Snowy Tree Scene
This is a post that will start by admitting "this not a great scene". It is to illustrate our tree and plant creator, Forester Pro, which can export to fbx, dae and X formats (specifically for torque3D, Unity, and UDK), but they'll also open in Blender, Max etc.
Anyway, generates randomized trees based on templates (species), that can then be deformed and posed, and exported with collision boxes and vertex colours for wind effects. So far there are 120 different tree and plant species available. The latest being the snowy pines shown below.
The tree models available in the template pack are:
However, we are never happy with our example scenes. This one was created in Torque3D. Any tips would be most welcome.
Forester Pro can be downloaded from our website, there is a free version, and the registered version is $20. If you are a game designer then it provides a host of models within minutes, if you are a 3D artist, then maybe it will save you some time and give a useful starting point to customize.
http://www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
Anyway, generates randomized trees based on templates (species), that can then be deformed and posed, and exported with collision boxes and vertex colours for wind effects. So far there are 120 different tree and plant species available. The latest being the snowy pines shown below.
The tree models available in the template pack are:
However, we are never happy with our example scenes. This one was created in Torque3D. Any tips would be most welcome.
Forester Pro can be downloaded from our website, there is a free version, and the registered version is $20. If you are a game designer then it provides a host of models within minutes, if you are a 3D artist, then maybe it will save you some time and give a useful starting point to customize.
http://www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
Replies
Forester Pro models are created randomly from tree templates which define the structure of plant and its textures. Models can be generated randomly with a click of one button, however, you can also customize templates easily to generate a wide range of models to suit your needs.
The model shown above is from the Snowy Norway Spruce template and is a typical mature conifer with a thick conical crown - the characteristic christmas trees. We can generate numerous randomized versions of this tree in Forester Pro simply by pressing the space button, however, we can generate even more variety with small changes to the template.
The model above is generated from the same template but shows an older more majestic tree. We've simply increased the base width of the trunk and height in the branch properties menu, added 25 instead of 20 child branches, and dropped the length of child branches from 40% of the trunk length to 30%. This is a fine model for relatively spaced tall trees, however, in thick conifer forests trees tend to have high crowns with few branches lower down. We can do this as shown below.
In this model we've simply increased the spawn distance of child branches from 0.2 to 0.6 the trunk height and changed the length power of branches (which controls how their length changes along the trunk) to 2.0 from 0.5. This is a good model for thick forest, however, for more realism we might like to have foliage all along the trunk but stunted at lower levels.
In the next model we've put the spawn distance back to 0.2 but put the length power to 2.5. The lower branches are now stunted compared to the upper ones. This produces a nice looking tree, however, often in forests the lower branches are more sparsely vegetated than upper branches we can do this in Forester Pro using its realtime editing functions.
The model above shows the same model as before, however, we've selected and deleted many of the leaf meshes on the lower part of the tree, we've also increased the length of the lower branches using length scale (select the branch and then use CTRL+mouse wheel). In thick forests, however, lower branches are sometimes broken stubs. We can do this by cutting branches in Forester Pro. We select the branch, enter edit vertex mode, then double click a vertex to select an entire slice of vertexes around the branch and then choose cut branch in the content menu to produce the model below.
Anyway we hope you can see that by customizing templates and using the editing function you can create a massive range of tree models from a single template. It took less than 20 minutes to generate all these models, meaning you can save yourself hundreds of hours and still produce unique assests, and there are now over 100 tree templates to use as a starting point available for Forester Pro. A quick scene created in Torque3D using these models is shown below....all it needs is a few White Walkers and we'd be north of the Wall.
Forester Pro can be downloaded from our website. A free version is available. The registered version is only $20.
http://www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
hmm, like that Colorado pine up there.
But...one of the great things about Forester Pro is you can easily change the template. Decrease trunk base width, and increase the branch length. S'easy.
This tree took about 2 minutes to make with Forester Pro. I increased the trunk height to 15, child branch length to 60% (of trunk), length power to 0.4, and min branch spawn point to 0.1 of the height. Had to make the tree a few times just to see what settings worked best.
If you wanted there's lots else you could do, for example, you could set the inner leaf meshes to a snow free texture which would probably look more like the photos. In fact, you may be able to make better models with Forester than we can
We've just made a free Christmas Tree pack available as a little present to make Christmas a bit more fun for all of you. After all this period can be frustrating, the kids behave like savages on acid, we have to endure grandma's apparently inorganic gravy, and our partners start to get very upset when we are tempted to disappear to do a bit of coding for a few hours. We hope this helps.
The free tree pack includes two templates which can be used to generate a wide range of randomized models. Each Christmas tree is included with decoration (although you can remove them in the leaf properties menu), they also are a nice demonstration of what you can do with Forester Pro.
You can download the tree pack here:
www.hptware.co.uk/downloads/install_CT1.zip
You'll need the registered version of Forester Pro to install the packs. Forester Pro is $20 and comes with 14 different tree and plant models, and allows you to create your own models using your own textures. The pack will be available until New Years Day.
www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
An example of an optimized mesh is shown below and is the Salmon Gum, part of our Australia Tree Pack 1. The lower images show the original unoptimized version on the left, and an optimized version on the right. This optimization reduces the polys on all branches above the shown threshold height to a minimum. In this model the number of faces was reduced by 1/3.
Forester Pro comes with 13 different tree templates, and over 100 tree and plant templates are available in our Tree and Plant Packs. Foresters customization features also allow you to generate your own templates based on your own customized textures and plant structures.
The registered version of Forester is $20. A free version featuring 7 tree types is also available. The new optimized version is available in the free version.
Forester Pro can be downloaded from here:
http://www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
If you have already installed Forester you can update it with the updater (which won't affect any of your settings or custom templates).
http://www.hptware.co.uk/downloads/foresterupdate124.zip
You might also want to check out our other product, Medusa Pro, the rock model generator.
http://www.hptware.co.uk/medusa.php
The problem with flowering and herbaceous (fleshy) plants is they often have more regular structures than trees or shrubs which are much more random. Nettles, for example, have clusters of leaves in fours spaced regularly up the stem. Flowers are also often are located at the end of stems and have a reptical from which they bud. We've now added new properties to the branch and leaf properties menu that can simulate these more regular structures. They are also useful for prehistoric and alien trees. An image showing some flowers and plants made with Forester is shown below (rocks made with Medusa Pro):
Mesh small plants provide some nice detailed models for your applications and although detailed most have 200-300 faces so won't cripple framerate. If you'd prefer to use billboards, we've also updated the billboard editor so you can create billboards of clusters of plants in Forester, then export them as a billboard image with an alpha channel.
To go along with the new release we've revamped the Free Grass Pack, Meadow Grass Pack, Wild Flower Pack 1 and Temperate Plant Pack 1 to include mesh flowers and small plants. If you've already bought these packs (the first one is free as the name suggests) then just reinstall. All our upgrades are always free. Each plant pack provides new textures and structures to build in Forester and are $10 each.
Forester Pro is available for download from our website and includes a free version that can make an unlimited number of trees from 7 different templates. The registered version is only $30 and can make virtually any plant.
http://www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
If you've already installed Forester you can upgrade to the latest version with this installer (including the free version).
http://www.hptware.co.uk/downloads/foresterupdate126.zip
We've just released Conifer Tree Pack 3 for Forester Pro featuring a range of conifer trees. Each template can be used in Forester Pro to make a wide range of different models and are easily customized. Templates are shown below:
A scene created with plants generated from this template pack are shown below, flowers in this scene were also generated using Forester Pro. Rock models were generated with Medusa Pro.
There are now 19 tree and plant packs available for Forester Pro that can produce a huge number of models of over 120 different plant and tree species. Each template pack costs $10. Tree Packs require the registered version of Forester Pro.
Forester Pro, including a free version that comes with 7 different templates, can be downloaded from our website. the registered version costs $30.
www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
We've just released our 20th template pack, Desert Plant Pack 1. Each template can be used to generate a wide range of randomized models. The textures provided with this pack were all collected in the Moroccan Sahara but are appropriate for common desert plants worldwide. The templates are shown below:
A scene created using models made with the template pack is shown below. Rock models were created using Medusa Pro.
Template packs can be downloaded from our website and cost $10. They required the registered version of Forester Pro (a free version of Forester is also available.
www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
We've been working hard on version 1.28 of Forester Pro which features normal bending and editing. If you've ever struggled with models in which some leaves are too dark due to shadows (forcing you to use only diffuse lighting) then normal bending will probably solve your problem. Normal bending in Forester distorts the normals on leaves away from a user selected point mixing the leaf mesh normals with the radial direction. The result is leaf mesh faces that respond to light direction in a more natural way, often giving trees and plants the appearance of more volume in the processes. Normal bending can now be generated automatically in Forester with user defined weights and bend focus positions. Whilst working on normal bending we also added features to allow you to edit normals on individual leaves. As ever...updates are free.
Forester Pro can be downloaded from our website. A free version, Forester Lite, is available and includes 7 free template types, the full registered version is $30 and includes 13 templates and enables the creation of your own templates. Over 130 templates of trees and plants are also available for use in Forester.
www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php
We've just released our latest template pack - Wild Flower Pack 2 which includes templates for Camomiles, Anenomes, Buttercups, Indian Blankets and Violets. Each template can randomly generate a wide range of models. Templates can also be easily customised. A scene created with models generated from the pack are shown below:
One hundred and thirty different tree and plant templates are now available for Forester Pro. Each template pack contains at least five templates to generate models of five different types of plants. Template packs cost $10 and require the registered version of Forester Pro.
A free version of Forester Pro is available from our website. The registered version is $30.
www.hptware.co.uk/forester.php