ForestPack 6.2.1. straight lawn border

[guenther Malek]

With FP´s last version 6.2.1 i can´t get straight Lawn Edges.

No matter what "Boundary Checking" i choose, (Point, Size, Edge) it always looks like this:

Any idea?

[Andres Saarnak]

Edge mode needs Forest Edge map in a material opacity slot - https://docs.itoosoft.com/forestpack/forest-edge-map

[guenther Malek]

at the site you linked me to, it says:

 

"To use Edge Boundary checking with V-Ray:

In the Area's rollout set Boundary Check mode to Edge.

When using V-Ray there's no need to apply a Forest Edge map to the materials."

 

But i still don´t get straight edges...

Edited May 12, 2019 by guenthermalek

[Nicolai Bongard]

The objects you are scattering are clusters of grass that have a large radius. So either they create a gap or they overlap, creating the rough edge you are seeing. What you need to do is create another forest of detailed grass (smaller radius of the cluster) that fill the gaps.

[Andres Saarnak]

The objects you are scattering are clusters of grass that have a large radius. So either they create a gap or they overlap, creating the rough edge you are seeing. What you need to do is create another forest of detailed grass (smaller radius of the cluster) that fill the gaps.

 

No.

ForestPack has an Edge Boundary feature for a reason. For whatever reason, this feature doesn´t work for Malek. If nothing helps I would contact FP team (assuming he uses a legal version of course) to make it work, not going back to ancient workarounds.

[Nicolai Bongard]

Ive never tried the edge mode before, just did a test and it works great! Learn something new every day i guess.

The method i described should work as a workaround if the edge mode doesnt work for Malek.

From what ive read from the tutorials the scatter area should be defined by a spline, i am not sure it is going to work if you just use the surface as an area. That may be the problem Malek is having?

[Francisco Penaloza]

If you are using a large patch of grass sample, that will create a gap between patches,(Think a box of Eggs or a box of Donuts) no matter if the edge function is working or not. What you can do is activate collision and reduce the radius of the collision, this will force overlapping, that way the gaps can be filled.

Now just as suggested earlier you can create 2 grass variations, a more detailed one (smaller radius) for the edges and a larger sample for large areas.

Having said that, if I need perfect sharp edges I use the 'Detailed' grass preset, that preset has smaller patches designed for that. You'll use more RAM obviously but Forrest is very optimized anyways.

 

Now be sure if you are using a path to limit your grass area, to click on the path and then choose Edge under the boundary Checking options and not the base geometry.

If the grass area is a separate geometry, then choose that geometry, if you are using splines over a large geometry base, then choose the spline to limit.

Again the size of the grass patch matter, no need to get personal

[Andres Saarnak]

Now be sure if you are using a path to limit your grass area, to click on the path and then choose Edge under the boundary Checking options and not the base geometry.

If the grass area is a separate geometry, then choose that geometry, if you are using splines over a large geometry base, then choose the spline to limit.

Yep, this might help.

Grass patch sizes are clearly not the problem as "No matter what "Boundary Checking" i choose, (Point, Size, Edge) it always looks" same, which it definitely shouldn´t.

 

But I think occasional gaps between patches (soil can´t be green ofc) and random areas with overlapping patches add to the realism. I´ve tried making less dense patches which are meant to be scattered with a lot of overlapping- works fine, too.

The only time when I have to be mindful of grass patch sizes is when there's a HUGE area to be filled.

 

no need to get personal

Hmm, I can´t figure out if I offended anybody somehow.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Hmm, I can´t figure out if I offended anybody somehow.

 

Oh, I meant because I said that 'size does matter,' anyways bad joke

 

There are times Forrest doesn't seem to work fine no matter what, in those cases, I have to rebuild the system or figure out another way to limit the areas.

What always works is when you brush the areas to spread with their brush tool, but if areas are too large then using that brush tool is not efficient.

[Tom Bussey]

Perhaps post a grab of the Surface/Area drop-downs from FP Pro, in certain circumstances I think it can prioritize one over the other so it doesn't work as you'd expect, for instance make sure only your containing spline area is active, not 'surface area'. If in doubt strip it back to only a surface and 'surface area' under the area tab, and check at the edge of the surface. If this is still doesn't work, up the value of min. shading rate in Vray, this can cause problems if you have loads of geo.

 

But yeah, the FP forum is probably a better place to check, the devs are pretty good at answering on there if you have FP pro.

 

I struggle with the edge gaps sometimes still, on a recent project I 'under-lapped' the grass under a kerb, just to be sure.

Edited May 16, 2019 by busseynova