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    Fractal Tree Maker for SketchUp - Free add-on

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    • Gus RG Offline
      Gus R
      last edited by

      Al,

      Thank you very much for this application. Works great and the trees and the options all work like a charm. Even tested it with other leaves as someone suggested -- having converted them to PNGs.

      Thanks again.

      Gus

      www.instagram.com/gusrobatto/

      www.facebook.com/gusrobatto

      www.flickr.com/photos/gusrobatto

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      • S Offline
        ScottPara
        last edited by

        Al,

        As earthmover stated we (vray users) will still need to generate a alpha/clipmap for these to work. I am not sure how much trouble it would be for the program to export out the associated clipmap at export but it would be a huge time saver.

        Thanks again,
        Scott

        Love the fact that some HATE my avatar.....

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        • K Offline
          kwistenbiebel
          last edited by

          Hi Al,
          Just wanted to get back on the 2D/3D subject.
          As I understand, the treegenerator is actually 3D based by default right?
          So what about the option to have the full 3D tree as output?
          Would be great for us render headz. 👍

          cheers,
          Kwistenbiebel

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          • S Offline
            ScottPara
            last edited by

            I second (or third) the 3D request.

            Scott

            Love the fact that some HATE my avatar.....

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            • thomthomT Offline
              thomthom
              last edited by

              Third! (fourth?) 😎

              Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
              List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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              • Al HartA Offline
                Al Hart
                last edited by

                @unknownuser said:

                Al,

                As earthmover stated we (vray users) will still need to generate a alpha/clipmap for these to work. I am not sure how much trouble it would be for the program to export out the associated clipmap at export but it would be a huge time saver.

                Thanks again,
                Scott

                Send me, or upload, a .SKP file or .PNG of a RpTreeMaker tree and a alpha/clipmap of the same tree so I will know what it is you need. Is the clipmap stored in SketchUp anywhere, or separately?

                We store all the old .PNG files in the RPS_TreeMaker_Images sub-folder of your temporary folder. If we can easily make a clipmap we could store it there as well.

                Al Hart

                http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                • Al HartA Offline
                  Al Hart
                  last edited by

                  @unknownuser said:

                  Got it working. It's a pretty neat tool. Can you change color? If so, how? This would be very important.

                  Thanks,

                  Huck

                  To change color, you can take the raster images for the leaves or bark, change the color, and save them with a new name.

                  These are stored in:

                  C:\Program Files\Render Plus Systems\RpTreeMaker\Support\Plants

                  in a Bark and a Leaves sub-folder.

                  Here I took the standard leaf, made it yellow, saved it as a new leaf, and used it to render the tree.

                  yellow-leaf.jpg

                  You can create your won bark and leaf images by altering the color of existing images.

                  You will need a paint program which respects the Alpha Channel.

                  (I don't have one, but there is a tool in RpTools which will convert the background color of an image to an alpha channel which I used.)

                  Al Hart

                  http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                  IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                  • Alan FraserA Offline
                    Alan Fraser
                    last edited by

                    There are methods of obtaining a clipmap from a png using any decent image editor. What you effectively end up with is an alpha-channel image. That is a separate image of the tree, exactly the same size as the png, in which every transparent pixel is represented as black and every opaque one as white.
                    I'm assuming Rick has already worked this out in his image profile ruby in order to generate the path of the vector outlines....but that'll be the encrypted or server-side bit. 😉

                    3D Figures
                    Were you required to walk 500 miles? Were you advised to walk 500 more?
                    You could be entitled to compensation. Call the Pro Claimers now!

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                    • Al HartA Offline
                      Al Hart
                      last edited by

                      @unknownuser said:

                      I second (or third) the 3D request.

                      Scott

                      I will try this out (creating full 3D plants) and see if it works and or is practical.

                      However, this may effect the "Free" aspect of RpTreeMaker. I will have to discuss this with the developer, since he includes this product as a tool in his own rendering package (nXt) - which is not free.

                      Al Hart

                      http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                      IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                      • Al HartA Offline
                        Al Hart
                        last edited by

                        @alan fraser said:

                        There are methods of obtaining a clipmap from a png using any decent image editor. What you effectively end up with is an alpha-channel image. That is a separate image of the tree, exactly the same size as the png, in which every transparent pixel is represented as black and every opaque one as white.
                        I'm assuming Rick has already worked this out in his image profile ruby in order to generate the path of the vector outlines....but that'll be the encrypted or server-side bit. 😉

                        That will be easy to do - to create a second PNG image.

                        The RpTreeMaker images are not all-on / all-off transparent. the edge pixels are partially transparent.

                        partially-transparent.jpg

                        See how the horizon is partially visible through the pixels at the edge of the leaf. This helps make the tree blend in better at the edges.

                        I presume a clipmap uses gray pixels to represent partial transparency?

                        Also, is there a naming convention which would make these easier for V-ray users to use?

                        Al Hart

                        http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                        IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                        • Alan FraserA Offline
                          Alan Fraser
                          last edited by

                          I'd imagine that there would need to be a degree of feathering around the outline, Al. A pixelated all-or-nothing outline would be just plain nasty.

                          3D Figures
                          Were you required to walk 500 miles? Were you advised to walk 500 more?
                          You could be entitled to compensation. Call the Pro Claimers now!

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                          • Al HartA Offline
                            Al Hart
                            last edited by

                            @alan fraser said:

                            I'd imagine that there would need to be a degree of feathering around the outline, Al. A pixelated all-or-nothing outline would be just plain nasty.

                            The sample clipmap Scott sent me does indeed have feathering around the edges:

                            feathering.png

                            Al Hart

                            http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                            IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                            • DanielD Offline
                              Daniel
                              last edited by

                              Al, thanks for the fantastic plug-in; you've solved the problem of cloned tree/shrub components.

                              While playing around with it, I noticed it makes the insertion point at the center of the component. This means if you have a lopsided or leaning tree, it's not at the trunk; when orbiting the model, the trunk's location will change. Any chance the program can be modified so that the insertion point is always on the base of the trunk?

                              My avatar is an anachronism.

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                              • M Offline
                                mirjman
                                last edited by

                                I might be missing something here, but is there a slider to adjust the taper for the actual trunk object? I am thinking of the giant redwoods or ponderosas out in California- they are hundreds of feet tall and don't have the cute "flare" at the base of the trunk that I can't seem to get rid of.


                                ponderosa-pine-tree2.jpg


                                Untitled.jpg

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                                • Al HartA Offline
                                  Al Hart
                                  last edited by

                                  @daniel said:

                                  Al, thanks for the fantastic plug-in; you've solved the problem of cloned tree/shrub components.

                                  While playing around with it, I noticed it makes the insertion point at the center of the component. This means if you have a lopsided or leaning tree, it's not at the trunk; when orbiting the model, the trunk's location will change. Any chance the program can be modified so that the insertion point is always on the base of the trunk?

                                  We're going to do two things.

                                  1. Clip the roots at the ground - right now we make an image which includes roots below the ground. That is useful sometimes, but much too confusing.

                                  2. Create the image (and component) so that the center of the bottom of the trunk is at the center of the image (and component)

                                  Al Hart

                                  http:wiki.renderplus.comimageseefRender_plus_colored30x30%29.PNG
                                  IRender nXt from Render Plus

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                                  • S Offline
                                    Stu
                                    last edited by

                                    @mirjman said:

                                    I might be missing something here, but is there a slider to adjust the taper for the actual trunk object? I am thinking of the giant redwoods or ponderosas out in California- they are hundreds of feet tall and don't have the cute "flare" at the base of the trunk that I can't seem to get rid of.

                                    Go to 'Trunk'...and use the 'spread' slider

                                    A 3D version sounds attractive but if you look at the way this app can produce leaves [or in 3D, polygons] I would guess that you could come up with 50 and 60 Mb trees [if you could get that far without SU crashing 😄]

                                    http://www.landesign.com.au

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                                    • david_hD Offline
                                      david_h
                                      last edited by

                                      Okay. . .So I am playing with this, and Have created a Dang Ugly tree if I say so myself. When I did Render 1, I didn't see it at all, but then exploded it and it showed up--But as you can see--rectangular shadows.

                                      Any quick tuts on a remedy? I have read thru most of this stuff, and I am a bit confused. (Nothing new there, hehe, but still . . .)RPTRee Test Image.jpg

                                      If I make it look easy...It is probably easy

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                                      • S Offline
                                        Stu
                                        last edited by

                                        Dave...youve got me confused now.....how did you explode the tree without seeing it? 😕
                                        But anyway, there is no point in exploding the tree unless you are using it in a renderer like Podium [in which case the square shadow turns into a realistic shadow after rendering]
                                        At the moment, the trees dont cast shadows in SU....unless exploded....and by doing that you also loose the 'face me' capability.

                                        Oh, and Id loose the roots....looks a bit like one of those plastic Xmas trees 😄

                                        http://www.landesign.com.au

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                                        • M Offline
                                          mirjman
                                          last edited by

                                          the spread control still results in a trunk that smoothly tapers from the base, which is fairly unrealistic for trees like pines which begin to taper farther up from the ground.

                                          I am also experiencing some double grouping with the created components where they have a group inside the component- not sure if this is desirable behavior

                                          Also thought I should mention here, this plugin works hand in hand with "component spray" ruby to create fast environments: rendered in podium


                                          02.jpg

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                                          • S Offline
                                            Stu
                                            last edited by

                                            Mirjman, that sprayed image looks great!

                                            I dont know a lot about DCs but given that its really easy to produce leaf variations on one tree....would it be possible to make a DC that could display the whole range of seasons?


                                            Summer.Autumn.jpg

                                            http://www.landesign.com.au

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