9 replies to this topic

[Crow357]

So, I've always been a painter, I change my circle as small as it will go, highlight a tree and start clicking away, adding a tree every time I click.

 

I've recently read that some, I guess, are dragging their trees from the project window into the scene one at a time.  This seems to me a much more tedious process, but since they are doing this, there must be a reason.

 

What are the advantages of hand dragging every tree and bush vs painting them in with a click?

[Kablammo11]

The only advantage would be that you can plant a single tree much more precisely, place it spot on (the plant brush has a little bit of give), rotate it and resize it as an object. That might be helpful for single signature trees and if you want to replicate a real tree on a real course as perfectly as possible. It will also clog up your hierarchy window if you overdo it.

And since we're talking about Speedtree with its LOD system, the performance for placed vs brushed trees is exactly the same.

 

Like you, I prefer to plant single trees, singles only, never swathes of trees, by hand with the brush. Quite often, if I don't like their rotation, I keep the cursor in place, delete the tree with shift click and then replant it until it is randomly rotated in a way that looks good to me.

[garynorman]

I tend to drag in about 80% of my trees simply because of the control, for example most of my trees on Old Warden are sunk into the ground to varying degrees as I like the look of them that way.   It does take longer but I think that it's worth it...

[Mike Jones]

I do what K11 does, planting with the terrain tree tool and then replant if i don't care for it's rotation or height. As Gary says  too, you have a bit more control on individual trees ie rotating or sinking them if you drag them in as prefabs.

[Crow357]

Ok, I think I get it.  Thanks guys! 

[Acrilix]

I think some of those Speedtrees with unrealistic looking roots would definitely benefit from being manually planted and pulled underground a little.

[Crow357]

I think some of those Speedtrees with unrealistic looking roots would definitely benefit from being manually planted and pulled underground a little.

If you pay for the modeler, you can drag the tree down and/or just remove the roots, save and recalculate the trees in CF.  Fixes all of that.

[Kablammo11]

If you pay for the modeler, you can drag the tree down and/or just remove the roots, save and recalculate the trees in CF.  Fixes all of that.

 

I always use the modeller to prep all the Speedtrees - and create variations and bushes. Usually, the trunk comes in very high res and you can lower the number of points the base cylinder has from 20+ to 7 or 8, economising in the 100's or even 1000's of tris. Roots and knots are coming off also and I do sink the tree into the ground as well. I get what Gary means, though, and must laud his industry in this regard. It's a personal choice to make and kudos to all who do - there is no right or wrong way to go about this, only your way.

[Crow357]

there is no right or wrong way to go about this, only your way.

 

Oh, I totally agree.  And I've learned something that I will put to use in future projects.  I had never considered just dragging trees into the scene before, and now that I know why it's done, I'll use it in specific instances.  This is a great community and I love that we all help each other.

[Kablammo11]

group hug?