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    Fractal Tree Maker for SketchUp - Free add-on

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    • S Offline
      steelers05
      last edited by

      OK i just downloaded this and tried it, but it is killing my computer. Do you have to have a beast of a computer to run this plugin? It literally took 5 minutes to start up and it was so slow running that is was practically unusable. I dont know if it is an installation issue, because it does work and pull up, it just doesnt work fast enough. Anyone had similar issues?

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      • EarthMoverE Offline
        EarthMover
        last edited by

        My attempt at some flowering Crape Myrtles. I photoshopped flowers in with some leaves. Worked out okay. As far as the Podium shadows....worked good for me. Took some playing with the Dark and Light sliders.....believe it or not, I got the best results from having the light slider set down to 10 and the dark slider up to 35 with "use sun for shading" checked. With the sliders the other way, I found the shadows too faint to really see. (using 1.6)


        http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/3808/2008112510142739szk4.th.jpg

        http://img233.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif


        http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3554/crapemyrtleredbx3.th.png

        http://img219.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif


        http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1971/crapemyrtleredalphawc9.th.png

        http://img75.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif


        http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4630/crapemyrtlewhitetd4.th.png

        http://img219.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif


        http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5710/crapemyrtlewhitealphaed7.th.png

        http://img233.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif

        3D Artist at Clearstory 3D Imaging
        Guide Tool at Winning With Sketchup
        Content Creator at Skapeup

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        • david_hD Offline
          david_h
          last edited by

          so what is the upper limit of Tree-ness to this thing? I was doing a conifer shaped tree, with some foliage of course set it to Medium. SU and RP Bogs down and I have to restart. Anyone else having this trouble?

          D

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

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          • Alan FraserA Offline
            Alan Fraser
            last edited by

            Al, is there any way of having the final render dictated by the view you set the tree to in the first screen? I tested a sample tree with just a single root....so I could tell the orientation...and it seems that whichever way you rotate the tree in the first window, it always renders from the same fixed point, with the root pointing to about 5 o clock.

            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

              Trees should take just about 5 minutes (or less) to create. But it is definitely related to the speed of your computer and what else is going on.

              There is also a Render button in the Tree Editor (while you are defining the tree). It runs at about the same speed. It the render in the Tree Editor is much faster then the render in the final image maker, then let us know.

              If they are both too slow, then it is probably time to consider getting a newer computer.

              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:

                Al, is there any way of having the final render dictated by the view you set the tree to in the first screen? I tested a sample tree with just a single root....so I could tell the orientation...and it seems that whichever way you rotate the tree in the first window, it always renders from the same fixed point, with the root pointing to about 5 o clock.

                We set up the view with the camera at 1/2 the height of the tree, and pointing at the center of the tree.

                I presume you would like to be able to rotate the view (rather than raising or lowering the camera). We can add this. Also, we hope to add a re-render button so you can change things like the resolution or view and render again.

                We can't read the view from the first window, but we can let you rotate it in the second window.

                But give us a week or so to make the changes.

                Al

                Al Hart

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

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                • AnssiA Offline
                  Anssi
                  last edited by

                  About performance issues:

                  I tested on two computers.

                  1. P IV 2.8 GHz (non-HT), 1.5GB RAM, Nvidia Geforce FX Go 5200, XP Home Finnish SP3, opens and runs very slow (more than an hour for medium image)

                  2. P IV 2.66 GHz (HT), 2 GB RAM, old ATI 9200-based card, XP Pro English SP3, opens and runs a zillion times faster, about as fast as others have reported here, default conifer about 5 minutes medium size

                  So I am puzzled. I used the same file to install on both.

                  It might be the install: The first showed no progress at the "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable" window, it just stayed there for a while and then vanished, the second showed a progress bar. It worked the same with the earlier and later version.

                  It might be the non-HT processor.

                  It might be the Windows or language version

                  It might be Norton security software: Norton 360 on the first, Norton Internet Security on the other.

                  Never run into this kind of behaviour before. Usually the performance between the two is indistinguishable, with the first maybe a bit faster.

                  Does this inspire any thoughts?

                  Anssi

                  securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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                  • thomthomT Offline
                    thomthom
                    last edited by

                    Could be a graphic card issue if the app makes use of the card for the calculations... Just guessing here...

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

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                    • AnssiA Offline
                      Anssi
                      last edited by

                      @thomthom said:

                      Could be a graphic card issue if the app makes use of the card for the calculations... Just guessing here...

                      My Nvidia should be running circles around the ATI - in general SU use it is noticeably faster...

                      Anssi

                      securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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                      • soloS Offline
                        solo
                        last edited by

                        Anssi, try removing it completely and re-installing it after a restart, sometimes it can make a difference.... that's all I got so far.

                        http://www.solos-art.com

                        If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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                        • Alan FraserA Offline
                          Alan Fraser
                          last edited by

                          Here's a neat trick. The bark will accept either a jpg or a png. So, if you make, say, a 64x64 completely transparent png and specify that, you get an invisible trunk and branches....just the canopy. The resulting skp and image are already cropped to just the foliage.
                          You can make that into an angled 2D Face Me on top of a static, low-poly trunk.

                          Here's a quick proof of concept, minus any shadow casting. Of course, you could always make them more sophisticated, with several such layers.
                          You could probably also use just the canopy (with the right kind of leaves) as drapery/creepers on walls and balconies.


                          test_tree.skp


                          testtree_thumb.jpg

                          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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                          • S Offline
                            Stu
                            last edited by

                            Al, just a thought.
                            I understand your intention is to keep file sizes down but I wonder if a 'super high rez.' option would be possible?

                            Im finding that trees produced using the 'Best' resolution are at the moment fine for the background and maybe the middleground but start to look blurred close up.

                            Most of these are coming in at around 1.5-2.0 Mb.

                            I currently use a lot Tiffs and Pngs that are around 4-6 Mbs each, in SU models that are, say, 80-100 Mbs, fairly comfortably. So I wouldnt see larger file size as an issue.

                            Maybe you could add a warning about the Hi Rez option?....but it would certainly push the output closer to the 'photoreal' mark.

                            Or maybe include this option in a 'Pro' version?

                            I would certain look at paying good money for it.

                            http://www.landesign.com.au

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                            • Al HartA Offline
                              Al Hart
                              last edited by

                              @anssi said:

                              About performance issues:

                              Never run into this kind of behaviour before. Usually the performance between the two is indistinguishable, with the first maybe a bit faster.

                              Does this inspire any thoughts?

                              Anssi

                              The TreeMaker threads run at a lower priority. It's possible something is stealing clock cycles.

                              Make sure the processor is idle before launching a TreeMaker. You can do this using Task Manager->Performance Tab.

                              Al Hart

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

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                              • GaieusG Offline
                                Gaieus
                                last edited by

                                I also have nVidia (GForce 6800 GO) in my laptop but it seems to perfom "normally" (i.e. at around 4-6 minutes like most reported above depending on resolution).

                                Gai...

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                                • R Offline
                                  rcossoli
                                  last edited by

                                  tanks!!! very good application, I did well in the machine, I just hang up the SketchUp open the program while, but after work, takes about 2 or 3 minutes in renderings as high or higher.
                                  I have an Athlon 64x2 4800 with 2 GB of RAM and a video card GForce 7200 256.

                                  THREEDIMENSIONSWEB dot COM

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                                  • Al HartA Offline
                                    Al Hart
                                    last edited by

                                    @unknownuser said:

                                    I am getting the message: "TreeEditor.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close" when I run RpTreeMaker.
                                    
                                    Any thoughts?
                                    

                                    No we haven;t seen that before.

                                    Does it happen all the time?

                                    Try running TreeEditor.exe manually (from Explorer or a DOS Window) it is porbably in this path:

                                    C:\Program Files\Render Plus Systems\RpTreeMaker\TreeEditor.exe

                                    If it works manually, then there is probably something wrong with the default tree file.

                                    This is stored in your temporary folder as RpArPlant.ArPlant. If possible rename RpArPlant.ArPlant to something else. If that fixes the problem, then send us the renamed RpArPlant.ArPlant so we can see if something is wrong with it.

                                    Al Hart

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

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                                    • AnssiA Offline
                                      Anssi
                                      last edited by

                                      @al hart said:

                                      Try running TreeEditor.exe manually (from Explorer or a DOS Window)

                                      Al,

                                      I tried running it standalone too, and it was very much faster, the standard tree only took a couple of minutes. Could it be that the once hyped Hyperthreading in this case really makes a difference? What are the machine specs of others that complained of slowness in this thread?

                                      Is there a way of saving the PNG from the standalone?

                                      Anssi

                                      securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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                                      • Al HartA Offline
                                        Al Hart
                                        last edited by

                                        @anssi said:

                                        I tried running it standalone too, and it was very much faster, the standard tree only took a couple of minutes. Could it be that the once hyped Hyperthreading in this case really makes a difference? What are the machine specs of others that complained of slowness in this thread?

                                        Is there a way of saving the PNG from the standalone?

                                        Anssi

                                        First, let me make sure I have this right.

                                        There are two separate programs as part of the RpTreeMaker process.

                                        TreeEditor.exe defines the tree parameters.
                                        RpTreeMaker.exe creates the image.

                                        When you run TreeEditor.exe in stand alone mode, does it run considerable faster then when you run it from SketchUp?

                                        There is a Render button in TreeEditor.exe. Does it render faster when run stand-alone?

                                        Also, further down in this posting I explain how to run RpTreeMaker.exe. Does it ruin faster in stand-alone mode?

                                        If so, I may have to learn something about threading...


                                        One difference, though may be the tree parameters. If you run TreeEditor.exe and pass it the name of a .ArPlant file, then it wil start with that .ArPlant file and save it when done. This may be slower than when you run it with no parameters, and use the default tree settings.

                                        Try it with: RpTreeMaker %TEMP%\RpArPlant.ArPlant

                                        It will load and then resave the RpArPlant.ArPlant plant definition file. One "problem" is that when it saves the file, it will automatically save a thumbnail into it which takes some time.

                                        After defining your .ArPlant file, you can create the bitmap image by running:

                                        RpTreeMaker.exe %TEMP%\RpTreeMakerArgs.txt

                                        This will load the .ArPlant file and save the tree image. The "reverse engineer"s among us can figure out how to modify the args file to create different images, etc.

                                        After the image is created, a third file, RpTreeMakerParams.txt is created which has the path of the image, and the size of the tree.

                                        Al Hart

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

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                                        • S Offline
                                          Sushij
                                          last edited by

                                          Ok, I must be doing something wrong with Podium. When I make a tree, explode it twice, and put a face below it to act as a surface, the shadow doesn't work. The tree is a tree with a black background. So, if anyone has any suggestions about how to fix this, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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                                          • AnssiA Offline
                                            Anssi
                                            last edited by

                                            @unknownuser said:

                                            When you run TreeEditor.exe in stand alone mode, does it run considerable faster then when you run it from SketchUp?

                                            No, but it starts faster

                                            @unknownuser said:

                                            There is a Render button in TreeEditor.exe. Does it render faster when run stand-alone?

                                            Yes, very much faster (like 10x)

                                            @unknownuser said:

                                            Also, further down in this posting I explain how to run RpTreeMaker.exe. Does it ruin faster in stand-alone mode?

                                            No, it didn't ruin anything, and it rendered very fast, even faster than my other machine did within SU.

                                            Anssi

                                            securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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