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... And that's another good reason why this tool came into being
- To give a scene your personal "flair"
Does a "node" still have the benefit of being less taxing on the system like an instance, or is it like a standalone character with high poly count?
Was thinking the same thing. This tool seems very close to instances to objects https://www.daz3d.com/instances-to-objects
I own both products. There is some obvious overlap in functionality, but they have different uses, as I see it (unless I am overlooking capabilities in one or both).
InstaEdit can convert an individual instance of a large UltraScatter group to an object (aka "node"), leaving the rest of the instances as instances to save memory. This is the primary reason I bought InstaEdit even though I already own Instances to Objects. I want the convenience of using UltraScatter to create many instances, but I want to convert one or two UltraScatter instances to objects so I can modify them. I want all the rest to stay instances to save memory.
Instances to Objects converts the whole UltraScatter group to objects, so you lose any memory saving that you had achieved by using instances. One of the goals of Instances to Objects is to convert instances to objects in order to export them to other software. So, converting the whole group makes sense for that use case. I have not found a way to convert a whole UltraScatter group at once with InstaEdit, and it becomes cumbersome to convert them one by one. So if I want to convert the whole group, Instances to Objects is the tool for that.
As Barbult says and to add futher to her answer, there is obvious overlap in functionality as both tools can convert instances into nodes but the way they operate means that they are used in different circumstances.
Instances 2 Objects is used when you want to export your scene to other software that does not handle instances. It does a very good job of this and it has safety features built in to warn you if the operation will be memory taxing etc.
InstaEdit, on the other hand, is used when you want to edit one instance in a group of instances without breaking up the whole group. It is easily accessed via a context menu from the viewport and is aimed for more "precise" spot work whislt you are navigating through your scene.
Hope this helps in clarifiying.
A node is a standard Daz scene object that has its own mesh/polygons. You can change the mesh using a number of plugins or in built daz tools. You can also practically change all its properties.
An instance is just a pointer to a node. You are unable to make any changes to the instance, except move it to a different location, and rotate. If you change the "parent node", the instance will change too. Therefore, if you want to make changes to an instance, something behind the scenes needs to convert the instance into a node.
So, if you want to have a bunch of equal trees all spread out, you are better off with using instances rather than nodes. But if you want one or more of those trees to have differnet textures, or shapes or 'poses', then you must use nodes.
Does it copy child nodes automatically? I can't seem to get it to work that way. A node which has 2 multiple child nodes, and instance created of that parent node comes up fully intact, but using this on it just converts the parent node and leaves the child ones. Or am I doing something wrong?
EDIT: Figure nodes are fine, since the child nodes were bones in fact which got copied when the instance became a node. It's just the prop nodes so far. And I also just read previous comments, I guess patch is still in work.
Hi,
Can you check if you have the Copy child nodes ... option selected in the tool and then try again ? (See attached file for reference)
As you assumed correctly, a patch is being worked on to address some of the instancing issues encountered using ultrascatter objects and a few other edge cases.
Hi, sorry for the late reply. Is there a setting here to get notified for comments/messages here? Anyways, I just tested it out right now and nope. I saw that that setting is already selected by default at first launch (at least for me, maybe it saves after the first use I guess). Anyways, I unticked it, closed the box and then ticked it back again with the same results. From my tests, the child nodes do not get copied, whether they are a prop or a figure (parent prop with child prop or parent figure with a child figure). If the figure has bones, those things do get copied.
@peteanderson1212 I think this is the same problem I documented in March.
To get notified about a response in a thread, click on the star up by the thread title and turn it gold.
That seems to be correct yes. That logic is using standard Daz Studio calls but it's encountering an edge case (one of a few to be exact) that I did not factor in and which I'm working on.
As long as you are updating this... is there a way to erase any instances that intersect a given object? With the release of Ultrascatter, such a function would be invaluable, even as an add-on.
@barbult Yeah it is. I saw that one too afterwards I posted my message here, sorry for not quoting it here. And thanks for the notification thing.
No update yet? Just dl'd to see, but can't test. Machine is down...
I'm still working on the update as I've had to juggle my priorities on life, work, and family due to the current situation, This meant that I fell behind with my projects but I'm making a push to get myself up to speed again.
Apologies for the delay, and I appreciate the patience you are all showing.
Stay tuned.
K.
Thanks for letting us know the current situation.
Thanks for responding! I just needed to get a feel for how to plan things, tho I pretty much have no schedule anymore, either.
All the best to you and your family. Stay safe!
At first thanks a lot for your great product. It really helps in making these little tweaks :-)
However I have a Question / Product Suggestion
I recently used InstaEdit to successfully modifiy individual instances from a group that has been created by UltraScenery. However I a had a small problem that I could solve using a workaround
Problem
I think the problem with UltraScenery groups is that they usually overlap quite a bit in the scene. The grass was just the first group that was found being near the coordinates.
I was hoping all the invisible groups in the viewport would not be taken into consideration when extracting.
Question: Is there maybe a way to solve this problem already implemented I'm not aware of?
Suggestion 1: Do not take groups into consideration for extraction which are not visible in the viweport
Suggestion 2: When different candidate groups are found let the user make a selection from which group to extract
Workaround / Solution: My solution to this problem was to move the group in question (USC Objects USC Reeds 03 IG Instances 1) 1000 in Y direction, because there was no more overlapping of the groups. Now the extraction worked as I expected. After the extraction I moved the group and the extracted instances back down to 0
Thank you :)
That is correct. The tool will pick the closest group it finds to the null node
When you have a large amount of groups (as is the case with ultrascenery), this becomes unfeasible as the tool needs to go through all the the groups and match against the camera's viewport. This takes a fair bit of time, and defeats the whole purpose of instaedit to select something and quickly make a change.
May I suggest Camera View Optimizer to remove any groups which are not visible in your camera's viewport ? (Warning - Shameless plug of tool written by same author)
This might be doable but needs some thinking as some method needs to developed for the tool to visually indicate which selection is being selected. As you probably noticied, namiing conventions in instance groups are not very helpful when trying to see which is which.
K.
Thank you for your quick reply. I see your confusion with my Suggestion 1, let me explain more what I really meant. I'm not a native speaker so this may be the problem...
As there are so many instances in an UltraScenery scene anyway they are usually hidden in the ViewPort with the property Visible in Viewport set to Off. This is the default for all instance groups except for the proxy trees. And this is good, otherwise even on a beefy graphics card aour viewport navigation would grind to a halt!
So the initial problem with something obstructing relevant scene parts is only visible in the final render. To solve the problem I usually try to identify the group in which the problem exists by switching on one group at a time until 'I find the culprit. Usually the vegetation type helps identifying the group.
Meaning after this identification process there is a single group (except for the tree proxies) having the property Visible in Viewport set to On
This is what I was thinking about: Filtering the groups between having this property set to On or Off and not your interpretation of being visible in the viewing frustum of the active camera!
I hope you can follow me trying to clarify what I wanted to explain ;-)
So the user would do some initial filtering for the groups which is IMHO necessary anyway and you could use this filtered list instead of the complete one.
Now I'm understanding what you mean. This is something I can think about and see if its implementation is feasable.
Thank you for the suggestion.
K.
RightClick Context Menu do not work for me.
I purchased InstaEdit and installed it.
I see the script. When clicked on it, the popup appears. InstaEdit is in Scene.
I can right click on it and open the settings.
All seems fine.
But when right click on a node, I do not see any related points in context menu.
Can anybody help me with that?
Thx
P.s. I am using Daz Studio 4.15.02 PRO 64Bit
RightClick Context Menu do not work for me.
I purchased InstaEdit and installed it.
I see the script. When clicked on it, the popup appears. InstaEdit is in Scene.
I can right click on it and open the settings.
All seems fine.
But when right click on a node, I do not see any related points in context menu.
Can anybody help me with that?
Thx
Apologies for the delay in replying to this but I did not get a notifcation that someone posted on this thread.
To answer your query, page 16 of the accompanying manuel has a detailed FAQ to help you figure out why the context menu is not showing.
I suspect that you are not clicking on an instance but rather on a node.
Hope this helps.
Hiya.
So I had the some issue that Krysis163 mentions, about InstaEdit options not appearing when right-clicking on something in the scene.
Then I just noticed Callidus's reply about "I suspect that you are not clicking on an instance but rather on a node.".
So as a test, I made a 'New Node Instance' (via DAZ's Create menu options) of a barrel prop in my scene. Right-clicking on the newly created copy of the barrel, I now see the according options added that InstaEdit script gives (in this case an option to convert that 'barrel instance' to a node or to apply the mesh-grabber or d-former on it). So, before I misunderstood about what this script was used for, I had thought it could be used on anything in a scene, but now I realize it's for copies, 'instances', of something in a scene. Well, it can still be useful for me sometimes.
Hello. I just discovered this product yesterday via a forum post on another topic. I've wanted a product for quite a while that does what InstaEdit does and had considered Code 66’s Instances to Objects product. Has InstaEdit been updated recently?
OK. Thanks.
@Callidus Simia - Hello again. I bought InstaEdit yesterday and began exploring it today. I can edit an instance but when I try to edit an instance inside a group, I’ve run into a dead end. I think I have followed the instructions on pages 8, 9 and 16 of the reference guide. I created a group of three sphere instances and a null object and positioned the null object at the center of the group of instances. When I right click on the null object, I only get the standard Daz Studio (ver 4.21 Pro) menu and not a menu with two InstaEdit options. See the attached screen capture.
Any guidance that you can provide to get me past this impasse will be appreciated. Thanks.