Grass in ArchiCad 18 (CineRender)

[Anonymous]

I have spent much time trying to figure out the new CineRender's (Maxon) Grass surface.
1. I created a slab and changed it's surfaces to Green Grass.
2. I visited the Surface Settings and switched Engine Settings to CineRender by Maxon
3. I selected the Green Grass surface, under Surface Settings, and selected the CineRender Setting: Grass (texture)
4. I rendered in CineRender.

Result: I get a flat green surface. Even when I have made various surface settings, I always get this flat surface.

Can someone please help clarify, what I may be doing wrong? Hopefully there will be a tutorial for this one day. For those that respond to my issue, thank you.

[Aaron Bourgoin]

not sure if you saw this, but if not, this might help: http://youtu.be/wCGc9FtZBC4

[Karl Ottenstein]

Great tips in the video that Aaron linked to. But, it misses an essential point and setting.

There are two places to 'enable' grass. First, in the Surface Settings, you you check the box there and define the parameters similar to what is shown in the video.

But, the Render Settings must ALSO enable grass. See attached screenshot of Detailed render settings. If the Grass checkbox is NOT checked there, no 3D grass will be generated. Thus, it doesn't really make sense to fuss with turning 3D on and off in your Surface... except for having it off for grass that is always in the distance as you never want to pay the price of generating 3D that cannot be seen.

Instead, enabling or disabling 3D Grass during the render is the way to go. This is handled by many of the delivered 'scenes' - for example if you select a 'Final' scene, grass will be enabled, whereas a 'fast' scene will have it disabled. Alternatively, enable detail settings as in the screenshot and control the checkbox yourself.

Karl

PS If you are working with an existing project - rather than a new file from the default 18 template - then you would have to define the 3D grass surface yourself. The video shows how to replace an existing grass with a new CR one - as does my screenshot here:
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=230025#230025

[Anonymous]

Much appreciated, Aaron. I did not realize a new surface needed to be imported.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Jakub,

You CAN add the grass to your existing surface. Just easier to import. But, the key is that the grass checkbox has to be enabled for the render... doesn't matter if grass exists in the surface if that checkbox is unchecked.

BTW - using one of the "Fast" scenes with grass checked is way faster than doing a final render, just to see how the grass works. Also faster is if for the Grass setting in the CR render settings you uncheck the box for shadow casting.

[Edit: typos]

[Anonymous]

Big help Karl, thank you.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Alternatively, you could just make sure that the "grass" setting is checked in the Surface editor (with CineRender selected as the render engine) with the stock basic library grass material(s).
Adjust the setting to suit your needs, length, and density and even color.

This is obviously in addition to making sure that "Grass" is also enabled and checked in the Render settings window, as pointed out above.

There's no need to download any additional new surfaces or materials (if you don't want to).