130 Free XFrog Trees

[Gareth]

There is a Tutorial written by Wyatt in SketchUcation forum >>>> http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtop ... ed#p286940

It was written for importing TreeD .obj files but it might be worth trying the Loose Geometry plugin....i tried but cant figure out how to use that particular plugin....!!

[JeZ]

I dont know if there is any different pros and cons between 3ds and obj files and I have not tried Xfrog OBJs, but 3DS import seams quite quick and reliable.

I have not manage to understand the scale. I tried importing a tree model and for what it is worth, the feet scale was the best, then Xfrog is an european company, so...


Now I would like to know a good leaf material for zero thickness materials...

[Gareth]

i have no idea what you mean by a leaf material with zero thickness.....it sounds too technical for my phobic brain.....i am one of those 'Create, Model, Render and Run' people....!!

but maybe the treeD site can offer something > http://www.frecle.net/index.php?show=treed.about

[Fletch]

the advantage I see for .3ds import is speed.
see this thread for giving quick translucency to your leaves.

[Gareth]

Xfrog's Acacia True Mulga is an outstanding piece of work....the detail is quite amazing.....

...for any TW Aussie renderers this is a must to have in your tree model library, especially if you need to create something in a bush setting...

.....there are several in the Xfrog Acacia True Mulga collection, i have only tried the smallest file so far, when i have the time i'll tackle the larger files...!!

[Ron_Bruins]

I tried to import a few myself but ran into the following:

importing OBJ
- faces on branches are triangulated and the triangles are front/back faced per triangulated square
So faces have to be manually flipped?
- everything is one piece, no subgroups or components for leaves / branches, etc.

importing 3DS
- faces on branches are missing, only edges are seen
So edges have to be drawed over a current edge to fill the face again

Does anyone else experienced this and how to solve this in an easy way?

[JeZ]

I have not tested it throughly, but I think unchecking the delete coplanar faces in the 3ds import option dialog.

It did help when import 3ds files from herman miller web site.

[Fletch]

When importing 3ds choose a larger scale in advanced settings before initializing the import.

[JeZ]

When importing 3ds choose a larger scale

Why?

BTW is there any trick to smooth 3ds imports? I guess something like SDS

[Gaieus]

When importing any stuff in too small size, SU will run into its own limitations with too small faces when it cannot create them if their edges are about 1 mm (~ 1/16").

If an obj import is messy, you can batch flip the vertices if you right lick on a correct vertex and choose "orient faces". If materials are now screwed up (go to back faces), use ThomThom's UV Toolkit to assign all backface materials to front faces.

The leaves and such not importing as components is a different issue. If that is correct, better to go along the 3ds way. In any case, ThomThom's Cleanup plugin will help a lot. I would not subdivide these meshes any further though. xFrog trees are already extremely heavy for SU (with Twilight environment, I would rather go along a route to export them to Kerkythea, save them as Kerky models and only use Twilight to set up your scenes and use these trees as instances in Kerky).

Again, TT has a plugin (selection toys) that can identify group instances and turn them instances of the same components. Then with yet another plugin of his (I forget the name) you can even identify similar groups/components (with a tolerance you can set) and replace with the same instance. These are extremely good tools to optimize an xFrog tree for SU (if you can talk about optimization in this case at all)

No matter how well Twilight translates Kerkythea into an extremely user friendly UI and workflow (the other day Fletch even wrote in one of my topics that I can no longer deny that I can render), it cannot overcome SketchUp's poly count limitation and it will always be a bottleneck.

I think this is why it was one of the best ideas to integrate this XML export option into Twilight.