scene was started in C7 and even though it opened fine in C8.5 some thing was obviously amiss.

None the less LB plants most of the time will replicate below the surface. As Holly pointed out dropping the plants hot point to the base of the plant will usually fix this. But this issue isn't jut with LB plants, quite often carrara's own plants/trees will replicate with a large part below the surface.

Headwax

HowieFarkes said:

If you are replicating on a vertex object you might need to check which direction the surface normal is.

So you can try editing the terrain object in the vertex modeller and selecting all the vertices then applying "Model -> Reverse Polygons Normal". Exit the modeller, redistribute your replicator and see if that works.

Hello ManStan did this work??

Other thing - when I have run into this problem before I duplicate the terrain, then make the orioginal terrain invisable and then move it up so the replicators sit on the duplicated terrain. Advantage is you can erase polys where you don't want any replication. Just a little bit easire than painting a distribution map.

ManStan

head wax said:

HowieFarkes said:

If you are replicating on a vertex object you might need to check which direction the surface normal is.

So you can try editing the terrain object in the vertex modeller and selecting all the vertices then applying "Model -> Reverse Polygons Normal". Exit the modeller, redistribute your replicator and see if that works.

Hello ManStan did this work??

Other thing - when I have run into this problem before I duplicate the terrain, then make the orioginal terrain invisable and then move it up so the replicators sit on the duplicated terrain. Advantage is you can erase polys where you don't want any replication. Just a little bit easire than painting a distribution map.

The I tried a few times but clicking "reverse normals" in C8.5 is an instacrash. I still have the screwed up original. I may strip the scene and save out the terrain to work in Hex. Typical though, last night on this same scene I had the all green rendering, this morning it renders fine :-/ But even with the hot point bottomed, a good 1/3 of the replicated plant is bellow the surface.

More fun. Last night I fixed this by deleting the terrain model and just dropping in a plane. No place to be found today. None the less after driving the handicap van most of yesterday, and again tomorrow, I am being lazy today, and working on this stuff.

I always thought the one place 3dpaint in carrara excelled was making distribution templates.

Dartanbeck

For the sunken replications, I have a feeling that it's due to replicating on a terrain object, as Head Wax mentioned, where the surface fidelity is carried out visually - something the surface replicator cannot detect. Just as an experiment, try raising or lowering the surface fidelity in the terrain model room, and make try matching the preview value with the render value, just as a quick test. You can always go back.

The other thought I'm having:
Are those three plant objects the same model, or are they grouped? Either way, try them either in a group (if they aren't now) or vice versa. Set the hotpoint to where you want them to touch ground.

If all of this fails, use this simple fix, as they all seem to be sunk by the same amount:
Add a plane primitive, and set it invisible. Shrink it to be an adequate base for the plant and add it to a group, including the plant. Dragging the plant into the plane to parent them will make them invisible, but the other way around should be fine if you don't like grouping. I group every darned thing, myself, but that's me.
Drag the plane lower and lower as a visual to how much extra height you need, and use that as visual reference to where the group's hotpoint needs to be. This could as easily be done with a target helper as well, instead of a plane.

That green render... yikes. I just don't know what to say. Wrong camera perhaps?

The surface replicator certainly works in Carrara 8.1 Pro:
(Windows 7 64, Home Premium)

ManStan

My main camera did render fine, the green was my working camera for close up renders.
What I am trying now is to turn the terrain obj in to box, but when I add thickness in Hex it goes all weird; points jutting of here and there.