Twilight V2 and Skatter

[Phil Meadows]

SketchUp Pro 2020. Twilight V2 and Skatter V2

I may be missing something, but did Twilight stop supporting Skatter's "render only" opition? I can't get Twilight to render skattered things when "render only" is checked. Full geometry renders, but I can't have a million blades of grass in my model.

[GiorgiMelkadze3DArt]

i was searching post about Skatter and Twilight render and i saw your post. i can not use Skatter at this moment, because my windows needs update. but can u tell me, does Twilight works for Skatter proxy?
thanks.

[Phil Meadows]

With previous versions of both Twilight and Skatter, if you checked the Render Only button, the geometry would not be visible in the model, but would render fine. I talked to the Skatter folks and they said it's an issue with Twilight. I'm sure the functionality was just missed in the first version of Twilight V2 and it will be implemented again in an update. HOPEFULLY. If not I guess I'll have to find another solution. I've got deadlines, people!

[Chris]

I just tested the latest Skatter with SU 2019 (I'll try 2020 here in a bit but there shouldn't have been any major differences between the two). It works fine for me.

That said, there is a restriction (and this has always been the case). When loading geometry from the Skatter Library, you must choose Full Geometry. You can (and should, probably) additionally choose Render Only. The Skatter library does not contain Twilight Render proxies, so you can't choose the proxy option. But by choosing Full Geometry and Render Only, a single instance of the object will be created and then hidden.

I will try 2020 here in a little bit just in case things changed, but again, 2019 works fine for me. If you have a scene that isn't working, post it here and we will take a look.

[Chris]

I just tried 2020 and it is working there too. My first run through, it didn't render but that was because I missed a step. Here are the steps I followed:

• Create a "floor" component made from a rectangle
• Open the Skatter editor
• Open the Skatter Library
• Choose one of the grass models from the Skatter library and select "Full Geometry" and "Render Only"
• In the Skatter editor, click the Hosts - Add button and click on the floor component previously created. Note that the preview will show the grass fully populated on the floor.
• If not already checked, click and check Render Only in the Skatter editor.
• Click (re)Generate! I missed this step the first time because the preview populated right away in the last step. But you still MUST click it.
• Render (probably with Interior/Interior+)

[GiorgiMelkadze3DArt]

is it possible in next update of Twilight render, to use Skatter with only proxy like in other renders? it works with fully geometry but its so difficult, because it makes model full and hard.
everything other is great

[Chris]

When you import a model using "Full Geometry", it only creates a single instance and then hides it. It certainly shouldn't make your model "full" (though it will make it larger in file size).

Maybe we are looking at this in two different ways. Can you explain how you are using Skatter that is causing a problem? Maybe post a screen shot of what you mean?

[GiorgiMelkadze3DArt]

Chris i will post soon, how i use it. now i am reseting my pc and hope soon i wll ready to show you screen.
thanks for appreciation

[Phil Meadows]

Chris, I did exactly what you said above. here is my result...

[Chris]

Strange. When you imported your grass from the library, what options did you check?