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Strand TreeAuthor: Fabricio Chamon Updated April 2014 with a fix by Hans Adrian for Softimage 2014+. Strand Tree is a set of ICE compound nodes that allow the creation of plants and
trees. See the author site / the si-community discussion for documentation, example
scenes and videos.
Emitters: Emit Branches, Emit Leaves
Grow Control: Even distribution grow, Random distribution grow
Modifiers: Modify Branch Color by Iteration, Modify Branch Width by Iteration, Modify Particle
Size by Iteration, Modify Value by Iteration, Modify Value by Normalized Strand Segment
Debug: Debug Iteration
Strand Effects: Deform Tree by Curve, Surface Grow
Rendering: Tree Visibility Options, Use Geometry Branches
Presets: Basic Tree, Pine Tree
Hans' interesting explanation for the Softimage 2014 fix:
[..] I moved the »set data« node to outside of »Add point«
node on creation. This is because whenever there is a »Add point« node,
the custom attribute stored in points may be reset. This was the case with »self.__strandTree_NumBranchesPerIteration«,
which was reset to 0. It caused division by 0 in »Even Distribution Grow«
node and thus the whole compound does not work. To work around this, we need to set
the custom attributes in per Object context, instead, so that those attributes will
not reset when there is another »Add point« node.
Available:
Softimage ICE Procedural Tree Generator,
ICE Procedural Tree - Surface Grow and
Tree simulation - wip.
local backup: StrandTree.xsiaddon (fixed version)
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rray
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by rray » 12 May 2010, 16:55
Yes after rethinking this, I'd suggest to rather steer clear of instances of instances. Mental ray doesn't really handle this well.
It should keep the hierarchy, instead it "unpacks" all those instances, probably in order to avoid double SRT lookups. I had 6000 trees with 4000 leaves each. Mental ray creates 24 million instances now. This is bad, imagine having 50.000 trees with 10.000 leaves each. If you have 1 kb overhead for each instance (not a too unrealistic number) you'd be at 500 GB RAM usage
I think I'll try the Pointcloud deinstance script next
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rray
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by rray » 15 May 2010, 17:47
Ok I modified (&uploaded) Jules' pointcloud deinstance script so that it works with trees (In his version every point has to have a shape, for trees only leaves have a shape)
Some foresty renders might be following xD
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Hirazi Blue
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by Hirazi Blue » 15 May 2010, 18:24
rray wrote: Ok I modified (&uploaded) Jules' pointcloud deinstance script
I assume the version on your website is the upload you're referring to.
If so, it probably would be wise to denote it as a/the modified script
(as the file name "pointcloud_deInstance_03rrmod.py" implies)
not the original... ;)
Stay safe, sane & healthy!
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rray
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by rray » 15 May 2010, 19:54
done
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fabricio.chamon
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by fabricio.chamon » 17 May 2010, 14:24
nice, I'll try the script asap.
Also this would solve the problem with colors/materials of instances of instances.
Maybe for mray the less problematic workflow would be to generate mesh from the pointcloud using Andy's saveRenderMesh (for branches), and deInstancing leaves using your mod of Jules' script (since saveRenderMesh cannot handle instances, at least that I know). It'll need an extra step in the workflow, but can be more render friendly and controllable (read: lattices, weightmaps, uv editing, etc)
let me know if you have any success.
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rray
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by rray » 18 May 2010, 19:33
I have done a few poly instancing tests. These are 45.000 instances of this simple tree (1-polygon leaves, no branches, only trunk remodeled)
firefox does some weird color correction to jpgs so I uploaded this as a gif
*rendertime: 3 hous
*ram usage: 1 GB
*randomized Y rotation, particle size, particle Y scale
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origin
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by origin » 18 May 2010, 20:27
Hi ray thanks for tests,
btw Its not weird colour correction but embeed in jpg color profile of your monitor. Same goes with alot of screengrabs from diffrents users posted here. I see yellow xsi interface instead of gray. Check photoshop options when saving for web.
btw2 I think I will send you some of my scripts Ray...I had one pc deinstance script with str animation to keyframes...lost in when doing hdd cleanup.
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mattmos
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by mattmos » 03 Aug 2010, 16:11
rray - nice tests! You should really have a look at arnold for those renders, its much much better at memory management on big scenes.
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mirkoj
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by mirkoj » 04 Aug 2010, 11:45
hey guys. this is really looking great.
if anyone is interested to send me one of those great scenes I could render it out in Arnold and post test results, after getting approval from Arnold team ofc.
Also i will need install ice compound so a little help would be great there as well.
cheers!
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rray
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by rray » 10 Aug 2010, 21:02
Here is the scene from the last picture
Should work without installing anything, since StrandTree is using factory ICE nodes only.
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mirkoj
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by mirkoj » 25 Apr 2011, 08:34
hey. is it possible that it has bin this long since post here... omg
anyway I finally got that scene and put it into arnold.
Had some problems as it didn't instance full hierarchy just the main branch, but I made a quick test
with all geometry for the tree merged into single poly mesh.
Well time wise... woooaaa..
let me just check with guys at sitoa about posting image and everything, to see if it is ok.
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M3D
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by M3D » 30 Jun 2011, 12:16
hi,
I'm new,
I am very interested ice tree stand
do not know how to install, can you help?,
I watched the video, ok for texture leaves (polygons leaf texture + alpha),
but for the trees?
thanks
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Hirazi Blue
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by Hirazi Blue » 30 Jun 2011, 14:26
When you say you've watched "the video", do you mean all videos on the first page of this thread?
Installing this should be as easy as unzipping/unrarring the file and dropping the folder "StrandTree" in the "Data > Compounds" folder of your Softimage user directory. After a restart, the compounds should show up in the ICE Preset Manager under "Tasks" > "Strand Tree"...
Stay safe, sane & healthy!
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nuverian
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by nuverian » 18 Nov 2011, 20:20
This is just so awesome! Many many thanks for generosity and hard work!
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forton
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by forton » 20 Feb 2014, 15:48
Is strandtree still working 2014 sp2?
There's something wrong with even distribution grow the strands don't spread out like they should, random distribution grow seems to work normally.
Also tested it with the ivy example scene, branches don't spread out, seems something's broken
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ISVRaDa
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by ISVRaDa » 20 Mar 2014, 03:15
forton wrote:Is strandtree still working 2014 sp2?
There's something wrong with even distribution grow the strands don't spread out like they should, random distribution grow seems to work normally.
Also tested it with the ivy example scene, branches don't spread out, seems something's broken
You right. "Even distribution grow" is broken
. I'm using 2014 sp1.
I'm really new using ICE with Softimage. I'll try to contact with Fabricio and see if we can get an update for this compound.
