looking for a Mangrove/ tropic tree generator...

[3d13]

Hi all, a little background to the request...

 

I am currently working on pre-viz work for a proposed Mangrove Conservation project. I've searched high and low for a tree generator that will create mangrove trees.

 

I've looked at most of the popular applications (Xfrog, speedtree, onyx..) but most come with European plant libraries which is of no use to me as some of the shots will be closeups of footbridges and manmade island/gardens with indigenous vegetation (Xfrogs tropic plants don't grow in the mangroves). I am currently working with Max 2009 with Vray 1.5 sp2.

 

Trees of primary interest are:

 

Australian Pine/ Ironwood Casuarina Equisetifolia

Mangrove tree/ Luninitzera littorea (bears red flowers, rare species)

 

Of the software i am aware of (and none have mangroves) i am sort of leaning towards Onyx as a build-your-own solution as i heard it works well with vray. Does anyone know of any other software that includes regional plant and tree libraries for the Sth Pacific (palm trees excluding)?

Edited July 17, 2010 by 3d13

[Chad Warner]

With xfrog and I'm assuming Onyx, you can build custom plants and trees. If you don't want to purchase the xfrog creator program, you can do what I've done in the past and hired someone with experience in creating the vegetation and have them create the plants for you based on pictures and measurements.

[jackb602]

Try contacting Jan Walter Schliep, Walli on most forums. I commissioned him to build some custom trees and vines for a museum project a couple of years ago, and he did an excellent job. He works for Xfrog, so he knows what he's doing. I highly recommend him.

 

Jack

[3d13]

Awesome! thanks for the heads up guys, i didn't think to commission it out...i've got the luxury of time so in the interim i've downloaded a trial of xfrog to see if can have a crack at it. I would rather avoid outsourcing at the moment as their will be a whole plant nursery of indigenous plants to build in the future...might cost more than just buying the apps and learning to model it myself.

 

 

Thanks for the referral jack, if it all goes to custard, that's definetly a resource handy to have on the books!