billboard trees don't turn.

Discussion in 'Track Modding' started by Mario Morais, Feb 25, 2012.

  1. Mario Morais

    Mario Morais Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2010
    Messages:
    1,465
    Likes Received:
    169
  2. Nuno Lourenço

    Nuno Lourenço Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2010
    Messages:
    593
    Likes Received:
    65
    Didn't solve it Mario...

    i checked everything including triangulation but the result is always the same no matter how many plane i made...

    last palm that i tried i follow this tutorial from Luc

    - 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).
    - Edit the Triangulation so the diagonal edge connects vertices 2 and 4 (again top-left to bottom-right).
    - Select the quad's vertices (or select the entire polygon) and set the Vertex Alpha to a value other than 100.0. At ISI we usually use 90.0 for no real reason.
    - Use a Stamp Vertex shader (for instance "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 verts 1 and 2).

    View attachment 1935

    View attachment 1936

    View attachment 1937

    View attachment 1938

    View attachment 1939
     
  3. Nuno Lourenço

    Nuno Lourenço Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2010
    Messages:
    593
    Likes Received:
    65
    sorry for double post...

    View attachment 1940

    View attachment 1941

    the one on the right have everything ready except vertex alpha that is still in 100. the one on the left i rotated it upside down 180º and flip texture to stay in right position but became small and not on the ground

    When i set vertex alpha to 90 on the tree in right...

    View attachment 1942

    Note that i rotate this too to stay in "right" orientation.

    Last one, the palm done with Luc tutorial

    View attachment 1943

    This was not rotated so become upside down :(

    No more ideas here....
     
  4. Luc Van Camp

    Luc Van Camp Track Team Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2010
    Messages:
    1,030
    Likes Received:
    15
    Looks like I need to run further tests myself to figure this out :( . Last time I checked, it really mattered how you draw the polygon (you can start in each corner).
     
  5. Mario Morais

    Mario Morais Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2010
    Messages:
    1,465
    Likes Received:
    169
    I recheck my tree and my vertex order is different but billboard works. (in base is 1, 3 and top is 2, 4.

    So i think the problem is the face orientation.
    In my image z axis is perpendicular to the face and dash line is top-left to bottom-right.
    try to flip the face.
     
  6. Nuno Lourenço

    Nuno Lourenço Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2010
    Messages:
    593
    Likes Received:
    65
    Jesus christ, this is driving me crazy :mad:

    Tried like you have Mario and don't work too but as i need to remap texture it don't appear upside-down.

    It look's like the game automatically resize object in Z axis.

    View attachment 1954

    Next with vertex alpha 100

    View attachment 1955

    But when changed to 90....

    View attachment 1956

    I'm stuck and i don't want to move forward while this step isn't completed....
     
    PatientRF2fan likes this.
  7. ethone

    ethone Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2011
    Messages:
    1,153
    Likes Received:
    37
    If you do it like from Luc's tutorial just mirror the UVW Mapping to turn it back onto its roots.
    The vertex numbering in later 3ds max versions differs from what Luc described but if you work around that the system itself still works fine.
     
  8. Nuno Lourenço

    Nuno Lourenço Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2010
    Messages:
    593
    Likes Received:
    65
    But ethone that is just one problem... game is resizing object in z axis and the bottom of plane won't stay on the ground after i define vertex alpha to 90
     
  9. feels3

    feels3 Member Staff Member

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2011
    Messages:
    1,201
    Likes Received:
    142
    Did you try to reset x-form?
     
  10. ethone

    ethone Registered

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2011
    Messages:
    1,153
    Likes Received:
    37
    Yes, reset x-form comes to mind.
    Does it rotate correctly?
     
  11. Nuno Lourenço

    Nuno Lourenço Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2010
    Messages:
    593
    Likes Received:
    65
    Well, first i try to reset x-form in palm and it worked finally, after that i tried in the other and was a fight again even with reset x-form... but after more 15m trying i manage to put it working in second tree too.

    View attachment 1964

    But i must have some bug in my MAX... After palm work i tried to scale it but after exported nothing changed...

    View attachment 1965

    Again it only changed after do a reset x-form again.....

    View attachment 1966

    Is it normal?

    just one more thing by now,

    View attachment 1967

    With chroma color in black i have that effect. a lot of zones that should be transparent but aren't... how can i make it look better? In rf1 i used to use green color but seems not working here, or probably just another MAX bug.... in other trees it seems to work perfect but not in this one... alpha chanel is not the problem because it's correct.
     
  12. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2010
    Messages:
    691
    Likes Received:
    46
    I know this is an old thread, but I was asked about this the other day and I have a simple method to fix any issues with billboard trees not working.

    Get and install soulburnscripts (SoulCollection3dsMax_) http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_tools/soulburnscripts/soulburnscripts.htm

    You need to use 3 of those scripts, PutPivot, ObjectDetacher and ObjectReplacer. Open them all now and just drag them to the side so its ready.

    Make a new single tree from a plane primitive and use PutPivot to place the pivot at the bottom, set up the material, export it and test it in the viewer to make sure it works. If you have a few different tree's, make new plane's for all of them and test them in the viewer. Once they are all done and working you can move to the next step

    Back to the existing trees,,
    Attach all the tree's together into one object for each tree texture, but don't go over 2000 elements, if you have more than 2k, then just make as many as you need. 32bit max could crash if you go too high, I stick to 2k cause its more efficient.

    *You can select all tree objects and do it in one go, but again, you will max out max and it will probably take longer. so just do them one object at a time.

    Select a tree object and create a new layer with that object in it and turn off the other layers so you are left with just the one tree object
    Run ObjectDetacher on it, this will detach all elements into single objects.
    Select all the detached trees and use put pivot to place the pivot point at the bottom of the tree.
    Then use ObjectReplacer select a single object which will be one of the new trees you made (and obviously one with the same texture as the ones you just detached), you should be able to still select this tree even though the layer it is in is hidden by using Select BY Name and turning on the hidden objects filter.
    In ObjectReplacer, turn off all the options but leave position and layer on.
    Change the output to copy (not instance) if you make instances it will complicate things, but if for example you do leave instance selected by accident, make sure to select all detached and convert to poly before re-attaching them, or you will create a million tree objects and max won't be happy :D
    *Important*, save your project now because doing this process on a lot of objects can cause max to crash.
    Then select all the tree objects you just detached and run the script (click apply). It might take some time, so don't give up to easy if max freezes, if its gone for longer than ten minutes then there is a problem, reduce the amount of objects your trying to replace by selecting half of them and create a new layer for them and turn the other one off so you don't get confused, then go back to the other layer to do the other half.

    Once the script has finished, you should be left with all the new trees you just replaced, select one and in the Modify rollout, click 'attach list' and select all and attach them all together. Or manually attach them into the groups you had them in previously.

    It should all work now.

    I think I got all the right info in here, It has been a while since I had to do this, but if something is not working then feel free to yell at me :)
     
  13. Butters

    Butters Registered

    Joined:
    May 20, 2011
    Messages:
    134
    Likes Received:
    0
    Cheers for the time taken to give your response mianiak. I did try getting the billboard trees going about a year ago but gave up after no success but will have another crack on the weekend trying the above.
     
  14. Butters

    Butters Registered

    Joined:
    May 20, 2011
    Messages:
    134
    Likes Received:
    0
    I know an old thread but out of curiosity has anyone ever tried this on their lightglow objects? I tried it and am pretty happy with the results using one single poly you can get the effects you are used to seeing with crossed polys and in my opinion I think it looks a bit cleaner as you don't get any of the crossover depending on which angle you are to the object. I haven't tried it on the down part of a light glow yet but I think it's really good for lights that don't require that.

    Below is an image showing the result. Each light glow is just one single poly so in total 4 polys creating the effect seen on the four different light poles.
    View attachment 16424
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 14, 2015
  15. Jka

    Jka Member Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jan 31, 2011
    Messages:
    954
    Likes Received:
    213
    Nice idea! :cool:

    I have to test this out immediately...

    Cheers!
     
  16. blakboks

    blakboks Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2010
    Messages:
    843
    Likes Received:
    30
    The problem with this, Butters, is that you can noticeably see the glow clipping through the light pole geo. I can't remember off the top of my head, and I'm not in front of my home computer; is there an option in the material at all for doing a depth offset? That's a possible simple solution to keep it from clipping, but still maintaining the billboard functionality.
     
  17. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2010
    Messages:
    691
    Likes Received:
    46
    I do this always, anything similar to this like smoke, steam, water spray (fountain) etc. I only map half of the texture for the round light glow and use billboard with bottom centre pivot (this prevents any crossed over stuff), the long glow works fine this way too. I rarely use stamp with centre pivot, only when its a light where the light is on top (warning lights etc).
     
  18. SimoG

    SimoG Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2012
    Messages:
    72
    Likes Received:
    0
    hi at all
    I using Blender to make the trees.

    For now I use in my track a Y trees but, especially at night, the shadow produced divide in half the trees, quite ugly to be seen. So I replaced them. I have create a vertical plane with a diagonal subdivision (up Left - Bottom Right) and then i've merged all the trees in a single object. In gJed i check the BB option but nothing happens.

    Does anyone know how to make them work with Blender?

    Thanks
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 13, 2016
  19. SimoG

    SimoG Registered

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2012
    Messages:
    72
    Likes Received:
    0
    hi at all

    I go back to this thread to answer me. It is not possible.

    So I decided to install the trial version of 3DS and try to do, run the trees.

    The problem that they do not rotating is solved with the vertex apha but, me too, the trees are lying down or upside down. since it is the first time I use 3DS I have some trouble following the instructions you gave. And after a week of various attempts, no results.

    This is what I do:

    1. I create the trees, place them and merge in a single object on Blender. (for this test but I would divide them into smaller chunks).
    2. Import the FBX in 3DS and select the object.
    3. click on editable poly and then on elements. I select everything, set Vertex Alpha, remove the diagonal and click retriangulate.
    4. select a single element, click on edit triangulation and draw the diagonal \.
    5. export the FBX and load gJed and check the BB box, T1 Stamp vertex etc...

    it's all correct?

    The trees turn to the camera but continue to be lying down.
    I attach the file that I use for tests so you can control it and tell me where I'm wrong.

    Thank

    PS. Because I still have three weeks before 3DS expires and my English is a bit scarce, may I ask if any of you makes me a little video with the steps to do with my files? This would help me a lot, as long as the problem is not the 3D model that I created.
     
  20. mianiak

    mianiak Registered

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2010
    Messages:
    691
    Likes Received:
    46
    When this happens, there is 2 things you can do, try to flip the faces and/or flip the UV's top to bottom. There are 2 things that can go wrong, one is the image is upside down, the other is the image is on it's side, one of these 2 fixes fixes upside down and the other fixes on its side, I just can't remember which does what at this moment in time, but a bit of trial and error will get results.

    Also just to note, you need a vertex colour value aswell as vert alpha, vert colour can be pure white but it still needs to be set.
     

Share This Page