@Uncle_Riotous You have to make sure the model is already grounded in whatever program it is created in, before importing into IvyGen. Apparently IG reads the world positioning info, even if you didn't think it was included.

Should have been clearer, the camera looks as if it is flush up against the mesh...maybe inside of it, no way to tell, but the camera is usually at ground level.

But, Rosemaryr is correct also. If the mesh is off the ground in the first place, it will probably be off the ground in Ivy Generator. Not really a problem, it's just usually easier to know where you're grounded. (horribly bad pun) 

HEY, Thomas posted some of the renders users have been making with his Ivy Generator at his website (be sure to scroll down);

http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/%7Eluft/ivy_generator/

...and there is a strangely familiar Bryce one in there, lol.....;o)

Pretty cool stuff. I haven't had the time to continue with my sundial... it got too close to the challenge date to play around with other things. But after the challenge..... evil laugh :-)

There is now a version 1.3 available for both PC and Mac....has an automatic 'zoom to object' so you no longer have to do a zoom-out to find your imported thingie-bob-whatsis....

I sent him an email thanx
its been a very long time since something made me saw "wow" when I saw it.

BT

Ah, awesome! That zommed out camera position helps a bunch.
I'm not having to flip normals now to make the Ivy grow correctly....

Woohoo mac version of Ivy generator..I'm so happy:-D <--does the lil dance from happy feet movie:-P

Oo! So money does grow on trees!

Okay, I appreciate I'm a little late to the Ivy Generator party, but how do I export an object from Bryce to use it in IG? I can see that it needs to be an .obj file, but I'm not able to export anything other than a terrain or lattice into this format from Bryce. I'm attempting to export a group of stones (which I thought would be ok as they are meshes like the terrains and lattices), but no luck. What's the trick with this?? I'm using Bryce 5.5....or is the answer just to get off my butt and upgrade to 6.1 ;-)

Thanx in advance!

*or is the answer just to get off my butt and upgrade to 6.1 ;-) *
That would do it! ;-)

Here's how it looks with Bryce 5.

Just like Death_at_Midnight says. The rock export works with ver.5.1 so it should work with 5.5.

Hey, thanx for all that feedback - D@M: I'll try that out tonight, but that looks to be exactly what I was looking for! thankyou!  I checked through the help file in Bryce but it didn't mention anything about this functionality (so much of Bryce seems to be hidden in this way - which makes the program both frustrating and fascinating!). BTW: congrats on winning the Bryce Glass challenge!!

Bryster: yes, I think you're right - could be time to upgrade! :-)

Success!! Thanx for that advice as that worked a treat! :-)

BTW: Once the notification came out from DAZ today re. the boxed version of Bryce 6.1 being FINALLY available, I signed up immediately, so V6.1 here I come!

SunsetHunter: Don't forget, you have to donate 10% of the price of B6.1 to the Comfy Chair Restoration Fund......

Downloaded and had a little play.
Very good, but worried that all future images will now have just a little bit of ivy in them :rolleyes:

Ok, I'm totally new to all this modelling stuff - I'm so sorry for looking like a complete moron!

I had a play with the generator and got some nice looking ivy, but when I imported it into 3d Studio Max, the materials weren't there and the articulation of the leaves was gone and I just had lots of weird polygons where the leaves were.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Are there specific import settings you need to use?

Thanks - and thanks heaps to the person who made the program: you're a true inspiration to a novice like me!

Also, the object that I import into the generator doesn't seem to show up...how can I fix that?

Okay. First, IG will --only-- export the finished ivy objects. You will have to manually re-import whichever model you had your ivy 'grow on', along with your ivy, into 3DMax. Second, you will have to manually point 3DMax to where the materials images are stored (they are usually inside the Ivy Gen 'Textures' sub-folder). Do this by, first un-grouping the three main objects of the ivy---trunk, old leaves, and new leaves. Select each in turn and find the required material, and apply. Third, for the two leaves groups, you will also have to make sure that the transparency settings are activated. The materials used have an alpha-mask picture associated with it to drive the transparency. Use that pic in whatever slot 3DMax uses for transparency. (Not having 3DSMax, I will leave that to another to specify...)

www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php

My first play.

Absolutely horrendous file sizes and literally days to open and render.

I just discovered this thread, so here is my first try with IG - 

Rendered in Carrara, two spotlights (no hdri) so it only took about 1 min to render.

Oooh! That is purty! I'm gonna' have to try that in Carrara too.

Cool! Mind if I snag this pic? It looks a lot like some of the Rhododendrons that are currently blooming in my garden. My digicamera is on the fritz, so I'm thinking of buying a new one. Bad time to lose it too; the garden is a symphony of color right now.

No problem :) 

I would love to see pics of your garden when you get your camera working :) 

Thanks Discoseven. I'll try to get some shots in the next couple of days when the forecast calls for sunshine.

Hrm, I have a terrain and some rocks. Placed into IG, the ivy either grows on the rocks and through the terrain, or when I click "flip normals" the ivy grows on the terrain and through the rocks. Anyone have similar experience? Workaround?

Would probably do the trick if you could turnthe two meshes into a single one before importing into IG. I would think Wings 3D could handle that?

I tried ungrouping the imported ivy, but nothing happened and when I tried to assign the materials to it, it would only take one, thus making it look really silly.

Am I importing it with the wrong settings? Attached is the screen that comes up when importing.

Should I just get a trial version of Bryce and import everything there? Is it easier that way?

Also, Agent Smith - what lights did you use in your scene? It looks gorgeous!

Thanks heaps guys!

I used the HDRI called "Outside". it was out of the HDRI's that are included with B6.0, then included a little haze and fog from the Skylab to help define the vines from the background grass.

PrincessL: hmmmmm. Found a friend with an old version of Max (v4), and the same thing happened there...it came in as one group, and we couldn't find a way to 'ungroup' it. But then he said that the obj import for Max v.4 was a plug-in, not a native thing, so probably it wasn't up to snuff. But I did find that some of the other programs I use could hack it apart. I use UVMapper Pro, and could select by 'Material" to separate the parts... You may wish to download either the demo version of UVM Pro, or the free "Classic' version and give it a try. And, as you said, getting one of the free or trial versions of Bryce should do it too.

Thanks heaps Rosemaryr - I thought I was going crazy!