Image Prop has weird shadow thing going on

[JonKoch]

I created an image prop for a multi-stem tree which I am generally happy with and have it connected to my plant style but when I switch to final quality renderworks the shadows seem a bit strange. When making the image prop in vectorworks I checked all the lower boxes including and am wondering if there's a setting that I turned on that's making it render the shadows weird. Or it could be something to do with the image output from photoshop. Any guesses? I've attached a screenshot. 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

[Pat Stanford]

It looks like you have the "Crossed Plane" option turned on for the Image Prop and each plane is casting a separate shadow.

 

You could try and edit the IP and turn off the Crossed Plane option and see if that give you better shadows but still an acceptable image.

 

Hopefully some of the Landmark gurus will chime in with a better solution.

[Tom W.]

For some reason when you turn off crossed planes for an Image Prop inside a Plant it doesn't take effect outside the Plant so to speak: the IP will be single plane when you are in the edit mode for the Plant's 3D Graphic but exit the edit mode + the Plant will still have crossed planes. I have raised this issue before. It has been like it for the 3 years I've been here. Not sure if it worked previously

[JonKoch]

@Pat Stanford@Tom W.

 

Yeah it looks like even if I make the image prop single plane, when I put it in the plant style as the 3D component, it changes it to crossed plane. Whats even weirder is if I go in and edit 3D components of the plant style and select the IP it has the crossed planes box unchecked. 

[Jeff Prince]

@JonKoch i can take a look at it if you post the file.  I was thinking like Pat and Tom initially, but I think there is something else going on here.

[Tom W.]

11 minutes ago, JonKoch said:

@Pat Stanford@Tom W.

 

Yeah it looks like even if I make the image prop single plane, when I put it in the plant style as the 3D component, it changes it to crossed plane. Whats even weirder is if I go in and edit 3D components of the plant style and select the IP it has the crossed planes box unchecked. 

 

Bizarrely if you Group the IP inside the Plant definition the unchecking of crossed planes will carry through to the Plant in the drawing BUT the Plant will no longer be scalable so a workaround of limited use... Unless you're happy with the size of the IP + have no need to change it that is...

[JonKoch]

@jeff prince I've attached the file (vers. 2023). I tried re-making the image prop and the plant symbol and re-starting vectorworks. It does seem like something weird is going on because it even happens with the VWX species specific plant styles. 

 

Thanks!

 

 

Test.vwx

[Jeff Prince]

1 hour ago, JonKoch said:

It does seem like something weird is going on because it even happens with the VWX species specific plant styles. 

 

It seems the odd visual is due to a couple of factors.

 

1. Low sun angle casts long shadows.  so when the...

2. Plant is wider than it is tall, the 2nd face of the image prop renders beyond the top of the expected elevation view shadow.  Exacerbating the problem is...

3. The tree is asymmetrical and the base of the trunk is not centered in the image.  This makes an odd artifact where the tree hits the ground as two multi-stem trunks are rendering some distance apart.  This can be fixed to some extent by redoing the texture to center the truck in the image.

 

I think it is one of those things you live with.  If you need a more accurate depiction, there is always 3D plant geometry, but that is pretty heavy.

Or

Lobby VWX to allow for crossing planes to be turned off 🙂

 

[Tom W.]

19 minutes ago, jeff prince said:

Or

Lobby VWX to allow for crossing planes to be turned off 🙂

 

No need: they're already on it:

🤣

[JonKoch]

16 minutes ago, jeff prince said:

 

It seems the odd visual is due to a couple of factors.

 

1. Low sun angle casts long shadows.  so when the...

2. Plant is wider than it is tall, the 2nd face of the image prop renders beyond the top of the expected elevation view shadow.  Exacerbating the problem is...

3. The tree is asymmetrical and the base of the trunk is not centered in the image.  This makes an odd artifact where the tree hits the ground as two multi-stem trunks are rendering some distance apart.  This can be fixed to some extent by redoing the texture to center the truck in the image.

 

I think it is one of those things you live with.  If you need a more accurate depiction, there is always 3D plant geometry, but that is pretty heavy.

Or

Lobby VWX to allow for crossing planes to be turned off 🙂

 

@jeff prince I did notice that the image prop was slightly off center which I will fix but just don't want to go back into photoshop haha. I thought I had the plant at the same height and width but I'll double check. 

 

I think at this rate it's just something I can live with.  Thanks for your help!

[Jeff Prince]

37 minutes ago, JonKoch said:

thought I had the plant at the same height and width but I'll double check.

I was speaking more about the visual proportions than the the actual  dimensions.  It has a more savanna like form than say something like an elm tree, hence the shadow.

[JonKoch]

1 hour ago, jeff prince said:

I was speaking more about the visual proportions than the the actual  dimensions.  It has a more savanna like form than say something like an elm tree, hence the shadow.

@jeff princeYeah I see what you mean. I made some image props for ferns and other plants and those seem to work fine, which makes sense since they are smaller but still frustrating that they haven't figured this one out yet. 

[JJonesLandscape]

 

 

Hello! Has anyone found a solution to this problem yet? I am experiencing the same issue.... some of my plant image props' shadows appear correctly when rendered, but on  some I see that weird crossed-plane shadow. Both scenarios included plants I have built as well as plants from the VW plant library, so there does seem to be some kind of a bug/inconsistency and not necessarily user error? (In the images below...the large grasses I created, and they're working. The silvery artemisia I also created exactly the same way, not working)

I tried the grouping and unchecking crossed planes, but I also run into the issue where the image prop then appears huge because it's no longer speaking to the plant style parameters. It's driving me insane haha, please help!