Ivy

[PeterJ]

I have a wall overgrown with ivy.

Any tips on how to represent this, both in elevation and in renderings?

P

[Steve_Stafford]

I say draw it up in ##$$*& and do so in a thousand little tiny line segments and then...ouch...stop that...sorry, I'm back. :oops:

I can't help but wonder if MartinP's trick with the railings he posted awhile back might work?? Martin? (fancy overlay of a pattern on railing)

[bclarch]

I haven't tried this but it might be worth a shot. Use split surface tool to define areas of ivy. Apply leaf image material. Add bumpmap texture to create 3D shadow effects when rendered.

[PeterJ]

Ivy railings and split faces.....both these could work. The beauty of the railing is that I could define it as a sub-category and switch it off when I wanted to, so maybe that is the one to pursue.

Thanks

Pete

[PeterJ]

OK thanks for the tips.

I modelled a thin generic surface in front of the wall with jagged holes in it. Works okay so far. The map is froma site photo so it realistic enough, but how did you suggest I added the bumpmap? I have made a greyscale bitmap, but I can't find a way of associating it with the texture.

Any thoughts?

Pete

[bclarch]

You really have to drill down through a number of dialog boxes to get there but here goes.
Settings > Materials > "Accurender" heading with "texture" box below, click on "Select" next to "texture". This puts you into the Material Library window. In the AR2_ACCUREND directory there are a number of generic materials, some with textures. Pick one that you would expect to have a texture associated with it (maybe grass or gravel). Right click and select new > use as template. This takes you into the Material editor. Select the maps tab. Under "procedural bumps" click on add. Pick rubble or pyramids and start playing with the settings to your hearts content. Unlocking the lock icon allows you to adjust the x, y and z seperately. When you are happy with the results save your way back through all of the boxes.

[hand471037]

There *are* hanging Ivy plants avilable for Accurender. You can even tell them how far down you want them to hang/grow up. However, I didn't have much luck with getting them to not be partially in a wall. Maybe if you gave them thier own level, and held them off the face of the building a good 6" or so... :)

But serously, there are hanging Ivy plants for Accurender. You might have to go to the Accustudio site for them. Once my Revit is done rendering (damn you p-III machine! DAMN YOU!) then I'll look at where I got the ivy from.

Nice part about using the accurender plants is no modeling overhead. bad part is lack of control.

[PeterJ]

I see how to do the bump mapping, I had thought it was possible to bring in a texture as a bitmpa. My understanding is that in Viz for example you can use a jpg to get colour and a greyscale bitmap of the same image to get texture. Gives great detail if you need a close up of weathered timber for example, but probably slow to render.

As to finding pre-modelled Ivy, I have had a dig about and find plants on sticks and ground cover but no trailing ivy.

P