Making really low poly grass, bushes, and trees?

handel_035c4ce6

One of the most common way to make really low poly vegetation is to make a plane, slap on it an image of grass blade (to make grass for example) with trasparent background, duplicate and rorate it as it seems suitable then join both planes in a single object. Duplicate it, rotate the copy join both objects. Repeat this 2 more times and voila - a bunch of  grass made just with few clicks and for about a minute and with 20-30 polygons (the actual number depends on how you rotated the planes). A huge grass field will have only several thousands polygons - much less then a single bunch of grass made by the traditional methods. This way you can make flowers, bushes and trees too.

But all this is possible only if Daz supports planes with PNG images with transparent backgounds and I was told it can be made only buy using a black and white trasparency map made in some 3rd party program. Is this the only way to do this? Also I understood it is not possible effectively to join 2 objects in Daz which kills the idea to make such grass in another program and import it into Daz (I mean if they could be joined inside Daz it would be possible to make on B&W transparency map and use it for the whole bunch).

So is there another way to do this in Daz? If not how you make low poly vegetation in Daz?

Chezjuan

You coild make a couple of different blades and then use instances to propagate them. From what I know, you'd need to make a trans map in a photo editor. You could use UltraScatter (https://www.daz3d.com/ultrascatter-advanced-instancing-for-daz-studio) to randomly distribute the blades/flowers/bushes. 

Someone actually did something similar for grass and is providing it as a freebie: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/235566/instanced-grass-kit-a-new-landscape-resource/p1

 

handel_035c4ce6

Link bookmarked in Daz folder. But the instanced grass seems very unnatural - looks more like a carpet then a grass:-)

Here it is what I mean - 4 bushes added (background just for beauty). Time needed ~10 minutes and most of the time spend to search where the heck I stored those texures! Rendered - literally seconds. Not the best photorealistic bushes but all together less then 100 polygons. It doesn't matter if you make grass, bushes or trees.

rames44

handel_035c4ce6 said:

But all this is possible only if Daz supports planes with PNG images with transparent backgounds and I was told it can be made only buy using a black and white trasparency map made in some 3rd party program. Is this the only way to do this? Also I understood it is not possible effectively to join 2 objects in Daz which kills the idea to make such grass in another program and import it into Daz (I mean if they could be joined inside Daz it would be possible to make on B&W transparency map and use it for the whole bunch).

So is there another way to do this in Daz? If not how you make low poly vegetation in Daz?

If you have a PNG of grass with a transparent background, it isn’t hard to convert that into an opacity map. Yes, you have to use an external program, but it’s not that big a deal. I’m more familiar with Photoshop, which is obviously not free, but GIMP is and will do pretty much everything PS will, plus I’m sure there are other editors that support the required operations.

Steps:

1. use the “select” feature of your graphics program to select all the transparent pixels in the png. (“Select by color” or equivalent.)
2. invert the selection. Now you have all your “grass” pixels selected.
3. delete the selected pixels, without clearing the selection. Now you have an empty image, but with the position of all the grass pixels still selected. 
4. Fill the selection with white (“paint bucket” or equivalent)
5. invert the selection
6. fill the (new) selection with black
7. save

so now what you have is an image that is white wherever your original image had grass, and black where it was transparent. Add this to your plane as an opacity map.  Voila - a plane that’s opaque where the grass is, and transparent where it isn’t. Now go ahead and do your dup-rotate-and-group operation to create something that’s viewable from multiple angles, then instance the heck out of it to fill your lawn.

so, yes - an external program required, but it’s not a complicated operation, and it doesn’t have to cost you anything.

handel_035c4ce6

rames44 said:

handel_035c4ce6 said:

But all this is possible only if Daz supports planes with PNG images with transparent backgounds and I was told it can be made only buy using a black and white trasparency map made in some 3rd party program. Is this the only way to do this? Also I understood it is not possible effectively to join 2 objects in Daz which kills the idea to make such grass in another program and import it into Daz (I mean if they could be joined inside Daz it would be possible to make on B&W transparency map and use it for the whole bunch).

So is there another way to do this in Daz? If not how you make low poly vegetation in Daz?

If you have a PNG of grass with a transparent background, it isn’t hard to convert that into an opacity map. Yes, you have to use an external program...

I know this, and this procedure often leaves annoying edges, but quite accidently I found this can be achieved faster and much better through the Photoshop Layer Adjustment "Threshold" - by putting the slider at min (1). It works great making trasparency maps providing the background is black (which is easy to do in Daz). But the problem is not only this - I browsed the forum and read you cannot join primitives in a single object - which means hundreds of objects listed under the Scene tab.

Petercat

handel_035c4ce6 said:

rames44 said:

handel_035c4ce6 said:

But all this is possible only if Daz supports planes with PNG images with transparent backgounds and I was told it can be made only buy using a black and white trasparency map made in some 3rd party program. Is this the only way to do this? Also I understood it is not possible effectively to join 2 objects in Daz which kills the idea to make such grass in another program and import it into Daz (I mean if they could be joined inside Daz it would be possible to make on B&W transparency map and use it for the whole bunch).

So is there another way to do this in Daz? If not how you make low poly vegetation in Daz?

If you have a PNG of grass with a transparent background, it isn’t hard to convert that into an opacity map. Yes, you have to use an external program...

I know this, and this procedure often leaves annoying edges, but quite accidently I found this can be achieved faster and much better through the Photoshop Layer Adjustment "Threshold" - by putting the slider at min (1). It works great making trasparency maps providing the background is black (which is easy to do in Daz). But the problem is not only this - I browsed the forum and read you cannot join primitives in a single object - which means hundreds of objects listed under the Scene tab.

You can put multiple primitives into a single group, then duplicate the group as many times as needed. Keeps down the Scene tab clutter.

WendyLuvsCatz

Casual has splats that always face the camera

handel_035c4ce6

Petercat said:

You can put multiple primitives into a single group, then duplicate the group as many times as needed. Keeps down the Scene tab clutter.

True. But only at first glance. Actually cluttering is still there - imagine what will happen if you need to find something inside those groups. And at last but not at least a single object with 100 polygons loads the DS much less then 100 objects with 1 polygon each. Not to mention I don't know about the previous versions but DS 4.10 is extremely unoptimized.

 

Syrus_Dante

Just found something on Sketchfab Simple Grass Chunks. Holy cow those billboards have 4k textures of all kinds.

A good reference or gameobject to a computer game, renders, ect…

4k difuse map, normal map, concavity map, ambient occlusion map…

4 low poly models of grass chunks + terrain tile texture

3D alternative this wasn't that hard to find

Blender Grass Free Youtube

Blender Grass Free Homepage

[AddOn] Grass generator at blenderartists.org based on HairLab (Particle script)

 

Actually cluttering is still there

Combining what is visible in the viewport isn't that complicated export OBJ import OBJ done. Maybe I can modify the Silent OBJ export script example for to do that with one button click. Repetitive tasks can be easily automated with a few simple scripts.

But for repeating objects its more efficent to use instances and distribute them on a surface with some instances placement randomizer script like ultrascatter.

 

Silent OBJ export References: (google search: "site:daz3d.com Silent OBJ export")

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/file_io/export_obj_silent/start

Export Selected Object Only

How to export only selected clothing as an object in DS

Silent Export without showing options AND without showing File Dialog

handel_035c4ce6

Syrus_Dante said:

 

3D alternative this wasn't that hard to find

Blender Grass Free Youtube

Blender Grass Free Homepage

[AddOn] Grass generator at blenderartists.org based on HairLab (Particle script)

The first addon was looking very promising but unfortunately the makers stopped the development. As it is now you need a lot of work to populate a field and to make it look like a natural field, not  just likе a green carpet. Still saved it for potential use.

As for the second addon - it is said it is based on particle script, but particles cannot be exported - you have to transform them into mesh, which means a hundrred of thousands (if not millions) of vertices. Actually that's why  the people make hair in Blender in in the "classic" mesh way w/o particles at all, but the chance you will make a mesh hair in Blender, will export it to Daz and will apply to a certain model and it will look as you want it to look, are not big. That's why no matter my funds are very limited I bought my first hair from Daz store instead making it in Blender either with particles or w/o them.

 

Syrus_Dante

For the Blender Grass I think you can still use it in a version prior to 2.8. As you see in the demonstartion they use 2.77 and its just not updated to the newer versions.

For the Grass Generator Particles I thought you could create a mesh out of a few leaves of grass as log as those are made out of polygon faces. The particles like hair that only use edges is what don't show up in DazStudio.

I thought for those purposes just create a few prototype meshes in low poly and populate the grass field with a random seed generator like Ultrascatter and instances. Maybe do a few passes with different prototype meshe instances to get more variation. If you give this script a reasonable range of values to randomize the seed it dosn't have to look like a carpet. You could also create more variation to the same mesh prototypes with a few shape morphs and another commercial script like SimTenero Randomizer.

If its too low poly for close ups you may be able to Convert to SubD to subdivide the instances mesh as needed.

handel_035c4ce6

Syrus_Dante said:

For the Grass Generator Particles I thought you could create a mesh out of a few leaves of grass as log as those are made out of polygon faces. The particles like hair that only use edges is what don't show up in DazStudio.

You can simply use the mesh blades and mesh flowers from the Blender Grass and scatter them in one way or another in Daz; the problem is the real grass is never so homogeneous - it is always on bunches and empty spots in between. Still a bunch of those grass blades will have much less polygons then the bundles from Daz shop where one bunch of grass has close to 150k polygons.

Sigh... still the transparent background is highly missed  (I already put a suggestion on the forum). I have to transfer an outdoor pool scene from Blender to Daz and it consists practically entirely from grass, bushes and trees made from transparent background. Which means I have to redesign the whole scene and put some fences, walls etc instead of the greenery.

JonnyRay

You can also use "Create -> Node Instance(s)" to duplicate your grass cluster as many times as you like. This is not a "copy" that adds additional polys to your scene, it is an instance of the same set of objects. It doesn't use additional memory resources. You can transform the replicated instance through rotation and scales. Any changes to the original (e.g. surface changes) are also automatically replicated to the instances. Howie's Ultra Scatter uses this technology, but it could be done manually if you have the patience. :)

handel_035c4ce6

JonnyRay said:

You can also use "Create -> Node Instance(s)" to duplicate your grass cluster as many times as you like. This is not a "copy" that adds additional polys to your scene, it is an instance of the same set of objects. It doesn't use additional memory resources. You can transform the replicated instance through rotation and scales. Any changes to the original (e.g. surface changes) are also automatically replicated to the instances. Howie's Ultra Scatter uses this technology, but it could be done manually if you have the patience. :)

Very useful to know; so this action is not automated by default in DS, right?

JonnyRay

handel_035c4ce6 said:

JonnyRay said:

You can also use "Create -> Node Instance(s)" to duplicate your grass cluster as many times as you like. This is not a "copy" that adds additional polys to your scene, it is an instance of the same set of objects. It doesn't use additional memory resources. You can transform the replicated instance through rotation and scales. Any changes to the original (e.g. surface changes) are also automatically replicated to the instances. Howie's Ultra Scatter uses this technology, but it could be done manually if you have the patience. :)

Very useful to know; so this action is not automated by default in DS, right?

Duplicating an item creates a new copy of the original. It's the same as copy / paste. But from the Create menu, you can select "New Node Instance" or "New Node Instances" which will create the instantiated versions. Don't be fooled by the "Node", it's actually the node hierarchy. I learned this by error when I created a several instances of a table in a night club. I added an empty glass as a child of the original table and the same glass appeared on all my instances. :)

handel_035c4ce6

JonnyRay said:

handel_035c4ce6 said:

JonnyRay said:

You can also use "Create -> Node Instance(s)" to duplicate your grass cluster as many times as you like. This is not a "copy" that adds additional polys to your scene, it is an instance of the same set of objects. It doesn't use additional memory resources. You can transform the replicated instance through rotation and scales. Any changes to the original (e.g. surface changes) are also automatically replicated to the instances. Howie's Ultra Scatter uses this technology, but it could be done manually if you have the patience. :)

Very useful to know; so this action is not automated by default in DS, right?

Duplicating an item creates a new copy of the original. It's the same as copy / paste. But from the Create menu, you can select "New Node Instance" or "New Node Instances" which will create the instantiated versions. Don't be fooled by the "Node", it's actually the node hierarchy. I learned this by error when I created a several instances of a table in a night club. I added an empty glass as a child of the original table and the same glass appeared on all my instances. :)

So what is the difference between "New node instance" and "New node instances"? Will the later create more then one new instance?

Syrus_Dante

I've opened a new thread about low poly freebies.

[Freebie] Collection Nature: grass, bushes, trees, sticks, rocks, ground, landscapes, 3D scans

scorpio

handel_035c4ce6 said:

JonnyRay said:

handel_035c4ce6 said:

JonnyRay said:

You can also use "Create -> Node Instance(s)" to duplicate your grass cluster as many times as you like. This is not a "copy" that adds additional polys to your scene, it is an instance of the same set of objects. It doesn't use additional memory resources. You can transform the replicated instance through rotation and scales. Any changes to the original (e.g. surface changes) are also automatically replicated to the instances. Howie's Ultra Scatter uses this technology, but it could be done manually if you have the patience. :)

Very useful to know; so this action is not automated by default in DS, right?

Duplicating an item creates a new copy of the original. It's the same as copy / paste. But from the Create menu, you can select "New Node Instance" or "New Node Instances" which will create the instantiated versions. Don't be fooled by the "Node", it's actually the node hierarchy. I learned this by error when I created a several instances of a table in a night club. I added an empty glass as a child of the original table and the same glass appeared on all my instances. :)

So what is the difference between "New node instance" and "New node instances"? Will the later create more then one new instance?

yes

JonnyRay

handel_035c4ce6 said:

JonnyRay said:

handel_035c4ce6 said:

JonnyRay said:

You can also use "Create -> Node Instance(s)" to duplicate your grass cluster as many times as you like. This is not a "copy" that adds additional polys to your scene, it is an instance of the same set of objects. It doesn't use additional memory resources. You can transform the replicated instance through rotation and scales. Any changes to the original (e.g. surface changes) are also automatically replicated to the instances. Howie's Ultra Scatter uses this technology, but it could be done manually if you have the patience. :)

Very useful to know; so this action is not automated by default in DS, right?

Duplicating an item creates a new copy of the original. It's the same as copy / paste. But from the Create menu, you can select "New Node Instance" or "New Node Instances" which will create the instantiated versions. Don't be fooled by the "Node", it's actually the node hierarchy. I learned this by error when I created a several instances of a table in a night club. I added an empty glass as a child of the original table and the same glass appeared on all my instances. :)

So what is the difference between "New node instance" and "New node instances"? Will the later create more then one new instance?

Basically New Node Instances let's you input the number of instances you want to create whereas "New Node Instance" only creates one.