Q: which trees are best?!

[Boizell]

hi everyone..

i was wondering which is the best way to set trees in a scene, or which plugin gives most realistic look and also fully compatible with GI ??

 

thanx

[mskin]

what works for me is to project a tree image onto two intersecting planes (someone before refered to it as an X-Card). One tree faces the camara and the other is essentially perpendicular to it and casts shadows.

 

I make a dummy object and place it at about 4' above the ground at the same location as my camera. i use the "lookat" modifier on all of the planes with trees projected on them, and make them "lookat" the dummy object. that way, if i move my camera... i also make sure to move my dummy object and all the trees continue to face the camara - no matter where i move it.

 

I change the proporties of the tree planes to "not recieve shadows" , otherwise i get some funky shadow effects.

 

using the x-clip technique, i have found that alot of the trunks is tree packages offered on-line aren't always in the center of the image... screws up the shadows a bit, but isn't always noticeable.

 

 

this seams to be the least demanding on my PC.... 3d trees are hogs.

 

i used 3d trees in the following link, and then replaced them with 2d x-cards... go to the bottom to see the x-cards.

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12940

[anvaraziz]

if ur looking for 3d trees that ll give good GI u should go for ONYX

[Clausbang]

Hi Boizell

 

Which trees are best depends on what you are going to use it for. If it is Real-time or renderings and which renderer you are going to use. Also think about the "look" of the scene. Is it trying to be photorealistic or just a quick-and-dirty visualisation.

 

/Claus

[dbarc]

This topic comes up all the time on CGArchitect. I would do a search.

[Boizell]

im trying to give photorealistic look, and mainly i work on still renders..

the x-card technique is great, and i ve tried it before but ddnt give me amazing results, maybe the quality of the images werent that good, but thank you anyways mskin

 

ive tried rpc's but they ddnt give great shadows with vray..

 

 

thank you all..

[mbr]

This is what you need for bitmaps:

 

http://plugins.angstraum.at/treeshop/

 

Good quality images, easy to use and setup. Hat's off to Marc for giving it away.

It's not always perfect, but you won't get perfect results with bitmaps (great for in the distance, but up close you won't get perfect shadows or highlights).

 

Xfrog has some great models, but they are beasts. A few trees easily out numbers the polys in of the building. Xtune works ok, but not great.

[ShaunDon]

I'll second Anvar and suggest you go with Onyx (http://www.onyxtree.com/) -- It's very inexpensive compared to others as you get a very extensive library along with software to customize any of the species to your heart's content. They also have animated wind functions for animations.

 

I've created a growing library of VRayProxy Onyx trees that I plug into most of my stills now. They're fully 3D, so they interact with GI and cast shadows perfectly. They can range anywhere from 50-200k polies per tree, so proxies are a must if you're using them en masse.

 

This attached rendering I used Onyx for if you want to take a look.

 

Shaun

[Boizell]

mbr, thanx alot for the bitmaps!

 

the onyx trees look really tempting, im considering buying one of their products..

 

i appreciate the help..

 

regards

[ShaunDon]

p.s. -- the bushes are onyx too. Shoulda mentioned that, though you can't see them well.

[Noise]

Onyx