I've just been wondering, and it's been ticking me off. How are objects like trees, houses, and ground cover made for TG2? In Blender? In Lightwave? In ZBrush? I don't have any idea how. I'm especially wondering about the trees. I know it's a dumb question but it isn't a dumb question for someone who doesn't know the answer, I guess.
Thanks,
Jahnu
Marc Gebhart has made many trees and other things for Terragen 2.
http://web.me.com/marcgebhart1/Trees/Welcome.html
Terragen.org has many good objects.
http://www.terragen.org/index.php
And the XFrog free sampler.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/content/view/21/36/
Thanks njeneb, but how were they made?
You can make them with any decent 3d modeler software or specific 3D Tree makers.
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=9480.0
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=8677.0
Maybe there are other tutorials for making trees ; a search would help . Try with "3D Tree tutorial" or something like that , Jahnu .
I found these with the above search in Google. You can find many others. Try in Youtube too.
http://www.webdesign.org/3d-graphics/tutorials/tree-tutorial.611.html
http://www.3dluvr.com/content/article/90
Thanks Kadri.
Doesn't Lightwave cost like over 500 dollars to use?
Quote from: jbest on September 15, 2010, 09:57:58 PM
Thanks Kadri.
Doesn't Lightwave cost like over 500 dollars to use?
http://shop.newtek.com/lightwave3d.aspx
There could be educational versions and such who are cheaper and not only Lightwave of course .
But you can use Blender , Anim8or or Truespace (it isn't developed anymore but you can use it) like programs who are free .
Maybe others who are more into Tree making can give you specific instructions which one is better , or easier .
These things tend to be get more subjective and flame war kind of reactions on other forums sometimes :)
The guys here are more objective (mostly ;))
I see. Cool. What about stuff like houses and spaceships?
In a 3D software they are all made of polygons etc. They are not different (so to say).
You can use the same software for anything you want. It is up to you.
Some of them are more basic or more centered around specific needs-models.
http://sites.google.com/site/makehumandocs/download
This is a free 3D software for making 3D Humans for example .
And here on the forum are guys who use Xfrog for making cows...
Xfrog is a tree-plant making software actually.
It would be good that you read-search about the basics of 3D first. In time you will understand everything.
Quote from: jbest on September 15, 2010, 10:15:51 PM
I see. Cool. What about stuff like houses and spaceships?
Take a look at Blender, it's powerful and free. If you have the patience and willpower to take time to learn it you'll probably find it does everything you want.
stay away from lightwave its had its days if you want a nice easy to use modeler try silo
or a new kid n the block bonzai3d (like google sketchup but much much better ie nurbs)
or even moi3d
I use max mainly for modeling its a bitch to get started with but hey terragen is too^^
Quote from: wetbanana on September 16, 2010, 04:52:57 AM
stay away from lightwave its had its days if you want a nice easy to use modeler try silo
or a new kid n the block bonzai3d (like google sketchup but much much better ie nurbs)
or even moi3d
I use max mainly for modeling its a bitch to get started with but hey terragen is too^^
"These things tend to be get more subjective and flame war kind of reactions on other forums sometimes Smiley
The guys here are more objective (mostly ;))" ;D
I like Lightwave and hate Max 8) Autodesk and Devil are mentioned in the same sentence many times this days.
They have the majority of the top 3D packages. This is not so good for the users ! So i would use the underdogs ...
But if you want to work in the 3D industry that is another thing.
http://www.andrewklein.net/ (http://www.andrewklein.net/)
Have a look at this guys tuts, He teaches maya but the principles apply to most poly modelers. Before you spend any money take a look at the other free ones, namely wings or metasequoia. They all pretty much have the same tools so my advice would be to find an interface that suits you. There's plenty of modelling tuts on youtube.
i've been a lightwave 3d user since i first started doing 3d.
in school i had a choice between Lightwave or Max
i dont really like autodesk either, though i did have learn max....
i still prefer LW
Quote
Take a look at Blender, it's powerful and free. If you have the patience and willpower to take time to learn it you'll probably find it does everything you want.
Yes, I've definitely wondered about Blender. It seems like a very complicated program, but i've seen what can be done with it and it is pretty darn cool. Just about Blender, though, how do you create OBJ's from it?
It loads with a cube - what more do you need
Is there like a button which says "save as OBJ?" I'm terrible at Blender, just to let you know.
I would imagine file>save as>will give you a number of options including .obj. 1 cube, six quads, 8 verts and 12 lines.
Yes, got that.
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=7567.0
Search can be your best friend.
Blender 2.5x is one of the best out there right now. I like it. And the community is so full of sharing you can find all sorts of objects for free and hundreds of free tutorials. Blender Cookie is a great place for tutorials as is Blender Guru.
Yeah, I've been working with Blender recently. It's a program with vast abilites, I can see that.
All of the major 3D Apps have thier pro's and con's
I have been a Lightwaver for over ten years and over the years I have easily got back the money I spent in earnings and enjoyment.
If you're serious about 3D modelling and rendering then the best thing you can do is download trial versions, all of the major apps have trial versions, most of which are limit free.
Find out which has the UI that you feel most comfortable with and the toolset/workflow that best suits your style of work, when you find out which one you like, save your pennies. Don't just settle on a programme because it's cheap or free, you'll regret it and don't get a pirated copy, at best you'll have a semi functioning version without support and at worst....well you can figure the rest out.
I've been looking at tutorials of Blender ... gosh, I've already got the idea of how to use it.
I've heard Lightwave costs almost 900 dollars :D Not sure I could afford it.
Maybe I can see what else is out there but for now I'm with Blender.
As Andrew rightly points out it's the UI/workflow/ toolset that are the most important things to look at. That can range both ways from not enough tools to too many.
Best of luck with Blender.
Quote from: jbest on September 30, 2010, 02:14:46 AM
I've heard Lightwave costs almost 900 dollars :D Not sure I could afford it.
Yep and 3D Studio Max costs $3,495.00 and Maya costs $3,495.00 as well, so Lightwave doesn't seem like such a bad deal when you consider the production list that it has been used on.
I'm not going to tell you which software is best, because it's what's best for me not you, what I am going to say again is that you pay for what you get and if you're sodtware is free you may get a nice community that produces some nice stuff but you won't get the professional support or expansion that you get with a pro package and you might not get taken as seriously.
If you just want to be a hobbyist then Blender is fine, and a couple of artists have produced some outstanding pieces that have led to them getting great jobs but they aren't using Blender now.
A very nice and free plant creation software is ngplant.
http://ngplant.sourceforge.net/
Thats the one I made my alien plants with.
It saves to obj, though I import the objs once into blender, smoothen them a bit and export again.
Works fine.
If there are any questions regarding NGplant, supernovae or anything, just PM me.
Best regards,
Jan
Yeah I got Ngplant, it's a pretty cool program. There's a tutorial on how to create trees for Blender, I could possibly use that to make leaves and stuff. I'm not good at using ngplant, if I need help I'll ask you Mahnmut ;)