Thom Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 (edited) Does anyone know where I can find in the libraries or to buy - grass 3D symbols. Either I am not looking in the right places or they are well hidden. I do not see any for purchase either. thks Edited October 1, 2009 by Thom Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 I may be wrong, but I don't think you are going to find grass symbols, it would be way to much for any rendering program to handle. There are some nice grass textures posted in the Texture sharing forum. Quote Link to comment
Brian Lehmer Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 A 3D grass model can be rendered in a 32 bit application, but I'm too new to VW to know how well it would work in this app. I model my grass when I can get a better visual effect from the effort. The preferred method that is used for this (when you see it) is to use hair and fur modifiers. However that doesn't afford me the level of control I like for "instant" analysis of lighting and shadows, and obviously VW isn't built for that. So... The method I've used is to model it from tubes created from hair settings. The resulting 3D model can be saved and exported and then imported into VW I'm sure. I'm curious how difficult such a model would be to set up in Vectorworks as a useful 3D symbol. With the right amount of overlapping spacing a properly sized and shaped symbol might work. I space my 3D blades of grass relatively far apart and texture the underlying surface so as to fill in the gaps. Using a simplified 3D model such as planar objects for this would probably be the way to go. I haven't worked at all in 3D in VW yet -- I'm not sure how it handles 3D from a memory standpoint. If complex models are doable without a lot of trouble then this should be possible. I may try this when I get a chance, especially if there is any serious interest. Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I stand corrected, that looks very good. I'm not sure Vectorworks could handle that. Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Modelling grass is unlikely to work well in any program because of the high 'poly count'. More polygons means more calculations and therefore more time and more memory will be required. Quote Link to comment
Brian Lehmer Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Thanks Ray. I am curious now how VW will handle high poly count 3D and this might be a nice chance to benchmark it against what I have been using. I bought VW for 2D work with the hope that I would get some significant 3D mileage out of it as well. Quote Link to comment
Brian Lehmer Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 (edited) Mike, Agreed. I do model grass very frequently and find it to be polygon intensive. The scene I posted above took about 45 minutes to render the full image at 1620 x 1188 pixels, but it took about 180 hours to model and texture. The grass took about 30 minutes to set up. So, for the extra effect it was worth it. That scene had about 14,000,000 polygons in it with the grass contributing just under 1,000,000 of those. Here's a quick stab at it in VW: (Created in VW2010, Here is a VW2009 version also - no idea if this work in 2009.) Edited October 2, 2009 by Brian Lehmer Quote Link to comment
Rossford Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 I can't recall the site without digging through my libraries, but I downloaded some photorealistic grasses from a site devoted to gamer design of golf courses, like the Arnold Palmer Golf Designer, or Tiger Woods golf designer. They import fine into VW. I have some issues with slow rendering, as you mention but not more than normal with VW. Quote Link to comment
Thom Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 Sorry guys - should have been more specific. Was not thinking of turf, but of grass plants used individually in the landscape as an ornamental. thks Quote Link to comment
Kool Aid Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Ahh, of course! I was a bit curious?? I love ornamental grasses! Had the great pleasure to work several times in Australia with a native plant specialist who really knew his grasses both ecologically and artistically. Quote Link to comment
Brian Lehmer Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Thom, 3D ornamental grasses are hard to find, especially if you are looking for something specific. Do you have any specific grasses you are looking for? Basic ornamental grasses aren't too difficult to model, you can find some examples here. You would need to buy and download the 3ds file format. In my opinion though that kind of ornamental grass isn't worth paying for unless you are in a bind with no time to create your own. A broad selection of the types of ornamental grasses that I see landscape architects and designers spec is probably going to be very hard to find in a format that works in VW (or other programs for that matter). I would find endless uses for a decent set of ornamental grasses if I could find the right package. If I had the time I'd try to model a set. Quote Link to comment
mike m oz Posted October 3, 2009 Share Posted October 3, 2009 Brian there are a couple of plug-ins available for Vw that will create 3D plants: - Vector Tree by Hirokazu Takahasi (US$60.00): http://vectordepot.com/market/vm-028_vector_tree/ - Fern tool by Paolo Marcuccetti (free): http://vectordepot.com/older_plug-ins.html Quote Link to comment
Ozzie Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Try here http://www.ozbreed.com.au/3d-graphics.html Quote Link to comment
Brian Lehmer Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Mike and Ozzie, Thanks for posting those great resources. I'll take a closer look at both of those options when I get a chance. I get by right now without true 3D ornamentals by adding them post render. These could make getting the job done that much easier. Quote Link to comment
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