Realsitic Trees

[mitviz]

its a long time issue but biggest problem is the leaves of the trees themselves, i find myself these days detaching leaves and applying the random element modifier so i can have leaves of different colors on the trees, then i have to change the material settings to vray 2sided etc to get them looking realistic, i find that this usually makes the trees look really nice and more realistic no matter which supplier and library you have,just takes a few extra minutes which most of us cant sometimes be bothered with so i am trying to make my own library from the library of trees from all these companies i have, for each project i will try to change at least one tree, who knows, end of the year might have a collection of them but i think all these people selling trees should make the leaf colors random and already apply the correct materials and not have us do extra work

[ajroane]

i think all these people selling trees should make the leaf colors random and already apply the correct materials and not have us do extra work

You are right, to a point. More could be done in many instances, and I think most of the stock 3D modelers are very well aware that their models could be even better. But, how can one person or company make a model which fits perfectly with every lighting setup and material workflow? I'm not only asking rhetorically, how should/would you like your stock models set up?

Here are a couple of points to consider: 1) Detaching leaves can give more control of randomization, but it ruins procedural models, like those created in GrowFX. I think more parametric randomization options will be added to GrowFX in the future, but that is only a guess. 2) Other options exist for adding variety to plants, but they often involve separate plugins, like Exlevel's excellent MultiMap plugin. But using additional plugins, even if they are free, is a big turn-off to many clients. 3) Your are right about the 2-Sided materials, those should be standard on Vray plant materials. But even then, there are still a few people who don't want to use 2-sided materials because they think it has too much affect on render times.

Best,
Andrew

[mitviz]

You are right, to a point. More could be done in many instances, and I think most of the stock 3D modelers are very well aware that their models could be even better. But, how can one person or company make a model which fits perfectly with every lighting setup and material workflow? I'm not only asking rhetorically, how should/would you like your stock models set up?

Here are a couple of points to consider: 1) Detaching leaves can give more control of randomization, but it ruins procedural models, like those created in GrowFX. I think more parametric randomization options will be added to GrowFX in the future, but that is only a guess. 2) Other options exist for adding variety to plants, but they often involve separate plugins, like Exlevel's excellent MultiMap plugin. But using additional plugins, even if they are free, is a big turn-off to many clients. 3) Your are right about the 2-Sided materials, those should be standard on Vray plant materials. But even then, there are still a few people who don't want to use 2-sided materials because they think it has too much affect on render times.

Best,
Andrew

well make two options then when selling trees, its simple, i find myself more often these days fixing and making things random, there can be a few options for the same trees, may take longer to make the trees and setup but i think in the end it makes for a more marketable product

[chriserskine]

you keep the tree as mesh instead of a vray proxy. you can do the variation with itoo forest

[mitviz]

you keep the tree as mesh instead of a vray proxy. you can do the variation with itoo forest

hmmm, never saw that workflow, havent seen forest pack stuff of lately, so it will work even if it is a mapped leaf texture?

[chriserskine]

just allows your to do something like the multi map. and you can plug different maps into it.

http://docs.itoosoft.com/display/FOR...K/Forest+Color

i believe overall tree change is fine with proxy, but elements needs mesh.

[mitviz]

just allows your to do something like the multi map. and you can plug different maps into it.

http://docs.itoosoft.com/display/FOR...K/Forest+Color

i believe overall tree change is fine with proxy, but elements needs mesh.

thanks for this, will run some tests

[chriserskine]

yeah it works really well.. but only inside forest objects.

using vraymultisub is also a good way, isn't quite a good. but you can use it on anything.