|
Installation
Users are provided with the same installation file for both Workstation and
Render node
MultiScatter.exe
Workstation can be used only when license is properly installed, and provides
access to all MultiScatter options.
If MultiScatter does not find license file it switches itself to rendernode
mode and only can renders files created with MultiScatter Workstation.
Rendering is available both locally and over network.
To install the program you need to run the MultiScatter_WS.exe with the
administrator rights.
Don’t forget to quit 3ds max before you start the installation.
Read carefully the License Agreement. If you agree, click "I Agree", if not -
press "Cancel" button.
Choose the 3ds max version that you use.
The installation program automatically selects destination folder for 3dsmax.
Check the path where 3dsmax is installed and correct it if needed.
Press "Setup" button.
Registration
Start the MultiScatterRegistration32x.exe or MultiScatterRegistration64x.exe
utility (for 32-bit or 64-bit systems accordingly)
Choose the hard disk to be linked with the MultiScatter license (linking with
external USB storage, Flash drives and network drives is not supported).
Press the «Get Your ID File» button and save *.id file on your hard disk under
any name you like.
Send this file to sales@vray.com (or your reseller). In the nearest time
(usually within 24 hours) you will get an email from us (or your reseller) with
*.key license file attached. Save this file on your hard disk. Start again
MultiScatterRegistrationXXx.exe utility and press the «Apply Key File» button.
In the dialogue box, select the *.key file you received from us. With this
registration, procedure is over.
In case of license malfunction and errors (which can be caused by disk
formatting, reinstallation of the operating system or components replacement)
you are free to request a new key at any time. Please make sure you download
latest version and generate a new *.ID file. Send it to sales@vray.com (or your
reseller) to get your updated *.Key file.
However, in case of total replacement of a PC, a new license is not provided
more often than once in half a year.
ATTENTION! Please always try to email from the same email address you used
when purchasing the plug-in. If we can’t find your e-mail address from which you
sent the ID file in our database and there is no explanation and receipt in you
email, your request may not be processed!
Please always attach you receipt to avoid any delays in communication.
Uninstall procedure
To uninstall MultiScatter start the Uninstall.exe utility.
Choose the 3ds max version for which the MultiScatter to be removed is
installed. Press "Uninstall" button.
Installation for a network or distributed rendering
For network rendering just install the same file MultiScatter.exe.
Installation procedure is the same as for the Workstation, but skipping
Registration process. Rendernode version does not require registration.
Submission for network or distributed rendering should be done from the PC with
the registered Workstation version of MultiScatter. The rest of render nodes
involved in the network or distributed rendering can have only Rendernode
versions of MultiScatter installed.
Each MultiScatter license comes with unlimited render nodes.
MultiScatter creation
You can create MultiScatter within the panel:
Create>Geometry> MultiScatter > MultiScatter.
If any object was selected during the creation, MultiScatter will
automatically use the surface of the selected object for the distribution over
it.
After the creation of MultiScatter it is necessary to move to 'Modify' panel
and select the objects for distribution at the scene. Press '+Teapot' button
before the selection. The selected objects will be used for distribution. The
object matter of the distributed objects corresponds with that of the original
ones. Do not remove original objects after their selection for MultiScatter. It
is recommended to deactivate their "Renderable" option.
You can select any objects, Vrayproxy and Mentalproxy at the
scene. After all necessary objects are selected press the mouse right button or
press the '+teapot' button once again.
You can also add the list of objects by pressing the '+list' button
Selected objects can be removed from the list by pressing the '-teapot'
button.
Each of the objects has the following options:
Probability is the probability of the object’s disposition with regard
to the rest MultiScatter objects.
Mask is the probability mask. The lighter the texture is the more
probable this place is for the distribution of this type of objects.
Mask contrast corrects the contrast value of the probability mask. High
contrast value makes highly defined borders of different object fields. The
example below presents distribution of three types of objects; for each of them
noise cards with different phases are used as masks. Mask Contrast is fixed at
100. The borders of the object fields are sharp due to the high contrast value.
Object color
This setting is described in the MultiScatterTexture section.
Help pictures
Show/Hide Help Pictures button activates/deactivates helping pictures
within MultiScatter interface.
'Reset All Settings to Default' button restores all MultiScatter settings
according to the data on default.
'Collapse to Single Mesh' button converts MultiScatter into Editable Mesh. Since
MultiScatter can contain space consuming geometry, the following warning table
will be displayed before the creation of the resulting object.
This will help to judge the ability of such object’s creation. If the amount
of polygon fields is huge the process of conversion can take too long or even
fail.
'Select All Dependences' selects all objects in the scene used in
MultiScatter (objects, surfaces, splines and border splines).
'Convert to MultiPainter' converts to MultiPainter.
Please note that MultiScatter can quickly process many more objects than
MultiPainter, and converting to MultiPainter may be impossible when trying to
convert from MultiScatter with large amount of objects in it.
Distribution
Selection of surface or spline
To define surface or spline for MultiScatter objects distribution you need to
create MultiScatter when the object for distribution upon its surface or spline
is selected. After MultiScatter is created you can select surface or spline by
pressing "Surface/Spline" button.
Only one object can be chosen. If the objects are needed to be reproduced
upon several surfaces or splines the last should be attached into one mesh or
single spline.
Properties of distribution by spline
Spline distribution options are available if spline is selected as the object
for the distribution over it.
Thickness is the thickness of objects distribution in reference to
spline (it is set in system measure units)
Proxy Distance is the length and width distance between the objects with
regular pattern distribution. Be careful and attentive! Regular pattern
of spline distribution needs Scale Mult option of the Regular Pattern
Settings section to be set as 1.
Distribution properties are common for distribution both by spline and
surface
Seed - that is the option setting random object distribution. Any
variation of this option leads to a new random redistribution of objects.
Max Count – that is the number of objects upon reproduction. It fixes the
maximum number of objects possible. The resulting number of objects will be less
than the set value.
Mask – that is distribution mask. Objects will not be reproduced on black
colored surface. On white surface the density of objects remains unchanged. It
is supposed that a monochrome grayscale mask is applied. It is not recommended
to exploit large surface area having rear white mask fields as this will slow
down generation. Try to crop surface so that it will contain less black colored
fields.
Color – you can use color mask for object distribution if this option is
set active. The nearby "Color Picker" lets you to select the color mask color
over which further distribution will take place.
Range - it sets the range of objects scatter beyond the borders of the
selected colored field when the color mask is applied.
Use Random Position - it activates object distribution based on random
algorithms which are set in 'Random Position Settings' section
Use Regular Pattern – it activates regular object distribution which is
set in ‘Regular Pattern Settings’ section
You can you Mesh or spline as surface.
The main distribution setting is the number of objects. It is set by Max
Count setting. If you are not satisfied with the current variant of random
distribution, correct Seed setting. If you need the distribution to be
done only over certain part of a surface (not over all surfacearea), you can use
texture mask (Mask) for uneven distribution according to the texture.
Black color equals to zero density of objects and white color is initial (100%)
density.
Examples of different masks application:
Noise
Falloff towards the camera
Falloff towards object Z-axis
Vertex Paint (Important note! Use textural channels - for example the
2nd - for keeping color parameters since the MultiScatter Vertex Color
channel is not applicable due to certain peculiarities of scatter creating
algorithms.)
Regular Pattern Settings
Regular distribution requires the presence of correct UWV Mapping of the
object for distribution. You can control regular distribution with UWV Mapping
as usual texture.
Mapping Channel sets the channel for UWV Mapping to be used for
distribution
When regular pattern is selected for distribution you can get access to related
options. You can vary density of the regular distribution with aid of Scale
Mult option (Attention!!! For correct regular spline distribution
Scale Mult setting should be fixes at 1).
Pattern
The following options are provided to change the type of regular
distribution: Square (square grid), Triangle (triangular grid), Hexagon
(hexagonal grid).
Random Shift gives an opportunity to add some randomness to regular
distribution.
With default settings texture coordinates set only location of objects, but not
their rotation and scale. Activation of Affect Transform option lets you
set rotation of objects to UWV Mapping. For example, rotating UWV Mapping Gizmo,
the objects will be rotating the same way following texture rotation. If you
need to control not only rotation, but scale also then turn on Affect Scale
option. With this option active the scale of objects can be change suddenly. For
correction of scale use XY Scale and Z Scale options if necessary.
With 'Affect Transform' option active, 'Use Normal' setting of the 'Rotate'
settings should be set as 0.0.
Random Position Settings
Border Spline
It is possible to limit objects disposition with spline. You can use only one
spline. If you need to limit the disposition with several splines, then attach
them first into one single spline.
You can use different projection axes of spline on surface. If your surface, for
instance, is not horizontal (a wall of a building, for example), you can use
X-axis or Y-axis depending on orientation of surface. The axis should be
straight across/perpendicular to the surface. If the surface contains
complicated relief and is not flat, then use Face projection.
Distribution inside spline is sensitive its direction. Use Inverse
command in spline properties to change the direction of spline.
It is recommended to use border spline around the surface.
Border behavior
As a border you can use surface sides (Use Surface Border) and spline
border (Use Spline Border). The impact of borders upon the object
distribution can be controlled by density (Affect Density), scale (Affect
Scale) and rotation (Affect Rotate). The depth of impact is set by
Distance.
Using curves you can control different types of border impact by distance from
the border. The left part of a curve sets behavior closer to the border. The
right part of a curve sets behavior in a Distance of an object from the
border.
Camera clipping
Use Camera Clipping activates object distribution depending on their
distance from the camera
Distance sets the distance beyond which the objects will not be
distributed.
For static shots it is convenient to control density (Affect Density)
depending on the distance from the camera.
Camera sets the camera with regard to which the distribution will take
place.
Density control is not suitable for animation (objects will appear suddenly in
front of the camera). Scale control (Affect Scale) is more convenient for
animation. It is recommended not to use Collision together with Camera
Clipping for animation.
Objects scaling
Global that is the scale control of objects at all axial directions –
XYZ - proportionally.
From and To are to fix the variation limits of scale. If the scale
should be equal for all objects, set these parameters equal to each other.
From = 100, To = 100.
From = 100, To = 300.
From = 300, To = 300.
Mask sets scaling of objects upon the texture. Black color equals to
zero scale, white color leaves the scale unchanged.
Using of 'Noise' within the scale mask.
Here is an example of 'falloff' application in ‘distance blend’ mode within
the scale mask
Min Scale sets the minimum scale of objects, which does not allow
objects with less scale value to be represented. For example, it is required to
fix appropriate minimum scale value for such objects as trees to prevent some of
them from being presented smaller than bushes.
Local settings allow independent scaling of objects at each of the
axes locally.
Rotation
Constant settings make all objects rotate at the same angle.
X = 0, Y =0, Z = 0.
X = 45, Y = 0, Z = 0.
X = 0, Y = -45, Z = 0.
Random parameters set additional random rotation around each axis
X=60, Y=0, Z=0.
X=0, Y=60, Z=0.
X=0,Y=0,Z=360.
X=60, Y=60,Z=360
Use Normal. If the objects should be oriented along the normal towards
the surface, fix this setting at 1.0. Different values of this setting and the
respective results are presented below:
Use Normal = 0.0
Use Normal = 0.5
Use Normal = 1.0
Use Normal = 4.0
Z Recovery – this setting makes the object rotate so that its Y axis
get the same direction as its Z axis deflection – like it is shown in the
picture below:
Mask - Rotation can be ruled by color mask where each color
corresponds to separate axial rotation. Red color is responsible for X axial
rotation, green color is for Y axial rotation, blue color makes Z axial
rotation. Color value 0.0 equals to rotation of 180 degrees to one direction,
color value of 0.5 leaves the rotation state unchanged, color value of 1.0 makes
the rotation of 180 degrees to another direction. If some axial rotation is not
needed just dismiss the activating tick next to the respected axis in the
setting table.
The use of various textures within the rotation mask
Colored Noise
Gradient Ramp
Rotation of objects upon animated texture can be used for creation of wind
effect. In this case swinging range can be controlled by Map Intensity
setting.
Movement with relation to the initial position
These parameters are applied in case of necessity of spatial spread of
proxies. First column sets starting range of object displacement within the
axial direction of the coordinates, second column sets the final range of
displacement.
Below example presents Z-axis direction variation from -3000 to 5000.
Collisions
In case of creating some reasonably big objects, such as trees, any crossing
of objects is not allowed. Use collisions to prevent the objects from crossover.
Collision checking is based upon the creation of virtual sphere around each
object and further distribution of objects with regard to crossing inability of
these spheres. The sphere has its radius set and the height of its centre above
the surface is also fixed. Each object can generate collisions so that they have
influence upon the rest objects and can also adapt to the collisions generated
by the other objects. The result of collisions of the objects belonging to the
same MultiScatter is presented in viewport. The collisions of the objects
belonging to different MultiScatters can be seen only at rendering.
Tick off the Generate Collision and Receive Collision options. Set
the 'Height' value at 0.0.
The radius of collisions default value is equal to 100% - that is corresponds to
the object size.
The result after rendering will be as below:
Let's add one more object type of smaller size.
In case the distance between the bigger objects is preferable to be kept, but
the smaller objects are desirable to be moved closer to the bigger ones, the
collision spheres of the bigger objects may be placed a bit higher so that the
smaller objects may be placed closer to them. Set the Height for the
bigger objects equal to the half of the radius value or a bit higher.
Penetration sets the blur of the collisions border areas.
Collision object
You can create collision object from the panel: Create>Geometry>
MultiScatter > MSCollision
MSCollision object is presented as Gizmo located at the scene, it
generates collisions in itself and affects all MultiScatter objects in the scene
with their Receive Collision option activated.
Radius sets the radius value for Gizmo.
Penetration sets the blur of the collisions border areas
Animation
The important point here is that this section of settings is meant just for the
animation of objects distributed over surface or spline. The use of animated
masks for distribution, scaling, rotation, etc., and also the application of
procedure textures for masks, animation of splines and surfaces are free and
available. Evidently, the result of all these animation types combination is not
always predictable.
Animation section is still intended for regulation of animated VrayProxies
and simple objects. Animation of mrProxy is not implemented at the
moment.
Speed sets the speed of animation. Animation speeds up if speed value
is higher than 1 and slows down when the value is lower than 1.
It is necessary to arrange animation time shift for each one of the reproduced
animated objects so that to prevent them all from moving simultaneously. The
creation of a unique time shift for each object is regarded as impossible due to
the overwhelming exploration of the memory. As a rule, it is quite enough to
specialize some fixed set of time shifts. The number of them is set by the
Samples setting. If the animation speed is a fractional number then some
fractional frame numbers can appear, which can sometimes lead to a faulty
rendering. In case of any malfunction here just dismiss the activating tick next
to the Enable fractional frames option. Dealing with looped animation of
objects it is highly recommended to select the Loop animation type. If
the animation is not looped, then select the Ping Pong animation type.
Single option makes a single animation of the object, without any
repetition.
Samples = 1
Samples = 10
Offset lets set animation time shift within the limits of From
and To.
The same setting can be also fixed within mask with aid of Mask option.
In this mask white color corresponds to the From setting and black color
corresponds to the To setting.
Preview
User can specify the number of objects to browse by Max setting. You
should be careful not to set the maximum value to avoid MultiScatter preview
slowdown at view ports.
It is possible to select the type of object preview at view ports from bounding
boxes (Box) to pyramids (Pyramid), or turn off preview at all (None).
Besides, a new revolutionary method of object preview is implemented (Points)
– it presents the objects as the points distributed upon the surface of the
multiplied objects. The setting of Count fixes the overall number of
these points at view port and can be set depending on the capacity of your PC.
The points are dynamically distributed in real-time mode upon the surface of
objects depending on the angle of view and the perspective. This allows good
presenting of the size and shape of objects as the closer the object is to the
camera the more points are used to present it. In addition, the color of the
points correlates with the diffusive material color assigned for the object.
You can activate automatic updating of object preview (Auto Update) to get total
control over the distribution of objects. With this option turned on every
single change in MultiScatter parameters is previewed in real-time mode (except
the number of objects during rendering and animation settings).
Dummy Size – sets the size of MultiScatter Gizmo at view port.
MultiPainter object
To create MultiPainter go to Create>Geometry> MultiScatter > MultiPainter
If any object was selected during the creation, MultiPainter will
automatically use the surface of the selected object for the distribution over
it.
After the creation of MultiPainter it is necessary to switch to ‘Modify’ panel
and select the objects for distribution at the scene by drawing. Press ‘+Teapot’
button before the selection. The selected objects will be used for distribution.
The object matter of the distributed objects corresponds with that of the
original ones. Do not remove original objects after their selection for
MultiScatter. It is recommended to position them in a hidden layer, all objects
inside MultiScatter inherit properties of the original.
You can select any objects, Vrayproxy and Mentalproxy at the scene. After all
required objects are selected press right button of the mouse or the '+teapot'
button once again.
You can also add the list of objects by pressing the '+list'
Selected objects can be removed from the list by pressing the '-teapot'
button.
Each of the objects has the following options:
Probability - is the probability of the object's distribution in
regard to other MultiPainter objects.
Collision Rate - Defines the possibility for objects intersection. If
set to 0 - an object can be completely inside the other, at 100 - the objects do
not intersect.
Selection - MultiPainter has the ability to manipulate (move, rotate,
scale, copy) objects it contains. To do this, go to the sub-object level.
After that, you can select objects with the mouse and manipulate them just
like regular objects in 3ds max.
When you are in sub object, menu Selection becomes available.
Select by list - highlights all sub-objects selected in the Scatter
Objects list.
Hide Selected - hides selected sub objects from the viewport.
Hide Unselected - hides from the viewport not selected sub objects.
Unhide All - unhide all sub-objects.
Collapse to Single Mesh button converts MultiPainter into Editable
Mesh.
Placement of objects with a brush
Radius – brush size.
Softness - the softness of edges of the brush.
Intensity – the intensity, the density of the arrangement (depending on
the settings of collisions).
Paint – turns on drawing mode.
Erase - turns on erase mode.
The process of scattering involves only the objects and the surface of the
currently selected in the list of Scatter Objects and Surfaces.
You can stop drawing any time, highlight or deselect the desired objects and
surfaces and to continue drawing with the new settings.
Surfaces
In the menu Surfaces you can select surface on which the arrangement
of objects will be made. The interface is similar to Scatter Objects.
Rotate, Scale and Animation menu is completely the same as
t corresponding menu in MultiScatter. It should be noted that the influence of
objects positioning parameters is performed at the time of their positioning
that ideologically distinguishes the setup MultiPainter from
MultiScatter. All changes you make in these settings will affect the next
"Drawing with a brush" session..
Preview is similar to the menu Preview of MultiScatter, but has a
different display mode Cross. In this mode, all objects are displayed as
three-dimensional crosses.
Application of MultiScatterTexture
In spite of all possible random rotations and scaling the reproduced objects
look monotonous and alike. There is a certain lack of color variety. Use an
appropriate MultiScatterTexture to solve this problem.
Texture plate consists of 8 colors and each color has an opportunity to
assume a random tone. Final color comes as the result of random mix of initial
colors according to the established proportion. Change of seed value
leads to the appearance of new random color setting.
Mix Contrast provides quick contrast control of the received resulting
color setting.
Let's return to the Color setting of MultiScatter properties:
Suppose you have got a photograph of a valley from a bird’s flying height or
the one obtained by means of air-photography. And now you would like your 3D
valley to be alike this photo in the matter of coloring. Then, create a texture
out of this photo. Set an appropriate textural mapping for your surface carrying
the growing grass. Place the prepared valley texture in the Color section
of the scatter settings. It is not necessary to set this texture for the surface
itself. Apply MultiScatterTexture with the checkmark of the Use Obj.
Color option for the grass texture processing. As a result the multiplied
grass objects will be colored in valley texture imitation.
In case the additional variation of texture with random deviation is
necessary you just need to checkmark the Mix with Color option. In this
case you should better use colors of the grey scale which will not vary the
initial texture greatly; otherwise the resulting colors may appear too
saturated.
Mix Value provides the intension control of the object’s color mix with
the colors established in MultiScatterTexture option.
Attention! At the moment MultiScatterTexture is applied with any
objects created with V-Ray and MentalRay, except MentalProxy
objects. This is due to the peculiarities of the concrete implementation of
MentalRay for 3ds Max.
Application of MultiScatterMask
Imagine that you need to distribute objects upon the checkered board placing
them only at the peaks of surface texture and omitting distribution upon the
slopes. You need also to exclude several areas according to the predefined
procedure map.
Application of standard 3dsmax default tools requires the creation of a too
complicated mix texture inconvenient to be operated with. To overcome such
difficulties use MultiScatterMask.
This texture allows combination of several masks by means of their
multiplication.
MultiScatter's management utility
You can run this utility from the panel: Utilites>More...> MultiScatterTools
In the upper part there is a window with the list of all MultiScatter objects
at the scene.
Green circle next to the object name means that the object is active, so it is
presented at viewport and while rendering. Grey circle means that this object is
not active, so it is not presented at viewport and while rendering.
Use the mouse left button to select MultiScatter objects. Use the combination of
Shift and Ctrl keys to select several objects at once.
Select All selects all MultiScatter objects at the scene.
Deselect All cancels the selection of all MultiScatter objects at the
scene.
Turn Off Selected Scatters deactivates/turns off the selected objects.
Turn On Selected Scatters activates/turns on the selected objects.
Generate Objects converts selected MultiScatter objects into arrays of
instance objects. This allows the application of the generated objects with any
render engine different from V-Ray and Mental Ray.
Select Objects allows you to select all objects at the scene that are
generated on the basis of the same MultiScatter object. Since the names of all
these objects start with the name of their original MultiScatter object, you
just need to enter this name in the appropriate panel/window.
System requirements
Software requirements
- 3ds Max versions: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 all 32 or 64 bit
- 3ds Max Design: all
- V-Ray versions: V-Ray 1.5 (RC5 -no animated proxy, SP1- SP5),
V-Ray 2.0 -
32 or 64 bit
- OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, all 32 and 64 bit
- User must have local administrator rights with Windows XP to use
MultiScatter.
- On Windows 7 administrator rights needed only during
installation.
Troubleshooting
Possible license malfunction/errors
In case of license malfunction and errors (which can be caused by disk
reformatting, reinstallation of the operating system or components replacement)
you are free to address the developer at any time by sending your request for a
new *.key file to the e-mail sales@vray.com
However, in case of total replacement of a PC by a new one new license is not
provided more often than once in half a year.
| 
