New Open Source Tree Generator

[shaneis]

This is a new project from a clever chap at Stanford - a FREE tree generator that can export *.OBJ format poly trees. It's available for Win and Mac.

 

I've done some quick tests - 3DSMax v9 seems to import OK, though some leaves tend to import poorly (see 2nd image). Though these leaves only become apparent in less densely leaved trees or close-ups; midground/ background seem to be fine. Maya 8.5 does not like the OBJ files at all and I found it to crash 100% of the time - however, if I imported to Max, then exported the OBJ, then imported the Max OBJ into Maya, it would work just fine. Go figure. Hopefully the offending bugs will be flushed in the coming releases.

 

No where near X-Frog, but for a free app, it's pretty darn good. Hope you have some success with it.

 

Project homepage...

http://dryad.stanford.edu/index.php

 

Article...

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/dryad-010908.html

[own1221]

Did you render those images? if so how long do they take?

[shaneis]

I did render them, but I can't remember the exact render times. I have a feeling they were only a minute or two with a raytraced directional light and low-quality final gather...I rendered them on an old PentiumIV. They took about 5 - 10 minutes to clean up the geometry.

 

I'll re-do them tomorrow and post the times/ settings for you.

 

S.

[upshot]

your system does not appear to support programmable shaders, which this program needs to run. You may need to update your drivers.

 

Anyone know what this is?

[Ricardo Eloy]

Maybe it's related to you graphics card. Try updating its drivers.

 

Update: Ok, downloaded it here and got the same message. Since my drivers are all up-to-date, I take back my previous thought. Anyone?

[shaneis]

The 3rd render (assorted group of trees) takes about 4 minutes on a Q6600 - Maya/ mentalRay, Final Gather at medium accuracy with "soft" ray traced shadows from a directional light.

 

In regards to the "programmable shaders" error, it hasn't occurred on my machine. Using version 1.1 If it's not a driver issue, then maybe a Windows issue? Guessing it could be a DirectX problem? I'm currently on DirectX 9.0c. I'm only using it off-line as well, maybe that may be an issue?

 

According to the Dryad website FAQ, a corrupted trees.dat file will cause issues. If you delete the trees.dat file and launch the program again, it will download a new trees.dat file.

 

All the best,

 

S.