Latest Contributions by AbeleGiandoso

Hi all I see in the tutorial section about exporting models in abc file format, that alembic files imported into Maya seems to be retaining their textures (at least the pictures show textured assets). How can I do it? I thought abc files did not have texture information, just the uvs, and all the test I made so far produced geometry without shaders or textures (although the textures themselves were exported in the same folder) just the one initial shader Lambert 1. The abc format is much lighter and manageable than FBX but without tetextur is not very useful, so if there is a procedure I am missing please let me know! I'd love to learn it Thanks A. ... View more

Hi  I am trying to figure out what exactly does the Set Pivot operation do and understand the ways you move around objects in CGA. I have read the manual but I am still having troubles grasping the whole thing, maybe because of the terminology used. The questions might seem a bit obvious, please be patient with me.  The setPivot operation lets you re-position and re-orient the current shape's pivot. The new orientation will be based on the current shape's scope axes, the axisMapSelector and the cornerIndex. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- If i got it correctly, there are 4 coordinates system:    World Coordinates. These are fixed, one set of coordinates for the whole scene.    Object Coordinates. These are fixed, one set of coordinates for the InitialShape, shared by its whole shape tree.    Pivot Coordinates. Each current shape has one. It changes after each comp operation and can be set with CGA.    Scope Coordinates. Each current shape has one. It changes after each shape transformations and can be set with CGA. Now, there are 2 ways to translate, 3 ways to rotate and 1 way to scale. t: translates the scope in relation to the scope coordinates. It is a special case of translate, like writing translate(rel,        scope, x, y, z). translate:translates the scope of the current shape in relation to one of the 4 different coordinate systems.  r: rotates the scope of the current shape around EITHER the scope origin or the scope centre , using the  pivot coordinates. If the rotation centre is the scope origin, it is a special case of rotate, like writing rotate(rel, pivot,      x, y, z).    rotate: rotates the scope of the current shape  around the scope origin using one of the 4 different coordinate systems.  rotateScope: rotates the scope of the current shape around the pivot-axes in xyz order. The geometry is not rotated, and the size and translation of the scope is adjusted such that the scope is the geometry's bounding box aligned to the scope axes. s: sets the size vector scope.s. Negative sizes result in mirroring along the corresponding axes; this means inverted normals. Mirror: mirrors the geometry of the current shape. BUT it keeps the scope unchanged. Mirror Scope: mirrors the scope of the current shape BUT it keeps the shape's geometry unchanged. ------------------------------------------ So, question 1: While "t" is a special case of "translate", "r" is ONLY a special case of "rotate" when centerSelector is the SCOPE ORIGIN, did I got it right or i misunderstood? It seems to me like t and r are a shortened simplified version of translate and rotate, the same way like "texture ()" is a quick way to say set(material.colormap, ). question 2: Does rotateScope ONLY rotates the scope while "r" and "rotate" turn the scope AND the geometry together? question 3: "r" uses the pivot cordinates, "rotate" allows you to choose one of the 4 coordinates system. What about rotateScope, does it uses world, object, pivot or scope? Is "pivot axes" referring to the point around which it can rotate or the coordinates system which is using to calculate the rotation? question 4: "r" can rotate around the scope origin or the scope centre, "rotate" only around the scope origin. "rotateScope" rotates the scope  around the "pivot-axes", does it means around the pivot position vector p(origin) ? Final question: Why would I want to change the pivot?, what is the benefit from doing it? Does it changes the first edge of the shape? What is a situation in which changing the pivot could be important or required? Why not changing the object  Thanks for all the help A. ... View more

Hi CE ppl    Is there any way in CGA to bevel/chamfer the angles of a shape that are below a certain degree (too acute)? Similarly to the CORNER ANGLE MAX parameter in the Blocks Parameters, but done in CGA.  So that if any angle is below a certain degree the point of it gets split away (kind of like in the convexify operation). This would help a lot with irregular lots. To make it work there should be a way to verify that there are angles that are too acute, like a geometry.angleIsAcute function or something similar (Or maybe if the geometry.area is too close to half the area of scope.sx*scope.sz), than to identify where the angles are and then to remove the points.  In the case of a simple triangular face I was thinking about aligning the scope to the longest edge and then a split operation BUT I have not figured out how to know if the acute angle to bevel is on the left, on the right or on both sides of the long edge. And then if the shape has more than 3 vertices it would not work.  If anyone has any idea I'd love to hear it.  Thanks A. ... View more

Hi All I posted a Suggestion in the Idea section,  comp operation by "flat island" in CityEngine  but I thought maybe there is a way to do just that already and I haven't thought about it. If you ppl have some sugestions it would be amazing! And if you like the suggestion please vote for it  so it maybe gets implemented.  It is a problem I encounter all the times, as I work with imported FBX assets, lots created from curved streets, L, U and O shapes, so very irregular base shapes.  My question: Is there a way to do a  comp split that separates objects into "islands", or "flat shells" as long as they are continuous, so if the angle between faces does not exceed a certain amount. Independently from the number of faces this "island" contains.    Take this example, where bot the C faces and A faces are orientated in the same way, let's say parallel to the object front, while the B faces are at 70 degrees .    comp(f) { front= X} would produce a single mesh composed of A and C, thus not creating a flat surface.   comp(f) { front: X} will create 18  separates faces (12 in A plus 6 in B)   I suggest adding a comp(i) operation so that writing   comp(i) { front: X} produces 2 separated meshes, A and C.   I think it could be very useful especially with the buildings created from L, U and O shapes. There could be an extra parameter defining what is the angle between faces in degree that is the limit to consider a shell "flat", like a threshold parameter. So that if there is an angle of 3 degrees between 2 faces and I type "4" in this parameter, the 2 faces will still be considered as part of the same shell. ALTERNATIVELY If this is not possible, is there any method, taking the above example, AFTER doing comp(f) { front= X}  therefore eliminating surface B, to separate surface A from Surface C without splitting them into 18 microfacets? UPDATE I see there is a function called geometry.isPlanar, maybe something involving that..  😕 ... View more

Hi people. Can someone help me understanding what is the difference between objects and shapes? I read the manual but I still can not figure it out exactly. I have some trouble understanding what is what. I see there are Object attributes AND shapes attributes. Is it the same thing? Many thanks A. ... View more

Hi all. It would be lovely to add a type of comp split that separates objects into "islands", or "flat shells" as long as they are continuous, so if the angle between faces does not exceed a certain amount. Independently from the number of faces this "island" contains.  Take this example, where bot the C faces and A faces are orientated in the same way, let's say parallel to the object front, while the B faces are at 70 degrees .  comp(f) { front= X} would produce a single mesh composed of A and C, thus not creating a flat surface. comp(f) { front: X} will create 18  separates faces (12 in A plus 6 in B) I suggest adding a comp(i) operation so that writing comp(i) { front: X} produces 2 separated meshes, A and C. I think it could be very useful especially with the buildings created from L, U and O shapes. There could be an extra parameter defining what is the angle between faces in degree that is the limit to consider a shell "flat", like a threshold parameter. So that if there is an angle of 3 degrees between 2 faces and I type "4" in this parameter, the 2 faces will still be considered as part of the same shell. ... View more

Hi all I have a suggestion for the next version: I was thinking, since now most render engine support PBR, wouldn't it be a blast to update the maps that CE can digest so that: - Base Color - Roughness, - Normals - Metallic and maybe (Height, Opacity, Emission and AO) are included? The specular workflow is a bit outdated after all right? Especially with the new collaboration with the Game Engine Unreal CE is doing PBR rougness workflow is relevant.  I am not saying they should render correctly, just that there should be a "slot" for them, a dedicated UV set. So that you can plug in Substances outputs maps directly in CE and when you export the connections are already there and it renders PBR correctly. Base color, normal and Opacity are there already, so it would be like rearranging connections a bit and add a couple ones . What do you think CE people, is it something doable? Cheers A ... View more