Magnolia

[MGebhart]

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.

[choronr]

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.

[MGebhart]

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.

[inkydigit]

looks really nice Marc, will you be adding a flowering version?

[Zairyn Arsyn]

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.

[MGebhart]

Here is a quick experiment in leaf cluster creation and placement.

[bobbystahr]

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.. ...

[choronr]

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.

[MGebhart]

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.

[bobbystahr]

lookin good....I drool in anticipation, heh heh heh.. ...

[MGebhart]

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.

[MGebhart]

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.

[bobbystahr]

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.. ...

[Henry Blewer]

This is really fine work. You may want to submit this to a national botanist society. It could be used for illustration.

[MGebhart]

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.