******?? grass ??********

[solefishes]

ok, so here's the thing....i tried to download that grass-o-matic plugin - didn't work....so then i tried to find other tutorials on the web that would help me with creating realistic grass. nothing!

 

the tuts that use the scatter function are a waste of time cos i render high-end architectural scenes that already have enough geometry....i can't really create even more geometry just for grass....................

 

so............

 

does anyone have any bright ideas to get a realistic result without adding yet more polygons?

[foxlee]

Hi Meghan you e-mailed me the other day and I was going to answer back, that you should investigate one of the high end renderers ,As in Vray etc.and convince the company to buy that. They have displacement modifier that turns the map into approximation of geometry etc.

Search under displacement, grass ,maps ,Vray etc. to see results.

There is also greater realism spinoff in GI etc.

Vray costs about R4500.

[animart]

the new max 7.5 come whit a hair plug in i think it can make the work

[Devin Johnston]

I think everyone has been in your shoes at some point, creating grass is just about the hardest thing you can do in 3D. Virtually all of the solutions I've seen involve a large amount of poly's which take a very long time to process. Vray is the only 3rd party renderer out there right now that has a good grasp on creating a realistic grass without really long render times. Unfortunately there just isn't a good answer to your question but hopefully the new Max 7.5 hair plug-in will offer some hope.

[Verma]

How about using RPC Grass contents?

The RPC Plugin comes free with max 7, you just need to buy the contents.

http://www.archvision.com

 

This is probabely the best solution if you do not need to be zoomed in to grass.

[manta]

I have two solutions, I'de like to take credit for them, but someone else created them, don't know who...

 

One is using MR displacement, which I think would be good for further away shots.

 

The other is a maxscript that creates geometry, kind of heavy, so I would use that for close ups.

[solefishes]

hi everyone! thanks for all the replies!

 

Foxlee: i've emailed a reply to you at your foxlee address - thanks for getting back to me!

 

Animart and Maxer: do you guys know if i can download the upgrade to 7.5 for free? i have a fully registered version of Max7 at the moment and am EXTREMELY keen to check out the new hair advancements in 7.5!

 

Verma: i will give your idea a shot - but to be dead honest, those RPC things are really only good for distance shots! i am using the trees in my scenes at the moment and they're ok but nothing to right home about. but definately - i will give it a shot - thanks!

 

Manta: shot for the zip file, i am currently unzipping it and will get back to you with updates on how well it works!

[markf]

at the risk of stating the obvious: if you are rendering stills, composite your grass in photoshop.

 

If animating you are exploring the correct options

[Devin Johnston]

There's only two ways to get a copy of Max 7.5 right now, either you buy it or if you signed up for the subscription service you will get a free upgrade to it.

[Thablanch]

If you use vray, vray displacement modidier does a nice job on grass

 

There is Ornatrix, cool hair plugin, think it is 150 bucks or something

 

http://www.ephere.com/ornatrix/

 

Also there is Ornatrix beta, free.. Not working the same way that their final product, but nice

 

http://www.ibmr.net/Ornatrix/

[mike_sul]

i wonder .. when i see movies like toy story by pixar .. the external sets of neighbourhoods .. have all this wonder reall looking grass .. whether they are polygon based or use any other technique ..

[alkis t.]

i couldnt even begin to analyse here what pixar does for grass. most of the times they either use dipslacement or high geometry which is only generated on rendertime . oh and they have a gazillion processors renderfarms

on another note max7.5 hair and vray have issues and not working properly so steer away from that.

vrays grass displacement is by far the best. Final Render has similar capabilities as well.

if you are using vray and you want tall grass for close ups you can use various modelling techniques or plugins to generate it, change it to mesh and then proxy the grass. Or use vray fur.

kind regards

alkis

[Noise]

Same as Markf

 

Save yourself loads of time and go out to your local park and photograph grass while refering to the image you are working on to get the correct angle etc.. take lots of photos as these will be used again and again for the rest of you career.

 

If you are doing an animation, UVWunwrap the geometry and take it into photoshop.

[ihabkal]

just did a huge landscape animation, rendered with mental ray. the only thing that works with mental ray are mapped polygons with the scatter command on surface plains. all other plugins are not recognised. sucks really. but the animation was a success with this technique.