Onyx Tree Tutorials?

[RyanSpaulding]

Hey guys,

 

So, I've decided I like the look of Onyx trees a bit better than the rest. We have the suite here from a way back and am looking at getting into creation with this software but it's seriously lacking in tuts anywhere.

 

Anyone have any idea, other than the 'impending' Viz Insider article?

[Nic H]

Yep Iv been waiting eagerly for that as well!

[Scott Schroeder]

Load a seed in Onyx, and just play with the controls. You'll figure out what does what pretty fast. I find this the best way to learn a particular software, just getting in there and going wild with the controls.

 

It's not that hard of a software to learn.

[znotlin]

first thing I do is turn off everything but the trunk (bottom left), then play with those controls. then I turn on the boughs and play with those controls, then branch1, etc...

 

It is easy to get the hang of, and as you work you'll just end up learning more and more subtleties.

[brianzajac]

There's an updated Onyx Trees & Vegetation tutorial at http://www.thecgschool.com/login/

[Boris Horosavin]

Onyx has really simple interface, believe me, after hour or two you'll be like pro. Easiest way is to open one of the templates, play and manipulate with tools to see how they work. The great thing about it is that allows you to simplify or subdivide polys so you can get quality/performance ratio you need. Also, try not to use plug-in for Max, but standalone version, it's much more comfortable.

[salvador]

Alright ! I seem to understand the overall workflow. My question is: If you are not an expert in botanic, where do you start modeling your tree if the templates don't have your specific species? Do you just find the closest one and pick up from there?

 

Even farther back, is there a web tool to recognize the species of the tree you want to model, eg, if you're trying to reproduce an existing tree? Or you just have to ask around what kind of tree is this?

 

Greetings

[Boris Horosavin]

As you know, in this type of work it is preferable to have a sort of reference picture, like a concept image, so you could know where you're going. The version of Onyx I use has a template tree library (actually separate libraries for broadliefs/conifiers/palms/flowers) to choose from various kind of trees named in original Latin titles. Personally, I would do it just as you suggested - I would pick a most similar template from the library and start changing it. For example you can change overall proportions, length and width of branches, type, density and direction of leaves, stems etc. But maybe more important part is what you do with textures later on. Basic Onyx textures are good if you need background trees in second plan but are not always optimal for the first plan, as you can see on this render i did when I was not very experienced with Onyx.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47176[/ATTACH]

However you can find, buy or make your own textures to get lush and translucent leaves and overall better appearance. Maybe you'll just need to tune and fit them from map menu in Max and you can get very good and effective models. Pic:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47177[/ATTACH]

And, no, as far as I know there is no tool that can recognize which tree you want, you'll just have to do some research for that.

[Jane Namenye]

I just got Onyx and started the learning process by looking over the manuals and experimenting with one of the trees that came in its library. Seemed like it would take a bit of trial and error to understand the (numerous!) controls. Searching for tutorials I found a CGschool webinar which was very helpful. Brian Smith demonstrates and explains each of the main controls so it's clear which are most important. Having this info will definitely speed up the process of mastering all of Onyxtree.

 

The webinar is here: http://www.thecgschool.com/free-webinars/

[salvador]

As you know, in this type of work it is preferable to have a sort of reference picture, like a concept image, so you could know where you're going. The version of Onyx I use has a template tree library (actually separate libraries for broadliefs/conifiers/palms/flowers) to choose from various kind of trees named in original Latin titles. Personally, I would do it just as you suggested - I would pick a most similar template from the library and start changing it. For example you can change overall proportions, length and width of branches, type, density and direction of leaves, stems etc. But maybe more important part is what you do with textures later on. Basic Onyx textures are good if you need background trees in second plan but are not always optimal for the first plan, as you can see on this render i did when I was not very experienced with Onyx.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47176[/ATTACH]

However you can find, buy or make your own textures to get lush and translucent leaves and overall better appearance. Maybe you'll just need to tune and fit them from map menu in Max and you can get very good and effective models. Pic:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47177[/ATTACH]

And, no, as far as I know there is no tool that can recognize which tree you want, you'll just have to do some research for that.

 

Thanks Boris