Populator v3 - Revision history

JavaJones at 01:30, 14 February 2014

2014-02-14T01:30:41Z

Jo at 02:01, 22 July 2013

2013-07-22T02:01:26Z

Jo at 09:23, 14 January 2013

2013-01-14T09:23:57Z

JavaJones at 04:47, 9 January 2013

2013-01-09T04:47:18Z

JavaJones at 04:36, 9 January 2013

2013-01-09T04:36:37Z

Jo at 08:58, 4 December 2012

2012-12-04T08:58:37Z

Jo at 08:42, 4 December 2012

2012-12-04T08:42:27Z

JavaJones at 18:48, 1 June 2011

2011-06-01T18:48:05Z

JavaJones at 18:56, 31 May 2011

2011-05-31T18:56:17Z

JavaJones at 21:02, 13 May 2011

2011-05-13T21:02:36Z

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 The Populator is used for creating and distributing many instances of the same object across a customizable rectangle area on the xz-plane. By using the Populator, the user can have the application accurately place instances of objects (instantiated objects) on the terrain surface automatically, so that the object's y coordinate matches the y coordinate of the terrain. The ability to specify a density shader allows users to mask the placement and distribution of objects. If no distribution shader is specified, the Populator places objects randomly across the defined rectangle area. To mimic more variety, the Populator can rotate instantiated objects randomly around the y-axis, and vary the object scale within a Population by user defined parameters.
 The Populator v3 has been superceded by the [[Populator v4]] node in TG3. The Populator v4 has a number of advantages. You cannot create Populator v3 nodes in TG3, however the node is still available if you're loading projects made in TG2. This means your projects will still load and render as expected.
 For additional information and example projects for using Populator nodes, please see the [[Populator Guide]].

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 '''Node Description & Purpose: '''<br />
 The Populator is used for creating and distributing many instances of the same object across a customizable rectangle area on the xz-plane. By using the Populator, the user can have the application accurately place instances of objects (instantiated objects) on the terrain surface automatically, so that the object's y coordinate matches the y coordinate of the terrain. The ability to specify a density shader allows users to mask the placement and distribution of objects. If no distribution shader is specified, the Populator places objects randomly across the defined rectangle area. To mimic more variety, the Populator can rotate instantiated objects randomly around the y-axis, and vary the object scale within a Population by user defined parameters.
 For additional information and example projects for using Populator nodes, please see the [[Populator Guide]].
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 * '''Show b-box in preview: '''Enables or disables a 2D rectangle in the preview window, which marks the boundaries of the population on the xz axis.
 * '''Preview mode:''' Lets you choose how the object should be displayed in the 3D Preview. This popup sets the most detailed mode that the object can be displayed in. The Object Display Mode button in the 3D Preview controls the mode for the preview as a whole. For example if you set the '''Preview mode''' of the object to Wireframe but the 3D Preview object display mode is set to '''Show as bounding boxes''' then the object will only be drawn as a bounding box.
 * '''Object maker: '''Allows the user to enter or select an object maker that defines the object being populated.
 * '''Render Quality: '''Allows for specifying the render quality of populated objects. To reduce render times, level-of-detail reduction is applied to parts of objects that appear very small in the rendered image, with respect to the image resolution and detail settings in the render node. Therefore more detail reduction is applied to objects in the distance or to objects with very small polygons. The Render Quality setting controls how much reduction takes place, but also affects render times. '''Note: this setting does not have an effect when Raytrace Objects is enabled, which is the default in newer versions of Terragen.'''
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 * '''"Populate Now" Button: '''Calculates a population of instanced objects based on the current settings. If you do not press this button, the population will be calculated automatically the next time you render an image, but if you have enabled "Preview instances" then you can use this button to preview the positions of the objects in the 3D Preview without rendering an image.

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 '''Node Description & Purpose: '''<br />
 The Populator is used for creating and distributing many instances of the same object across a customizable rectangle area on the xz-plane. By using the Populator, the user can have the application accurately place instances of objects (instantiated objects) on the terrain surface automatically, so that the object's y coordinate matches the y coordinate of the terrain. The ability to specify a density shader allows users to mask the placement and distribution of objects. If no distribution shader is specified, the Populator places objects randomly across the defined rectangle area. To mimic more variety, the Populator can rotate instantiated objects randomly around the y-axis, and vary the object scale within a Population by user defined parameters.
@@ Line 30: / Line 32: @@
 * '''"Populate Now" Button: '''Calculates a population of instanced objects based on the current settings. If you do not press this button, the population will be calculated automatically the next time you render an image, but if you have enabled "Preview instances" then you can use this button to preview the positions of the objects in the 3D Preview without rendering an image.
 * '''Repopulate every frame: '''Forces the populator to recalculate the positions and sizes of the instantiated objects every time a new frame is rendered. This is necessary if you animate your distribution functions, terrain, or object maker. If you don't check this box, the population will still be calculated automatically at the start of a render if any of the Populator's parameters have changed.

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 * '''Enable (Checkbox): '''Enables or disables the Populator.
 * '''Show b-box in preview: '''Enables or disables a 2D rectangle in the preview window, which marks the boundaries of the population on the xz axis.
-* '''Preview mode:''' '''Preview mode:''' This popup lets you choose how the object should be displayed in the 3D Preview. This popup sets the most detailed mode that the object can be displayed in. The Object Display Mode button in the 3D Preview controls the mode for the preview as a whole. For example if you set the '''Preview mode''' of the object to Wireframe but the 3D Preview object display mode is set to '''Show as bounding boxes''' then the object will only be drawn as a bounding box.
+* '''Preview mode:''' Lets you choose how the object should be displayed in the 3D Preview. This popup sets the most detailed mode that the object can be displayed in. The Object Display Mode button in the 3D Preview controls the mode for the preview as a whole. For example if you set the '''Preview mode''' of the object to Wireframe but the 3D Preview object display mode is set to '''Show as bounding boxes''' then the object will only be drawn as a bounding box.
-* '''Object maker: '''Allows to enter or select an object maker that defines the object being populated.
+* '''Object maker: '''Allows the user to enter or select an object maker that defines the object being populated.
-* '''Render Quality: '''Allows for specifying the render quality of populated objects. To reduce render times, level-of-detail reduction is applied to parts of objects that appear very small in the rendered image, with respect to the image resolution and detail settings in the render node. Therefore more detail reduction is applied to objects in the distance or to objects with very small polygons. The Render Quality setting controls how much reduction takes place, but also affects render times.
+* '''Render Quality: '''Allows for specifying the render quality of populated objects. To reduce render times, level-of-detail reduction is applied to parts of objects that appear very small in the rendered image, with respect to the image resolution and detail settings in the render node. Therefore more detail reduction is applied to objects in the distance or to objects with very small polygons. The Render Quality setting controls how much reduction takes place, but also affects render times. '''Note: this setting does not have an effect when Raytrace Objects is enabled, which is the default in newer versions of Terragen.'''
 <u>Distribution tab</u><br />
-* '''Area Centre: '''Enter the 3D coordinates of the rectangle distribution area on the XZ plane and the Y value for height. Leave the Y field empty if you rather want to specify a terrain onto which the objects should be placed.
+* '''Area Centre: '''Enter the 3D coordinates of the rectangle distribution area on the XZ plane; the Y value is used for height. Leave the Y field empty if you want to specify a terrain onto which the objects should be placed.
 * '''Area Length a: '''Length of one side of the population boundary (along x).
 * '''Area Length b: '''Length of one side of the population boundary (along z).
 * '''Object Spacing in a,b: '''Specify the average distance from one object instance to the other.
-* '''Spacing variation in a, b:''' This controls the randomness of the the position of the object instance. If you used a value of 0 there would be no random aspect to the placement of the object instances and they would all be lined up on a grid defined by the '''Object spacing in a,b'''. At the default value of 1 the placement of the object is the most random and the population as whole looks the least regular.
+* '''Spacing variation in a, b:''' This controls the randomness of the the position of the object instance. If you used a value of 0 there would be no random aspect to the placement of the object instances and they would all be lined up on a grid defined by the '''Object spacing in a,b'''. At the default value of 1 the placement of the object is the most random and the population as a whole looks the least regular.
-* '''Use density Shader: '''If left empty, the Populator will completely cover the specified area with instantiated objects. You can use a density shader to give you more control over the where objects are placed. The density shader is read as a mask where white areas mean objects are placed the most densely and black areas mean no objects will show up.
+* '''Use density Shader: '''If left empty, the Populator will completely cover the specified area with instantiated objects. You can use a density shader to give you more control over where objects are placed. The density shader is read as a mask where white areas mean objects are placed the most densely and black areas mean no objects will show up. Intermediate grayscale values will have varying levels of population density according to how light the grayscale value is.
 * '''Invert Density Shader: '''Inverts the mask specified in the density shader.
-* '''"Populate Now" Button: '''Calculates a population of instanced object based on the current settings. If you do not press this button, the population will be calculated automatically the next time you render an image, but if you have enabled "Preview instances" then you can use this button to preview the positions of the objects in the 3D Preview without rendering an image.
+* '''"Populate Now" Button: '''Calculates a population of instanced objects based on the current settings. If you do not press this button, the population will be calculated automatically the next time you render an image, but if you have enabled "Preview instances" then you can use this button to preview the positions of the objects in the 3D Preview without rendering an image.
 * '''Repopulate every frame: '''Forces the populator to recalculate the positions and sizes of the instantiated objects every time a new frame is rendered. This is necessary if you animate your distribution functions, terrain, or object maker. If you don't check this box, the population will still be calculated automatically at the start of a render if any of the Populator's parameters have changed.

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:36, 9 January 2013
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	'''Node Description & Purpose: '''<br />		'''Node Description & Purpose: '''<br />
−	The Populator is used for creating and distributing many instances of the same object across a customizable rectangle area on the xz-plane. By using the Populator, the user can have the application accurately place instances of objects (instantiated objects) on the terrain surface automatically, so that the object's y coordinate matches the y coordinate of the terrain. The ability to specify a density shader allows users to mask the placement and distribution of objects. If no distribution shader is specified, the Populator places objects randomly across the ~~define~~ rectangle area. To mimic more variety, the Populator can rotate instantiated objects randomly around the y-axis, and vary the object scale within a Population by user defined parameters.	+	The Populator is used for creating and distributing many instances of the same object across a customizable rectangle area on the xz-plane. By using the Populator, the user can have the application accurately place instances of objects (instantiated objects) on the terrain surface automatically, so that the object's y coordinate matches the y coordinate of the terrain. The ability to specify a density shader allows users to mask the placement and distribution of objects. If no distribution shader is specified, the Populator places objects randomly across the defined rectangle area. To mimic more variety, the Populator can rotate instantiated objects randomly around the y-axis, and vary the object scale within a Population by user defined parameters.

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-='''Populator v3'''=
+[[Image:drex_module_194_image_0.png|center|Populator v3]]
-[[Image:drex_module_194_image_0.png|485pxpx|Populator v3.01]]
+'''Node Description & Purpose: '''<br />
-* [[Populator v3 - Terrain Tab]]
+'''Node Type: '''Population (of any object type)
-* [[Populator v3 - Object Rotation Tab]]
+'''Settings - Main: '''Settings on main settings window (outside tabs)
 * '''Name: '''The name of the populator node
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 * '''Minimum & Maximum Y Rotation: '''Defines the minimum and maximum angle in degrees by which the populator may rotate the instances alround the y-axis.
-<!-- imported from file: module_194.html-->
+==Additional tabs for Populator v3==
 [[Category:Population Nodes]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:48, 1 June 2011
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	<!-- imported from file: module_194.html-->		<!-- imported from file: module_194.html-->

−	[[Category:Population Nodes\| ]]	+	[[Category:Population Nodes]]

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 [[Image:drex_module_194_image_0.png|485pxpx|Populator v3.01]]
-==Additional tabs for Populator v3.01==
+==Additional tabs for Populator v3==
-* [[Populator v3.01 - Terrain Tab]]
+* [[Populator v3 - Terrain Tab]]
-* [[Populator v3.01 - Object Scale Tab]]
+* [[Populator v3 - Object Scale Tab]]
-* [[Populator v3.01 - Object Rotation Tab]]
+* [[Populator v3 - Object Rotation Tab]]
-* [[Populator v3.01 - Seed Tab]]
+* [[Populator v3 - Seed Tab]]
 '''Node Description & Purpose: '''The Populator is used for creating and distributing many instances of the same object across a customizable rectangle area on the xz-plane. By using the Populator, the user can have the application accurately place instances of objects (instantiated objects) on the terrain surface automatically, so that the object's y coordinate matches the y coordinate of the terrain. The ability to specify a density shader allows users to mask the placement and distribution of objects. If no distribution shader is specified, the Populator places objects randomly across the define rectangle area. To mimic more variety, the Populator can rotate instantiated objects randomly around the y-axis, and vary the object scale within a Population by user defined parameters.<br /><br />'''Node Type: '''Population (of any object type)<br /><br />'''Nodes in Default Scene: ''' n/a<br /><br />'''Settings - Main: '''Settings on main settings window (outside tabs)<br />