I would like to model my own trees, plants and flowers to import into my Vue and Worldbuilder scenes. Does anyone know if there are any tutorials on how to model things like trees? Obviously you can't model every single leaf and branch on a tree, so there has to be some other way to do this. I know there are free models available, but I'd like to create some of my own. I use Carrara 5 and occasionally Blender for modelling.

Message edited on: 02/09/2006 23:49

Doesn't have Carrara 5 a plant editor? You should be able to work with that. What i think all plant creators do is to use specialised software. XFrog for example,

Carrara has a tree editor, but the trees are mostly unrealistic-looking.

Psssst, don't tell anybody. Some could missunderstand that. So an option is therefore XFrog. Or, if you want to try out some free applications, go to the backroom here and check the free modeller links out. There should be still some links to free tree creators.

Hi guys, I'm going to make a bunch of background trees, low-spreading things like Japanese maples in autumn gold leaf colors and such. Some Japanese deciduous trees in green, and other kinds of scenes. Just so we all have more trees to play with. These will be very low-polygon: won't stand up to foreground views and I probably will not worry too much about the bark details. I will make the leaves be real geometry - not alpha planes - so that they' catch light accurately. These will exist just to help fill up a scene (such as a Japanese garden), and their shapes will be accurate. Anyhow, I'll try to market them extremely cheaply - say 15-18 trees for $10.00 USD - in that range. Look for them on www.expandingwave.com starting on Saturday, February 11. Someone was pointing out to me that 'Forester' spent all her time making water, and "it was time for her to make some darn trees!" LOL!

Hi guys, I'm going to make a bunch of background trees, low-spreading things like Japanese maples in autumn gold leaf colors and such. Some Japanese deciduous trees in green, and other kinds of scenes. Just so we all have more trees to play with. These will be very low-polygon: won't stand up to foreground views and I probably will not worry too much about the bark details. I will make the leaves be real geometry - not alpha planes - so that they' catch light accurately. These will exist just to help fill up a scene (such as a Japanese garden), and their shapes will be accurate. Anyhow, I'll try to market them extremely cheaply - say 15-18 trees for $10.00 USD - in that range. Look for them on www.expandingwave.com starting on Saturday, February 11. Someone was pointing out to me that 'Forester' spent all her time making water, and "it was time for her to make some darn trees!" LOL!

Stuff like this....

Hi forester, will they be in vob or 3ds. I personly prefer 3ds so can be used in other applications beside Vue. :)

Hello iloco. The trees are in *.3ds file format so that they can be used with a variety of programs (including Poser, sigh!). I will make them available in *.max, *.lwo, *.cob formats as well. Actually, I am posting the first pack on www.expandingwave.com right now. Have been working on these off and on for several months. Here is a picture of the first 15 trees. These include some Japanese maple in red leaves, some in green leaves, three tall Betula platyphilla (a variety of Japanese birch), one gingko and four Sylvatica (a tupelo from the USA southeast imported successfully into Japan in the 1800's.} If any one wants these, they will be available for purchase and download in 10 minutes. If you live in the USA or Canada, just send me a check for $10.00 and an e-mail stating what you want. I'll give you the download link right away. Not trying to get rich here - just provide some decent quality trees at a decent price, so I'll trust you that the $10.00 will eventually arrive in my mail. Others will have to use Paypal on my web site (sorry about that).

And, back to you 'fuzzoom,' making trees can be done in a model-builder like Blender, but it is a verry slow process. I'm using recently released Truespace Version 7 here, and I needed the script-writing capability in it to make the leaves. Its taken me about a year of dinking around to learn to do this reasonably well - meaning that learning to control the polygon count is the most difficult thing to do. Also, to make a good tree, you really need to look at a lot of them - to begin to be able to cast a trunk and leaf mass well. (It helps me that I've stared at trees for about 35 years or more.) I would encourage you to keep working at it, but its a long process. Note that these trees are not suitable for close- views. For those kinds of needs, I would recommend Xfrog Lite to anyone. It still takes a while to learn to make a good tree, and that special "character tree" with lots of twists and such still eludes me. But, I keep trying, and so should you.

Thanks, forester. I will keep working at it. I think I will eventually get X-Frog.

Good luck to you!

Thanks forester for being outfront and offering so we not limited to the use of the trees. This is much appreciated by me and I am sure by lots of others. :) Will be looking forward when you have mastered the trees so can be used in foreground as well as background. :)