MegaPixel Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 I've just landed a job that will require many Photo Real Trees both in the Foreground and Background. Currently, All I have available are Free images I've found on the Web and the 3D Trees which come with the Design Extension. They don't cut it for the degree of realism I need on this project. So If I'm going to invest in some 3rd Party Software or Plug-ins, which one should I tackle to get the most realism for the Value? I Like what I see from Marlin Studios, Archvision and Bionetics. The Trees don't need to be 3D and If I have to post produce them in Photoshop, so be it. Any shared experience or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks guys - Mega Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Hi David, You could try Forest Pack Pro from Itoo. They have a free version, but some of the advantages of the Pro is randomized tree maps and the ability for the trees to follow splines and terrains. www.itoosoft.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 I have the imagecels trees and am quite happy with them. I think that dosch design also has a tree library that you could look at. -Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 This is what I've used: http://www.realworldimagery.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaPixel Posted October 25, 2003 Author Share Posted October 25, 2003 Thx Fran, Chad & mbr I was wondering if I could also see some of your examples where you have used these Tree products and tell me wether they were created inside MAX or doctored in with a Paint Program. Your examples may help me to make my Final decision. Thanks again, Mega Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulcalif Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Speedtree is nice, esp for 3d. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuninho Prieto Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Hi Mega, We use imagecels a lot and I think these are fantastic trees if you are doing stills. We render the model and place the trees in photoshop - very quickly! (Althoug you can place them in 3d using planes. If you take care you can use this trick for animating too) For 3d trees We are using onyxtree wich are great and I have seen some xfrog around. (I think Fran uses it) you can see some examples in the xfrog and onyxtree galeries. You can see other examples in my site. go there and hit the "perspectivas externas" link. www.xfrog.com www.onyxtree.com www.imagecels.com www.archigraph.com.br Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuninho Prieto Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Hi everybody again, besides Imagecels, Marlin Studios, and Dosh I saw some very good trees in a sponsor here at cgarchitect. they had a very good resolution, price and you could download two good samples. I don´t remember this sponsor name. anybody? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawyer Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 I have a cd of marlins stuff and desert trees from imagecells and alot of the images are good, some are not so good (poor res and unclean clipping but for the most part for 100-200 you will get a good assortment of images that you can use. I do find that am reusing the same 5 trees more often than not but maybe that is just me. I prefer the cd from Marlin as everthing is in tga format not a bitmap with black background. I have looked into the 3d replicating stuff( speed tree, xfrogs bionatics etc) and I really don't like it. I bought speedtree as it was the cheapest and I think it is pretty poor (it was the cheapest). Animation feature has a bug that I saw reported on the digimation forum site that makes animation immpossible and most of the out of the package trees are not as good as I would have hoped for some look pretty bad imho. But there are a couple of trees that work. I think what it does is create a few hundred leaves (planes) from the same single leaf bitmap and really it looks like you are using the same leaf image. Xfrog looks pretty good but I wish their image gallery was better. But the stuff I have seen Fran do is nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaPixel Posted October 25, 2003 Author Share Posted October 25, 2003 Awesome input Sawyer and Tuninho. Thanks a bunch! I'm browsing each company's galleries for intense scrutiny. Xfrog and Onyx look like the better 3D options so far and Marlin Studios or Imagecels is looking pretty good for 2D options. Now then, which matters more to me.. Do I go 3D and sacrifice some realisim for the sake of animation or do I stay 2D and limit myself to Photoshop Still production... I'll be up all night thinking this one through. Once again, great info from all of you. Thank you very, very much and good night - Love Mega Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STRAT Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 photoreal 2d image cells? marlin studios. i find them the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Warner Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 Megapixel- I was looking through some images, and it happens that I use RPC trees more than anything. I mainly use the imagecels for the shrubs and flowers part of things. I know RPC gets a bad rap, but as long as you don't mind manually placing shadows, and can deal with their limitations (view points more or less at eye level) I think they work pretty well, and pretty quickly also. -Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 I agree about RPC. I am using them now in a scene that is in the San Fran hills, where the trees are all a dark, dark green. They work perfectly, and are fast. The free PS plugin is nice, too, and it is very quick to get different looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vizwhiz Posted October 26, 2003 Share Posted October 26, 2003 hi There MegaPixel, here is a Link to a List(s) of Links for Trees: Tree: http://www.viz2000.com/html/alfa/tree.html i hope This helps Onyx makes a cool Tree modeling program **** Thanks Randy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 to complete the list: www.gardenhose.com It's not really cut'n paste as you draw trees yourself (in painter). Imho it's even better than clipart as every tree is different without an overload on time. One can also use it to make one own trees with alpha channels... So it's no more: hey, everyone is using the same trees anymore rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Paske Posted November 14, 2003 Share Posted November 14, 2003 I've had good luck using Bionatics NatFX. They're expensive...but flexible in terms of detail and poly count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaPixel Posted November 17, 2003 Author Share Posted November 17, 2003 It would sure be nice if gardenhose made that available to Photoshop Users. A very nice product indeed - Thanks Nisus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaPixel Posted November 17, 2003 Author Share Posted November 17, 2003 http://www.cgarchitect.com/forum/filepush.asp?file=NatHemlocks.jpg For those of you who are not yet MAX 6 users, I thought I'd let you know that it ships with the BioNatics EASYnat engine and includes 4 demo Plants for you to play with. The above image shows an example I created using the Demo Hemlock Tree at it's Highest 3D Detail. This particular Tree looks pretty darn good if you ask me, the only draw back is that this small scene alone brought my Dual AMD 1.8 to it's knees. Ovcourse there are 2D and Hybrid options available for the plants but I felt that the 3D objects acheived the most realistic look I was after. Interestingly enough, I havn't been using these trees for there 3D potential - Instead, I've been rendering them out at High Resolution with Alpha channels and compositing them into still scenes in Photoshop. Right now, it's the only way my machine will handle it. At any rate, I just thought I'd share this nifty new feature with you all. - MegaP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 Hi MegaPix, Nice to see you tried the bionatics too. I have serious problems with the trees using the hybrid or 2d option when using GI (rad or mr)... Any clue on how to set them up for gi? nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markf Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 I have used imagecels extensively and have no problem. I also find I use a handfull of the same trees and not so much of the others. I had found a link (on the max forum I think) to this usgs site that had a lot of good plants and trees in goood resolution with black backgrounds. It was called USGS Ecosystems Component Library. The photos are in a funny .iff format that takes a plug-in for photoshop to open. Once you have that it's a great source. The link, that no longer seems to work, is below. http://rmmcnt7.cr.usgs.gov/ecl/reports/eclsmmry.cfm now when I go there it don't work. anybody have this or know how to get to this area in usgs site? It really seemed good, and free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted November 18, 2003 Share Posted November 18, 2003 MegaPixel, Is that a complete Bionatics version? Meaning, can I then purchase the trees from them to use with Max 6? Something like that would make upgrading seem more attractive. While I am here, does anyone know of or have any good bamboo, either in an image or model? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Hi mbr, Try the max6 demo and install the NatFX demo from Bionatics, you'll see... runs smooth! nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Great. Now I'll have to think about spending more money, right after buying fR Stage-1 ! I have to say, I do like the idea of the bionatics included as I continue to search for a decent bamboo model! Xmas is getting close... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pen duick Posted November 19, 2003 Share Posted November 19, 2003 Hi guys, Just a small correction to let you know that EASYnat growth engine is definitely now integrated with 3ds max 6 but not natFX. You only need to purchase seeds. Entry level is now $60 US only ! Discount are available upon quantity through different packages 10, 20, 30 .... The most important is that you do not need to choose your plants upfront. You can purchase a credit of 10 trees and then return whenever you need it to dowbload your trees on by one. So you will get 20% off without the obligation to choose them. For Markus from MBR Studio, You will find below an image incorporating bamboos made by I.M.R with EASYnat. An animation can be seen on www.easynat.com. Selec t gallery. Bionatics provides a large variation of bamaboos. Go the "plant nursery" to review them all. Enjoy ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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