UltraScenery - new territory [Commercial]

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  • MartinjfrostMartinjfrost Posts: 360

    Artini said:

    Looking great. Railway objects are always welcome.

    Mybe you could also made cliffs objects for UltraScenery XT (to avoid distorsion on the steep parts), as well.

     

    There is a bunlde of rock features in the store that does this to some extent, you need to own one of the rock bundles stated in its description which would also help you place them elsewhere. But it is there and it quite good.  

  • MartinjfrostMartinjfrost Posts: 360

    AnEye4Art said:

    Will there be an option to remove the posts holding up the tracks so that the tracks lay flat on the ground?

    The rail tracks in the pic are not part of the product. It was just kit bashed with bits that exist in some of the already avalible ultra scenery features and the the tracks placed on top of it. The new bundle is the tropical / rain forest bioms you can see in this and the other sneak peeks . 

  • AnEye4ArtAnEye4Art Posts: 766

    Martinjfrost said:

    AnEye4Art said:

    Will there be an option to remove the posts holding up the tracks so that the tracks lay flat on the ground?

    The rail tracks in the pic are not part of the product. It was just kit bashed with bits that exist in some of the already avalible ultra scenery features and the the tracks placed on top of it. The new bundle is the tropical / rain forest bioms you can see in this and the other sneak peeks . 

    Thank you for clearing that up. 

  • Hey all... casual Daz User so forgive me in advance lol

    I downloaded UltraScenery XT, read some troubleshooting on the forums, and read the User Guide in the ReadMe's. I set up a terrain exactly as explained and all i see are gray topographical maps. When I do a spot render i see that everything is there, but is there must be a way to have assets and textures loaded in while working on a scene right?

    Thanks

    Steve

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,493

    efactory2021 said:

    Hey all... casual Daz User so forgive me in advance lol

    I downloaded UltraScenery XT, read some troubleshooting on the forums, and read the User Guide in the ReadMe's. I set up a terrain exactly as explained and all i see are gray topographical maps. When I do a spot render i see that everything is there, but is there must be a way to have assets and textures loaded in while working on a scene right?

    Thanks

    Steve

    The items are set to show only in renders due to the drag they would place on any preview. You can control that by selecting items and going to the Parameters pane under Display, but I really wouldn't advise doing it on many items.

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,366
    edited July 2022

    Richard Haseltine said:

    efactory2021 said:

    Hey all... casual Daz User so forgive me in advance lol

    I downloaded UltraScenery XT, read some troubleshooting on the forums, and read the User Guide in the ReadMe's. I set up a terrain exactly as explained and all i see are gray topographical maps. When I do a spot render i see that everything is there, but is there must be a way to have assets and textures loaded in while working on a scene right?

    Thanks

    Steve

    The items are set to show only in renders due to the drag they would place on any preview. You can control that by selecting items and going to the Parameters pane under Display, but I really wouldn't advise doing it on many items.

     Steve seems to be posting about USC-XT rather than the original USC product - in that case, you can't ever see the biomes until a render, because they seem to be actually generated as part of the render process
    (Actually I'd be fascinated to know how this was done, but I guess it is proprietary info)

    Post edited by MelanieL on
  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,436
    edited July 2022

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Looking great. Railway objects are always welcome.

    Mybe you could also made cliffs objects for UltraScenery XT (to avoid distorsion on the steep parts), as well.

     

    There is a bunlde of rock features in the store that does this to some extent, you need to own one of the rock bundles stated in its description which would also help you place them elsewhere. But it is there and it quite good.  

    Which one is that?

    Maybe somebody could point me in the right direction.

     

    Post edited by Artini on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited July 2022

    I thought I was done with train tracks for now, but I decided I needed one that crossed water. So, I created a new feature. I had a hard time finding a flat bridge in my library. I ended up with one from Fantasy Castle, which I modified a bit.


    USC Willows 4 BV RR Crossing 02 with Train Curvel Camera PS.jpg
    2000 x 1125 - 1M
    USC Willows 4 BV RR Crossing 02 with Train Water Level Camera.jpg
    2000 x 1125 - 2M
    USC Harpwood Green BV RR Crossing 02 PS.jpg
    2000 x 1125 - 2M
    Post edited by barbult on
  • MartinjfrostMartinjfrost Posts: 360

    Artini said:

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Looking great. Railway objects are always welcome.

    Mybe you could also made cliffs objects for UltraScenery XT (to avoid distorsion on the steep parts), as well.

     

    There is a bunlde of rock features in the store that does this to some extent, you need to own one of the rock bundles stated in its description which would also help you place them elsewhere. But it is there and it quite good.  

    Which one is that?

    Maybe somebody could point me in the right direction.

     

    Here you go, https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascenery--stone-features 

  • alexhcowleyalexhcowley Posts: 2,383

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Looking great. Railway objects are always welcome.

    Mybe you could also made cliffs objects for UltraScenery XT (to avoid distorsion on the steep parts), as well.

     

    There is a bunlde of rock features in the store that does this to some extent, you need to own one of the rock bundles stated in its description which would also help you place them elsewhere. But it is there and it quite good.  

    Which one is that?

    Maybe somebody could point me in the right direction.

     

    Here you go, https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascenery--stone-features 

    I think this is the set Martin is referring to:

    https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascenery--stone-features

    It requires this:

    https://www.daz3d.com/stones-hr-2

    I have both sets and they are excellent although, as Martin points out, they do not precisely meet your requirements.

    Cheers,

    Alex. 

  • TugpsxTugpsx Posts: 738

    barbult said:

    I thought I was done with train tracks for now, but I decided I needed one that crossed water. So, I created a new feature. I had a hard time finding a flat bridge in my library. I ended up with one from Fantasy Castle, which I modified a bit.


    Very nice choice.Sturdy enough to hold freight and worn enough to match the environment. Great attention to detail. The rail ties are burried at just the right dept and the weeds growing among them add to the realism. Thanks for sharing.

     

  • davesodaveso Posts: 6,962

    the rail stuff is awesome good. I would also like to see gravel roads, paved roads with cracks, potholes, wider paths, etc. There is so much that could be added to USC ... and yes, cliffs to go along the roads and rails ... like real life where they had to blast rock in order to set the roads. 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    Tugpsx said:

    barbult said:

    I thought I was done with train tracks for now, but I decided I needed one that crossed water. So, I created a new feature. I had a hard time finding a flat bridge in my library. I ended up with one from Fantasy Castle, which I modified a bit.


    Very nice choice.Sturdy enough to hold freight and worn enough to match the environment. Great attention to detail. The rail ties are burried at just the right dept and the weeds growing among them add to the realism. Thanks for sharing.

     

    Wow, thanks for your careful observations! If you only knew how long it took me to get that ground under the ties to vary in depth but not leave the ties hanging in air and not bury them!!! I have a hard time with terrain maps. It must have taken over a dozen trial and error attempts over the course of several hours. Finally I said "good enough". The weeds were controlled by the verge mask that I created. I didn't think about looking for a sturdy bridge. I just looked for a flat one. I guess I was lucky in my selection. You always notice things I didn't even think about. Thanks! I appreciate your comments.

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,436

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Looking great. Railway objects are always welcome.

    Mybe you could also made cliffs objects for UltraScenery XT (to avoid distorsion on the steep parts), as well.

     

    There is a bunlde of rock features in the store that does this to some extent, you need to own one of the rock bundles stated in its description which would also help you place them elsewhere. But it is there and it quite good.  

    Which one is that?

    Maybe somebody could point me in the right direction.

     

    Here you go, https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascenery--stone-features 

    Thanks for the tip - I have already purchased these items.

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,436

    alexhcowley said:

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Martinjfrost said:

    Artini said:

    Looking great. Railway objects are always welcome.

    Mybe you could also made cliffs objects for UltraScenery XT (to avoid distorsion on the steep parts), as well.

     

    There is a bunlde of rock features in the store that does this to some extent, you need to own one of the rock bundles stated in its description which would also help you place them elsewhere. But it is there and it quite good.  

    Which one is that?

    Maybe somebody could point me in the right direction.

     

    Here you go, https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascenery--stone-features 

    I think this is the set Martin is referring to:

    https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascenery--stone-features

    It requires this:

    https://www.daz3d.com/stones-hr-2

    I have both sets and they are excellent although, as Martin points out, they do not precisely meet your requirements.

    Cheers,

    Alex. 

    Thank you very much. I have already purchased the sets. Will need to experiment with them.

     

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited July 2022

    Don't Go Into The Swamp!

    Barkley with chaotic hair USC Swamp.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 3M
    Post edited by barbult on
  • DoctorJellybeanDoctorJellybean Posts: 8,451

    barbult said:

    Don't Go Into The Swamp!

    Very different from your usual renders, and it's great.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited July 2022

    DoctorJellybean said:

    barbult said:

    Don't Go Into The Swamp!

    Very different from your usual renders, and it's great.

    I was really just playing with the hair. Then I decided I needed to put the hair on a character; I chose Barkley. He needed a pose, so I chose from Hiding and Lurking. Then I decided I needed a background for the character. So, where do I go? UltraScenery, of course. The Swamp seemed like a good choice. The hair is Chaotic Hair, but I modified the dForce parameters in the surfaces pane. It is considerably more chaotic now!

    Edit: Oh, and I used Rim Light Rig 2 to give him the green glow that looks kind of like bioluminescent slime from the swamp.

    Post edited by barbult on
  • memcneil70memcneil70 Posts: 4,105

    barbult said:

    DoctorJellybean said:

    barbult said:

    Don't Go Into The Swamp!

    Very different from your usual renders, and it's great.

    I was really just playing with the hair. Then I decided I needed to put the hair on a character; I chose Barkley. He needed a pose, so I chose from Hiding and Lurking. Then I decided I needed a background for the character. So, where do I go? UltraScenery, of course. The Swamp seemed like a good choice. The hair is Chaotic Hair, but I modified the dForce parameters in the surfaces pane. It is considerably more chaotic now!

    Edit: Oh, and I used Rim Light Rig 2 to give him the green glow that looks kind of like bioluminescent slime from the swamp.

    Well you did such a great job I almost had a freak-out in my brain when I opened up the forum window! Ran to get ready for the day. Safer. 

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    memcneil70 said:

    Well you did such a great job I almost had a freak-out in my brain when I opened up the forum window! Ran to get ready for the day. Safer. 

    Sorry to give you a scare there, Mary! laugh

  • ken1954ken1954 Posts: 4

    Just began working with UltraScenery, and the UltraScene Creator script simply does not display Features from either Landscape Features vol. 2 or from Stone Features.  The Water Pack seems to be there.  I have uninstalled and reinstalled all the components using DIM.  Same results.  Can anyone help?

    I am running Mac OS 10.14.6 (Mojave) on a 27 inch iMac with 128 Mb of RAM.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    ken1954 said:

    Just began working with UltraScenery, and the UltraScene Creator script simply does not display Features from either Landscape Features vol. 2 or from Stone Features.  The Water Pack seems to be there.  I have uninstalled and reinstalled all the components using DIM.  Same results.  Can anyone help?

    I am running Mac OS 10.14.6 (Mojave) on a 27 inch iMac with 128 Mb of RAM.

    Ken, did you EVER install the missing products from inside Daz Studio (that is called Daz Connect)? If so, that does not work for UltraScenery products. Even if you also install from DIM, the Daz Connect version takes priority and will never work. Even if you think you did not install from inside Daz Studio, we should probably investigate further to be sure. Do you want me to walk you through that?

  • ken1954ken1954 Posts: 4

    Glad for whatever help you can provide.

    I am pretty sure that I did not install anything using DAZ Connect, because I've never really used it.

    I am less certain that I did not use DAZ Central.  I purchased UltraScenery some time ago and then set it aside because my previous Mac didn't seem to be able to handle the scenes it generated.  Now, wilth a more capable computer (and knowing about the "Instancing" option in Render Settings.  Thanks, for that.) I am very impressed by the things it can do.  There was a period of time, proobably a couple of years, when I used DAZ Central a lot -- but within the past year or so, I have returned to DIM.  It seems to download faster, and it helps me to find my content afterwards (very useful).  But ... did I use DAZ Central to download UltraScenery or any of its components?  Can't be sure.

    I don't know the best way to address that problem.  As I said, I opened DAZ Central and uninstalled the UltraScenery content.  Then, I opened DIM and reinstalled it.  I don't really know if that simple approach works.  Things always seem to re-install quickly, as if they have been lurking in RAM or on my hard drive somewhere, just waiting to be reactivated -- in which case the original problem may not have been solved.

    BTW, I have copied my original content library to an external hard drive, and because of that I often do get warnings about "missing files," and sometimes I let DAZ download them for me from within the program -- but that never happened with UltraScenery.  Still, could some vital component of UltraScenery have been left behind after the migration?  I would not think so, because everything now is being re-installed to the new Content folder on the external drive, and there's no reason that would not work.  Everything else does.

    If you would like to walk me through the DAZ Connect angle, I am willing to do that.  But as I said there really never has been a time when I used it.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited July 2022

    @ken1954 If you ever let Daz Studio install anything for you, that used Daz Connect. If DIM is your preferred method of installation (in my opinion, DIM is the best!) it is not necessary to ever log in to your Daz account from Daz Studio. If you log in, you are likely to accidently install something with Daz Connect. I strongly recommend that you change your preferences to disable auto login and never log in manually.:

    1. Go to Edit/Preferences (shortcut F2) and select the Startup tab.
    2. Uncheck the "Automatically Login With Remembered Credentials" checkbox
    3. Uncheck "Show Login Page"
    4. Click Accept.

    Daz Central should not be a problem, if you used the same library paths as you used for DIM. However, I have avoided Daz Central completely. I use DIM only now.

    First let's see if your Features Volume 2 and Stone Features got installed by Daz Connect. Follow these instructions:

    1. Open Content Library pane
    2. Expand the Product section of the Content Library
    3. Click on the letter U to get to the section that will have UltraScenery products
    4. Find the UltraScenery Features Volume 2 in the list
    5. Right click on the UltraScenery - Features Volume 2 product name.
    6. In the list of context sensitive commands that pops up, do you see Install or Uninstall in the list? If you see Install, don't click on it. If you see Uninstall, that means that the product was installed by Daz Connect at some time. So do click on Uninstall to remove the Daz Connect version.
    7. Repeat the same steps for UltraScenery - Stones Features.

    Report back your findings about whether you had to uninstall either or both products from Daz Connect, and then we can take the next steps.

     

    Post edited by barbult on
  • ken1954ken1954 Posts: 4

    Thanks again for your help -- and thanks for guiding me to the Products section of the Content Library, which I was never even curious about.  There is some useful functionality there!  

    So, here is what I found:

    1.  Neither of those products showed "Uninstall."  I left them alone.

    2.  When I select items like Ultrascenery (Landscape etc.) jitself, and UltraScenery Pines, Ultra Trees from within Products, they show show multiple assets associated with them -- but Ultrascenery Landscape Features (V2) and Water Pack do not.  They only show an icon to launch the PDF user guide.  US Landscape features shows several props (bridges, etc) that I can access at runtime, but it shows none of the landscape features that should appear (but don't) inside the US Creator script.  Within the Products section and within the Creator script it appears like those assets were never installed.

    Does that make sense??

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited July 2022

    @ken1954

    1. Excellent that neither product was installed from inside Daz Studio (Daz Connect). You did the right thing to leave them alone.

    2. I think I understand what you are describing. First, not all products have files that are called "user facing files" by Daz. Some products only have files that are accessed from internal methods. A common example of that are morph packs that are only accessed from sliders in the Parameters pane. UltraScenery Water Pack is one of those products that is accessed only internally, from inside the UltraSceneCreator script, so it is OK to see no preset icons in the Water Pack product. UltraScenery Landscape Features Volume 2 should have some boardwalk props showing in the Product listing, though, so it looks like something is wrong with that installation.

    Let's investigate:

    1. Open DIM and log in.
    2. Select the Installed tab.
    3. Type the word Features into the DIM search field in the upper right corner and hit enter.
    4. Does UltraScenery - Features Volume 2 appear in the list of installed products?
    5. If so, right click on the product name in the list and select Show Installed Files from the popup menu.
    6. That will open a window with hyperlinks to every installed file in that product. Did you get a long list of file links?
    7. If so, left click on one of those links. That will open an Explorer window and show where the file is installed on your hard drive. Look carefully at the entire file path. Is that the correct path to your Daz Studio content library? Take a screenshot that window to keep a record of the exact path to the file.
    8. You can close DIM now.
    9. Open Daz Studio.
    10. Select Edit/Preferences (shortcut F2).
    11. A window titled Preferences will open.
    12. Select the Content tab in the Preferences window.
    13. Click on the Content Directory Manager button at the bottom of the the Content tab.
    14. A new window titled Content Directory Manager will open.
    15. In the Content Directory Manager window, expand the Daz Studio Formats section to see what paths you have mapped as content libraries in Daz Studio.
    16. Do you see the exact path that you saw in step 7 above? Take a screenshot of the Content Directory Manager window.
    17. If you are comfortable sharing the data, post the two screenshots here for me to examine.  
    18. You can close the Content Directory Manager and Preferences windows now by clicking the Cancel buttons.
    Post edited by barbult on
  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223
    edited July 2022

    @ken1954 There  are some other things you can check in addition to the steps above. UltraScenery addons have to be installed in the same folder hierarchy as UltraScenery itself.

    1. Open Daz Studio
    2. Go to the Products section of the Content Library and select UltraScenery - Realistic Landscape System product.
    3. Right click on the UltraSceneCreator script thumbnail and select Browse to File Location.
    4. That should open an Explorer window (or highlight the file explorer icon in your taskbar for you to open it yourself) to the folder that contains the UltraSceneCreator.script.
    5. In that folder, you should see a subfolder for Features.
    6. Open the Features folder.
    7. Do you see the features subfolders for each of the features in Features volume 2 (Bridge 01, Crossing 01, etc.) and Stones (Stones 01 - Stones 09?
    8. If you see those subfolders and open them, do they contain a json file and two png files like they should?
    Post edited by barbult on
  • ken1954ken1954 Posts: 4

    Thank you.  The problem is solved.

    Your second (last) post told me everything I needed to know.

    For your reference:

    1. I am using a Mac, so Microsoft Explorer isn't part of the OS.  Files are located by the "Finder."

    2. As mentioned, I have twice had to migrate my expanding content collection to an external HD - but (conservative me) I never deleted the old Content folders.  DIM correctly installed the new USC Features in my current, active Content directory.  DAZ however was identifying one or the other of two previous versions of UltraScenery that were located in old Content folders -- but those folders did not contain the new Features; hence, they did not appear within the script.  I have deleted the old UltraScenery folders, and everything now works as it should.

    Thanks again!!

     

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,223

    ken1954 said:

    Thank you.  The problem is solved.

    Your second (last) post told me everything I needed to know.

    For your reference:

    1. I am using a Mac, so Microsoft Explorer isn't part of the OS.  Files are located by the "Finder."

    2. As mentioned, I have twice had to migrate my expanding content collection to an external HD - but (conservative me) I never deleted the old Content folders.  DIM correctly installed the new USC Features in my current, active Content directory.  DAZ however was identifying one or the other of two previous versions of UltraScenery that were located in old Content folders -- but those folders did not contain the new Features; hence, they did not appear within the script.  I have deleted the old UltraScenery folders, and everything now works as it should.

    Thanks again!!

    Thanks for reporting back that you got it solved! 

  • davesodaveso Posts: 6,962

    I might have asked this before, but how to get the ground fog visible using USC. The ground is much lower than the water level in USC ... i guess you could drop the entir usc plane down, but that creates some problems

This discussion has been closed.