On the search for real quality vegetation - possibly in the Predatron sale?

sriesch

Some random bits of information in no particular order:

Lisa's Botanicals (no longer in the DAZ store, I think they might have moved to Hivewire though) are indeed good.

The Xfrog plants seem to vary in quality. I have an insane number of them but have honestly only used a few of them so far. I purchased a bunch of DVDs many many years ago, I don't know if there are older and newer versions of the same thing or not. Some seem fantastic; one of the palms jumps to mind. Some seem very low-resolution, with sharp angles to the trunks so the trees look fine when way off in the distance but couldn't be used (unmodified) for closeups. They do require a bit of manual labor to import and save into a library in Bryce and DAZ Studio as compared with typical products that are click-to-use, so set aside a block of time to do that. Note that there are 2D billboards and 3D versions. Their free products rotate, so collect them while they are available. You can build up a huge library just from the freebies over time.

I have not found a way to import Bryce trees into DAZ Studio without the branch tips breaking apart into strings of little diamond-shaped bits, so I would not consider them usable anywhere other than within Bryce (but I'd love to hear I'm wrong and there's a way to do it.)

Consider improving the quality of trees by either combining multiple trees into more complex ones, both with trunks merged to make an older tree, and in some circumstances by using trees as branches (but then the roots become a problem).

Consider improving the quality of trees with sharper angles by applying the bark material to elongated spheres or tori as bulges and broken branch wounds over the problem areas, or by strategically rotating the tree to hide the angles behind foliage or away from the more obvious profile.

Consider adding a bit of transparency and/or ambient to the entire leaf (at the cost of increased render time, but worth it). Light does go through plant leaves, as can be easily seen by viewing a tree in fall colors in sunlight from multiple angles; from one side it's kind of normal looking, but from the other side it glows amazingly bright colors. While less obvious when plain green, that is still true then. If you just use a default non-transparent material that might come with the object, it might not be as realistic or pleasing as it could be, or might look unnaturally dark in shadowed areas if lots of light is being blocked and you might not realize why.

Spit

Lots of good information. And Taozen thanks for mentioning Esha and Flink. I think almost every render I do has something by Flink in it. :)

Another vendor who makes wonderful trees is dinoraul. Though he has several dinosaurs and similar in his store here, I think all his trees are at rendo though. I don't know how he makes them I just know I love them. He has both 'today' trees and trees from millions of years ago. His research is excellent. His bristlecone pine is a work of art. Yes, they twist all over like that but some scientists think they can still get tree ring analysis from them. Good luck with that.

First is a little alien with allergies who landed on the wrong planet. Flink flowers abound (against a bg by Bez). Then is dinoraul's magnificent English Elm. I used shadow mapping otherwise it might have taken all night to render.

BTW, I learned something interesting. I checked the pp2 file for dinoraul's tree and found the texture references to be incorrect in front of the 'runtime' part. Studio loaded 'em all up anyway with no fuss. I know Studio has smarts but I didn't know it was that smart.

kleinefotoman

First of all, sorry for my late reply. I was not able to find the time for it last week.

Many thanks everyone. I have learned a lot from all suggestions, tips, warnings,.. After I move my current library to another disk and do some old updates from DS, I will surely try to use the ngPlant software and a lot of suggested techniques. Some click-to-use items will remain in my wishlist (some Merlin products for example). Also thanks for viewing images showing the possibilities of items and products.

By the way, having seen the possibilities of free items an programs I have decided not to buy the Predatron items. They still exist in my wishlist for if I still want to buy them if I ever have a load of money to burn (which may be in a far future after I buy the yet to be released Canon 5D Mark IV, some lenses, a Wacom Intuos Pro and a good graphics card)

Kerya

If you are a Poser user ... beware of updated Predatron's items!
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/51065/

kleinefotoman

Hi Kerya,

Thanks for the warning. Luckily though I am not a poser user. But I may become one ever if it is on a good sale, so again thanks