Onyx2MAX, StormTree...or GrowFX?

[k-ram]

Hello, I have for years been using a couple of Onyxtree 3D plant creators (Broadleaf6 and Conifer6) in MAX, currently in MAX Design 2010. Do anyone know if the new plug-in Onyx2MAX work with these old version creators, or will I have to upgrade the sw? The reason for my question is that I now would like to avoid the .3DS export route (no color on vertices, no textures, limited number of faces) A different alternative would probably be to go for TreeStorm, but does this plug-in work with my old plant creators (version 6), and what about network rendering/renderfarm installation? If the total Onyx pacakage will have to be up-dated, may be Elevel GrowFX will be a good alternative, does anyone have experience with this product in production? Thank you, best regards from Knut

[Peter M. Gruhn]

Send them an email and ask?

[k-ram]

Thanks, I've tried but it seems like the Onyx guys are not too eager at answering e-mails. May be I'll try to call them if I don't get any replies on my requests. Anyhow, I wondered if any of you know how capable and flexible GrowFX is? (I've sent Exlevel a request for a demo) Thanks, Knut

Edited February 7, 2010 by k-ram

[Peter M. Gruhn]

My experience with GrowFX is limited. I downloaded the demo. Created a tree and recall having no clue how it was supposed to work. Then it crashed. I learned a little about how to make it go and it crashed... I really couldn't give the program a good learning shakedown as it kept crashing. I thought the UI confusing.

 

Other people do good work with it. Clearly it can run and trees can be made and my experience is not the only available one.

 

I bought Onyx a week ago and am sore impressed. Though it may be time for fancy modern features. My first dabblings there (rather than polished good for gallery pro work) are available at... (let me go look it up)... http://www.hwb.com/gruhn/3d/OnyxTree/ . It's just a bunch of disordered pictures. A write-up is pending.

[CJI]

GrowFX has a demo version available on their website. I gave it a go and it seems very powerful and stable enough. Ony problems with grow FX is that it has some problems with the undo commands, and if you accidently slide the sliders relating to detail all the way up (billions of polys for a tree trunk...oops) it does hang there, although at that stage i wouldn't be all surprised. I think for the price and the continuous free upgrades to 1.x software versions then its seems quite a contender if it could break through the Onyx monopoly.

 

Mind you i havent tried onyx as the budget to buy these plug-ins just isn't available at the moment. And onyx is VERY popular which speaks volumes fo the quality of the program. My instinct is to give grow FX the shot as for the price its a seriously strong and capable tree modeler.

[quizzy]

I've bought GrowFX and I like it very much. The only thing that is a bit of getting used to is the GUI, other than that, its a great peice of software and it produces very good quality trees....

[pawilson03]

I went with Growfx. Very powerful and very well priced. Really gives you a ton of control over your plants.

 

The interface is a little daunting at first, but after an hour or so with the manual you'll be up and running.

 

It will crash on occasion, but its typically just because a slider gets knocked the wrong way and sends your polygon count into orbit

 

Check out the demo, (If you download the manual be sure to unblock the .chm or it will not display properly, took me a while to figure that out!)

 

I had a little trouble with my activation but the support staff at Exlevel did a great job, which made me feel that much better about my decision.

 

I haven't tried onyx (no demo). But I needed to be able to do growth animations and to my knowledge onyx isn't suited for that. That said, Onyx does seem to produce some very nice models