Jump to content

Modeling Forest Area ?


Recommended Posts

I am rendering a large area commercial building site that is essentialy a birds eye view.

There are many forested areas on the site that contain hundres of trees and scrub etc.,

Does anyone have any insight on how to create large areas of trees that look convincing. I was thinking of maping a photo onto a large polygon.

I have used 2d imagecels trees in the past for perspective drawings, but again my vantage point now is very elevated, and this may look out of perspective.

Any ideas?

Sincerly

Chris Muraglia

Link to comment

It'll probably look best if you have a mesh for each tree, but it'll render more effieciently if it's just one overall mesh. Pretty much the same answer for whether to use object attribute color or image -- the latter might look better but will take longer to render and make a bigger file size. I'd probably use several layers of mesh with plain object attribute color, and each layer a different shade of green. You'll have to experiment to see what gives the look you want.

Link to comment

You might want to check out www.gardenhose.com Dennis there uses painter image sprayers to make trees, bushes, etc. He has examples and tutorials on how to do exactly what you discribe. But basically you make a texture map of the forest canopy with an associated invisible mask above the ground plane (+/- 20'), that has another texture map of the forest soil on the ground. He also uses a technique of mapping leaves onto cones with a invisible mask for pine trees. Then he puts them on a terrian model. Very realistic. You could try mapping leaves onto hemispheres. He uses the image hose to make trees instead of photos of trees but the technique is still the same.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...