So, just how DO "those guys" get good detail out of foreground vegetation?  I thought I'd plpp a tree down and see what kind of detail I could look forward to and was hoping for something better than this:

Please forgive the lighting--my only concern was to see the detail I could look forward to in the Gnarley Tree. 

So, is there some setting I can use to help out here? It looks like the trunk is just pieced-together blobs with a repeating/redundant texture added.  The detail isn't so great but worse that the texture repeats.

If, for example, I wanted a closeup of a fairy leaning against a tree trunk, this tree would be somewhat useless.

Comments?

I've found that most Vue trees simply don't hold up to close ups, so you're not alone in what you are seeing. While there are some great high-poly/high-detail Vue .veg trees out there, I tend to gravitate towards static models, most of which are Poser props. These not only have more detail for close ups, but I find I have much more control over their placement in these high-vis placements in my scenes.

Edit object and click the "x2" icon on the top right to add smoothness.  The Gnarly TreeA object has a great moss material on the trunk that hides all that at render time.

Agree with JCD, try some static plant models (i.e. not veg/SolidGrowth) for close-ups.
A lot of FREE Xfrog models in Vue readable formats are available here:

http://xfrog.com/2011/01/130-free-xfrogplants-now-available/

For the texture/material in the render here, try changing the mapping mode to "Faces" if it is a bitmapped texture. Otherwise play with the functions.

Lars "bigbraader"

Thanks for the feedback/info.  Wasn't aware you could actually edit a plant instance/item after dropping it in.

I guess some other trees favor better when rendering, here's one with "HD" in front of the name:

Was gonna say what great celery that first picture was until I read your question :)  I too have had very good results with static poser props and those xfrog freebies are great too.  But having said that, I went in and edited a bunch of the veg trees and save them as vue objects with my settings, and they do look pretty good in forground with a little loving attention too.  That second bark is nice.

Teque

Thanks for the added info.

LOL... I hadn't noticed the resemblence to celery. :scared:

Agree with all the posts here. Something to struggle with constantly.

Speaking of which - in the plant editor, can someone explain to me what "Falloff" does, and how this differs from "length"? I know this is probably a stupid question, but whenever I adjust the falloff, it just seems to change the length.