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ReferenceTree PropertiesAreaDistribution MapCameraSurfaceTransformMaterialDisplayFAQ

Distribution Map

This rollout may define the form to distribuye the trees inside the built area.

To give the most flexibility a bitmap is used. It it, each pixel represents a potential tree position, if the pixel is white the plugin builds the tree and skips when the pixel it's black.

This way, we can define any distribution, from random surfaces to very regular groups.

Bitmap

Shows a thumbnail of the bitmap. Under it, we find a combo list which allow to choose the maps. Forest comes with the following maps included : Very Scattered, Scattered, Spread 1, Spread 2, Dense, Groups 1, Groups 2, Vertical Band, Horizontal Band, Random Bands, Vertical Line, Horizontal Line and Sine.

Also with can use our custom bitmap (only with Forest Pro), clicking the button under 'File Name'. It's best to use small bitmaps (100 x 100 pixels it's a good size) in a black/white or grayscale format. With grayscale or color images, the Threshold parameter defines how convert each pixel to build the trees.

The list of maps also may be defined by us. In the 'plugcfg' directory of Max, there is a text file named 'forest.cfg'. It includes secuencially the names for maps and its file name associated.

Size

It lets choose the size of distribution map will have over the scene.

The map is applied in a similar way of texture maps of Max. The bitmap is scaled on scene with the size defined here, and following it's tiled in all directions.

It's important to remember that the area which cover the trees is only defined by a spline (see Area rollout). The distribution map only shows how they are built inside it.

Also, we must be care when defining the size for map, because it's easy to enter a very small value and build a very high density area of trees, with the following collapsing of Max.To avoid this problem, there is a limit for density: Forest maintains a minimum separation between trees and this value is defined as a percent over the width tree. Because this, it's possible that when we change the width tree, the size of bitmap changes also automatically to maintain the top density levels.

Lock Aspect Ratio

Locks the X/Y aspect of the map. When this checkbox is enabled, the Y size for map is ignored and only X value is used.

Offset

Adjust the offset of map over the scene. Values are in scene's units also.

Tree Separation (Separación de Arboles)

This parameter limits a minimum separation of trees over the distribution. The value is defined as a percent of width tree. This parameter does his job changing the values for distribution map size, adjusting them to maintain a maximum level of tree density.

For example:

If we have a distribution map of 100x100 pixels, the width tree is 2m and the minimum separation is 30%, we cannot set a map size under 60m (2 x 30% = 0.6m, 0.6m x 100 pixels = 60m).

(we must remember each pixel in map corresponds to a tree in the scene)

Threshold

Defines how the bitmap pixels are converted to black/white levels when the image have a grayscale or color format.