i never noticed this before because i always brought my onyxtree stuff into max via treestorm but if you don’t have treestorm and just use the plain onyxtree generator software and export your models from it out as 3ds or anything else (it doesn’t export out as a max model) you get significantly different results material-wise. Treestorm plugin gives you what you expect. Exporting out from the plain software gives you things you might not want. Just a heads up to anyone considering onyxtree.
mh
(i just upgraded my treestorm to max 2008, 64 bit)
I have always used the 3ds export, not a single issue since figuring out how to use it…nothing unexpected at least.
What exactly is the problem that would make one reconsider the investment?
there is a large difference. With 3ds export you get plain colors for materials. If you replace those colors with vertex color you get very wierd coloring. If you take that same onyxtree model as loaded into the onyxtree software and instead import it into max through treestorm, the model comes in with vertex colors that look as you would expect them based on what you see in the onxtree tree makers or whatever maker you are using. It does not come in with plain colors. The difference is that you get a gradation of color across leaves.
As far as the bark, well, onyxtree software will never get that as photorealistic as bringing in actual bark maps once the tree is in max so on that level, it’s not an issue. All onyxtree trees need good bark texture mapping after they come out of their software, at least in the close ups. For distant shots, it’s not a problem.
mh
Bark
Can you recommend a good bark library?
i use google images for textures but there was a post in the images forum here that had a refernce to good bark textures…can’t remember what it was.
Also, beware…Treestorm crashes max…always has (i got it when it first came out) and still does and probably always will. I NEVER leave trees in their Onytree format. I always collapse them and convert them to meshes to prevent crashes…and they don’t always convert to mesh so some are useable and others aren’t. I stopped using the wind portion of their plugin years ago. I use storm only for it’s ability to manipulate the trees, then once i get them where i want them, i convert them. During the manipulation process max will crash…you’ll just have to get used to it if you buy treestorm.
mh
this image shows what you can do with treestorm that, as far as i know, can’t be done with the regular onyxtree software. It shows leaves that are multiple on a single stem. This is a california pepper. Treestorm and treestill let you replace leaves with objects. The object in this case is a homemade leaf, the leaf is mapped with an actual image of the real thing. It’s all geometry.
mh
here’s a larger image…also, i forgot to mention that treestorm will corrupt your max file so it is unopenable and unmergable, so i always create the trees in a seperate file, clean them up and then merge them into the main file.
http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs225&d=08122&f=calif-pepper547.jpg
mh
Interesting. I wanted to try out treestorm again, but after requesting the max2008 version I’m told I need to upgrade for $75!.. Seems daft to pay for a plugin that corrupts max files!
Think I might stick to the old method of exporting 3ds files.
I’m not sure what your images are supposed to show. I can export to 3ds with multiple map channels on the leaves so I can easily apply a selection of different leaf textures randomly over the tree.
I imagine that this unusual upgrade price comes from the fact that the creators do not develop the plugins or software themselves. They have to pay somebody to create the code and API for them every time an update is needed…this would also explain why many of the bugs go unfixed as well.
Somebody with the resources and ability to handle the code side of things needs to absorb “Onyx Computing,” clean up their programs/plugins, and then offer a reasonable upgrade option to existing users.
Where’s Autodesk when you need 'em? 
re:FORM, could you explain this process a bit? I have the “regular” onyx broadleaf and have not found where to do that yet…
Thanks!
I’m not sure what your images are supposed to show. I can export to 3ds with multiple map channels on the leaves so I can easily apply a selection of different leaf textures randomly over the tree.[/QUOTE]
…but you can’t get leaves that look like these from regular onytree software. there is no way to substitute the leaves they provide with these type of leaves unless you have treestorm. That is one of the things that makes treestorm valuable, not to mention the difference in vertex color that you end up with.
Also, these are not “plates” which it sounds like you are talking about when it comes to mapping leaves. These are mesh leaves with the image of the leave mapped to the mesh. Sijnce VRAY doesn’t handle transparency of plates very well and shines with mesh, i am converting all my trees and shrubs to “no plates” and replacing the plates with mesh. In treestorm you can select the leaves and substitute the leaves for objects. the objects can be anything, flowers, multi-stem leaves, fruit, etc. You don’t get that in the regular onyxtree softeware.
hope that answers the question.
mh
here’s an Albizia julibrisson that i’m working on…you cannot get this with regualr onyxtree software unless you use plates. The leaves are mesh (not plates) and the flowers are mesh(not plates). It’s work in progress. The flowers still need some work.
mh
http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs125&d=08125&f=albizia\_julibrissons350.jpg
and here’s a progress closup. the flowers and leaves are not plates. the problem with plates is that you don’t get enough control of the size width and length and noty to mention they slow things down in vray. With mesh, you can do anything. A leaf can be a leaf cluster, flowers, a flower cluster or fruit etc.
mh
http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs125&d=08125&f=albizia\_julibrissonsclose-up711.jpg
add to treestorms side effects that it (apparently) corrupts max so that it can’t be repaired but must be unistalled and reinstalled. joy.
mh
details…
Everything sounded good up to this last post … sounds like a pretty big problem, have the people from Onyx said anything about this? Weird that it corrupts max, this surely can’t be happening to every max treestorm user.
even with its problems…I think I can echo mikeh’s enthusiasm for bringing in through Treestorm, and its ability to replace leaves with geometry - you simply cannot get the kind of results as far as leaf orientation, variety and reasonable rendering speed any other way (that I know of). What I am confused about is the implied use of plates in your posts, as I don’t think you have to do that, only establish the leaves as sub objects before you swap them out. But, I’ve been wrong before. 
It’s what we do too, bring in through treestorm in its own file, replace leaves as necessary, and then collapse to a vrmesh.
Thanks for showing those examples. I think I’ll splash out and get the 64-bit upgrade to treestorm and compare the results. I can definately see the advantage of being able to replace leaves with meshes.
All i can say is that i love the treestorm plugin, the only problem i have had with it is that sometimes it seems to stops working when it comes to changing parameters or display modes. But once you svaed your scene and restarted max everything was fine again - it happens not too often. Never had a corrupt file using it.
add to treestorms side effects that it (apparently) corrupts max so that it can’t be repaired but must be unistalled and reinstalled. joy.
What did the Onyx support said about that problem ? There is defintely something wrong, never heard or experienced this kind of problem. Treestorm was always a littel buggy but not that buggy 
By the way, there is a nice video tutorial on how to use treestorm, texture leaves and export them as vray meshes on cgarchitect.com…
Treestorm goes seriously buggy when you start disassembling the trees and trying to collapse them to mesh. I have found that, especially where you have changed the leaves to objects, that the rest of the tree will not collapse nor allow itself to be converted to mesh. I have had to export the same tree from the onyxtree software as a 3ds file, import into the file that has the same tree brought into it from treestorm, delete the leaves and that gives you the leaf objects and the rest of the tree. its at the point of dissasembling that files get corrupted and max got corrupted.
as for contacting onyxtree about that, why would i do that? What good would it do? if i thought they cared, i might do that but my past experience with them leaves me to conclude that it would be a waste of time.
mh
John, I only mentioned “plates” in response to someone elses saying that they could get the leaves in onyxtrees exported out as the multi-leaf type of i used in my first example from the regular onytree software. I came to the conclusion that they meant that they were exporting the trees out with plates that could have those type of leaves mapped to them.
You are correct that when using treestorm, you don’t need plates, you just substitute the leaves out for “objects”.
mh