GeoTree: Procedural Trees in Geometry Nodes

It SHOULD be able to. It won’t work by default, but if you jump into the Tree Generator node, go to the Limb Axis node, and screw around with the settings I use to control the upward bias of the limbs, you can get some nice dropping pine limbs that way.

What it really needs is a point towards the center where it goes from a downward bias to an upward one the closer you get to the top of the tree. You can do that now, though it’ll take a bit more futzing with the nodes to get it just right.

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Thanks.
Limb Axis Node? Can’t find it. Is it in GeoTree_v0.58.blend?

Yeah, it is. When you’re looking at the geo nodes, select the Tree Generator, and hit the TAB key. That’ll take you into the node itself, where you can play with all the various settings.

I tried to make it as coherent as possible, but it’s still fairly confusing in there. To help orient yourself, look for the big green nodes. Those are your Axis points, basically the hub for the various parts that branch off from the trunk, to the limbs, ect. You have the Root Axis Node at the very top, and the Branch Axis node at the bottom. The line running through the center is responsible for the various bits of the trunk.

The branch generator is much the same, spawing the branches off the limbs, the twigs off of the branches, and the leaves off of that.

Think of it as a fractal generator, and you’re about a 3rd of the way there. Each part is an iteration on the part before, with the trunk being the starting point.

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Thanks a ton. :+1:

EDIT: Is there a way to turn roots off if you don’t need them. I tried setting roots to 0 but that didn’t work.

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That’s something else I need to fix. Add a bool to it like I did with the twigs.

For now, just set Root Random Cull to 1 to get rid of them entirely.

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Works perfectly. Thanks. :+1:

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We will rename you ‘Lumber Jack’… with a truck, :laughing:

On a plus side, when I come to having to think about environments and trees for my little project, I know where to come looking :+1:

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@Renzatic
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How do I make the branches more randomized? The branches positions on the trunk seem to take on a spiral stair look.

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Hop back into the Tree Generator, and go back to the Limb Axis. See the field for Radians in there? What I’d do is set to 0.0 then cycle through it with the right arrow, upping it 0.1 steps.

I find that 0.2 looks the most natural to me.

You can also raise the Limb Random Cull a bit, and cycle through the Limb Seed to get some more variation.

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Thanks a lot mate :+1:

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@Renzatic Sorry, another question. How do I make this a polymesh and it retains its uvs? I am trying to export it to unreal engine.

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I’m not at the computer right now, so I can’t give you the exact details until tomorrow, but I believe all you need to do is select your tree, and convert the curves to a mesh.

And don’t worry about asking me a ton of questions. That’s what this thread is here for. :smiley:

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No worries. Figured it out after converting to mesh. The mesh had no uvs after converting.

Then I remembered this:

You can convert the attribute to uvs.

Thanks again :slightly_smiling_face: :+1:

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To me it looks like the bark is based on generated coordinates. You may have to unwrap it yourself and bake the textures.

That would be a pain to do especially with all the little branches. Thanks for the heads up.

Isn’t there a way to generate uvs from the generated coordinates?

It is. I’m using the fantasy tree generator bark texture (which I need to credit that guy for), and I have it set to either object or generated mapping coordinates.

That said, you should be able to get UV coordinates out of it somehow. Problem is, I have yet to try, so I can’t tell anyone exactly how.

I’ll check it out tomorrow, see what I can do.

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Hi, Any luck? :slightly_smiling_face: There is another addon called Modular tree that has uvs. I am not sure if it uses geo nodes:

If you don’t have time to look into it. I understand :slightly_smiling_face:

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I know all about Modular Tree. It’s an awesome addon.

I believe it uses geo nodes for leaf distribution, but the actual structuring of the tree is based entirely upon his own special code.

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Unfortunately, I don’t think modular tree leaf distribution is as good as yours tbh especially if you are scattering alpha masked branches on tree branches instead of individual leaves.

The canopy doesn’t look organic and natural and in most cases, you are better off placing the alpha masked branches by hand. Your leaf distribution when used with alpha masked branches which is the technique used for game engines is better unless I am doing it wrong.

I am hoping to use yours for some trees and see how they look in ue5. :slightly_smiling_face:

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That’s something I’ve actually been wanting to experiment with, but keep getting sidetracked by other stuff. Given that my trees are just reiterating the same basic branch object over and over again, it should be able to distribute an alpha masked branch and leaf setup just as well, and probably save you at least a good 30,000+ tris in the process.

I also need to find a way to spawn a smaller branch off the tips of the limbs and branches. That would, by itself, add a ton of realism to the trees.

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