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RELEASED The "Scatter Tool" plugin for Poser
Hi elli009 and welcome to the HW community! I am working on the German and Japanese compatible update right now! I should have it out as soon as possible. Thank you for your support and patience. ^____^
Good news! The Scatter Tool has been updated to version 1.01 and now supports German and Japanese languages for users from the respective countries. The update was sent to HW, and should replace the store version soon. This is a minor update just for language support, and it is not to be confused with update 1.1, which will be coming later on with many new functionalities.
Just keep an eye at HW's product updates thread for the update.
Thanks to hard work from @an0malaus, the MacOS version is taking shape. I ask Mac users to please be patient. There are lots of incompatibilities, actually more than I first expected, and they all turn around the WX interface differences between OSes that SHOULD be compatible but they are not. Python works fine in both platforms, but the WX interface doesn't. We are working on it, and the results are now finally looking promising. 
For today's update, I am happy to announce that the Scatter Tool now supports German and Japanese languages with the release of the 1.01 update. The MacOS version is also coming along, where today we have reached the first release candidate. Once properly tested, the Mac version should hit the store, and should be free for current Scatter Tool owners.
A lot of people have asked me how can they have more control over WHERE things get scattered. Things like, hey - I don't want grass inside the house, or I only want flowers on this corner over here. By default, the Scatter Tool will use all the available area. For those of you using the default Dome, most likely you don't want scattered objects to go over the walls and ceiling, right?
Can I make it only use the areas I want? And the answer is YES, you can. All you need is the Grouping Tool. So let me show you how it's done in this 5 minutes video tutorial. Place things exactly where you want, quick and easy!
Can I make it only use the areas I want? And the answer is YES, you can. All you need is the Grouping Tool. So let me show you how it's done in this 5 minutes video tutorial. Place things exactly where you want, quick and easy!
Studying math pays off!
Today I have redesigned the surface alignment module (from scratch) for the upcoming version 1.10 to make better use of linear algebra, which not only simplifies the processing, but should also speed it up. I have also finally figured out how to handle local space transforms in Poser, so the new positional jitter module now operates in local space, which should allow for a new ability of offsetting objects in and off the surface. That is something I wanted to have included in the very first release, but didn't have the proper math to do it. So this new positional jitter module will allow for jitter variations over the scatter surface (allows breaking straight vertex rows alignment), and also offsetting in and off from the surface.
The MacOS version for 1.02 is still in internal beta, and is already close to completion.
Today I have redesigned the surface alignment module (from scratch) for the upcoming version 1.10 to make better use of linear algebra, which not only simplifies the processing, but should also speed it up. I have also finally figured out how to handle local space transforms in Poser, so the new positional jitter module now operates in local space, which should allow for a new ability of offsetting objects in and off the surface. That is something I wanted to have included in the very first release, but didn't have the proper math to do it. So this new positional jitter module will allow for jitter variations over the scatter surface (allows breaking straight vertex rows alignment), and also offsetting in and off from the surface.
The MacOS version for 1.02 is still in internal beta, and is already close to completion.
kersbergen
Inspired
point is when I use the scatter tool I get only props distributed along the edge of the scatterplane.
Hi and thanks for reporting the issue. Does it happen with all scatter planes, or just one in particular? Could you tell me which one is it?
kersbergen
Inspired
thanks for reacting, I took a closer look at it and it seems to happen with only one prop as scatterplane, nl a floorprop I made myself from the cilinder primitive by scaling it up and reducing the Y-scale to 1% exported it and imported it as a new prop. on other primtives no problem.
This is likely to be happening because the cylinder has no vertexes on the middle to scatter over. The tool uses vertexes for geometry placement. What you can do here is to subdivide the cylinder, export to OBJ, and load it back, now with more vertices to work with.
Jack Ryan
Inspired
I have been testing the ScatterTool that I bought last night in order to learn how to use it. I am using Windows10 and Poser Pro 11.3 on a Boxx Laptop computer. I have 3 problems:
1) While testing I accidentally exited the Tool. When I restarted it, I wanted to remove the trees that I had scattered previously. However, when I Right-Clicked the Remove button as directed in the PDF file, nothing happened. Should I do something before Right-Clicking the button?
2) I loaded a Flink's Instant Forest Big Hilly ground plane and tested several Figures on it. Michael 4 and the HiveWire Horse both stood on the surface of the hill prop as they should. But scattered Lyne's Sheep figures all "sank" into the ground instead. Is there some way to get figures that do this to stand on the surface (other than moving each one individually)?
3) When I tried to Remove the Scattered HiveWire Horse tested in 2) above, nothing happened. Is there something that I should have done to get the scattered horses to Remove?
Thanks - Jack
1) While testing I accidentally exited the Tool. When I restarted it, I wanted to remove the trees that I had scattered previously. However, when I Right-Clicked the Remove button as directed in the PDF file, nothing happened. Should I do something before Right-Clicking the button?
2) I loaded a Flink's Instant Forest Big Hilly ground plane and tested several Figures on it. Michael 4 and the HiveWire Horse both stood on the surface of the hill prop as they should. But scattered Lyne's Sheep figures all "sank" into the ground instead. Is there some way to get figures that do this to stand on the surface (other than moving each one individually)?
3) When I tried to Remove the Scattered HiveWire Horse tested in 2) above, nothing happened. Is there something that I should have done to get the scattered horses to Remove?
Thanks - Jack
Hi @Jack Ryan and welcome to the HW forums! Let me answer your questions right away! ^____^
1) You have to first select the item you want to delete from the list on the left side. The remove button has no effect when nothing is selected.
2) What's most likely happening here is that the pivot point in that figure is not placed at the origin by default. The easy way to fix that is to select the figure's "Body", open the Joint Editor, and set the origin Y value to (0, 0, 0). If that doesn't work, try doing the same to the "Hip" group. Hope this helps!
3) Here again, make sure you select the horse from the list on the left before pressing the "remove" button. That should do the trick. ^^
1) You have to first select the item you want to delete from the list on the left side. The remove button has no effect when nothing is selected.
2) What's most likely happening here is that the pivot point in that figure is not placed at the origin by default. The easy way to fix that is to select the figure's "Body", open the Joint Editor, and set the origin Y value to (0, 0, 0). If that doesn't work, try doing the same to the "Hip" group. Hope this helps!
3) Here again, make sure you select the horse from the list on the left before pressing the "remove" button. That should do the trick. ^^
Jack Ryan
Inspired
I tested your suggestions this morning.
1) When trying to remove scattered trees after exiting Scatter Tool, then reloading the Tool: Right Clicking Remove with Trees selected (as directed in the PDF file) still did not remove the trees from the former session.
2) I opened the Joint Editor for the Sheep>Body, but there is no "origin" setting. The drop down menu is set on Center (other options have nothing to do with Origin) and the items which have xyz values are "Center Point," "End Point," and "Orientation". I tried setting some of these values to 0, and the Sheep still sank into the Flink's Ground when Scattered. The same was true if I selected Sheep>Hip.
3) I scattered the HiveWire Horse, clicked the Remove button immediately, and after 40 minutes it still was not Removed. I tried again after parenting the Mane, Tail, and Fetlocks to the Horse Body. Scatter, click Remove, and an hour later the scattered Horses were still there.
Any new suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
1) When trying to remove scattered trees after exiting Scatter Tool, then reloading the Tool: Right Clicking Remove with Trees selected (as directed in the PDF file) still did not remove the trees from the former session.
2) I opened the Joint Editor for the Sheep>Body, but there is no "origin" setting. The drop down menu is set on Center (other options have nothing to do with Origin) and the items which have xyz values are "Center Point," "End Point," and "Orientation". I tried setting some of these values to 0, and the Sheep still sank into the Flink's Ground when Scattered. The same was true if I selected Sheep>Hip.
3) I scattered the HiveWire Horse, clicked the Remove button immediately, and after 40 minutes it still was not Removed. I tried again after parenting the Mane, Tail, and Fetlocks to the Horse Body. Scatter, click Remove, and an hour later the scattered Horses were still there.
Any new suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Thank you for trying the suggestions! Let me assist you with your questions.
1) If the tree was selected in the "Objects to Scatter" list, and right-clicking didn't work, it might be something particular to the tree that the program didn't predict. Is is the tree a prop or a figure? I made the tool as generic as possible to accommodate for all sorts of props and figures, but they are not all built the same. I might have to test with that prop or figure to see what's happening.
2) The "origin" is called "Center Point" in the joint editor. Once you select the figure's "Body", it usually help to set the center point to zero in X, Y and Z, and then the "end point" to zero in X and Z, and then set Y to something like "0.1". This last one (setting end point Y) is very important - it should always be a positive value larger than zero. Orientation should not be changed. For the record, the scatter tool automatically zeroes the origin point for you on the scatter objects it creates, but it doesn't change the end-point (except for billboards). This was the best generic way I could come up with, but I cannot predict the creative ways content creators build their contents. Poser is an incredibly varied market, and there might be props and figures that break the rules somewhere. For example, if a prop or figure was not modeled at the origin (and above the ground), there is nothing the tool can do to fix that.
What you can do, however, is to convert the sheep from figure to prop. Just make sure it's on the ground (CTRL+D) when you do it, and placed at the origin (center of the scene). There are many ways to do that in Poser. I usually do this using Dimention3D's "Figure to Prop" free script, but I don't know if this is still available. Another way is using Poser built-in Grouping Tool, but that might need a specific tutorial. In a nutshell, you create a new group, select all, and press the "create prop" button. It's the same process I have demonstrated in the last video tutorial posted here in this thread, where I have created 2 props out of the Poser ground using the Group Editor. That can be used to convert figures to prop. When we do that, it preserves all the materials, so the object will still look the same, and it fixes whatever issues it might have before with the scatter tool.
3) I have tried scattering the HW horse, and, surprise, it really can't be removed with the Scatter Tool. One would assume the code to remove one figure should work with any other, but here is the proof that not all is the same under the sky. I would convert the horse to a prop (after posed and textured), and that should resolve any issues like explained above. Chances are it will also be a little faster. Give it a try, and ask me if you have questions.
Jack Ryan
Inspired
Hi Ken, Thanks for all you suggestions. After I got your Scatter Tool I just tried a bunch of random things to see how they worked, and to help me learn to use the tool. The things that I reported to you were just some of the things I tried. I know that problems can occur with things that others have created. I either find a work around or find something else to use. I like your Scatter Tool. Now I just have to think of some projects where I can use it.
Thanks again for your help. - Jack
Thanks again for your help. - Jack
You are very welcome! I guess the easiest solution for all kinds of issues like this would be to convert the figure to prop. Right now I am making a Poser plugin just to do that, trying to make it a 1-click thing. ^___^