Onyx trees

[cristoforo]

Just bought Onyx trees. Can anyone give me any advice on the best use? Is there something special to do when using them with DR? On each computer I can render them, but when using DR the nodes do not render the trees. Is there much modifying to do to the trees to use them in a scene, or are they pretty much ready to go? I noticed with a couple bushes that I tried out that they did not seem very full....as in samples I have seen in renderings. Though, in the adjust there was only the possibility to reduce the leaf polygons, not add. Thanks for any advice!

[CCS]

Make sure the DLL is on all computers, or convert them to vrayproxies and you don't have to worry about it.

[Candelero]

Also it would be much better to have them all copied locally as using them as proxies can become quite big file-sizes.

Best regards,
nikki Candelero

[cristoforo]

This means having the library of all the onyx trees on each computer instead of reading from the server?

[Clifton Santiago]

Yes, you need to install the treestorm dll plugin on all render nodes, unless of course you collapse them to mesh objects before rendering.

You do need to work into them for good results. First will want to use the Onyx tree modeler program to make the trees the shape and density you want. I find the pre-made trees are often too dense and too squaty.

Then in Max you will want to assign materials for leaves and bark. Under the polygon rollout click the UV boxes for each tree geometry type you want to apply a material.

Find the multi-sub material that comes in with it, find the sub-mat for each geometry type and assign a bark map or whatever.

It takes quite a while to master, but the results can be quite stunning when you do.

Cheers.

[cristoforo]

Assigning materials for the leaves means one leaf (plus opacity map) per polygon leaf....correct? I just used the trees for the first time in a rendering that rendered all night, and in the morning they told me that they do not want the trees there! Now I am rerendering without trees! The things we must put up with!!!!

[Clifton Santiago]

I'm not sure if I understand your question...

For leaves you have 2 options. One is to use the leaf-shaped geometry that comes in when you insert the tree. To do this you go into Polygons/Adjust and check the UV box under leaves, and assign a color (or map) to the leaf material.

The other is to hit the sub-object button under the same rollout and set the number of subobject leaves. Start with one. Then click Use plates button. This makes all the leaf geometry turn into plates which are now a separate object from the trunk. Just assign them a material and put in your leaf map, opacity map, etc. This way the leaves look just like the maps, rather than the geometry.

If you choose 2 or more subobjects for leaves, you can still use them as geometry or plates, but you can have multiple leaf colors distributed throughout the tree, which looks much more natural.

Hope that helps...