So i was inclined by the idea of creating a tree similair to the tree in one of andrew prices first tutorials “How To Create Stunning Trees” and of course the problem was that the curve to tree script is not availiable in the latest versions of blender
but i found some ways around the problems and manged to get a pretty similair result to andrews but in blender 2.64
so here it is
I think the tree looks great. I like that the branches connect into one mesh as apposed to the sapling add-on where you have to do it manually after you convert from curve to mesh. But I think the leave are too large for the size of the tree.
His leaves are transparent PNG textures. I see that the only issues your having is one I have delt with for a long time. Blender has an issues with the transparent PNG image when is falls behind a solid and it leaves what looks like transparent outlines along the branches. You need to enable full AO sample to help reduce this issue:)
On a side not I would love if the trees for curves would come back…sappling is great but it doenst connect the branches in a smooth way like the old script did:)
Hope you dont mind based on your original post requesting critiques and our renderings for you to see. I’ll post this one I did a while back. It’s all hand modeling and particle systems for the leaves. I would suggest however not to use the png leaf textures because the z-pass doesnt recognize them correctly (it still sees the transparent area the same as the nontransparent so you get issues with DOF or fog. I used all solid modeled small branches and leaves and then used particle systems incorrperated with weight painting to group the branches where I wanted them:) Hope this helps:P I call these trees my fatties hehe based on an african tree I believe:)
P.S. dont mind the grass its an old attempt using hair particles:) Typically I use a particle system for grasses too using modeled individual grass blade in a group:)
