I was considering making my own trees, and was just wondering the best way of going about it?
there are some scripts for it, hand modeling would be painfull.
a script: http://jmsoler.free.fr/util/blenderfile/images/lsystem/lsystem.htm:D
Check the python forum for a script called treegen (I think). I use a java app called arbaro - you can find it here:
http://arbaro.sourceforge.net/
Best of Luck!!
OR…
you can go ahead and put two planes - same size - in the same place, one rotated 90 degrees to look like the letter ’ t ’ of ’ x ’ and then assign an identical alpha texture to both- it lowers poly count by a ton and reduces time to make and time to render
doesn’t look quite as excellent as an acutall model, but the end result still looks good
I’d model the trunk and some main branches then place planes with leaves textures in a configuration to give a nice full effect, I think this is how they do it in a lot of Xbox 360 games.
Try gen3, you’ll have to do a forum search for it.
gen3 is great. it’s in the python and plugins forum.
Well someone I found here on the forms did this tutorial but his html was a mess but here is what I saved from it.
First part (Not by me)on getting the photo can be done in gimp I think as least I am working on that
http://www.phong.com/tutorials/mask.tree/
Second part (Not by me found here)
Sorry I don’t have authors name
Creating trees using intersecting photos with transparent backgrounds
Hi everyone,
Well i’m a bit new to blender, only been using it for about two months, but I had to write up this tutorial for work so I thought I’d post it here as well. It describes a method to create trees similar to those in the UCLA virutal model, very small size (about 90 kb per tree) and perfect for those needing to keep file size down. Anyway here it is…hope it is helpful to someone.
Creating Trees Using an Intersecting Photo Method
Throughout the following tutorial I will describe a method that can be utilized in making a photorealistic tree that is a very small file size (approx. 90 kb/tree). This method links the utilization of photo processing software, I use Adobe Photoshop and blender in order to create said trees. The trees created consist of two intersecting images of a tree which have an alpha channel included to allow for non-tree pixels to be transparent. Thus, once created in blender one can see the scene through gaps in the foliage
Step one- Creating the Photo
The first step is to create an image that has an alpha channel that can allow for the background of a photo to be made transparent, therefore showing only tree pixels. To do this, photo processing software can be used. I will avoid describing this process as I myself learned from a great online tutorial which can be accessed at www.phong.com/tutorials/mask.tree
(Tip 1 When choosing a photo pick one that has a tree against a primarily light colored “sky”
(Tip 2 When exporting the photo with alpha channel use .png format)
Now that we have a .png file with an alpha channel masking out the photo background we can create our tree in blender
Step 2-Making the Tree
1-Open a new file in blender and delete the default cube
2-Switch to side view by pressing the 3 on the numpad
3-Add a mesh plane and scale it to the desired proportions
4-Load the .png image we created to the plane
4a-Right click on the plane and switch to edit mode (Tab)
4b-Navigate to the materials panel, add a new material then click shadeless under the materials tab
4c-Click add new under the textures tab to add a texture and name it tree
4d-Click the map input tab and click the UV button
4e-Push F6 to navigate to the textures panel
4f-Choose image under the texture type menu and then load the .png image we created
4g-Go to the editing panel F9, Click the TexFac (make) button under the mesh tab
4h-Click assign under the links and materials tab to assign the image
5-Make the background in the photo transparent using blenders alpha functions
5a-Under the materials panel and map to tab, click on alpha once
5b-Under the textures panel and image tab click on use alpha (your background in the preview should disappear)
5c-Under the materials panel and materials tab turn the alpha slider A to 0
5d-If you add a base plane as a backdrop and render now you’ll notice that the image plane retains the world background color rather than being transparent like we want. To rectify this turn on ZTrasnp under the materials panel and mirror transp tab
6-We now have one plane with a tree. To get the 3d effect, switch to top view (7 numpad) , duplicate the plane (shift D) and rotate the duplicate 90 degrees (R 90).
7- Now render and see what you have!
I hope this tutorial has been helpful