Autumn coloration help

[N-drju]

Hey guys,

I was wondering what color codes should I use (I mean RGB values) in order to change the XFrog tree colors into an Autumn "dressing".

I mean, I know that each tree will be different... I just want to ask if you have any general advice as far as the coloring is concerned.

I also think that simply overlaying the leafs with yellowish and reddish PFs would work nicely. But still, I need color codes for that.

[WAS]

Hey guys,

I was wondering what color codes should I use (I mean RGB values) in order to change the XFrog tree colors into an Autumn "dressing".

I mean, I know that each tree will be different... I just want to ask if you have any general advice as far as the coloring is concerned.

I also think that simply overlaying the leafs with yellowish and reddish PFs would work nicely. But still, I need color codes for that.

The Merge Shader, and some PFs in Yellow, and Reds, can give you nice effects for colour variation. I'd give it a try. As for color codes, that's entirely up to you. You could even take some real-world images and grab some colors from it.

[N-drju]

Yeah, I mean I know "how". I don't know "what" though. The colors I picked look quite artificial actually... the yellows are very sharp and pronounced - "toxic" yellow you might say. That's why I ask because, maybe, I'm not using a right color.

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Okay, some context maybe...

Do you think the colors in this pic, are good? Or are they too bold / invasive?

[attach=1]

[WAS]

Yeah, I mean I know "how". I don't know "what" though. The colors I picked look quite artificial actually... the yellows are very sharp and pronounced - "toxic" yellow you might say. That's why I ask because, maybe, I'm not using a right color.

________________

Okay, some context maybe...

Do you think the colors in this pic, are good? Or are they too bold / invasive?

[attach=1]

I think what's going on here is scale and softness. You want more variation. A single leaf could have multiple colour phases, individual to the next. Mixing large scale colors and smaller scale colors could help.  Feel free to play with this surface layer. I can't find the scenes I used this in, I don't think I backed up the images or projects, just the shaders folder.

[luvsmuzik]

I don't think you can get too vivid with fall colors!  Example shown is common where I live and generates attraction for annual travelers and income for their hosts, just to see the colors!

This is a little more complicated, and I haven't tried it yet.
Can you ...add an object like tree1
Assign your color variation with Power Fractals here.
Save the tree as a new tgo
Then make a population with this new tgo
New population has rotation enabled

What I have trouble with is the scale of the power fractal when doing this in a population. It seems rather hit and miss at times.
I think you are on the right track with your experiments. Not bad choices for colors. 

Thanks for the clip WASasquatch, I will check this out too!

[jaf]

Another thing you can try is to use a color picker.  There are lots of free ones -- I've been using Peacock Color Picker.  Do a Bing or Google  search like "fall trees" and switch to images.

[N-drju]

I don't think you can get too vivid with fall colors!  Example shown is common where I live and generates attraction for annual travelers and income for their hosts, just to see the colors!

This is a little more complicated, and I haven't tried it yet.
Can you ...add an object like tree1
Assign your color variation with Power Fractals here.
Save the tree as a new tgo
Then make a population with this new tgo
New population has rotation enabled

What I have trouble with is the scale of the power fractal when doing this in a population. It seems rather hit and miss at times.
I think you are on the right track with your experiments. Not bad choices for colors. 

Thanks for the clip WASasquatch, I will check this out too!

Oh, good then. I was afraid I've overdone the palette a bit. I don't really think you need to do as much as resave the whole object... It is quite easy in fact to simply shove the whole PF setup within those default shaders. Actually, I also think that PF chain can even be externally attached to the tree maps... Hmmm, I have to see if that works!

The colors in that picture look better actually! They are more uniform, even. My masking is a bit spotty but that's because the final product will be visible from a distance. And that means that, hopefully, everything will just blend in nicely and no further adjustments will be made. Perhaps it is wise to use just one or two colors per tree species? That would certainly make it less chaotic.

Thanks for the tip jaf, but I guess good, old Paint will just do for color picking.

[luvsmuzik]

Yes....you have to somewhere include the leaf and leaf opacity mask somewhere or you get your LEGO trees.....   Unless your leaves are just geometry and not done with masked images.

[WAS]

Remember the images they are providing for the most part of long exposures, creating colour burning (where colours become solid, and you don't see the many transitioning hues). It's a common photographic technique to bring out fall colours, they also like to capture images during sunset/sunrise where the suns hue is orange, or cut-off by clouds creating more UV exposure, adding to the colour vibrancy. Also depends on the species of tree. Some trees create beautiful reds/oranges/yellows, other more neutral.

[N-drju]

And this is exactly why I somewhat doubt the accuracy of color picking. That's why I ask for these "neutral" values... if any.

[WAS]

And this is exactly why I somewhat doubt the accuracy of color picking. That's why I ask for these "neutral" values... if any.

The image I provided is unaltered (just a basic digital camera), and in direct sun for the most part, it could be a good basis for the oranges, reds, yellows, and greens. Pick a colour, and cut it's birhgtness bar in half for a more neutral colour and give those a try. And also like I said, individual leaves will have multiple hues for the most part, scale is pretty important, to big and it looks like the whole tree was blotched with a colour in parts.

With rough coloring and good quality setting TG should smooth it all at a distance like it would be IRL.

[Dune]

Actually, I also think that PF chain can even be externally attached to the tree maps

That's easy to set up (just put the PFtree somewhere outside, and rightclick above color input (if that's what you use) in the object default shader, and find the PFtree last node to attach), but if you have quite a few pops of trees and they all get the same PF treatment, you end up with a quite uniform color variation, in other words, the color variation jumps from one tree to the next. You'd need a few different seeds/variations for different pops, for more natural variation.