Trees

Started by rcallicotte, April 04, 2013, 08:21:44 PM

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rcallicotte


http://www.speedtree.com


http://www.theplantfactory-tech.com/


Any opinions on which of these will work best with TG2 and other packages?  I'm enjoying a Speedtree demo and can't try the Plant Factory yet, but e-onsoftware's package looks interesting.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

TheBadger

What is the price point for factory? Speed tree in nearly $900 for the small version.
It has been eaten.

yossam

According to the site, it has not been decided.


Which means one of two things:


1. It will probably be along the same price point as their other software.
2. It will be centered more on the professional side of the FX houses.


Or they could make different versions at different price points. As they do with Vue.


IMO

rcallicotte

Hopefully, eon will be useful for hobbyists.  It would probably be my first choice, due to SpeedTree's pricing.


Small version of SpeedTree is $495, but the options are waning.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

Tangled-Universe

I think SpeedTree will still be superior, but knowing E-on that probably means nothing, so don't expect the price of the PlantFactory to be below SpeedTree's price.
They probably have the guts to ask >$1000 because they have large fanboy base who will buy this anyway along with obligatory ridiculously expensive maintenance paths.
So despite what it can do and how stable it will be, they will sell many copies of it.

With speedtree you can have all of your tree to be geometry and that remains to be seen for the Plant Factory, since Vue can't cope with too much geometry very well.
It might be well possible that it will be a lot of opacity mapped stuff.

Slightly off topic: I've seen a little video of Plant Factory and I was yet again surprised to see how much nomenclature and tools were ripped from XFrog and SpeedTree. These guys at E-on are pretty shameless ;D

Ha, reading this back may seem like a kind of rant, but isn't meant to be :D
It's just my expectations: an unstable, expensive and possibly competitive product for SpeedTree.

We'll see!

cyphyr

I just wish Greenworks had continued to develop XFrog as a stand alone product.
Richard
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
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Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

rcallicotte

#6
@cyphyr - yes


@TU - I hope not - I wish for real geometry with the standalone and something affordable, while still useful.  We might find out soon.   Have you seen this on the PlantFactory site?


Your Questions Answered!By e-on software on Tuesday, April 2 2013, 14:47

Thank you for your feedback and your questions. Here are some answers:


       
  • When will the Plant Factory be released?
       TPF will be released this quarter (Q2 2013).

       
  • What will it cost?
The pricing structure is not yet finalized.

       
  • Will TPF be a plug-in for other applications or a standalone product?
    The Plant Factory will be a standalone application (compatible with all 3D products) that will also integrate more tightly with Vue.

       
  • Is Vue a requirement for TPF?
    Not at all, even though using Vue with The Plant Factory will give you more environment power.

       
  • What version of Vue will work with TPF?
    Plants created with TPF in .veg format will be compatible with Vue 11 and up. However, all Vue versions will be able to read static plants exported from TPF as .obj or .3ds .
More answers will come in time. Thank you for your patience.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

zaxxon

I'm curious about the e-on product as well, we'll see.  I also have a demo version of Speedtree Studio and the modeling possibilties are really exciting. Making it work well with TG (or Vue for that matter) is the question. There are some threads on this forum from MGebhart who has used Maya to modify the Speedtree output for TG import (sounds like considerable work in Maya to do so). I queried the folks at the Speedtree forum for any examples of finished renders or workflows out to TG or Vue with no answers to date. There is a thread from a Vue user regarding Speedtree export as obj. files:
http://www.speedtree.com/forum/showthread.php?527-Importing-detail-texture-into-other-apps
Seems that the "export unwrapped option" may be necessary to get the detail for close-up hero objects, that option is not available on the $495 version, but is on the $895 vers. The thread also mentioned "open collada" as an option for the Vue folks, is that a possibility from Planetside?
What about Onyx? Anyone here tried that one?
http://www.onyxtree.com/about.html
The pricing seems reasonable. There is a Gnomon DVD out using Onyx with Maya that has some good looking trees:
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/995/#.UV8GUpPvv4Q
Still looking for the best package for the money.

jaf

If we could convince Andrew at 3D Coat to continue to develop his TreesGenerator........
(04Dec20) Ryzen 1800x, 970 EVO 1TB M.2 SSD, Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR4 3200 Mem,  EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 Graphics 457.51 (04Dec20), Win 10 Pro x64, Terragen Pro 4.5.43 Frontier, BenchMark 0:10:02

TheBadger

#9
I have looked at these programs time and time again. And speed tree really looks like the most serious soft for this kind of thing.
It always came down to Speed tree and Xfrog. But I just read in this thread that Xfog is no longer being developed?


Did someone say they had the speed tree demo? What are the limitations with that? I take it that its limited so no one can test a pipeline?


I have become a little biased against eon because I think they are over priced, and that makes me not very inclined to buy anything else from them. Speed tree is really expensive in my eyes too. But is it worth it? I think for Vue, no. But what about speed tree? The plants I have seen from speed look really quite good.


Onyx just does not look like a serious program. the site says 21 years but the UI looks like its from 1999, that and the sample images in the gallery make me not even want to think any more on it.

Maya has paint effects. There is a number of DVDs mentioned^^ above. That group of DVDs is made by the founder of the Gnomon school, if I remember right. In three of those DVDs The focus is  on maya and paint effects alone. There like $80 each though.  I have really been thinking about trying one.
[size=78%]http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/989/Creating-Plants-in-Maya%7B47%7DMental-Ray#.UV8Ytr8Zebx[/size][size=78%]http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/993/#.UV8Y378Zeby[/size]
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/991/Grass-and-Plant-Instancing-in-Maya%7B47%7DMental-Ray#.UV8Y8L8Zebx
It has been eaten.

cyphyr

I should have been more clear.

XFrog is still being developed but as a plugin for Maya and Cinama 4D. It's only the stand alone version that is no longer developed although it IS still sold.

Still great software and if you get any of their libraries (or win the current NWDA "Roadside" contest !) all the trees,shrubs and other plant models can be infinitely edited.

SpeedTree looks good. I had a play with a demo (exported models had every 5th poly missing! Hate it when they do that.) I found it complex but it looked like I could have mede sense of it if I had persevered. The preview was faster than XFrogs.

Looking forward to Treefactory. The stuff on the site looks cool but until I see it in the flesh I'll reserve judgement.

Cheers

Richard
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
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Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

rcallicotte


YES!  If...    ;D

Quote from: jaf on April 05, 2013, 02:10:32 PM
If we could convince Andrew at 3D Coat to continue to develop his TreesGenerator........
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

TheBadger

Quotebut until I see it in the flesh I'll reserve judgement

Yes, your right. But speculation on this is kinda fun, as aposed to politics, which stresses me out  ;)

I looked at the Xfrog plugin for Maya. Its half price right now. But Im nervous to spend money like that on software I have no experience with.

Winning the contest would be good  just for the sake of the stuff in this conversation.  XFrog is giving their soft as a prize, I thought I read.
It has been eaten.

mhaze

I've been playing with speedtree evaluation.

Fast but prone to crashes
lots of parameters which are not intuitive
Very flexible, an excellent creative tool.
Expensive but probably worth it - will probably get the architect version
Best when used with meshes for leaves - lots of work and planning needed
Some documentation and youtube vids not a great deal of depth though.
Export to TG is easy just tick separate trans maps and export as .jpgs.

Mick

mhaze

Here's a screen shot 10 min at most to make the tree