Work with hand drawn generators in the Generation Editor

Complex hand-drawn models may require extensive work in the Generation Editor to ensure that branches are drawn into the correct generator. Please use the following guidelines to predict and control the hand drawing workflow.

New branches

New branches are placed according to the following guidelines:

  • If no hand-drawn generator is present in the target branch level, a new hand-drawn generator is created. The template used for new hand-drawn generators is located in the "Templates/Hand Drawn" sub-folder of the SpeedTree Modeler install directory. A separate template is used for trunks (branches drawn from the tree radius).

  • If a hand-drawn generator is present, new hand-drawn branches are put into that generator.

  • If more than one hand drawn generator is linked from the parent node, one of the hand-drawn generators must be designated as the "hand drawn target" in order to receive new branches (see this section below for more).

Like all other generators, hand-drawn generators can be saved off and loaded as template (STT) files. When a hand-drawn template is loaded in the Generation Editor, it is signified by a "drawing hand" icon overlay in the bottom right-hand corner of the generator icon.

Note

Hand drawn templates can be used effectively by linking an entire tree together (i.e. a trunk, level 1, and level 2 branches) made completely of hand drawn templates before drawing a single branch.

Paste into

"Paste into," accessed via the right-click menu of a selected icon in the Generation Editor, will paste a copied generator's contents into another generator – even after nodes have been drawn. It will paste all of the properties except for the generation components. This is useful for quickly replacing the settings in a hand-drawn generator after branches have already been drawn. It is also great to use when there are node edits on child branches that you don't want to unlink and lose.

Copying and pasting hand drawn generators

Hand drawn generators can be copied and pasted the same as any other generator. A pasted copy of a hand-drawn generator will contain no branches until you draw them.

Resetting a hand drawn generator

Using "Clear node edits" in the Generation Editor menu or unlinking/relinking the generator will reset its contents. After either of these operations, there will be no hand drawn branches in the generator until you place new stubs.

Hand drawn targets

The first hand-drawn generator created in a branch level is automatically the designated "target". The target is indicated with a checkmark ('√') next to the hand-drawn icon overlay. However, the target can be manually turned off via the "Hand Drawing→Draw into selected" option in the Generation Editor right-click menu. Once the target has been disabled for a branch level, a new hand-drawn generator will be created the next time new branches are drawn on that level. The target can also be moved between existing hand drawn generators, but only a single target is allowed per shared parent at any given time.

Locking hand drawn sources

Occasionally you may want to "lock" a generator so that hand drawn branches cannot be generated as children. This may be true with a complex tree where it is difficult to tell which generator a particular branch belongs to. By locking a generator ("Hand drawing→Toggle lock on selected" in the Generation Editor right-click menu), hand drawing new children will be prohibited off of it.