RELEASED The "Scatter Tool" plugin for Poser

[Miss B]

Oh but that's super EASY to handle! Below is a test render in Terradome2 I did in just a minute, scattering a hundred cubes over the terrain, complete with surface alignment. Here's how you do it, and you do it all without leaving Poser using what it already has.

1. Load Terradome2.
2. Open the Hierarchy Editor (CTRL+SHIFT+E)
3. From Terradome2, select the "AZone" part.
4. Open the Grouping Tool, and click "Create Prop", and make sure "AZone" is selected beforehand. Give the prop a name.
5. In the Hierarchy Editor, make "AZone" invisible.
6. Now scatter over the new prop you have created. It replaces the "AZone" from Terradome, and even inherits the materials automatically! Easy!

If you want to customize the AZone, just do it beforehand, and you're ready to go!

Ohhh, I have the original Terradome. Not sure if I ever got Terradome2 after RDNA moved to DAZ. I'll have to check into that.

 

[Karina]

Exactly! But we don't need that script because we can do it straight from Poser. Just select the actor you want to convert to prop, open the Grouping Tool, and click "Create Prop". The resulting prop automatically inherits all materials and morphs, so it couldn't be easier. ^___^

DOH!
I didn't know this can be done in P11 by now, because I was mostly using PP2014 hitherto, where this wasn't possible.
Thank you for the heads-up!!!

K

 

[Ken1171]

This looks very promising. Not sure what I'd use it for but I like what you've done here! It's in my cart!

I also really like how you have your UI for Poser set up. Where do you access your library from? Do you have a UI template that I could load to see if this work flow would work for me?

Thank you! As for your questions, I use the split library because I like to be able to close it when not in use, so I can have more screen real estate to work with (I have a small 17" screen). In the video tutorials, you will see me opening and closing the library as needed.

As for the UI template, I am not sure how to extract it from Poser. I could be mistaken, but I think it saves that in the Poser.ini configuration file, mixed with everything else, so it's a big mess.

By the way is there a way to tell the script to not populate in certain areas? Like what if you have a cabin in the woods but you have the ground plane for the scattering. Will the scattering just scatter all inside the cabin as well?

Good point. The tool doesn't have a "population map" at the moment, but it's in my queue to add that feature! ^^

Nonetheless, there is a workaround, and you can do it EASILY using the Grouping Tool. Here is how you do it:

1. Select your scattering plane and open the Grouping Tool.
2. Create a new group
3. Now select the faces where you DON'T want objects to be scattered over, and click "Delete Polygons". Don't worry, this only affects the current session - nothing is being permanently modified or destroyed - unless you save the modified plane to the library, overwriting the original (don't do that!!).

Now that area you have selected will no longer be populated anymore. If you want to render the scatter plane, just load a new one and render that instead, since the current one now has a hole on it.

Here is an example using the default Poser GROUND plane. Note how nothing can be scattered over the hole in the center. You can use this to determine where things can be scattered - all done with existing tools without ever leaving Poser!

 

[Ken1171]

DOH!
I didn't know this can be done in P11 by now, because I was mostly using PP2014 hitherto, where this wasn't possible.
Thank you for the heads-up!!!
K

You're very welcome! I didn't notice P10 doesn't have this feature. This comes back to what I previously observed that SMS was terrible with letting us know the new features in every version. I just didn't know the "Delete Polygons" was new in Poser 11. I just know I love what we can do with it.

** PS: Just to clarify, Poser 10/2014 does have the feature to convert figures to props using the Grouping Tool, but in this case that doesn't matter because the Scatter Tool won't work in older Poser versions.

 

[Ken1171]

Ohhh, I have the original Terradome. Not sure if I ever got Terradome2 after RDNA moved to DAZ. I'll have to check into that.

This method will work with ANYTHING you have, so it doesn't matter if it's Terradome 1 or 2. Just follow the steps in Terradome1 and it should work all the same.

 

[Minyassa]

Yay, the Scatter Tool has passed QAV and is now on the store. You can find it HERE or click the image below to go straight to the store page.

Make sure to watch all the video tutorials to see the tool in action with real examples, hints and best practices! ^____^

Quick question....are those square grass patches actually bending to fit around the torus?

 

[Ken1171]

Quick question....are those square grass patches actually bending to fit around the torus?

Good question! No, the tool cannot bend things, but it can align them parallel to the surface curvature, so it aligns with it. You can see from the torus render that this makes the grass seamless with its curved surface. As a matter of fact, bending props may seem like a good idea on paper, but [in practice] that would also inadvertently distort the grass leaves, and we would not be able to avoid that. Just use the "Align to Surface" checkbox and that should do the job for you.

 

[Miss B]

This method will work with ANYTHING you have, so it doesn't matter if it's Terradome 1 or 2. Just follow the steps in Terradome1 and it should work all the same.

Good to know, as I'm not sure the old Poser Ground plane gives you the option to make small hills and valleys with it. I've never tried using it for that, but the Terradomes do have those options.

 

[Ken1171]

Good to know, as I'm not sure the old Poser Ground plane gives you the option to make small hills and valleys with it. I've never tried using it for that, but the Terradomes do have those options.

The default ground plane doesn't have any morphs of its own, but I demonstrate how we can create our own using the Morphing Tool in that tutorial video about billboard trees, It should work exactly the same in Poser 10 and PP2014.

 

[Miss B]

Ohhhh right. I always forget about the Morphing Tool.

 

[caisson]

The stats on the render test I posted earlier: 20x trees at quarter million polygons each (no trans maps), 40x grass props (something like a hundred-odd polys in each), 16k jpg for sky (I think from my Gogmagog set). All geometry uses one level of render subD, CPU is an 17-3930K, rendered at 1400x600 pixels with 8 samples (so very noisy) but it was done in 145 seconds using 10Gb RAM. It did take a few minutes to load the geometry in before the render started though

Oh, the joy of offline CPU rendering!

 

[caisson]

An observation - the polygon reduction tool might be a quick way of changing/rearranging the pattern of vertices in a prop used as a scatter plane.

Plus a request - would it be possible to add controls to add an offset amount for the scattered objects in x, y and z, maybe with some random variation as well as absolute amounts based on whatever the units are set to?

 

[caisson]

Oh, there is a thread called Scatter Tool running in the main Poser forum at Renderosity too, so if anyone has cool art to share, why not post there too!

 

[Ken1171]

Plus a request - would it be possible to add controls to add an offset amount for the scattered objects in x, y and z, maybe with some random variation as well as absolute amounts based on whatever the units are set to?

Oh, this feature is already in my queue. I actually wanted this to be in the release version, but there wasn't enough time. The release version was planned to have a "Y" offset dial, but it didn't make it in the end. That's because this offset would have to be over the normal vector from the surface, and the math to do that is not trivial. I gave it a few tries, but it only worked in the first 2 trigonometrical quadrants, and failed in the remaining two. I will get this done when I figure the right math. ^^

As for translation variations, I have that implemented with my volumetric expansion WIP. I call it "jitter", and it can be applied in all 3 axes, not based on absolute units, but instead relative to the object's bounding box size, which I believe is more visual and intuitive to understand.

 

[RAMWolff]

Thanks so much Ken for your explanation. Very helpful! The upgrade to allow to "ignore" areas will be helpful to many but your work around is just fine for the time being!

Yea, it's too bad you can't export out the UI info to load in other installations so it could be shared. It's quite nice looking! Maybe the new version of Poser that's going to coming sometime this year will have more UI tools. I'd LOVE to make the UI NOT that weird warm gray color! LOL

 

[FVerbaas]

...

As for translation variations, I have that implemented with my volumetric expansion WIP. I call it "jitter", and it can be applied in all 3 axes, not based on absolute units, but instead relative to the object's bounding box size, which I believe is more visual and intuitive to understand.

Since you mention it ....
Was thinking maybe not use the vertex xyz as a reference but the centre of the facets, and apply jitter around that position within the facet. You keep the similar spread as you have now, which is pretty good.
But object bounding box may also work.

 

[Ken1171]

Since you mention it ....
Was thinking maybe not use the vertex xyz as a reference but the centre of the facets, and apply jitter around that position within the facet. You keep the similar spread as you have now, which is pretty good.
But object bounding box may also work.

We have 2 kinds of situations when scattering - over a surface, or inside a volume. When over a surface, we want to keep objects from sinking into the surface, or floating above it. In that case I have to use the object's origin point placed at the base, which is automatically adjusted by the Scatter Tool (assuming the object was created using best practices).

On the 2nd case, scattering inside a volume, the Scatter Tool dynamically creates it's own scattering coordinates in space, trying to fit as many objects of that size inside the bounding box. When we apply jitter, it does it in relation to the object's center, which is different from when we scatter over a surface.

So surface scattering uses the object's base as reference, while volumetric uses the center. When I add volumetric scattering, the tool will have to handle both cases. Therefore jitter applied to these 2 cases will work over different reference points.

 

[Rhia474]

Just wanted to note, in case anyone wondered about my issue, that after clarifying some specifications with Ken, the tool now works well for me--the basic issue was I didn't have Ground on my startup scene, as I suspected. Once added, it works fast and as intended. Ken will add some clarifications to the readme about the Ground plane.

 

[phil147]

I have been using the Fugazy1968 crowd generator for a while. With it, you can place a selected number of figures on a surface.
Then it is possible to re-pose these figures.

In the scatter tool, since you keep track of the scattered figures, is it possible to add this reposing feature?

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Individual scattered figures can be moved and reposed, as can the original.

No posing was done until after the Scatter Tool was finished. Each Zwoggel was then moved, rescaled to be closer to the original scale, and a pose applied.

The original Zwoggel's position was tweaked, but I left him in the load pose because I didn't feel a need to repose him. After rendering, I did apply a different pose just to test whether I could.