Rochr in the Bryce forum gave a heads-up about this nifty little app.(Ivy Generator), and I thought I'd pass it on here just in case some of you don't make it a habit to visit other forums here. Ivy Generator is GNU freeware and it will generate vines and leaves that actually wrap around an imported .obj file. The resultant mesh can then be exported as an .obj file. I've had a lot of fun playing with it and I hope some of you will find it interesting and useful too. I've linked to the discussion thread which contains the link to the app, and a lot of discussions and how-to's for the app. http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2689463&page=1

Looks like it's a tasty little application. Thanks for the heads up. PC only which will either make you go :) , :| , or :( depending on what you have. Mark

I may be having one of my thick days, but I can not seem to get anything to work?
I am experimenting with a cylinder. Can anyone run me through the working proceedure please.

Ok. A revisit to the site and looking at a thread in the Bryce forum gave a new download and a lot of help

ERIC!    Is there a way to incorporate this directly as a plugin into Carrara?.

Oooo... That's cool! ^^
And there is a Mac version too.

bB

Hey, the MAC version is new since I first visited. Most excellent. I'll have to give a spin now. :D

At last you can get roots for the Carrara trees! And change the leaves/flowers etc ---oh joy!

This software is so cool. Not many things on the computer make me involentarily go, "Wow". This one did. I've thought about tryng to switch out objects and leaves - just haven't had the time yet.

Brian, post a tree with roots : ) I think it will work great. What about ivy growing around something, then don't use the object in the render, just the ivy... stick man!

Very nice... Have you ever pulled up a weed from the ground? I'm sure you have... looks like a small tree root, or a weed root ball. Impressive. Could you add anything grows or terrain objects on the "bush"? I'll try at home after work.

it's good! works in tiger anyway. ivy was offset/scaled down from base obj, but that was likely an error on my part.

A new .zip file of shaders is available from the site.

However, I don't have a clue on how they could be used /applied? And what do .mxm files have to do with it????

mxm files are associated with maxwell render, which is an app/plug-in with slightly more advanced rendering functions than carrara IMVHO (based on me spending 5 minutes reading the maxwell manual).

Here are some renders I did today - replaced the leaf with a flower.

Rendered in Carrara using 2 spot lights (no HDRI). Only took about 1 min to render.

So you named the flower the same as the leaf... nice!

Guys, sorry for hauling this thread back up, but I seem to be as dense as my created ivy...for the life of me I can't get the shaders to work in Carrara 6 so it actually LOOKS like ivy and not like green squares....shakes head I think I miss a step or two along the way.
Maybe someone can post their shader setup for me so I can see where I took a wrong turn?

Have you followed the various tutes and the avi?

If you have saved all the information ,internally, with the file you produced? It should open correctly.

Don't be sorry...and thanks BrokenAngel9 for bringing this thread to the forefront.  Wouldn't have known this piece of free software was available.  

Cheers

ok this looks pretty cool but im having similar problem to brokenangel, once imported into C^ im geting squares rather than leaves even though i loaded the texture and trans map. Am i missing something.
Also i dont seem to get textures while in the application itself?
Any ideas...

spot on thanks

I haven't had problems with the textures in Poser...and yup, did read my way through the tutes and stuff.
I'll try a clean import later on and see what happens.

Broken, bwtr has nailed it try his suggestion which worked for me

Kun, you can mask the HDRI background if you add a background color: Under Scene, go to Backdrop and choose "color", that masks the HDRI image.

Off to try my hand on that dreaded ivy again! L

Weee, I got it!! Thanks guys!
Bwtr's trick helped, and I had to re-download the textures again. L
Works like a charm now!

Post images : )

Agree!

But,  (other posts)I know what HDRI images can be used for, but I have not, yet, found the real need to use them.

Why complicate life un-necessarily?

As soon as I'm really happy with a render I'll post one. 
noddle

bwtr: I atually find HDRI lighting easier to use at the moment than spots as it gives me a more realistic render and appeals to my libran tendancy to laziness!

I am a Libran also. Thus THE defualt light and no global lighting--except under extreme duress!
(My regular ex-photographers 3 point lighting is second choice.)

Version 2 of this magnificent app is due in the New Year. Keep an eye on the site.

cool

Thanks for the heads-up.

I'm Libran too - kinda weird.

Librans are nice people--they get up tight but forget/forgive quickly.

I married one (as well) so I know!!!!!