Hi Jim, thanks for your comment

Allright, sorry for the confusion. What I meant concerning level blocks is that I only create them in a level which I later edit in MED (not WED!) to be able to see where the grass should "grow" so that the grass model, from the top, is shaped so it fits exactly into the level. In the demo, for example, I positioned blocks in a half-circle among the rocky walls and used them to determine in MED where to place grass and where not.

Just to clarify: In the final level, the blocks have been deleted and they have nothing to do with the script.

In deed, the script does take a grass model (which has to fit the requirements as listed above) and deforms it so it is adapted to the ground. This way, you can use few grass models (as each model has lots and lots of grass "bushes" in it) instead of hundreds of individual models - which obviously dramatically increases performance.

Yes, this shape thing is a good method to deal with it as a blueprint.

During work today I thought that your code can easily be used as a fake projection script. For example when you want to add blood splatters on a non.planar surface you could have a grid (lets say 5x5) with the blood splatter as skin and then you apply it easily. It is not a real decal substitution (since it is a very dirty workaround), but a great deal for now.

I also thought of that - though I was on the "maybe an easy way to have softer shadows" trip

For now I've got another issue to solve with this one but, at the moment, I don't have a clue on how to do it.
I'd like to as well implement a section in the function that takes care of wide vertical gaps between the vertices. That is, if you place a grass model on a high cliff or sth. similar, but the model does not exactly fit the cliff's shape but is hanging over, the grass on the floor will be connected with the grass on the cliff via strangely stretched polygons, as the model can not be sliced in half. I thought that maybe you could measure the z-distances between the -already adapted- vertices to find such cases and then... well, I have to waste another thought on how to make the appropriate vertices somewhat invisible. If anyone has got a clue on how to do this, any hint is welcome!

Mhn, the easiest solution would be to take care about where you place the grass on the blueprint, so you have to avoid these places with high angle environmental decrease. But this doesnt solve your problem, I admit.

Another workaround could be the following: you said, you do your grass-placing by using adapted blocks from within WED. So, when working on cliffs, etc., you could place the grass sprites manually on the right z-position, save this unique mdl and place it as standard mdl in WED.

From a programmers point of view I would recommend to check connections from one vertex to another to identify closed groups as objects (grass bunches). So we would have not only single vertices but a row of vertices which are connected -> here it is our grass spike. So we could easily determine the upper and lower border and place the whole thing on the z axis so that there is no stretch/crouch behavior. Unfortunately we are not able to do that now. This could be a feature for one of the next updates.. but you know.. personally I would be glad if the update would release soon. Anyway.. I hope you've got some ideas.

ciao
Christian

I'm glad you're still on it. This is getting more and more interesting with every new idea! Maybe the script should not only check for the highest and lowest vertex, but also for others in between and process them otherwise, in "slope mode", so to say. I got no idea on how to process them exactly, though, but I'll start experimenting with this when I get some free time.

Edit: Oh well, as for the update, just have a look at my signature lol

You are very welcome, Matrix. This is a helpful thread, since your idea of using blocks in WED to edit in MED is also innovative. It is something that I never though of, but now I can see all sorts of uses for.....
So thanks again!
Best regards,

Nice to see this is useful for you
Still on it... if there happen to be any new ideas, please let me know as I unfortunately cannot count myself as mathematically talented

I remember making a Grass'O'Matic. Take a search for that if you like...

Thanks for your hint, I'll look at it. As for now, I don't hve the time to do anything about all this, but when I get some, I'll do