how to go about changing leaf colors

[Indio]

hello all. sorry to bother any one.

i was searching the forum and i found nothing on how to change the leaf colors of a plant at random, or by choice.

the closes i came to finding something was on "what am i missing.." post by blue...

i notice that on a website (cg-source) there is a script but unfortunately it does not work for me. when i run the script i only get one small box asking me to pick by object ...then it tells me what i have selected but no option to make it random.

can some one please help me with this. or point me in the right direction.

 

 

 

this image is an example of what i would like to achieve.

Edited March 29, 2010 by Indio

[WAcky]

This script will work but can be fiddly if youre not sure how to use it. It works on both multiple objects and sub-object basis.

 

You might also look up the materialbyelement modifier in the max help. It does essentially the same thing and in some cases will work better than the script from cgsource.

 

In this case the max modifier will be a better choice as the cgsource script will have a hard time assigning ID's to something as poly-heavy as a tree and may result in crashing whereas the materialbyelement modifier will be fine.

[Shaun Hamm]

if you use onyxtree, the first part of this tutorial is very useful for seeing how to export the model so that you can have multiple leaf ID's

 

http://vray.info/tutorials/leafmaterial/

[Indio]

Thank you for the quick reply.......

shaunph78 - thank you..... but unfortunately they don't have that software in my school. but thank you for the reply....

 

WAcky - thank you aswell for the reply...

when ever i use the script it ether crashes max of just gives me the id number but it does not give me the option to change the colors or the gamma.....no options just the ones to pick objects

 

materialbyelement modifier - i have read on this but that means i have to create different materials to add on to the leaf.... even do its just a different shade of green or orange.

 

one more question...so..if i go with materialbyelement modifier is there a way to change the original material color? instead of going into photoshop and re-creating a new image?

Ex.........original image- orange.jpg mat 1

............original image modify in ph redish.jpg mat2

 

can i grab the original material in max and duplicate it and add some sort of color modification and change the color in max?

 

thank you in advance

[Eric Sosa]

you can always go to bitmap "output" and change several things, including color changes.

 

unlees you need the look of a leaf for a close up, I would not spend lost of time trying modifiers, etc. you certainly can change the bitmap in ps and make the small color or output adjustments directly in max.

 

color vegetation has alway been very important to me, in order to get realistic renders. reflection, reflaction, glossiness, etc, etc, etc...those factors are more important then leaf color modifiers. just my opinion.

[WAcky]

Either use this script to automatically do the work for you (this is the script seen in the screengrab you uploaded) or use a colourcorrect map to make a few variations in the colour/saturation etc.

[Stan Zaslavsky]

i think multi-texture script will only work if you are using vray ... for mental ray - i've had to use colour-correction as Wacky is saying - which should work fine

[WAcky]

Yeah the multi-texture script doesn't support Mental-Ray but we're in the vray section so I assume the OP is using vray...

[Indio]

hello all and thank you once again for the reply.

 

Eric Sosa - thank you for the reply....i know that the plants should be the last thing on my mind when setting up a scene but i realize something about my renderings. when ever i render a scene with exterior plants all my plants look the same. all the leafs are the same and they look like copy and paste..........since i am on a weeks vacation from school i was hoping to improve on my next final project (a building with a park)

 

also since my buddies and i have they key to the computer lab i wouldn't mind spending time on this... also tomorrow we have a chance to setup a vray network rendering....(hope it works )

 

WAcky -- hey thank you for your reply once againd.

i have tried the script again. this time on a small group of leaf and it changes the id but i don't get the option to change the color like the picture?

would you know how would i get those option to change the color with the script?

Edited March 30, 2010 by Indio

[WAcky]

Ok.

 

If you use the materialbyelemnt modifier then you have to use a multisubobject material like you have. But you can define how many materials you use within the multiplier so you can have 1 or 3 or 10 or however many variations you want.

 

Now if you want to use the script instead then you have to use the multitexture material. Just make a normal vray material and when you select a diffuse map for your material, select the multitexture map. Then you select open files and choose one or more bitmaps from your texture library. Once you've done that you can set the range of alterations allowable with the dialogue box you see in the screen grab provided.

 

You dont have to use a multisubobject material when using either the materialbyelemtent modifier or the random element script from cgsource.

 

If you're still having trouble after this I can upload something for you.

[Indio]

WAcky-- thank you for the reply once again.

can you please post that something... i am a little confuse but i think i am making progress.

thank you