Phantom Scatter [1.12.2] Export and press CTRL+V in Octane! Tweet

[xxdanbrowne]

This is awesome. I'll be downloading and playing with this soon.

[Jorgensen]

Just a quick question - can this plugin be used in 3ds max? or is it for the standalone version?

Thanks

[Phantom107]

The software is standalone for broad compatability. It generates CSV data.

In theory you could export an OBJ from 3DS max, import that in my software, let it generate the CSV data and import that back into 3DS max for the scatter.

I don't think any tester has 3DS max currently so I don't know if you can actually import CSV data into the Octane 3DS max plugin.

You can check the current manual for detailed information about how it works: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pdhm9l6caamyt ... Manual.pdf

Mail me at [email protected] if you want to BETA test. I'll do what I can to provide support for 3DS max but please keep in mind that there are certain restrictions beyond my control.

[teecee2107]

Hey, this looks really awesome !! Although I can not think of myself as a valid beta tester (lack of time), is there a way for me to try this wonder ? I am an irreducible standalone version of Octane user, and this tool seems made for me !

[Phantom107]

Good news.

Over the past week I've been studying matrix mathematics more. It has allowed me to push the coding in Phantom Scatter a lot further. The result is very interesting I think! Per-triangle mode functionality is now fully supported.

It will drastically decrease your VRAM usage for custom-placed models that could be scattered.

It works in any place. Any orientation. You can use it to place cars, street lights, custom placed trees (such as a treeline next to a streetlane), or even vines growing on a wall. I have a feeling you guys can come up with more places where this is gonna be really useful.

I'll be implementing it in the software's interface and in an additional tutorial. When that's done, you can expect BETA 4 so you can give it a spin. That will probably be the last BETA before official release.

My model in SketchUp:


The result in Octane, when I link up the CSV to a futuristic car model:

[Interfaces]

Congratulations, you're fantastic
I understand if you are on your triangles affected a different area of the sudden you can put another different model.

[smicha]

Great update Phantom!

I have a question. Let's assume I have a 1m poly obj. In Sketchup I use great plugin component dropper
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtop ... 94#p223994

I use it to convert my 1m poly to a simple box just to have general information where it can be placed, rotated and/or scaled. Then I create copies, many copies of this simple box.

Then I use my and Tig's plugin
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22581
to export scatter data to a csv file.

And the question is: will your plugin and these triangles serve as my transformed component, to obtain information of location/rotation/scale for instancing? Simply speaking: create triangles in SU and get instancing data?


PS. Video tutorials would rock.

Great work!

smicha

[Phantom107]

Interfaces,

I don't fully understand your question. Maybe this helps: you can scatter anything you want on these single triangles in per-triangle mode. Every scatter object will have a 'per-triangle mode toggle' to turn this feature on or off. So basically, in your model, you could have one material mat_streetlight which will create streetlight instances and another material mat_car to place car instances. Simply place single triangles in your scene combined with the right settings in Phantom Scatter Library and my software will detect them.

smicha,

Short answer: yes!

It will take location/rotation information, but NOT scale! Scale is still controller by the Scale Min and Scale Max properties so that you could also use this feature to place slightly randomly scaled people and trees. Or just leave both values at 100 so every instance has the same scale.

Simply place triangles in your modeling tool (SketchUp in this case) and it will retrieve the data. It will keep your model nice and light, while still having super high detail in Octane.

(Also I think that with this technology you won't need that component replace plugin anymore!)

[steveps3]

I've just started giving Phantom Scatter a try and so far it is very impressive. I do have a couple of comments that would make the work flow a bit easier.

When you create a new material or scatter object it would be great if this became the current material/scatter object. That way you could just click on rename and give it the appropriate name.

Even better, when you create a new material/object, why not throw the user straight into the rename dialog. Chances are that the firth thing they will want to do is rename the material/object to the correct name.

When you do display any amend dialog it would be better to either put the cursor at the end the of the field or select the text in the field so that it is easier to change the value. For example if I want to change the population I press the population button. Up pops the dialog but the cursor is at the start of the field. So I have to press delete to remove the current value and then type the new value.

[Phantom107]

The interface will be reworked a bit to be more easy. Right now the technical background is more important. Gotta get that straightened out and then I can look at it.

Regarding the boxes, Windows OS is handling the little popup boxes to enter values and I don't have any access to control cursor in them...

I'm planning to do some experiments for a killer new feature. I'm not sure if it will work at all so I'm keeping it a little secret right now. Might not work. Or maybe it will. If it does, it's going to be incredibly cool.