Trees....!

[djoshi]

Hi,

 

Can anyone help me in rendering A Garden having lots of trees, Hedges, Shrubs...etc. , Which is the easiest way to get good quality & realistic looking garden. but not having very very...dence mesh...! :confused:

[STRAT]

opacity mapping or photoshop posting.

[animart]

speed tree maybe if you dont use GI

[anvaraziz]

if ur looking for 3d tress sure go for onyx treestorm ..... they r best and they support GI ,,,

[ipdesigner]

* i tried 'X-frog' trees and the are looking good, here's a sample

 

[ShaunDon]

I'd agree with using the Onyx system -- here's a rendering I did this week that we landscaped in max with their software. I think it's pretty effective in the way that it takes on the lighting of your scene, plus it makes offering multiple views very easy compared to Photoshopping multiple angles.

 

The flowers are a little tedious to work with, and we haven't created a significant library yet. They're a bit of a sore thumb in this example, but I think going forward we'll get better and better results.

 

Good luck!

Shaun

[Hoa Dinh]

ipdesigner: When I used xfrog tree and Vray, very slow, do U know why?

[IHAB]

xfrog(s) are 3d models , so the take much larger time and memory to calculate

[ipdesigner]

*yeah, it takes more time using GI:) ..just be patience, you will get a nice output:D

[nisus]

Exclude your (Xfrog)trees from the GI-calculation...

 

rgds,

 

nisus

[STRAT]

i dunno why you guys want 3d trees when 2d are usually much more realistic, specially for stills, plus they render 100000 times faster.

[Ernest Burden III]

i dunno why you guys want 3d trees when 2d are usually much more realistic, specially for stills, plus they render 100000 times faster.

 

Because sometimes we animate. And use elevated viewpoints where Xtrees look like what they are.

 

I'm doing some experiments in C4D to improve on my Xtrees, and it isn't going well. I'm not sure how to proceed with animation.

[ShaunDon]

Or for lighting reasons. If you're doing a dusk/night shot, 3D trees are choice since they'll pick up the color of the light you're using and you can use landscape lighting on them.

 

Of course for stills, especially in the foreground, Photoshop is the best solution 90% of the time. I still use 3D trees as stand-ins while I'm working on a scene, then I make them invisible to camera for the final render. That way they're still incorporated for reflections, absorb GI, and cast shadows.

 

One more reason is if you're doing a large job with multiple angles. You can greatly reduce your labor costs if you can use 3D landscaping and save Photoshopping each view individually.

 

Shaun

[STRAT]

EB3 - yup, elevated views are a problem.

 

Shaun - thats presuming you photoshop your 2d trees in. i dont

[Ernest Burden III]

thats presuming you photoshop your 2d trees in. i dont

 

Well Xtrees are the 3D version of dropping them in in post, so it should be the best of both worlds. And in limited situations it is. I've gotten by with that method through a number of animations, but I can see I'm pushing my luck.

[nisus]

Xtrees seem fine, but i found that the amount of Raytrace Bounces sometimes has to be insane... Flat trees for background use i'd say... ;-p

 

rgds,

 

nisus

[jlindblad]

I am looking for photoshop or photoshop ready trees and shrubs/groundcover. Does anyone know where to find some free jpegs or other photoshop like formats?

[Ernest Burden III]

Xtrees seem fine, but i found that the amount of Raytrace Bounces sometimes has to be insane... Flat trees for background use i'd say... ;-p

 

That is a good point! Each tree need 2 ray bounces, so layered views may need 25 - 30 bounces. That alone can do harm to your nice rendertime.

 

I also use one-poly billboards for backgrounds, where a long row of trees are one map.

 

What we have learnes so far is that there is no easy answer.

[nisus]

So basicly: who was the bastard that designed/discovered trees?

damn! Couldn't he just make a simpler design, like a chicken?

Would be great to add more chickens in a scene! Dear client, do you want large or small chickens? How many roosters do you want? lol!

 

But than again, that doesn't really solve a thing either: XChicken suffer also from raytrace depth...

 

rgds,

 

nisus

 

 

ps: what maximum depth do you all use???

[Ernest Burden III]

So basicly: who was the bastard that designed/discovered trees?

damn! Couldn't he just make a simpler design, like a chicken?

 

The same one who made bird flu. You can't win.

 

Can you see a client who has spec'ed chickens everywhere and then asks you to just make the chickens transparent so you can still see the building? The there would be those winter scenes with just a bunch of big skelatons.

 

 

Ray depth--usually try 16 with Xtrees in a scene, do some test to see if I get blacked alpha channels, bring the number up or down from there.

[Ernest Burden III]

This image illustrates the problems with using Xtrees.

 

First, when you get above the trees you begin to see the X pattern. Rotating around them in animation can also show this.

 

 

The shadow can also reveal the polys. I have two extra polys for most of these trees set to only cast shadows and it helps, but not totally. Better would be to have a single copy to cast the shadows and have it track an object linked to the sun. But it will be a lot of work to set up, I haven't done it yet.

 

The tree object does not respond to environmental lighting, in this case the coloration I've added to the light. The trees do not self-shadow, either, or get darkened when in a shadow of a building or cloud etc.

 

So they work for some things, but fail to be the perfect solution.

[nisus]

Hi Ernest,

 

Idd lot's of problems in the trees and animations, but who will see it? Add a nice 'chick' (2x) in the image and everyone will look at her... like the famous blonde lady in jeans and white shirt... moeha!

 

I still like what Nsight used to do: use Xtree for trunk and branches, use simple geometry for the leaves = perfect for animations...

 

rgds

 

nisus

[Ernest Burden III]

I think I'm going to buy OnyxTree whenever the wealth gods smile upon me again (really all I need is that big check a client owes me). In the meantime I'm still experimenting.

 

Por Favor, would one of you who has one of the 3D geometry tree packages produce one or two decidious trees, just trunks and branches (winter mode) and screencap or render a front, left and maybe plan view and post it?

 

I'm so used to simply drawing trees that I would like to see a 3D model to see how different it actually is.

 

thanks in advance!

[gfa2]

I think I'm going to buy OnyxTree whenever the wealth gods smile upon me again (really all I need is that big check a client owes me). In the meantime I'm still experimenting.

Por Favor, would one of you who has one of the 3D geometry tree packages produce one or two decidious trees, just trunks and branches (winter mode) and screencap or render a front, left and maybe plan view and post it?

I'm so used to simply drawing trees that I would like to see a 3D model to see how different it actually is.

thanks in advance!

 

Here are a couple of shots of an Onyx tree. Plan, elevation and a closeup with textures applied.

[gfa2]

I just can't stop playing with things...gets me into trouble.

 

Perspective shot...same tree.