Texturing a low-poly tree

dime1622 · 06-12-2005, 04:42 PM

Hi, I'm having no luck at all with texturing the leaves on a low-poly tree. Every tutorial I find is for creating the leaves out of polygons and you end up with 50,000+ polys. I'm trying to skin a tree that's just a trunk with a few branches and then planes for the leaves (as virtually all low-poly trees go). Does anyone have any tips and/or tutorials? Thanks!

Cmart · 07-12-2005, 12:13 AM

make a plane 1x1x1.

find a picture of a leaf or make one crop it out in photoshop.

Make an alpha of that same leaf.

Back into your 3d program apply the material to the plane, and use the alpha in the opacity and you should have a low poly leaf.

Note: this really only looks good from a distance

Im sure there are other ways to do this, but this should work.

If you need alot of tree's there is a free Forrest Plug-in just google search it.

Hope this works.

PEACE!

dime1622 · 07-12-2005, 12:47 AM

Low-poly trees involve planes to cover large areas of leaves. I just haven't gotten a good technique for making the leaves yet. Your method would create way too many polys. Aiming for about 300-400 polys per tree.

Cmart · 07-12-2005, 01:09 AM

ok so questions are do you need this for a game?
and how close are you actually going to be to the tree?
and if not for a game are you animating this?

because you had said you tried modeling the leaf, any way you put that your going to be over your poly count.

You can use this same method i stated, but just build multiple leaves for one plane. I dont see how you can go less poly, when you only using 1 poly with the plane.

If you doing this for a game you should have a shader designer that you can build leaves in.

Maybe someone else maybe able to help you better.

PEACE!

jzak · 07-12-2005, 06:21 AM

Hey dime1622 ..here's a quick thing a whipped up for ya. It basically shows the lowest
possible way to make a tree. It's crap, I know but it gets the point across. If you still
have questions let me know. -J Zak-

http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/crappyTree.jpg

dime1622 · 08-12-2005, 04:36 PM

jzak - that's what I'm referring to. I know how to model the tree - the tree would have the trunk and branches made from cylinders, and then smaller branch/leaf combinations would be planes - you end up with about 30 large planes. The problem I'm having is creating the smaller branch and leaves on that plane to simulate real leaves and branches so that I can create the tree.

FrankUnique · 08-12-2005, 06:46 PM

Try to use the images of game "Age of Empires III" to get reference, the trees r low poly and is very good, see that the most method is get a good texture(difficult part), see some screenshots:

http://www.ageofempires3.com/Screens...reenshots.aspx

jzak · 09-12-2005, 05:23 PM

Hey dime1622, so you've tried that technique and it's not what you want because you are
trying to create small branches and leaves on the plane to simulate real leaves. I'm stuck on
answers for you, I would need to know what exactly kind of look you were going for....like a
reference pic. I'm not sure why you would need to do individual leaves if it's for a realtime game.
Are you going for the Age of Empires look, (camera angle high up or 3rd person view), or like
Unreal/Call of Duty look, (camera is 1st person view)? The clearer you can be, the better cause
it will benefit others viewing this thread and myself. I don't wanna waste time working on
something to show if it's something you already know. Maybe post up what you already have,
that you are working on.

06-12-2005, 04:42 PM	#1
dime1622 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Texturing a low-poly tree Hi, I'm having no luck at all with texturing the leaves on a low-poly tree. Every tutorial I find is for creating the leaves out of polygons and you end up with 50,000+ polys. I'm trying to skin a tree that's just a trunk with a few branches and then planes for the leaves (as virtually all low-poly trees go). Does anyone have any tips and/or tutorials? Thanks!

08-12-2005, 06:46 PM	#7
FrankUnique Student Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Londrina PR, Brasil Posts: 199 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Try to use the images of game "Age of Empires III" to get reference, the trees r low poly and is very good, see that the most method is get a good texture(difficult part), see some screenshots: http://www.ageofempires3.com/Screens...reenshots.aspx __________________ If you say to yourself "I can do something if I really want to" then you will be successful. I'm back to 3D \o/\o/\o/

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07-12-2005, 12:13 AM	#2
Cmart Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Houston Texas Posts: 151 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	make a plane 1x1x1. find a picture of a leaf or make one crop it out in photoshop. Make an alpha of that same leaf. Back into your 3d program apply the material to the plane, and use the alpha in the opacity and you should have a low poly leaf. Note: this really only looks good from a distance Im sure there are other ways to do this, but this should work. If you need alot of tree's there is a free Forrest Plug-in just google search it. Hope this works. PEACE!

07-12-2005, 12:47 AM	#3
dime1622 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Low-poly trees involve planes to cover large areas of leaves. I just haven't gotten a good technique for making the leaves yet. Your method would create way too many polys. Aiming for about 300-400 polys per tree.

07-12-2005, 01:09 AM	#4
Cmart Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Houston Texas Posts: 151 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	ok so questions are do you need this for a game? and how close are you actually going to be to the tree? and if not for a game are you animating this? because you had said you tried modeling the leaf, any way you put that your going to be over your poly count. You can use this same method i stated, but just build multiple leaves for one plane. I dont see how you can go less poly, when you only using 1 poly with the plane. If you doing this for a game you should have a shader designer that you can build leaves in. Maybe someone else maybe able to help you better. PEACE!

07-12-2005, 06:21 AM	#5
jzak Artist Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Boston Posts: 73 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Hey dime1622 ..here's a quick thing a whipped up for ya. It basically shows the lowest possible way to make a tree. It's crap, I know but it gets the point across. If you still have questions let me know. -J Zak- http://jz3d.com/WorkProgress/crappyTree.jpg

08-12-2005, 04:36 PM	#6
dime1622 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 18 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	jzak - that's what I'm referring to. I know how to model the tree - the tree would have the trunk and branches made from cylinders, and then smaller branch/leaf combinations would be planes - you end up with about 30 large planes. The problem I'm having is creating the smaller branch and leaves on that plane to simulate real leaves and branches so that I can create the tree.

09-12-2005, 05:23 PM	#8
jzak Artist Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Boston Posts: 73 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Hey dime1622, so you've tried that technique and it's not what you want because you are trying to create small branches and leaves on the plane to simulate real leaves. I'm stuck on answers for you, I would need to know what exactly kind of look you were going for....like a reference pic. I'm not sure why you would need to do individual leaves if it's for a realtime game. Are you going for the Age of Empires look, (camera angle high up or 3rd person view), or like Unreal/Call of Duty look, (camera is 1st person view)? The clearer you can be, the better cause it will benefit others viewing this thread and myself. I don't wanna waste time working on something to show if it's something you already know. Maybe post up what you already have, that you are working on.

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