Hi everyone,
i’m currently doing some scary trees for a short movie i’m working on.
The two trees share the same mesh, i used a few bones to deform
them a bit and make’em look a little different.
The test render shows what i’ve got so far…
C&C are very welcome !!!
I would like to uv-map the mesh and apply a nice texture, but … well, i’m not the master chief of uv-mapping… so, we’ll see 
nice, very creepy nightmareish trees!
but the two trees don’t look all that different.
it looks like the same tree in two poses.
maybe remove the hole from the tree in the back or change it’s shape to be more mouth-like?
can’t wait too see more!
hey thanx Phrangkk !
yeah, your’re right, they really look quite similar, but it’s only a test render and i didn’t want to have 2 identical trees - so i tried to fake the second one 
Finally, i want to have three to four >really< 
different trees for the scene i’m going for…
BTW, if i take the mesh of the first tree as a starting point for further trees, can the uv-map of the first one be “reused” ??
Here are some wires, C&C welcome
Very nice! They have an old Disney - Fantasia or Dumbo - feel to them. Are you going to animate the bones so they sway, reach and grab?
thanx DadCantDraw !!!
i really love that old disney stuff!!
At first i didn’t plan to animate the trees but when i added the bones to the mesh an tweaked them a bit to hide my lazyness:D, i thought that it really would be fun
BTW, how come your nickname ?
Well, I’m a work-at-home stay-at-home-dad and, unless there’s a computer involved, can’t draw anything better than a stick figure. <grin>
hehehe, did your kiddies make this statement ? Well, maybe they’re underestimating their Dad a bit. i followed your apple-topic, nice work
there…
the short movie these trees are for goes about things getting alive after a
lightning has hit them, so living trees would be nice. I think i will al least try to build a handy rig and see how it works. Good chance to fiddle about the new animation features of 2.41
hi there,
finished the mesh yesterday, made some changes since the last post.
I added another branch an tweaked the hole in the trunk a bit.
So, here’s my final mesh:
started uv-mapping and texturing. This is my firs attempt to map a more
complex model than a box:rolleyes: I find it’s a hell off pushing an pulling uv-verts… when i close my eyes i only see checker patterns
Any tips on that?
So here’s what i’ve got so far:
C&C welcome,
def
Hi everybody,
long time, no post, but i didn’t drop the project 
i had a hard time uv-mapping this tree and it really tested my passion. I learned a lot about unwrapping asymmetric objects
This is what i’ve got right. There are still some visible seams i want to remove but i think im close to finsh…
Pleas tell me what you think about it, C&C welcome
Thanx,
def
Wow very nice texturing on that tree! I’m working on a tree thing too, and im curious to know how you did all that? =D
Maybe I should look it up before I ask? But I still want to know!
I like it, there is little sign of stretching, though there is a little on some of the branches =D
Wow! You’ve done an amazing job.
My only crit is that the bark goes into the hollow left by the missing branch. It should probably be black or a dark brownish-gray inside.
Kinda like this…
http://pictures.nicolas.delerue.org/england/20050327_Blenheim/Blenheim_palace_2410.jpg
I tried mapping a tree after your first post, just for fun, and gave up at the first branch. Way to stick with it.
Hehe these one look like piro’s trees Nice moddeling! Texturing VERY nice too!
wow, thanx a lot for your replies, guys !
Jothmom: Can you post a link to an image of piros trees ? Would be very interesting !!!
DadCantDraw: Would be curious about the tree of yours !!! i agree with you, the hole must be darker. Will add this to the texture. [EDIT:] This is a cool reference picture you have there !!! [EDIT END]
Keen: i could post a wire and the uv-map later this day if you’re interested (i’m at work now and can’t access my files at home…
).
Basically, i started with the trunk which is nearly cylindrical. Then i looked for further cylindrical pieces in the branches an uv-mapped them piece by piece. For the thinnest parts of the branches, i switched to cube- or even planar- mapping. To avoid to much stretching i worked with a checker pattern a lot and tested the uv-map with the origial texture again and again and again and again… Needed a lot of scaling and tweaking, still it’s not free of distortion, but now i can see the ligt at the end of the tunnel LOL
def
Piro is a blenderartists.org member. You can see his trees in this thread:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=68634
hi DadCantDraw,
aaah, i’ve seen this picture before, i followed this thread some weeks ago.
(and of course, i know piro ) This a really awesome work !!! Of course, i was looking at the trees very closely. I think, the textures on the trees are procedural ones. I wanted to have a real bark texture. The branches on piros trees look very sharp, i was rather going for a kind of tentacle-look. But i found piros work very inspiring, though !
Keen: sorry , didn’t manage to put the uv-map online, yet. will do this a soon as possible !
eh eh,
thanks
I love your trees too. the texturing looks really good.
Keep up the good work
thats a really neat model - and the texture looks pretty good right now - good on ya
oh, thanx Prio & Dwarnfose !!
piro, am i right, did you use a procedural material for your trees ? i’m really curious about that and i can’t really make it out in the colored render you posted of our house in the middle of nothing
I used a mix between a procedural texture and an image of the bark of a tree. Don’t remember wich kind of tree. Just mixed the colour and the normal values. It also really important (in my opinion) the specularity and the reflectivity of your texture. So work with it in gimp and convert it to black and white. After that use the B&W for normal, ref and spec.
I’m sure you already know this, but I just told you wich tecnique I’ve been using in the little house
cheers
thanx for the hints, piro !!!
For the tree texture i used a b&w bump map but i don’t have a ref and spec map, yet…
Looking foreward to add those channels to my texture and play around with the settings when i’m at home again 
