Would anyone be interested in helping create different medium resolution foliage files? These would be used for adding that "furry/fuzzy" look to distant hills and mountains (hopefully with minimal memory and file size footprints).
One idea I have is to use image maps with transparency, mapped to simple 3d objects, or even alpha planes arranged erratically with image maps applied. As stated, these would work best off in the distance, or if up close, very tiny.
I have created a few .tgo files using this method, and they work well for the effect, but I was stuck using an exported model from VUE, which didn't convert very well.
For instance, bushes could be created by having multiple lower res tiff files with transparency, mapped to alpha planes shaped similar to potato chips. So in other words, there would be 10 semi-curved alpha planes arranged to simulate a bush, which would display a different tiff file per plane. Multiply this while changing sizes, orientation, (and color differences - as separate .tgo's with different tiffs), and some realistic variation could result.
I have a few files where I've already done this with decent results, but I'll have to wait until I get home to post them here.
