Tree Generator Plugin

[Rodney]

Good Grief!

I leave for a couple hours and come back to this!!!

You guys are rocking down the house.

 

Marcel,

Your about to pass the 2000 hits mark for this post... with 100 replies.

As a matter of fact, this post is the 100th posted reply!!!

 

History in the making.

I'm so proud!

[Srmjr]

Yeah, yeah..., great trees, blah, blah, but I feel like the kid on the block that has to stay inside and watch everybody play outside the window.

 

Is this gonna get ported to Mac?

 

Really though, the plugin looks GREAT.

 

Sterling

[Rodney]

Sorry for the OT here but Animation Master is one of the reason's why I bought a PC rather than a Mac so many years ago.

 

I wanted to buy a Mac. 'cause Mac's could draw pretty pictures! I saw them all the time in magazines, etc., etc. When I was debating whether to buy a PC or a Mac many factors weighed heavily on my mind. Money, compatibility, etc. I was leaning heavily toward the new Macs... I knew I wanted one but wasn't sure where I was going to find the money for one.

 

I remember seeing an add for Animation Master and it mentioned something about Hybrid technology or somesuch... in short... A:M could run on a PC as well as a Mac! I might not have made my decision that day... but my 'note to self' held sway on my decision... the price of a used PC did the rest.

 

I guess sometimes I can see the forest through the trees!

(Hey, whaddya know back on topic!)

 

Want to know how I made Marcel's plugin automatically create roots?

[JohnArtbox]

I rolled back to Beta1 to get shadows

The trunk texture sucks but I like the rest.

RodneyI'm guessing canopy objects beneath the base . I found I got better results by doing two trees, flipping one vertically and then joining them.

If we could set the roll orientation on flat fur, it might make it easier get rid of some of the dark foliage in the tree that looks out of place.

[Rodney]

I'm guessing canopy objects beneath the base

 

Nope, I'm not smart enough to try that!

 

Here's how to do it. I'll post pics if necessary.

 

- Maintain your base but move it slightly above the 0 plane

- Delete the target thingies (I keep forgeting their names)

- Create a grid and place that as your target

* Hide the parts of the grid where you want the roots!

- Engage the Treeez wizard

 

Note: For some reason the plugin drops the hidden areas to 0. I'd guess because they aren't really there but the information says create them so they're created at 0.

 

*It's imprtant to note that this method might not work forever as Marcel's updates may eradicate this particular *feature* of Treeez.

 

I'm experimenting with creating a whole forest with the click of one button but no good results to post just yet.

[ZPiDER]

The Treez do move like normal mesh right? I know it's a studip question but I'm generally a paranoid person by nature.

yes, it creates standard a:m meshes.

your crash animation is the first thing that would (rig-wise) call for more than a distortion box .. hmm .. i'll think about automatically adding a bone and assign the tree cps to it in a weighted fashion .. also could be useful for wind animation.

[c-wheeler]

 

This plug in is the beeZ kneeZ!

 

Forest of TreeZ and a few other trees

 

Keep on plugin!

[ZPiDER]

people, you got some really neat pics there! keep them coming!

i'll keep the features coming:

 

new feature: THICKNESS CONTROL

 

have a pose for your tree model called "thickness"

in the action animate it over the time of one second (example is 25 fps => 25 frames).

ideally it should start at 100% and end at 0%, but you can also create thicker tips by letting it end higher.

this gives you some basic control about the "sleekness" of the tree.

[ZPiDER]

new feature: BRANCH LENGTH CONTROL

 

have a pose for your model called "branch length control".

(i forgot to mention this for the thickness control, but the pose shouldnt contain any modification of the model. its just there so we get the slider)

in the action animate it over the time of ine second.

the example shows short branches at the base, long ones in the middle and short ones at the tips.

when tweaking this, keep in mind that the tips will ALWAYS end in a target cp! this means having very short branch length all over the tree will result in very long straight tips (level0).

[ZPiDER]

instead of creating a pose (and the relationship that comes with it) you can also just add a property to the model. this will do everything we need.

[ZPiDER]

new feature: LOCALITY CONTROL

 

TreeeZ will normally try to create weighted trees. that means it will identify clustered target points and use them to grow the tree.

for certain trees however you might want to make the offshoots a lot thinner than the main branch and give it a more local target.

you can control this with the locality.

as with the other features you need a property called "locality" and animate it over 1 second in the action.

[ZPiDER]

new feature: REGULARITY CONTROL

 

as seen in the example for locality control, small offshoot branches typically have a large influence on the shape of the main branch.

to reduce this influence, use the regularity control.

 

at 100% the plugin will weigh the branch influence. meaning that if you have

- a main branch with 9 child generations and

- an offshoot (no child generation)

the main branch will have 10 times more influence on its own direction than the offshoot (the example image shows this more clearly).

 

at 0% both branches have the same influence on direction, regardless of their child generations.

 

(note that i avoid saying "thick" and "thin" branches in the above 2 paragraphs, because thickness can be controlled with a curve)

 

so if you have a tree thats balanced (low locality and regular target mesh) (roughly the same number of child generations for main branch and offshoot), this control wont have much influence on the resulting tree.

again in other words: use this control in combination with a high locality

 

use it like all other controls.

[KenH]

Information overload.....need....time...to.....processsssssssssssssss

[JohnArtbox]

Thanks Marcel....it's all good

..can we download the new version yet? Looks like 2004 has all the makings of a hallmark year.

[ZPiDER]

..can we download the new version yet? Looks like 2004 has all the makings of a hallmark year.

no download yet, because i'm not yet sure how and if i can make it compatible to 10.5 and earlier. currently only runs on 11.0 ..

[ZPiDER]

NEW VERSION AVAILABLE: 0.2

 

ok that was quick.

i think that should do it.

runs on 11.0, SHOULD run on 10.5 and earlier, havent tested it though (please try)!

TreeeZ_0.2.hxt

[ZPiDER]

and here is the new test project.

TreeZ_02_test.prj

[Parlo]

This looks uber-cool!Can't wait to give it a go.

 

Marcel, is this all a warm up before you tackle the "Make Dragon" button?

[c-wheeler]

Sorry missed the details on that last post.........

 

Where can you download the "Make Dragon" plugin?????

 

 

 

 

 

http://home.btconnect.com/FatclownFilms/

[steve392]

Thank's a bunch for this Marcel, will try it tonight

 

Marcel ,I took out the first hxt file and put in the new one opend the prj whent to the action 1 but nothing seems to work ,I tried the pose sliders allso but nothing ,I tried adding a bone to it in bones mode but it didn't move the model in the action window ,just the bone What did I do wrong

using 10.5r

[Zaryin]

This plug is awesome. I am inspired to actually work on something again .

[entity]

ThanxZ, ZPiDER!

It's fast, simple to set up, it's so versatile,---no it's not the "set it and forget it" rotiserie thing-a-ma-bob!

It's TreeeZ!!!!!!!!

[Guest Rogelio Guzman]

Hello every one

 

This is my first attempt with the current tree plugin.

 

Marcel this is an awesome plugin, you just made my job easier you da man!!!!

 

Thanks

Rogelio

[stephen]

Here's two more I've done. Both of them show a new tree I've made. It's supposed to be a old-like tree. I also added a bit of a hole in its trunk. In case you're wondering how I did it, I made the tree using the plugin, then from the base, I extruded downwards to make the trunk longer and thicker. From there, I added the hole. (So, as far as I'm aware, you can't add bumps and whatnot using the plugin - although it'd be wicked if you could )

 

Sorry, but I don't have my own website, so I'll have to post two messages and attach each file. Enjoy.

[stephen]

Here's the second one. This one has two of my robot characters in it.

 

Oh yeah, the leaves were made using the hair system in v9.0q. They look different in each picture, though, because I was still fiddling around with the settings, trying to get the best look. The above uses a slightly larger thickness than this one.

 

Enjoy!

 

I'm not sure if I've said it already (I may or may not have, I don't remember), so I'll say it now:

 

This is a great plugin! Keep up the good work! Thanks!

[stephen]

Me again.

 

I tried out the new plugin (0.2) and it doesn't seem to work on v9.0q. Bummer. But maybe it's just me? Anyone else tried in a lower version?

[gra4mac]

Here are a few leaf scans done by me that are royalty free and available for anyone to use, if you want them. Sorry, no alpha channel.

[ZPiDER]

Marcel, is this all a warm up before you tackle the "Make Dragon" button?

i'm still trying to figure out good parameters for the dragon.

[Guest mrsl13]

Marcel,

 

Yes a great cool plugin..Im using the newest version...on 10.5r...havent gotten to indepth with the sliders...Id probably need an indepth tut..the dummy I am..but I have duplicated flipped and scaled the cone object in order to make a root system along with the tree when generated..Ive also switched the mode in the action window so I can tweak the cone CPs and then generate..so cool...will try to figure a way to post a pic...

 

Mike

[ZPiDER]

will try to figure a way to post a pic...

its easy to post a pic in the wip forum:

when you are posting, there is a "File Attachments" section (right above the submit button. there you can choose a jpg file from your harddisk and it gets posted (posting may take a while since the file is being uploaded).

[ZPiDER]

havent gotten to indepth with the sliders...Id probably need an indepth tut..

ok, here is a small tut on how to get to the curve (using the example file):

[animaster]

From: "frank_silas" frank_silas@netzero.net

Date: 2004-3-23 21:13:57

 

I just downloaded the new version. Playing with that now. Marcel you are

fast and efficient.

 

Frank Silas

http://www.franksilas.com

 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Marcel Bricman"

To:

Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 6:46 AM

Subject: Re: Tree Generator Plugin

>

> From: ZPiDER : Marcel Bricman :

>

> a new version (0.2) of the TreeeZ plugin is available at

>

> http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4556&st=105

>

> all new features are also described there:

> - thickness control

> - branch length control

> - locality control

> - regularity control

>

> have fun and keep posting cool pics there to make the full version free!

>

> *** View Entire Thread @

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showt...view=getnewpost

 

>

 

www.hash.com/support/maillist.asp ===

[no0ne]

just another lonely tree on a hill

 

[mediaho]

 

Made the leaves with a hair system. Added the bark using patch images. Unfortunately, they didn't all line up properly. Feature request! Marcel, any way to make that happen? That would make texturing super easy.

 

The leaves are all a single hair system. Amazing how powerful and customizable this thing is. If anyone wants to play with the project, it's available here. It was made in beta 3. C'mon beta 4! Papa needs some shadows.

[KenH]

Thanks for the proj Ed(it asks for tgas but you gave jpgs). I see you've altered the thickness parameter. I don't get how that effects the tree. Does it animate it or does it take it into account when you activate the plugin? It doesn't seem to do anything that I can see in your project. Can you elaborate please? Thanks.

[ZPiDER]

Unfortunately, they didn't all line up properly. Feature request! Marcel, any way to make that happen? That would make texturing super easy.

i will try. i suspect it probably has to do with the ids of the cps (of the base spline).

since the example project has had some revisions, the cps might have mixed up numbering. you could try deleting the base and redrawing it in one go (so the cps get ascending ids). i think, this will probably align the patch images.

 

if not, i might look into a generic solution that aligns all the patch images of a selected arbitrary mesh.

[mediaho]

Thanks for the proj Ed(it asks for tgas but you gave jpgs).  I see you've altered the thickness parameter. I don't get how that effects the tree. Does it animate it or does it take it into account when you activate the plugin? It doesn't seem to do anything that I can see in your project. Can you elaborate please? Thanks.

I just sized the bitmaps down and changed them to jpgs so they weren't too much to download. Here's an earlier version of the project before applying the TreeZ Wizard.

[KenH]

I just sized the bitmaps down and changed them to jpgs so they weren't too much to download. Here's an earlier version of the project before applying the TreeZ Wizard.

Sure, I guessed that. Was just letting you know.

Cheers for the new proj, I'll study it tomorrow!

[ZPiDER]

ok, maybe some examples will clear up the use uf the control curves:

 

first, the default curve for thickness:

it goes from 100%(thick) to 0%(thin)

[ZPiDER]

here a curve that produces thin trees:

[ZPiDER]

and one for thick trees:

[ZPiDER]

one doesnt have to make the tips thin. for shots from far away it is advisable to make the tips thicker, so you dont have to oversample (multipass) so much to avoid scintilization in the render.

this example is just proof that it works, not what you should do

[ZPiDER]

and finally another use for the thickness control:

 

(keep in mind that along its height, the tree only has a certain number of segments, depending on your setings and target surface. any detail added to curves that are smaller than this "sampling rate" will be lost.)

[JackMcRip]

Great !!!

I love this Plugin :-)

[gschumsky]

Although it would be way cool to play with this for us Mac users (wringing hands, salivating), it looks like Marcel keeps pumping out new versions with new little features at an incredible pace (you da man Marcel!). But, the good sid of this is you guys get to beta test for us Mac guys (although we are a little envious), and I'm guessing once the big M has this locked down to a point, we can get Randy or one of the other guys at Hash (Ken, how's that new marketing gig going?? We KNOW you miss programming and compiling, doncha??) to make it Macintized.

 

So Marcel, as much as we appreciate your speediness, can you hurry it up!?!?!

 

This is getting a little to difficult to bear any longer!

[gschumsky]

Here are a few leaf scans done by me that are royalty free and available for anyone to use, if you want them. Sorry, no alpha channel.

That's it Graham, keep providing stuff for the PC gang so Marcel will feel guilty enough to get this done so we can get it on the Mac.

[Guest mrsl13]

My Pic finally and posted twice I think...oh well....Had to take the wife to the doc. so late with the pic.

 

a CactuZ from TreeZ

 

Mike

[ZPiDER]

of course i'm sticking to the lil rules for mac compatibility (like using TRUE and FALSE and NULL), but i also had to use the CMap template which i'm not sure, the 4.2 compiler supports. anyway, when i'm finished i'll surely pass it to randy and ask him to port it, but i suspect he might be busy at the moment with porting the standard plugins to osx ..

[Randy]

Here is an OS X Beta version of the TreeeZ plugin for those that want to give it a shot. You will need Beta 3+ to use it. And I haven't debugged why yet, but it causes A:M to crash on exit. Oh well, you were quitting anyway right? Between Marcel and I, one of us will have this fixed by the next release.

 

Greg, it looks like you are going to have to Beta test after all...

 

Unzip it into your HXT folder.

 

Have fun,

Randy

TreeeZ.hxt.zip

[Rodney]

Oh Oh, the Macheads are being released from thier cages... everybody lookout!

 

Looking foward to their demonstration of how sink their teeth into the Treeez plugin. Make us proud!