Dec 17, 2025, 3:38:45 AM
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Sweet Home 3D Forum » List all forums » » Forum: New versions » » » Thread: Terrain Generator plug-in » » » » Post: Re: Terrain Generator plug-in |
Print at Dec 17, 2025, 3:38:45 AM |
| Posted by goldenjet50 at Mar 6, 2025, 3:46:55 PM |
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Re: Terrain Generator plug-in First of all a caveat or admission: I am very much a novice in SH3D and more especially with the Terrain Generator, nor do I have Java programming experience so please forgive me if I ask dumb or otherwise impossible questions. (I'm also pretty verbose so I apologize in advance.) I am finding the lack of manipulation controls within the terrain generator quite frustrating but am as least somewhat willing to admit that some of that may come from lack of understanding. Now that the caveats are out of the way ..... (and btw, thanks for the tip I read about the terrain being stored with the room parameters, and as long as the room isn't deleted, the last iteration of the terrain will remain in tact ... that saved me from a potential 'oh sh@t' moment) The lack of ability for directional control when setting elevation/de-elevation points makes the generator very time-consuming to use. Would it be possible to control the direction of the influence radius? e.g. After you have elevated a series of points you want to do it again (or de-elevate) some of those points but ONLY in one direction. i.e. you do NOT want to change everything within the new influence radius, just in say one direction from the centre point. I wonder if it would be possible to set X0, X1 and Y0, Y1 values so that the changes apply only within that trapezium (trapezoid)? In fact, if you used those parameters, could you have the ability to disable the influence radius entirely but rather the area of influence is every point within the trapezium? Is it possible to have Column modification in addition to row modification (either/or or both active at a time)? Another option is to have the influence radius set the same elevation for ALL points within the radius instead of it increasing or decreasing every point radiating out from the centre point. I was becoming so frustrated when trying to create and manipulate the terrain within SH3D that I looked at other software. I found that Cedreo worked better with terrain, BUT it has other severe limitations that made that a non-starter. Such as: you can't 'move' some objects once they have been created (a sidewalk for example) which made alignment a very big issue. I even tried importing a SH3D image but that would have required much too much work to re-draw the plan and then probably still have the limitations. (It's also not terribly mouse friendly and I don't know how their magnetism is supposed to work, but it doesn't seem to ... at least not like SH3D). (Cedreo uses elevation points where you can set an elevation for each point but the points do not have to be at every grid point nor do they even have to be on a grid point ... just on an intersection line. They also use elevation lines that you free-hand draw which all have the same elevation value. It makes it easier to "draw" a contour line like a bank with an irregular wall. But, as I said ..... ) How could you accomplish "stair steps" on an terrain such as a sidewalk with steps. I can make a stair-step like feature, but not an actual step with a vertical riser. I know I could ACTUALLY use a stairs object from the furniture library, but since the terrain hides anything in the 2D room for which you are creating the terrain, it makes it very difficult .... and that coupled with the fact that you cannot edit the elevation points in the terrain once it is generated (short of deleting and recreating). There is a issue that once the terrain is generated, in the 2D view, it overlays parts of other adjacent rooms that were not part of the room used to generate the terrain. (I would have included two screen shots but I'm not smart enough ☺) That is: it is not displayed as constrained within the area of just that one room. The work around is to create the terrain at a different level and then make that level unviewable (or rather toggle between viewable and unviewable depending if you are working within the 2D or 3D view.) Instead of my next set of questions about making the terrain easier to manipulate, I will just ask: I presume that having the ability to have the base of floors and walls slope would require significant reprograming of SH3D? If that were possible then all of the controls that are available for walls and floors could potentially be available when designing the terrain. I must conclude with a huge THANK YOU for SH3D in the first place. I tried other software but it was either: not robust enough; too time consuming; had a huge learning curve, and/or was too expensive for a DIY design project. I have used SH3D for our new home for pre-architect drawings and for what-ifs furnishings placements etc. The place is now built and occupied and now we are tackling the landscaping. |
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