Landscape Visualization Questions

[bobzilla]

I was thinking of experimenting with Carrara with this kind of stuff. Apparently, there's a free version of Carrara 5 Pro on 3D World mag (in the states Feb 9th, I'm told).

You should be able to upgrade to version 6 Pro. I fgured it's worth a shot. It LOOKS like it has some pretty good landscape abilities.

[BUZZFX]

Thanks Robert, but I was interested in doing this in C4D

[Hilt]

Paintguy just mentioned about every feature of DPIT. Check http://www.dpit2.de/ for more info.
I dont have that much experience of the plugin, I've only tested the demo but from what I tried it is really rich with features and very capable of doing it's magic.

[bobzilla]

Well, I would go for DPIT, but it's too expensive for me right now.

I would much rather do it direectly in C4D, too. DPIT would be the ideal situation, most likely.

[mmoir]

Hey Paint Guy,

I am a relatively new user of C4D but I have owned Carrara going back to Raydream studio and one of the things I miss in C4D is the Surface Replicator which does what you are looking for. I know you wanted to do it within C4D but it is only the cost of a magazine to see if you like it.

I have looked at DPIT but it is expensive and I haven't really seen alot of images that use it to create landscapes with lots of trees etc. I would be interested if anyone has any links to some images created with it that show off the instance creation of lots of trees.

If you have Xstream that is the way to go to stay within C4D although you would still be rendering your scene via Vue's rendering engine if I am not mistaken. I have also read that Xstream isn't the most stable software to use and is quite expensive if you dont have it.

[AdamT]

xStream is the best option, but of course pricey and a bit buggy. Xfrog makes great trees, but the ones you purchase are awfully high poly. You can use it to make lower poly trees of course. If you have Mograph you can use it to "populate" your environment, but these are real objects so there's no memory savings.

[georgedrakakis]

Maxon's vbtrees are a good option too
vbtrees (http://www.maxon.net/pages/products/editions/architecture/vbplants_e.html)

cheers,
george

[spedler]

Xfrog does really good trees and the later DVDs come with billboards - alpha planes - to give you background forests plus a few hero trees in the foreground. Alternatively try the cutout trees at Vyonyx (http://vyonyx.com/index.php/category/down/cutout-trees). They're free! The Hair module can make good grass.

[BUZZFX]

Maxon's vbtrees are a good option too
vbtrees (http://www.maxon.net/pages/products/editions/architecture/vbplants_e.html)

These trees look great but it says "This Offer Is Available In Europe, Asia and Australia only!" So are these trees not available in North America?

[kromekat]

I have Xstream, but it's truly betaware (take out the 't', and the message is clearer!) - it really is a bag of bugs, and not at all stable in my experience. Vue 6 Infinite is also plagued with similar issues, but it IS possible to complete a complex scene and render (with lots of careful saves and restarts), so you could import your models into it and render there, although the material system is very different to C4D, and not so intuitive.

The VBTrees are very good actually, and on the occasions I have tried the former method, I have usually ended up using these models instead, and have had some very pleasing results. They'd still be a lot of polys used on a very large scale scene, and the 2D method would certainly be advisable for the mid and distant trees.

Stormtracer can also help in creating distant forests of the 2D/placard trees with ease.

Adam

[BUZZFX]

Hi Adam, I also have Infinite, but have thought of getting XStream. In you opinion what are the most troublesome problems with XStream and is Xstream still the best way to render trees and landscapes in Cinema 4D?

[govinda]

You know, this really depends how you're going to use your trees. 'Populate a landscape' is only half the info you need. The other half is, how closely are you going to view your trees? First things first. Then you'll know how to sort through the answers by all the talented users who've replied.

If trees are to be near the camera, I build them or re-use golden oldies from my library, which includes XFrog pre-mades. If I'm really close, I try not to use XFrog trees because I don't like how it sprouts the branches via geometry collisions from the trunk.

For background trees, here's an example. From a Subaru promo commercial last fall, I have these trees distributed using Mograph (amazing how much a Target effector pointed at camera helps when the camera is moving). Also there's a depth pass to limit how much geometry I'd have to render at 30fps, but also conveniently mimicking a foggy morning:

http://www.planetsandvegetables.com/cgtalk/sub_trees/sub_trees1.jpg

For nearby trees, acting as camera wipes, it's also sprite planes with higher-res foliage imagery, also distributed and targeted using Mograph:

http://www.planetsandvegetables.com/cgtalk/sub_trees/sub_trees2.jpg

More far trees, with two alpha glitches apparent to anyone with sharp eyes, but not apparent in motion.

http://www.planetsandvegetables.com/cgtalk/sub_trees/sub_trees3.jpg

[BUZZFX]

Richard, Thanks for the examples. I will need distant and close trees as I am going to be rendering both. Where did you get the trees in the Subaru Image? Are those the XFrog Trees?

I am thinking low poly billboard trees would populate well within C4D so I think that might be the way to go. What do you think?

[govinda]

Those are all one-poly planes.

(Oops, I think you edited your post after I replied. I should also say that nobody can reply with any relevance until you say whether it's for animation or single frame renders. I only do animations, so I tend to reply from that perspective, whereas other replies are from arch-viz people who mostly do single frames and can use higher polygon models.)

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