Geometry

Forest can use unlimited types of plants in the same object, each one with its own properties. The Geometry List is used to define them.

The "Add" button ( ) creates a new element, and "Delete" ( ) removes the selected item. Selecting an item from the list will change the values of the "Properties" parameters, allowing you to edit each type of plant.

Other buttons of the toolbar are:

Add multiple elements from a list of geometry samples selected from the scene.

Copy properties of the selected item to the clipboard.

Paste propierties from the clipboard to selected item.

The Up/Down arrows modifies the order of the items in the list, but has no effect in the resulting mesh.

Properties

(of the selected item in the Geometry List)

Name

Shows the name of the currently selected item. You can change the name for your convenience.

Color ID

Use it to define the color of items on viewport (only when Display object type is 'Pyramid' or 'Boxes'). It's used as well for "Diversity" options of Distribution Map, to match the color of each pixel in the map with a type of plant of the Geometry List.

Disabled

When this option is selected, Forest doesn't create any geometry for the plant. This is not the same as deleting the item from the list, because "Disabled" is considered in the random distribution as a plant with no mesh.

Template

Uses a predefined geometry template from the drop-down list. The default templates included with the plugin are: One-Plane, Two-Planes, Three-Planes, Four-Planes as static billboards, and Low/Medium/High Animated Planes as billboards with a windy movement effect. It's possible to create your own templates (editing an "index.dat" text file and using standard Max scenes for the meshes), see Customizing Forest for details.

Custom Object

You can also use custom meshes for plants. Select the desired object from the scene with the button below Custom Object. The type of object that Forest can use depends of the render engine:

Render Engine	Object type
Scanline	Meshes (or any object that can be converted to mesh)
Mental Ray	Meshes, mr Proxies and other objects (as RPC)
VRay	Meshes, VRay Proxies
Maxwell Render	Meshes, Maxwell Proxies

By default, the items will have the size defined in the Width and Height parameters. To use the same size as the custom object model, enable the "Use Object Dimensions" checkbox.

In Forest 4 and above, it is possible to select a Group as Custom Object:

• This mode is useful to scatter groups of plants, preserving their composition. For example, sets of flowers or grass. It works nicely used together Distribution->Diversity->Clusters.
• Elements of a group are handled as individual items once scattered, both for the boundary checking and surface placement. This also has a great impact on the number of items generated, be care when scattering groups with many objects.
• Don't use groups for objects that must be handled an unique object (for example a tree). In this case, attach all parts in single mesh.
• Groups must be assigned using the name selector. Max doesn't support "picking" groups from the scene.

Width/Height

These values define the size of the models. It's used for Template and Custom Object selections.

Z Offset

This parameters applies an elevation of the plants on the Z axis

Center Displacement

When using billboard trees, the trees rotate in the Z axis to keep them facing toward the camera. This parameter defines the pivot position for rotation (as a displacement from 0% to 100%). Use this value to adjust the rotation point for different textures:

Collision Radius

This value is multiplied by the global radius parameter (Distribution Map rollout), to compute the distance between objects to detect a collision. See Collisions reference for details.

Probability

Defines the probability that a plant of this type will be created in the random distribution, from 0% to 100%. If the sum of all the probabilities in the Geometry List is not 100%, the values are normalized internally by the distribution algorithm. You can also use the "N" button to normalize the list manually.

Material

In Forest, there is a big difference in comparison with the standard assignment of materials in 3DS. The material is NOT applied to the object, using the Material Editor, but selected as a parameter in the Geometry rollout, using the "Material" pick button.

Let me clarify this point: as we may create different types of plants in a single Forest object, and an object may only have a material assigned... is necessary to use Multi-Materials for Forest. To simplify the process of creating them, Forest does this job automatically. It collects all the Materials defined in the Geometry List, builds a Multi-Material and assigns it to itself.

For Custom Objects, if material is not specified, Forest uses the material assigned to the source object.

If you accidentally assign another material to a Forest object, use the "Reassign Material" button to recover the automaterial.

Is possible to disable the automaterial feature and assign the materials manually, although is not recommended. For this, uncheck the "Consolidate Materials" parameter in the Geometry rollout.

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Library

This button opens the Library browser. Use the left panel to navigate in the catalogs, and click on the thumbnail to assign the plant to the current element in the Geometry List.

By default, the plugin only gets Material from the Library. To assign Width/Height/Z Offset and Center Displacement values as well, enable the checkbox "Get Size from Library" in this same Geometry rollout.

Global Size

Enable this option to apply global Width/Height values to all the items in the Geometry List.

Global Scale

Apply a global scale factor to all plants in the Forest object (100% by default)

Consolidate Materials / Reassign Materials

See Material description above in this page.