I've been playing with meshes and exports from sketchup. I generated the trees using a plugin called "Lsystem". Colors, point size, and such are all customizable.
Thanks cybero! I'll probably get this into an installer and post it as a screensaver sometime soon, any suggestions before I do that would be greatly appreciated.
You can do some really cool stuff with L-Systems, so a plugin would be very cool. I've thought about attempting some simple L-System setups with JavaScript. Might be worth trying.
Thats the google sketchup file I used to create the input mesh, you can generate and export your own tree structures from there. Heres the LSystem Plugin built with ruby (you may have to login, but honestly, if you haven't dipped your toe into some of the sketchup free plugins, you have no idea how powerful the application has become). Also, check out the Fur Plugin and I would suggest QHull but I can't get it to work in OS X.
I couldn't fit in the bulge mesh filter in a way that looked right, but feel free to play around with it, it looks pretty awesome with that many points and lines.
Which post actually has the plugin? There are a few different things mentioned on that thread...
(edit)... ok, I installed the ruby script and get "l system" as an option under plugins, but clicking on it doesn't really "do anything". Hmm. My experience with sketchup is minimal.
Draw a line first and select it, it will build off of whatever lines you have selected to scale. You can also change the behavior by editing the properties at the start of the script, be forewarned though, adding an extreme amount of branches/recursions may cause your sketchup to lockup (no pun intended).
so sketchup hugh ? so sketchup is a better way to make .dae files. i have been using a collada plug_in for maya but its not intended for my version of maya but still gives me a dae. the problem is sometimes things are missing in my mesh which lets me think its has something to do with collada.
so i will try sketch up im not familiar i primarily do my 3d stuff in autodesk. i have been checking out cheetah which exports a gl header file. will try sketch up and report back... i like to make all my own models but if this sketchup thing has gotten big then maybe there are a bunch of models i could use that i don't have to build ?
Just to add on to this, most anything submitted to the 3D warehouse is given a broad fair use license with almost no restrictions. I would still attribute but it really opens up possiblities to do extremely well furnished 3D environments in quartz composer.
Dust, I'm almost beside myself that you haven't checked out Google 3D Warehouse yet! Tons of free models.
Sketchup is pretty useful. My main use for it has been the 3D type tool, and to fly in objects and re-texture, or to use it as a file converter (there are lots of plugins that allow one to open up various file types and then export as dae/collada).
Now, I've modeled things in Sketchup, and will occasionally not have something look like it does when I render it in QC vs. the Sketchup preview window, so I don't know if it's strictly Maya that was giving you problems.
Another cool thing about the DAE's is that you can get the normals or vertices, and then output to any of the GL structure patches. You can actually use models as a way of generating structure for a bunch of sprites or any arbitrary object, by creating a "model" with that in mind, and then either iterating through the structure for placement, or using a GL Tools Structure Render environment. So, you can have a person made of a bunch of mini people, or something. It's not too hard to do some fun experiments with levels of recursion, using that concept (though QC will grind to a halt if things are complex).
Cool mix of primitive and meshes :-)
Thanks cybero! I'll probably get this into an installer and post it as a screensaver sometime soon, any suggestions before I do that would be greatly appreciated.
That's very beautiful. The l-system plugin was for sketchup? That'd be a good QC project, for me, anyway. Probably been done already...
You can do some really cool stuff with L-Systems, so a plugin would be very cool. I've thought about attempting some simple L-System setups with JavaScript. Might be worth trying.
a|x
very cool i hadn't noticed that the points patch takes mesh input. very cool. what is the .skp file for ?
This one is really cool conceptually! Great idea to branch into using creative Sketchup plugins.
Using the get/set mesh patches, you can send this to GL Point Structures, GL Quad, GL Line, etc., fwiw.
Thats the google sketchup file I used to create the input mesh, you can generate and export your own tree structures from there. Heres the LSystem Plugin built with ruby (you may have to login, but honestly, if you haven't dipped your toe into some of the sketchup free plugins, you have no idea how powerful the application has become). Also, check out the Fur Plugin and I would suggest QHull but I can't get it to work in OS X.
I couldn't fit in the bulge mesh filter in a way that looked right, but feel free to play around with it, it looks pretty awesome with that many points and lines.
Which post actually has the plugin? There are a few different things mentioned on that thread...
(edit)... ok, I installed the ruby script and get "l system" as an option under plugins, but clicking on it doesn't really "do anything". Hmm. My experience with sketchup is minimal.
Draw a line first and select it, it will build off of whatever lines you have selected to scale. You can also change the behavior by editing the properties at the start of the script, be forewarned though, adding an extreme amount of branches/recursions may cause your sketchup to lockup (no pun intended).
Ok, gotcha.
Wow, that furmaker plugin is fun. I've been wanting something like that to be native to QC for as long as I've been using it.
so sketchup hugh ? so sketchup is a better way to make .dae files. i have been using a collada plug_in for maya but its not intended for my version of maya but still gives me a dae. the problem is sometimes things are missing in my mesh which lets me think its has something to do with collada.
so i will try sketch up im not familiar i primarily do my 3d stuff in autodesk. i have been checking out cheetah which exports a gl header file. will try sketch up and report back... i like to make all my own models but if this sketchup thing has gotten big then maybe there are a bunch of models i could use that i don't have to build ?
Just to add on to this, most anything submitted to the 3D warehouse is given a broad fair use license with almost no restrictions. I would still attribute but it really opens up possiblities to do extremely well furnished 3D environments in quartz composer.
Dust, I'm almost beside myself that you haven't checked out Google 3D Warehouse yet! Tons of free models.
Sketchup is pretty useful. My main use for it has been the 3D type tool, and to fly in objects and re-texture, or to use it as a file converter (there are lots of plugins that allow one to open up various file types and then export as dae/collada).
Now, I've modeled things in Sketchup, and will occasionally not have something look like it does when I render it in QC vs. the Sketchup preview window, so I don't know if it's strictly Maya that was giving you problems.
Another cool thing about the DAE's is that you can get the normals or vertices, and then output to any of the GL structure patches. You can actually use models as a way of generating structure for a bunch of sprites or any arbitrary object, by creating a "model" with that in mind, and then either iterating through the structure for placement, or using a GL Tools Structure Render environment. So, you can have a person made of a bunch of mini people, or something. It's not too hard to do some fun experiments with levels of recursion, using that concept (though QC will grind to a halt if things are complex).
Yeah, thank god they fixed collada rendering in the last update, talk about annoying. Things aren't perfect, but they're getting there.
Kudos to the Mac Devs and all their hard work.