topic Re: Randomization of trees in InfraWorks Forum

Randomization of trees

ThomasBHansen__ — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:30:42 GMT

Hello!

I am wondering if there is a way to randomize the trees with the "Create trees [forest]" function.

I am aware that i can import trees as an entity and then use a java script to randomize them, but i would really like to randomize forests as well.

/Thomas

Re: Randomization of trees

Todd_Rogers — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:32:12 GMT

Yes. Create a Style Rule.

Re: Randomization of trees

ThomasBHansen__ — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:49:11 GMT

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have created a style rule, but seem to have problems applying the Rule style to my forest.

I used the stylized model panel and created a rule with 3 trees and saved it as "random_trees". In the Forest properties I cannot find the rule I`ve created in the "Rule Style" box. Am I going about it the wrong way?

Re: Randomization of trees

Todd_Rogers — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 14:50:24 GMT

Did you click the Commit button at the bottom of the style rule?

Re: Randomization of trees

ThomasBHansen__ — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:07:10 GMT

I have tried to commit, and refresh, but with no further luck.

Here is a short video of what I have so far.

https://chronicle.autodesk.com/Main/Details/48876c57-e05e-4ba1-a5ea-44e02e55fb95

Re: Randomization of trees

Todd_Rogers — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:09:12 GMT

Hang tight. I will create a video for you.

Re: Randomization of trees

Todd_Rogers — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:15:24 GMT

Interesting. I just tried it myself and it's not working. I use this on building all the time and it works fine. Looks like you will need a script for this.

Re: Randomization of trees

ThomasBHansen__ — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:17:42 GMT

Thanks for trying. I will look more into this later.

Re: Randomization of trees

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 17:20:25 GMT

my problem also got solved because of this issue

Re: Randomization of trees

ThomasBHansen__ — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 18:58:27 GMT

How did you solve it? I still havent managed to randomize the trees.

Re: Randomization of trees

s.gerber — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 11:06:15 GMT

Hi Thomas, you have to select all the trees and clear the Manual Style property. The Manual Style is the one used while drawing the forest and will always overrule the Rule Style. That's why you don't see the desired effect, even if the Rule Style is correctly applied by running your rule.

Re: Randomization of trees

ThomasBHansen__ — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 11:44:45 GMT

Thanks!

That solved my problem, but i still dont quite understand why I can`t find the name of the spesific rulestyle when going into the properties palette and browsing rule styles.

Should`nt I be able to find my style "3_trees_style" by browsing the properties palette? And If I have several tree styles, how does the program know which of the rules to use when i cannot define or locate the Rule Style by name in the propertis palette?

Re: Randomization of trees

s.gerber — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 12:23:32 GMT

Hi Thomas, it works a little bit different. What you see in the properties is the "Rule Style", not the "Style Rule". I.e. it is just the style that was assigned to the feature by running the rule. The feature itself doesn't know anything about which rule it has its style from.

Re: Randomization of trees

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 08:41:47 GMT

Hello,

With expression manager you can do more dynamic styling solutions. So here is another possible solution:

Good luck.

Re: Randomization of trees

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:34:58 GMT

Unfortunately this was not the solution for me. As far as I can se, I have the same issue as Thomas, but when I clear the manual style in properties, nothing happens. I commit and refresh my style rule again and manual style is applied again.

Has anyone got some pointers?

At rimvydas.sabonis: What does it say in your expression?

Re: Randomization of trees

s.gerber — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:40:09 GMT

When you cleared the manual style in the properties, did you make your changes persistend by pressing the 'Update' button at the top?

Re: Randomization of trees

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 15:02:28 GMT

Did not see that one there - Thank you!

BUT - it doesn't seem to work when the forest area is defined from a shp file?

Re: Randomization of trees

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 19:29:29 GMT

I am having issues with a style rule for trees as well. I have a shp file of multiple polygon areas for forested areas, and I want randomize type, size and spacing of trees in each individual polygon.

I have a style rule created with several different tree types, but it is only picking one of the tree types per polygon, instead of randomizing many types in a single polygon.

I have played with the expressions of the Style rule, and nothing seems to get applied to the properties of the polygon.

Any help would be appreciated.

Kevin

Re: Randomization of trees

s.gerber — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 11:24:59 GMT

Hi, the important thing to know here is, that style rules are working on a collection of features and assign exactly one style to each of the features. When drawing a forest with the draw tool, there are single point features created for each of the trees, while you have just a number of polygons when importing a shp file containing forest areas. I.e. you get only one style assigned to each of the polygons.

I'd propose to import the same shp file multiple times, once for each tree type, and to define different values for 'Object Spacing' and 'Object Spacing Variance' in the 'Table' tab of the 'Data Source Configuration' Dialog. This way you are also able to mimic the weight value of a style rule, i.e. a lower object scpacing value results in higher occurrence of a type of trees.

Hope this helps.