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. |