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Maxwell Grass

Maxwell Grass allows you to quickly and easily and create many types of realistic grasses in your project. Grass is a parametric geometry modifier, which means that it simply 'grows' on your existing form•Z terrain model (or any other objects).

Workflow
  • Define. The form•Z plugin introductes the concept of Grass Definitions, which are defined and stored in a Grass Library.
  • Apply. One or more Grass Definitions are applied to any number of objects.
  • Render. Grass is generated at render time.

Grass Library

To invoke the Grass Library, select Extensions> Maxwell Render> Grass, or click on XXX in the Maxwell Attributes pane (see Grass Object Attributes, below). Here you can create, open, and save Grass Definitions to be used in your project.

  • New Definition: Create new Grass Definition in the project.
  • Delete Definition: Deletes selected definition in the list.
  • File Menu:
    • Open: Open a Grass Definition file from disk. Definition is added to the Library.
    • Open and Replace: Open a Grass Definition file from disk. Currently selected Definition is replaced with the one opened.
    • Save: Save a Grass Definition file to disk.

Clicking on any Grass Definition in the list will load its parameters and present them on the right:

  • Grass Definition: Name of the Definition. Definitions, like materials, can be renamed at any time without severing the link to the objects to which they are applied.
  • Material:
    • Parent Object: The grass will inherit the material of the object to which it is applied.
    • Referenced MXM:Select an MXM on disk. If you intend on reusing the grass definition in multiple, unrelated projects, this is best option. (If you load the definition into another project, it will not require a specific form•Z material to already exist.)
    • formZ Material: The grass will use the specified form•Z project material. Good for making quick changes to the material.

Descriptions the remaining parameters may be found here: Maxwell Grass.

The Grass Library is stored with your project.

 

Grass Object Attributes

To apply a Grass Definition to an object, select the object, Click on the Pick Tool Attributes tab, and select Maxwell Attributes...

The Grass-specific controls appear in the 'Geometry Modifiers' section.

  • Add Definition: Adds an existing  Grass Definition to the object. Select from the resulting list.
  • Remove Definition: Removes Grass Definition from the object. (Does not delete the definition from the project.)
  • Edit: Edit in the Grass Library.

  • Enabled: May be used to temporarily disable this Definition on the current object only.

More than one definition may be applied to the same object.

 

Memory and Disk Space

There are a few things to keep in mind when using grass, from a resources point of view:

  • Grass uses very little storage space. This is good in that a .fmz project with many grass definitions will be only very slightly larger that one without (other things being equal).
  • Using grass will not affect performance of form•Z during modeling in any way(compared with, say, millions of components).

  • Grass can consume a great deal of memory when it is rendered. Fire rendering with a lot of grass on OSX (32-bit) or Windows 32-bit can lead to out-of-memory issues.

    In the OSX (32-bit) and Windows 32-bit plugins, we recommend keeping the 'Grass' global disabled in Fire Preferences, except when doing tests to set up the look of the grass.

  • Rendering in Maxwell Render (standalone renderer) will use all the memory available on your system, so this limitation should not apply. Go for it.

 

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