SpeedTree

[AlexPorter]

I'm more of a lurker on these forums, but from what I've seen most people tend to use foliage packs.  From what I've seen, I can't say all the models are believable when rendered with terragen.  That's no disrespect to the modelers, It just looks like it is difficult to make individual trees.  Most seem to look like the same tree rotated.  Has anyone used SpeedTree to generate unique trees quickly?  I'd like to know how it works with TG, if it does at all.

[MGebhart]

SpeedTree is mainly used for game development. Low poly count with emphasis on textures. I worked with an eval copy which removed every 5th polygon. It was tricky getting it into Terragen but, not impossible. There OBJ export was a little strange.

For game development there is nothing that beats it. You can control just about every aspect of physical behavior like wind etc. As far as being practacal to purchase this for Terragen use, I would say no. It is cool software, however.

[Zylot]

It looks like we use the same tree and rotate it.. because we do.  Most trees we have only have one variation, terragen has no way to randomly place leaves/branches, so we rely on the model authors different variations he creates.

[MGebhart]

True.

This will always be the case even with SpeedTree. You export a creation out as an OBJ, one tree, one object. Import it into Terragen as a population and set your distribution and size values and that's it. Same tree of different sizes, rotation and placement. This is true for all 3D programs using arrays, clones or what ever the terminology. If you pay close attention to game levels with outdoor environments there may be two trees, grass etc. distributed multiple times throughout the level. Not to convincing, but in a game you don't care. You just want to stay alive.

With a certain amount of thought you can still make your Terragen renderings look convincing with strategic placement and variety. Some developers provide multiple leaf images to help ensure good diversity, some don't.

Head over to NWDA Primer Store and look at the gallery section to view, the work of guys like Ryan Archer, Seth, and Frank B., not to mention the many talented artists in this forum. They have access to the same trees, plants, grass etc. as you do and they seem to pull off and work around the problem you seem to be having. We have all been where you are.

Terragen is a complex, wonderful, frustrating piece of software but, with practice, patients and well thought-out scenes YOU WILL get around this hurdle.

Keep your chin up. It will only improve.