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First, replace the image view by a 3D view now, create a new context
and rename it "ficus" inside, create a new one
and rename it ficus1 go inside
In Clarisse, it is very important to keep things organized...
...and place your objects in named contexts. Import your first object using File > Import
Geometry and choose Objects/Ficus/ficus1.lwo file.
This will create two objects: ficus1_tree and ficus1_leaf,
because a .lwo file contains two layers. The look of plants scattered on a landscape...
is extremely sensitive to leave size and density:
Too low density: "hard" result
Too high density: "fuzzy" result
Right density: realistic result
this is why it is better to control this in Clarisse
Let's see how we can create a procedural foliage system
that will allow you to change the leaves density. Create a point cloud object
rename it "leaves_pc" using the F2 key set the density to 40...
... and geometry to "ficus1_leaf" Now let's create the leaf.
go to project:/ficus Create a grid...
set the Scale attribute to... ... 15% , 100% and 20%
and the Span to 1 and 1. Now, go back to "ficus1" context
and create a Scatterer object rename it "leaves"
lock the Attribute Editor and drag and drop "leaf"
into the scatterer's geometry list do the same to connect "leaves_pc" to Geometry
Support Set use support normals to 100%
Scatter Rotation Variance to 10, 360 and 20
All we have to do now is to "package" our tree...
...in a more convenient way to be used in the project.
Select the leaves object and the ficus1_tree object
and right Click Combine This creates a combiner with the two selected
objects inside Rename the combiner to ficus1_BD
move it up to project://ficus for future use. You can now play with the Point Cloud Density...
...and Scatterer Scale attributes... ...to vary the density and size of the leaves.
Set it back to the previous values before proceeding
then drag and drop "ficus" context to the 3dview title bar
this locks the 3d view to the context A real good thing about contexts is
they act as namespace: you can't have two objects
with the same name inside one context, but you can have the same name
many times as long as it is in different contexts.
This allows to duplicate full setups using
copy and paste on contexts. select the context ficus1
Copy/paste it twice using CTRL+C and CTRL+V You have now three copies of your original
setup. Go to context ficus2
and multiselect ficus1_tree and ficus1_leaf look for the path attribute
and replace "ficus1.lwo" by "ficus2.lwo" the second plant is now ready to be tweaked.
drag and drop ficus2 context to the 3d view title bar
rename ficus1_tree to ficus2_tree and ficus1_leaf to ficus2_leaf...
Combine the two objects and rename the combiner "ficus2_BD"
move it to project:/ficus set the 3d view to ficus3 context
and repeat the process for ficus3: set the path to ficus3.lwo ...
... rename your objects... ...combine...
... rename the combiner... and move the combiner to project:/ficus
Go at the root of the project and copy/paste the ficus context
rename the copy "bush" Go inside
and delete all except ficus1 and leaf rename "ficus1" to "bush1"
go inside replace all "ficus" by "bush" in object names
select the two mesh objects and replace their path by...
...\Objects\Bush\bush1.lwo go back to \bush
and duplicate bush1 context four times update the object path
to each corresponding geometry file repeat the process for each bush
We now need to adjust the leaves size and density,
each plant needing different settings search "leaves" in the browser
then select all objects set the Scatter Scale to 20%
and density to 844 the Scatter Scale Variance can be set to 10%
ideally, each plant should be set individually the exact same process is repeated
for the small trees Now, if you take a look at your combiners,
you may notice a little problem. The pivot should be at the base of the tree...
and not in the center. By default, combiners automatically
set the pivot at the center, which is usually fine,
but will cause problems in this very case. Hit the F3 key to open the search widget
Type "comb", then Enter select all objects in the list
set all Translate attributes to 0 do the same for Pivot Translate
Now, all our combiners have the pivot correctly centered at the base.
We will now create materials for our plants In order to view our materials,
it will be easier if we use a small render environment.
Go to file>import>project... and choose enviro.project.
Replace the 3DView by an Image View and select the image
Now, drag and drop ficus1_BD on the ground plane
This automatically creates an instance of the tree inside the enviro
context. If you look at the ficus1_BD object icon,
you will notice a little "i" because the object is an instance
Replace the Image Gallery by a 3DView set to Previz mode,
Click on "Fit on select" icon At the root of the project,
create a context named materials Then, inside materials, create another one
named "generic_leaf" Inside, create a Standard Material
and rename it "generic_leaf" For now, just set the Diffuse
to a green color Search "leaf" word using the F3 shortcut
and select all objects in the list Open the material linker,
and replace, for the "Leaf1" shading group the default material...
by the "generic_leaf" material Do the same for the grid shading group
Use the Pickfit tool to zoom closely to a leaf
Use file>import>texture>map file... go to textures/leaf tutorial directory
and import all images Open the Material Editor
and drag and drop all map file objects Hit L to auto layout all texture nodes
Create a Utility Texture, set to is facing? mode
then a Texture Reorder Connect utility to reorder
and in the Reorder Channel Order attribute... type "rrr"
Add a Texture Blend and connect Reorder to the Blend Mix Input
Plug leaf_top_BD_map in blend Input1 and leaf_bottom_BD_map on blend Input2
Connect blend output to generic_leaf diffuse Each side of the leaves now receive a different
texture Add a Multiply Texture
and insert it between blend and generic_leaf Connect multiply to backlighting
and blend to Diffuse set multiply Input2 attribute to 0.5
Connect leaf_topbump_BD_map to Bump Set the Bump to 5mm
Go to leaf_topbump_BD_map attributes... ...and look for Single channel file behavior
Set it to force luminance Select generic_leaf material
Set the specularity to 1 select the four map files
and set their Uvscale attribute to 80% in the first axis
Hit the F3 key type "leaf"
Select all geometries open the material linker
and click on the little checker icon browse to...
project://materials/generic_leaf/leaf_clip_BD_map This Map File is used as a Clip Map:
every white element in the texture is clipped in render
Return to the material context and create a new context named generic_trunk
create a new Standard Material renamed generic_trunk
Hit F3 and search for tree Select all objects in the list
Now, look at the Material Linker: you can see the Trunk shading group
assign to it the generic_trunk material Now all trunk shading groups share this material
Create a new Fractal Noise Texture and connect it to the Diffuse attribute
Set the projection to planar the projection scale to 800% on all axes
and the contrast to 50% Set Color1 and Color2
to two different brown colors Create a new Fractal Noise Texture
and connect it to the bump. Set the bump attribute to 5 cm
Now it's time to save your plant library to a project file
name your file plantlibrary_ref.project Using "_ref" in the name,
you will always know if the file is meant to be used in other projects