Working on a high detail Magnolia Tree.
Currently shaping and adding branches. This will take a while, but I'll make it available (free) as soon as it's complete. This will be a start to finish using ZBrush only. I hope it comes out the way I'm planning.
Looking very good Marc. While in Chicago last year, I took some seeds of this tree from my son's front yard. Tried to germinate them this spring; but, no results. The flowers are beautiful in the spring.
Yes, Bob it's a great looking tree.
This should be a fun project and I hope I don't get lazy and not finish it.
looks really nice Marc, will you be adding a flowering version?
we have a good amount of these where i live
it looks really good so far, i'm imagining what it will look like with textures and leaves.
Here is a quick experiment in leaf cluster creation and placement.
Quote from: choronr on June 22, 2010, 09:12:49 PM
Looking very good Marc. While in Chicago last year, I took some seeds of this tree from my son's front yard. Tried to germinate them this spring; but, no results. The flowers are beautiful in the spring.
@ choronr
Did you store the seeds over the winter in a very cold but not freezing place. Some seeds need to sleep before they can start.. ...
Quote from: bobbystahr on June 27, 2010, 12:47:27 PM
Quote from: choronr on June 22, 2010, 09:12:49 PM
Looking very good Marc. While in Chicago last year, I took some seeds of this tree from my son's front yard. Tried to germinate them this spring; but, no results. The flowers are beautiful in the spring.
@ choronr
Did you store the seeds over the winter in a very cold but not freezing place. Some seeds need to sleep before they can start.. ...
Thanks Bob, I didn't know that. I didn't store them here in Phoenix, just set them on the work table in the garage. Our winters here are very mild.
I have the main branches fleshed out and now it's time to add the small branches with the leaf components.
This is a slow process, but it should be worth it.
Here are four views from different vantage points.
lookin good....I drool in anticipation, heh heh heh.. ...
Here is a sample of a leaf modeled in 3D. I need to work on the displacement a little and the color, but I'm getting close. This sample is very lowres and the normal map is providing the detail like the veins. I should have a cluster done sometime today.
NOTE: This is not a mapped 3D plane.
Here is a cluster of 3. Each leaf has a unique shape.
I repaired the displacement which made the leaf a little more natural.
Note: I bought a copy of TopoGun (http://www.topogun.com/) which gives me greater control over uv creation, modification and new lowres geometry. I'm providing this information for anyone who is interested and is wanting to explore new tools and workflows.
You can see in the screen capture the high detail leaf (a little over 1 million polys) brought into TopoGun and then view the creation of the lowpoly model which will be brought into Terragen with the applied displacement map.
I'll continue providing images as the Magnolia tree approaches completion.
Quote from: MGebhart on July 04, 2010, 01:09:21 PM
Here is a cluster of 3. Each leaf has a unique shape.
I repaired the displacement which made the leaf a little more natural.
Note: I bought a copy of TopoGun (http://www.topogun.com/) which gives me greater control over uv unwrap and modification.
I've gone from salivating to heavy breathing now....LOL...great work man.. ...
This is really fine work. You may want to submit this to a national botanist society. It could be used for illustration.
Here is a leaf rendered in Terragen with color and displacement only. NO TEXTURE. The render settings are full render default. 640 x 480 0.5 detail , 3 AA etc.
The displacement looks good for this default render in my opinion. The leaf displacement will be unnecessary for general renderings accept for close ups.
Moving ever forward.
Looks pretty darn good. Now I am curious as to how the translucency will render.
Henry, me too.
All the Maps have been created and ready to apply. All the maps were generated with CrazyBump using a high resolution photo I took of a Magnolia in my front yard.
Beginning the process of adding bark surface detail.
I created an Alpha PSD file and adjusted the radius and other values to to produce the results you see in the image.
The image shows the Displacement plus the tree bark Image map applied to the trunk.
SWEET.
looking very tasty Marc!
Marc, this looks great. Someday I'd like to learn how to do this.
OK. You guys are going to hate me for this, but I just gotta do it.
The image shows a large screen capture from ZBrush and (as a teaser) a small inset of a render of the trunk and root area of the Magnolia in Terragen. Don't you just hate me? LOL.
After the complete texture of the tree I'll render a close up of a branch section with multiple leaf clusters rendered in Terragen. The image will have all the maps attached to the tree as it will be delivered to the Terragen community of artists. OOOOOOOO, I'm looking forward to see how this comes out. The final render will have a nice scene composed using some of my stuff and Walli's.
All testing of transferring from ZBrush, PoseRay and Terragen has been successful. This took a while to figure the best way to approach this so all the programs played nice with each other.
I think you'll be adopted by more than a few of us when this is ready for consumption. ;D
WOW - incredible :)
very realistic leaves.
marc is setting a new level of object quality & complexity with his ProTrees. 8)
Victory!
I have been having a challenge where I, for the life of me, couldn't get the poly count down to a reasonable number on the leaf and still have it look great. Well, I got it.
The sample is a leaf with a count of 45 ploys. This is outstanding considering my last effort was around 130. The polypaint was a bit rushed as you can see at the bottom of the leaf. The center vein is not aligned correctly, but this is easily fixed.
This has given me a good rush of adrenalin and so I'll be up all night. SWEET.
The advantage is the leaf will have a nice shape so you don't get just a mapped, flat plane.
yeah, this is going to be very nice Marc!
3 green leaves.
There should be a total of 10 when done.
I like the insect damage. Nice touch.
Thanks, Henry. I thought that was kinda cool too. The dead leaf section is going to be sweet.
I'm getting so intimate with the Magnolia in my front yard it asked me to marry it. YIKES!
Anyway, I'll post the total leaf collection tomorrow.
Right now I'm drinking Jim Beam and smoking cigarettes to heal my broken brain. I know this will not help but it's fun.
I am getting ready for work. A few beers would be nice though.
Quote from: MGebhart on August 01, 2010, 10:06:45 PM
Thanks, Henry. I thought that was kinda cool too. The dead leaf section is going to be sweet.
I'm getting so intimate with the Magnolia in my front yard it asked me to marry it. YIKES!
Anyway, I'll post the total leaf collection tomorrow.
Right now I'm drinking Jim Beam and smoking cigarettes to heal my broken brain. I know this will not help but it's fun.
And, I'm drinking a beer and enjoying my pipe (Captain Black tobacco of course) - contemplating using this beautiful model...
Hi Guys and Dolls,
Here is a render in Terragen 2 of the 5 green unique leaves for the ProTrees Magnolia.
I'm working on 5 dead leaves and should have them done soon.
Thank you for your input.
Here are the dead leaf images.
I will finish up texturing the whole tree then begin placing the small branches, twigs and leaves.
After I'm pleased with the final result I will render a nice Terragen scene with the Magnolia then release it.
Looking good Marc!
I think the dead leafs should have less specularity? The two on the left are looking good but the three on the right are a bit too shiny and too much alive if you'd ask me :)
Cheers,
Martin
@Martin: Even the dead Magnolia tree leaf is very shiny. The leaves are thick and waxy plus you get little or no translucency when the Sun is behind a cluster.
Here is the tree with the completed texture. It will take a few days to assemble the twigs, leaf clusters and placement. Man, I have learned a ton on this project so, the next ProTree should move along at a pretty good clip.
A finished Leaf Cluster with stem.