Testing new plants!!!!
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That's the same technique used for solid growth plants, the Vue plant modeler.
The problem will be getting correct shadows in SU and possibly getting them to work with Vray, unless you are only planning to use them with Maxwell or other apps that can use the .png or tiff based images.
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Yeah, now that I've been playing with Vue I see that all foliage is made of clipmaps. It would be really cool if they released those plants for SU, but without the outrageous price tag ($20 for a single tree?).
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@solo said:
That's the same technique used for solid growth plants, the Vue plant modeler.
The problem will be getting correct shadows in SU and possibly getting them to work with Vray, unless you are only planning to use them with Maxwell or other apps that can use the .png or tiff based images.
Yeah mate not so worried about SU output for them, they tend to be a little heavy on the polycount anyway!
Interested Pete with your knowledge of Vray? Why does Vray have a problem with clips? Maxwell now works with the alpha from PNG or B/W weight maps (best in TIFF) - How is that achieved in Vray - all poly outlines?
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Loading a separate alpha map.
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@ecuadorian said:
Very clever, Richard, could this be the foundation for "Tree Factory 3"? I know you never released TF2.
Mate TF was a bit of a silly idea really! People don't want to build there own plants and trees unless specifically wanting something unavailable - that is where onyx or xfrog steps in!
I think besides my first few and a few Kwistenbeibel made (on 3DWH) that was about it I think!
Mate when you think about it $20 for a tree isn't that bad when you consider just plonking it in scene as opposed to even modelling one from Onyx or worse by hand as I'm sure Pete and Tom would suggest isn't at all easy!
I think possibly all SU modellers have the ability to create good trees - it's just the patience that is lacking. You can spend a lot of time working on them just to realise the result looks shit! When purchasing the likes of Pete's plant pack one realises how much value there is included in the efforts!
Even when one tries to get a good handle on Onyx you get to realise the difficulties in achieving good results.
The one tree app that for me was really shinning was 3[d]Tree - what a sheer joy to work with though limited in options and species variety! I sent the developer an email begging him to advance that project some more as I really felt he was on a REAL winner! Even if he sold it for 100$ I'm sure every 3d artist would grab it and my god he would be a rich man overnight!!!
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Link?
I'd love to see it.
$20 for a tree might not seem much, but it quickly adds up when you need lots of different species of trees, flowers, bushes, and other plants. What's worse, it's hard to find local species. -
@ecuadorian said:
Loading a separate alpha map.
Ah ok!! I don't think that is much of an issue really one would generally link to a material anyway, as we know large maps in SU are a real hassle! With these plants I'd use a single colour map with alpha to cut the image load down anyway for placement in SU.
The original map for this one is about 4000 x 2000 pixels!
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Sorry mate it was Tree[D] opps
BTW check out the other stuff there! Mostly the render quality of his pusszle game in development! I really hope this guy one day gets this out as a realtime walkthrough option! Looks better than Crysis!
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"The original map for this one is about 4000 x 2000 pixels!"
Have in mind this Richard. 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096. But I think that there's a limit in SU, ~ 2048. Square textures work better. -
Aware of that mate but there is no need for extra white area! Seems that non square images in SU rarely have an issue!
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looks good Richard...but can this work for trees as well?
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Mate I'd probably do the same for trees, I started making some new trees though got haulted due to the trunk mapping issues within SU - Whaat's new UV tools may well assist in this!
No time at present to get building but will again soon for sure!
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Richard, check this out, this is the technique behind Vue solid growth trees.
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Hey thanks Pete! It is certainly a nice editor there from vue!
The idea for the plants I created about was as I realise much the same as vue's approach and of course that of many off the shelf models that are available including those I have created myself in the past for rendering use.
Again the alternative I sought myself was to rotate or twist the planes to achieve two things.
- Greater variation in the curvature and height on the grass blades - without the burden of additional geometry, and
- Lessen the chances of the blades toward the sides disappearing when rendered at lower camera angles - this is currently a common flaw of many plants using single plane geometry. Obviously in the example I've posted some of the planes will still disappear when they ever align directly horizontal to the camera centreline though the twisting greatly reduces such chances.
All that said, if displacement wasn't such a drag on render times generally then such a plant could be achieved with I'd imagine only 3-4 planes of geometry and even then far better results achievable!
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A quick first test with maxwell's new thin SSS feature. Took me ages to workout - didn't realise the material editor is now much longer to include the new SSS features. Need to one day open the manual!!!
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Looks great Richard.
Some trees modeled using the same strategy for foliage would be great....even for close ups.
Maybe an idea for a new 'Tree Factory'?
I liked the first TF version: simple but quite effective.(a bit high on poly count maybe) -
Thanks mate!
Yeah I will get around to some trees, I've worked out some really cool techniques to help modelling them and with Whaat's new UVtools will help in mapping the trunk and branches.
Don't know about the tree factory thing though - was a bit of a wank! I think you were the only one that used it! It was just a trunk, few branches and a clump of leaves! All the bits anyone could do, putting it into a tree is a bit different!
I've got a few other ideas that might drop the poly count of the trees, need to get testing!
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Richard this looks good. Looking forward to see some trees as well.
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