Spawning & Manipulating Assets¶

This section describes spawn asset in detail, concepts of filtering, how we name things, how Convert To Linked and Convert To Editable can be used in your scenes to maximize efficiency and asset related features that we ship in botaniq. Some sections like filters are applicable to scatter.

Spawn Asset¶

Spawn Asset button can be used to spawn a single asset. The model will always spawn at the current 3D cursor location.

Spawn Asset Dialog¶

• Asset to be spawned is the main part of the user interface. It is a preview image representing the asset that will be spawned after clicking the OK button. If you want to spawn another asset click on the image and a list with all assets fitting your filter will appear.
• Common name is often rendered into the preview. Useful when you are not familiar with the latin names. Those names are supported in the search filter.
• In most preview images there is a measure included. You can look at the measure to get an idea of approximate size of the asset before spawning it. One step is equal to 1m (3.28ft), small assets have the measure downscaled so one step is 10cm (3.9in).
• Latin name is displayed under the preview and comes handy for landscape architecture. Latin name is more specific than common name and it can help you to choose the right model for a given area.
• Use botaniq collection checkbox. When checked the asset will be placed in a category collection under a botaniq collection. If the collections do not exist they will be created. This makes all of botaniq content end up in one place for your convinience.
• Make editable checkbox. When checked the asset is appended to the scene, otherwise, linked instances will be created. We recommend having this option disabled to save memory. It is possible to make assets editable afterwards. For more information read Convert To Editable section.

Filters¶

Spawn asset and scatter list of models can be filtered by seasons and by a text input provided from user.

Seasons¶

To filter assets by seasons tick the desired season boxes. Assets can also be displayed in multiple seasons. For example, some evergreen shrubs will be the same in spring, summer and autumn, so they will appear in any of the seasons.

Search¶

Use this field to search for a model by keyword. For example, if you write the keyword maple only maple trees will show up in search. This is a quick way of getting the asset if you know what you are looking for and don’t want to scroll through all assets.

Category¶

botaniq assets are sorted into multiple categories according to their type. Only assets from selected categories will appear in the assets to be spawned. All other filters apply after this one. You won't find deciduous trees using search filter when in a coniferous category.

Editable & Linked Assets¶

Objects in botaniq can be in two states. Either linked or editable. Linked objects save memory and are easily updatable. On the other hand editable objects can be customized to your liking. botaniq assets should get nice render results out of the box, thus linked variant should be used in most of use cases.

Convert To Editable¶

This button converts selected objects to editable and makes them local to the scene. This way you have complete control of the objects, you can change the mesh, textures, materials, apply custom modifiers, animations, etc. On the flip side, this affects the performance of the scene so use this function wisely.

Convert To Linked¶

This button converts selected objects back to their linked variants. Works only on polygoniq assets because we know where we can locate the original variant. Doesn't work on particle systems.

Asset Manipulation Features¶

botaniq is shipped with features that improve default blender workflow and are ready to use in the panel at hand.

Random Transform¶

Each object in the selection will be randomly rotated and scaled with each click. Transform is manipulated only slightly so the object stays semi-vertical.

Reset Transform¶

Each object in the selection will get its rotation set to (0, 0, 0) and scale to (1, 1, 1).

Randomize Variant¶

Replaces botaniq assets in selection by variants of the same model. Randomize variant preserves seasons - we won't replace your preciously designed autumn scene with a mix of summer and winter trees.

Snap To Ground¶

Snaps selected obejcts to the ground below. Works on all selected objects including non-botaniq assets.

Brightness¶

Subpanel that allows customization of botaniq vegetation assets.

• Randomize checkbox. When checked in then minimal and maximal value is displayed and the resulting brightness value is chosen uniformly from the provided range.
• Value to set the brightness to.
• Change Brightness button. When clicked the brightness is set for all selected assets.

Utilities¶

Following section describes utility features that can minimize the duplicates in your file or help you resolving issues.

Remove Duplicate Data¶

Having multiple editable assets can result in many duplicated materials, node groups or textures that reference the same things. Duplicate data are indicated with the .001, .002, ... suffixes. Remove Duplicate Data button merges all duplicate data into one datablock (data deduplication). This applies to materials, node groups and textures.

Find Missing Files¶

Looks for missing files in the botaniq installation path you have set in preferences. Quick way to fix broken references to images, materials, collections or other botaniq related datablocks.