So, I'm a bit delayed in getting the next free pot done, but I made up a plant today... this is Cin- Pot 7, texture again by nikitacreed.

So here's the problem... I'm not so sure if I like the plant... and it adds quite a bit to the file size... that was one complaint I got with Cin- Pot 6 (the one with the flower), it is quite large... but I don't know how to make stuff any differently... like I keep saying... I am not a very good modeler... so I'm probably making things terribly inefficiently... would this be worth the size, or should I try again? The plant itself is like 12 megs... :(

So lemme know...

K-

I love this plant. Don't take it away! =(

Maybe make the plant and pot available separately? Lyrra

I like the plant, but would probably struggle to download it on my connection. super pot.Like Lyrra says, maybe 2 files.

The plant really adds a lot. I've got dsl, but for most people, I think that 2 files would make life simpler and their computers happier.

I love this and wouldn't have any difficulties downloading it but 2 files seems to be nicer for people that don't have cable or dsl... Great job on this, both of you! Caro

The plant is great but as has been said, maybe make pot and plant available seperately. Oh yeh, top marks for that pot :)Mon

Well once it's compressed the .zip file itself shouldn't be too bad... my concern was more for once you've got it into poser... I doubt that I'll split it up into two files just because I haven't done that so far... I like to be consistent. :)

WOW!!!!!! Last time I make any plants for you. You are wayyyyyyyyyy better at it than me :)

12 megs???? Judging by the picture it looks a little high. Have you run it through polygon reduction, I use it on my models and it really reduces the count.

You mean it's a 12MB .obj file? .dxf and can get that big, but once you convert 'em, they shrink to almost nothing. You might have something lurking in the file that isn't the plant itself as well... dunno. /P

I'd love to run it through polygon reduction... if only I knew how! :) Care to elighten me?

Attached Link: http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/

I've been poly-obsessed for eons :) Unfortunately, I don't use 3DS Max or Bryce to do it: In AC3D, I just select the object, then in the menu Object|Optimize Polygons, then hit up Object|Optimize Surfaces to smooth it all out again. Tell you what - the link above takes you to guys who are just as obsessed with reducing polygons to an absolute minimum (Quake 3'engine can't really handle moving figures with more than 1100 polys in it, so they're obviously real keen on reducing what they don't need...) Search their articles and tuts and I'll bet the farm that there's something in there for 3DS Max polycount reduction. /P

Render the plant from 16 viewing angles, and then build an X board prop with 8 sections of a flat plane mapped on both sides, all in a cross type shape. Map the plant to it. You can also try the same trick with an X board prop with 8 sides, or with 4. It might turn out nice, then again it might not. X board plants are very pretty sometimes, and quite realistic, and practically polygon free, so little to no file size.

Oh, and use an orthagonal view for X board rendering, meaning the front, back, left, right, etc... not a camera view.

Ooh! I hadn't actually thought of that!!! grins at Mehndi You're so smart. I might just do that, it'll make the whole thing lot smaller. AND you'd be able to make up new transmaps... hrmm... now I just have to remember to do this when I get home from work... that's not for another 9 hours! :)

grins it is what us who once had to create plant assets for the game industry in the early days used to do ;) Not sure what they do now ... maybe modern computers and game machines can handle a plant, but back then, X boards were it for plants and trees :)

Oh, one more thing in making X boards, keep your lighting fairly even and neutral on all sides. Later, the transparency maps over the x board will allow light to shine through and leave more shadows hopefully that are appropriate to the light of the actual scene of final usage.

Hrrrmmm. I love the plant....but I am still not entirely happy with my pot texture. :o

hehe - they still use X-boards even now, I've built 'em in UT for things like fire, lightning, chains, and even faux volumetrics in some instances. The only downside is when the POV is looking downward on a prop at any sharp angle but center - it'll take a trick to pull it off (just my $.02 though.) /P

Very true, X boards are sort of a last desperate measure. They are not realistic from all angles. BTW make the maps for it nice fat high res maps, and it will help alot in the realism compromise. Cin- what modelling program are you using?

I'm using Rhino... I think I have a solution that may work, but I'll have to start over from scratch (don't worry this plant took me all of 30 minutes to build, so it's not like I'm wasting hundreds of hours or anything)... I'm going to try the X Board thing first though just to see if I can get it to look okay, if that works, I may just do that, if it ends up looking too weird from too many angles, then I'll rebuild the plant.

Rhino does have a reduce poly count option. Go to Tools >Polygon Mesh >Reduce

You're so helpful! :) Who needs a manual when you've got Xena! So I'll try that first and see what happens.

Cin, i'm 100% shure you really can reduce the file-size much with rhino. Instead of using reducing the file-size be the reducing-command you better use the options into the convert-command. If you can tell me how many squares the plant covers in the X- and Y-Axis may i can tell you what settings for the mesh-conversion you should try. You can save with the right setting much more without loosing to much detail. The reducing-command ends in a short way to really bad looking meshs. But anyway, what i found out is not to reduce a large number at once. If you wants to use the reduce-command do it in small numbers. Lets say as example you have 10000 Poly-Counts then you should reduce it by 9000, again 8000 and so on. SHARKEY

Hmm... it may be complicated to say how many grid squares it covers in Rhino... here's what I did. I modeled one leaf shape, it was straight up and down too by the way, I imported it into Poser... that ONE leaf wasn't very big, and imported really quickly... then I used a magnet to bend it into the shape I wanted... I'm sure there are easier ways to do it with Rhino, but I'm still learning stuff, so I tend to use what I know, and I know how to bend it with a magnet inside poser itself... once it was the shape I wanted, I exported it from Poser as an .obj file then reimported that single leaf, scaling, rotating and translating it around into the full plant you see above... so it's really the same leaf over and over again... then I exported ALL of the leaves together, as a single plant .obj, then brought the plant in as a whole with the pot... if I convert that .obj file into .3dm format and import it into Rhino it'll probably be very smalle since it's scaled to Poser proportions, which are pretty small... smile I never realized my innocent question about the plant would turn into a modeling lesson for me, but I'm glad that it did... you people make me smile, 'cause you want to help me learn... warm fuzzy moment for me

Never mind, I thought it was a different kind of pot.8^)