GrowFX - do you have to model the whole tree/plant/bush from scratch!?

[Morne]

Hi all

I'm looking into GrowFX, and even though I've seen good results produced by it, the thought of me modelling a tree or bush by hand from scratch, sounds a bit nuts!

With Onyx you can open any library model (it comes with tons) and just modify it to your liking. (but Onyx is pretty old and it doesnt look like it will get any new features, EVER)

I've heard good things about GrowFX, but I think I'm confused about the whole issue. Could somebody please care to explain why they would choose GrowFX over Onyx?

[Six8]

This is relevant to my interests as well.

I've been looking hard at both and share the same concerns as you.

[stevesideas]

Yes you do. I purchased growFX last year. I did speak to the guys at Exlevel and they did say that they intend to bundle in a bunch of trees at some time in the future. There are some examples of trees bundled with the existing release but if you want to model a tree completely different from any of the samples then yes, you will need to start from scratch. I think it looks fairly tricky at first to use, I thought exactly the same, but once you get used to it, it does start to make sense and you can begin creating trees fairly quickly. Once you have created one, any other tree in the same style is as easy as changing the seed values for the branches, leaves etc.

Onyx, has a bunch of presets with it so I guess if you are looking for a bunch of presets then this is for you. I would say that growFX is more editable and the learning curve isnt as steep, especially if you check out the video tutorials.

The choice is yours...

[Bathyscaph]

You do have to start from scratch and learn a good bit of stuff but I'd say that the learning curve is worth it. In the end, you have a great deal of control over how your trees and plants look; you aren't just twiddling pre-built sliders. I did realize though that I didn't know nearly enough about how trees and plants are actually built. I bought a handful of books to help me build more accurate models. The Onyx program was interesting to me because the research is all done for you . . . that is a significant bonus. In the end though, I fell in love with GrowFX.