Once again no working tree billboards

Discussion in 'Track Modding' started by OriK, Nov 8, 2015.

  1. OriK

    OriK Registered

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    2 full days of setting up 2 triangles is by far enough. I give up, I'm tired. I know, this has been asked thousands of times and so are the "working" answers. That's why I so absolutely can't figure out why I don't get the trees working. I followed the track technology document, searched the forums, followed the "step by step by step by step" tutorial by Ethone. The billboard setup is actually kind of simple with comprehensible steps and that is why it's driving me nuts. :(

    My setup:
    • vertex bottom line 1 > 2
    • triangulation from top left to bottom right
    • vertex alpha set to 90
    • gmt exporter > screen aligned tools > ticked "BB" and hit "pivot bottom" button
    • shader > T1 Stamp Vertex (tried several Stamp Vertex shaders)
    • tried different alignments of the polgon in 3ds max but Z-axis always up (reset xform each time)

    I'm running out of ideas since the points above are always the answers and suggestions in other threads. I don't even get a wrong billboard behaviour but always a static plane. I'm testing this in the game, not the dev mode. I'm using 3ds Max 2012 with latest dev tools.
     
  2. Luc Van Camp

    Luc Van Camp Track Team Staff Member

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    Vertex Alpha resuires some data to be written to Vertex Colour in order to export correctly. So, set Vertex Colour to any value, press OK (and then reset it back to 255 white).
    Also, set Vertex Alpha to 99.9999 -- 90 will result in transparent pattern trees.
     
  3. OriK

    OriK Registered

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    Oh my god, that's it. Thank you very much. I never was so excited to see a tree :D.
     
  4. wizzfactor2

    wizzfactor2 Registered

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    Again cant get BB trees working properly, followed all of the above and I get an upside down tree that rotates. So how do I reset it to appear rightside up, Thanks
     
  5. Luc Van Camp

    Luc Van Camp Track Team Staff Member

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    In Poly submode, select all, rotate 180° in Local mode -- this will make them appear upside down in Max as well, and should look consistent with that you see in the Viewer.
    Then apply an UVW Unwrap modifier, Edit, and for each UV island set, rotate it 180°.

    Best piece of advice I can give is to export a test object with all base tree instances and check that it is working, before distributing hundreds of trees.
     
  6. monoplazas_RR

    monoplazas_RR Registered

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    I discovered some time ago that the last 3D Max (2012 version) ISI plugins have got many problems with the billboard trees. With all correctly created, it don't work, it don't turn. Then I changed the plugins to version 2.52 M (build 910) and voilà!, without touching the trees, it began to work.
     
  7. Luc Van Camp

    Luc Van Camp Track Team Staff Member

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    It's simply the vertex colour that needs to be set.
     
  8. wizzfactor2

    wizzfactor2 Registered

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    Ive done that and its works just upside down. I Will try your poly orientation and uw remap thanks
     
  9. wizzfactor2

    wizzfactor2 Registered

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    Okay after doing the above, it orientated the way it should, but was drawn high up in the air.
    So I did a Reset XForm and all good now, thanks for your help :)
     
  10. wizzfactor2

    wizzfactor2 Registered

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    Ive re-edited Luc post, Hope you dont mind.

    I'm using Max 2010. It appears that different versions may have different outcomes.

    So Luc's best piece of advice he can give is to Export a test object with all base tree instances and check that it is working, before distributing hundreds of trees.

    Draw the Plane from top-left to bottom-right. This will put vertices 1 and 2 as the base line (which is used as the quad's pivot).
    Vertices 3 and 4 will be on the top edge of the Plane.

    Edit the Triangulation so the diagonal edge connects vertices 3 and 2 (again top-left vertex 3 to bottom-right vertex 2).

    Select the quad's vertices (or select the entire polygon) and set the Vertex Alpha to 90. This will result in transparent pattern trees.
    Also Vertex Alpha requires some data to be written to Vertex Colour in order to export correctly.
    So set Vertex Colour to any value, press OK (and then reset it back to 255 (white).

    Use a Stamp Vertex shader (for instance "T1 Stamp Vetex or Bump Specular Map T1 Stamp Vertex" - don't use the Alpha test version) and assign the material to the quad.

    In the Exporter's Instance rollout, look for the Screen-Aligned Quads subsection, tick BB and select the button with the arrow pointing down to center the pivot point on the base line (between vertices 1 and 2).

    Do a preview in the 3D Viewer.

    If the tree is drawn upside down then a poly and texture reorientation may be required;
    In Poly sub-mode, select all, rotate 180° in Local mode -- this will make them appear upside down in Max as well, and should look consistent with what you see in the Viewer.
    Then apply an UVW Unwrap modifier, Edit, and for each UV island set, rotate it 180°.

    Do another preview in the 3D Viewer.

    If tree is drawn high then do a Reset XForm; In the utilities panel look for Reset XForm and press Reset Selected. Do an export and check with the 3d Viewer.

    Hope this will help with a consistent outcome, cheers:)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 31, 2016

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