Rocks and trees : SD Texturing INSTEAD of sculpting ?

R4DI4NT

The more I get deep into SD the more I think it would be easier and more productive for  landscape design props such as rocks and trees to : 

1) make directly a low poly with only the big shapes and making sure that the UV seams are tucked in main cracks and crevices ot the model and are orientated as appears in nature.

2) make / reuse a tilable texture to add fine details ( normal map) spec and diffuse.

And I would only use zbrush for scoulpting special props that needs a text that I cant make procedural.

Let me know of yor thoughts , cheers.

Kyetja

For trees this is definitely the winning technique, in a previous project I created all the textures in SD and then plopped them into Speedtree, it works fantastic.
When it comes to rocks I feel that sculpting simply produces better results, the bakes you get from it and the shapes will make it look more natural (if done properly of course).

R4DI4NT

Cheers