Hi,

I'm working on a few trees for DoD:S. Since I don't have the time to model trees + learn to map I will just continue to work on these and perhaps they will be used to generate nice areas in maps.

Here is an example:

I will try to add also snow skins for each model. :o

coitainly an improvement from the standard ones, top job.

Very nice.

I like, got a close-up of the trees trunk?

please please continue, foliage needs a huge graphic enhancment in dod, looks your the right man to do it, looks fantastic

I could really use these in a project that i am working on and have not yet shown off

I do request that you include a "Fall" skin for them like the default trees have if you would be so kind

I do request that you include a "Fall" skin for them like the default trees have if you would be so kind You mean an autumn skin? If so, yes I'm trying to make summer, autumn and winter skins for all models. :)

Maybe somebody can help me with an skin problem. (I'm new to this source editing. I've read dozens of tutorials but doesn't really covers what to do with materials someone used on model)

I've used Cannonfodder Studiocompiler but since that tool doesn't support LOD or different skins on one model I had to do it manually with .QC file.

I have:


$modelname brg_foliage\tree_alder.mdl
$scale 1.0
$staticprop
$surfaceprop "wood_solid"
$body "Body" "tree_alder.smd"
$texturegroup skinfamilies
//summer, winter and autumn skins
{
{ "stam" , "stamlvl2" , "aspentakv2"}
{ "stam_w" , "stamlvl2_w" , "aspentakv2_w"}
{ "stam" , "stamlvl2" , "aspentakv2_a"}
}
$sequence idle "tree_alder" fps 1
$lod 50
{
replacemodel "tree_alder.smd" "tree_alder_lod.smd"
}
$collisionmodel "tree_alder_col.smd"
{
//Mass in kilograms
$mass 350.0
$concave
}


Model and its lod show up fine but without textures. :(

Does your LOD model actually have the correct textures assigned to it in your modelling program?

BTW, set the $shadowlod to point to your LOD model and it'll save polys drawing the shadow.

Originally posted by Trp. Jed
Does your LOD model actually have the correct textures assigned to it in your modelling program?

BTW, set the $shadowlod to point to your LOD model and it'll save polys drawing the shadow.

1) Yes it does. Really weird because when I compile it with Studiocompile it works fine.

2) Thanks will try when I fixed this problem :).

If you need help compiling models just PM me, i know my way around the QCs pretty well

Perhaps I need to define where the materials are? :confused:

Yeah, $cdmaterials might help :D

Hmm still no luck, anyone willing to help?

I can send the .smd files and materials... or I can release them without lods and skins. :o

Now I have this

$modelname "brg_foliage\tree_alder2.mdl"
$cdmaterials "\materials\models\" <-- also tried adding brg_foliage to this
$surfaceprop "wood"
$staticprop
$scale 1.00
$body studio "tree_alder.smd"
$sequence idle "tree_alder.smd" fps 1
$collisionmodel "tree_alder_col.smd"
{
$Mass 1000
$concave
}

$lod 60
{
replacemodel "tree_alder.smd" "tree_alder_lod.smd"
}

$shadowlod
{
replacemodel "tree_alder.smd" "tree_alder_lod.smd"
}

Materials are in: <gamedir>\materials\models\brg_foliage
Model are in: <gamedir>models\brg_foliage

:o can't see anything wrong...

Looks really good, please continue so I can steal it for my map :P

3 more higer resolution screenshots:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage04.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage03.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage02.jpg

:cool: Now I'm going to continue to work on the trees and fix the .qc lod, skins problems later. :)

Hopefully these will be available soon as I need to start work on another map!

The leaves look great, as do the trees as a whole!

Great job.

If you need help with the QCs you can hit me up on XFire or through Friends, i use CharlestonN as my screen name for both

Chirst, finally got it to work. Textures, LODs and skins shows up fine now. :cool:

Can't tell exactly from those screenshots but are you using $translucent or $alphatest in your leaf VMT files? I'm guessing $alphatest and that either your graphics card or the image resizing is softening the edges.

Originally posted by Trp. Jed
Can't tell exactly from those screenshots but are you using $translucent or $alphatest in your leaf VMT files? I'm guessing $alphatest and that either your graphics card or the image resizing is softening the edges.

This is vtm file:

"VertexLitGeneric"
{
"$baseTexture" "texturepath"
"$translucent" 1
"$model" "1"
}

=) Here is example of winter and summer skin of small spruce tree:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage05.jpg

As I was playing Flash today I noticed that at the bottom of trees in maps the stump of the tree goes Straight into the ground and there is usually a texture around the base that makes it look like roots, why can the bottom of trees not sprawl out like roots, rather than rely on the texture of the ground to explain that part of the tree.

Originally posted by jules
As I was playing Flash today I noticed that at the bottom of trees in maps the stump of the tree goes Straight into the ground and there is usually a texture around the base that makes it look like roots, why can the bottom of trees not sprawl out like roots, rather than rely on the texture of the ground to explain that part of the tree.

My only guess if stumps were made for trees, one would have to be for slanted land, and another would have to be made for flat land.

Very nice trees. I like the smoothness of the leaves. :)

Surely you can noclip the model into the ground a little bit, that way it looks like the ground is naturally surrounding the stump.

OK just a tip from experience...

If you're using $translucent with trees you'll get sorting order problems where leaves that should be at the back appear in front meaning the tree looks inside out. This is a problem for pretty much all 3D engines have and it's why they usually use $alphatest for foilage and things like chain link fences.

Sometimes you can get lucky and it wont look so bad but be warned it more than likely will happen at some point.

Secondly, the snow texture on that fir makes no sense at all!

First of all, the snow wouldn't be on the BOTTOM of the branches. It'll settle on the top, not the bottom. Likewise, the foilage above will shade the branches below so snow wont gather as much on them.

You've got it partly right by having the leaves more green nearer the trunk but then.... oops, the trunk is white! You might get some snow on it where it's exposed but only if the tree is fairly exposed and the wind blows the show in, in which case it'll tend to gather on one side only.

Oh and the weight of snow on the branches tends to make them sag...

Sorry to be picky but it's always a problem when doing organic modelling. Making things look "real" is way harder with them and certain things (like snow patterns) tend to jump out and smack you in the face.

Originally posted by jules
As I was playing Flash today I noticed that at the bottom of trees in maps the stump of the tree goes Straight into the ground and there is usually a texture around the base that makes it look like roots, why can the bottom of trees not sprawl out like roots, rather than rely on the texture of the ground to explain that part of the tree.

Speaking of someone living in Scandinavia (and seeing these trees all the time) you'll be suprised but they do tend to just stick out of the ground and theres very little visible root at the base. Generally you tend to get a slight piling up of dead needles and othe detritus at the base which makes the bottom look flared.

Originally posted by Trp. Jed
OK just a tip from experience...

If you're using $translucent with trees you'll get sorting order problems where leaves that should be at the back appear in front meaning the tree looks inside out. This is a problem for pretty much all 3D engines have and it's why they usually use $alphatest for foilage and things like chain link fences.

OK thanks I'll take a look at that ;)

edit: OK i've checked and indeed some areas with many leaves does indeed look good now, i had some problems you described there and now they are gone.

Originally posted by Trp. Jed


Secondly, the snow texture on that fir makes no sense at all!

First of all, the snow wouldn't be on the BOTTOM of the branches. It'll settle on the top, not the bottom. Likewise, the foilage above will shade the branches below so snow wont gather as much on them.

You've got it partly right by having the leaves more green nearer the trunk but then.... oops, the trunk is white! You might get some snow on it where it's exposed but only if the tree is fairly exposed and the wind blows the show in, in which case it'll tend to gather on one side only.



Never thought of that only the trunk texture was WIP there, too white indeed. Guess I can solve the bottom snow by applying just the summer texture there.

Originally posted by Trp. Jed


Oh and the weight of snow on the branches tends to make them sag...



I know but then I must make a new models for all snow trees so I hope this will be less of a problem when I fix bottom texture and trunk.

Update:

Birch tree:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage06.jpg

My first goal is the create most common west-euro trees (for maps located in france, germany and so on) in summer skin and later release them with autumn and winter ones. :)

Noice, one tree I think would be good would be the snowy pine in the colmar map, to me it doesn't appear to be very perhaps that could do with a bit of a touch up.

wow, very nice trees, top notch
would love to use that first one soon :D

Flashy[-NL-], these trees look great !!

:)

any news? and can u say the polys plz

ok, i also tried that tree with yours as small reference picture ;)
(need to learn)

http://speicher.trclan.de/ernst/pics/birke.jpg

here is my qc file if you still work on this
(maybe u need it)


$modelname "msc/e_tree.mdl"
$cdmaterials "models/msc"
$staticprop
$scale 1.0
$model model "e_tree.smd"
$sequence idle "e_tree" loop fps 1
$texturegroup skinfamilies
{
{ "e_bark1.vtf" "e_tree1.vtf" }

}


$lod 80
{
replacemodel "e_tree.smd" "e_tree_lod.smd"
}

$collisionmodel "e_tree_phys.smd" {


also the vmt´s:


"vertexlitgeneric"
{
"$baseTexture" "models\msc\e_bark1"
"$surfaceprop" "wood"
}



"vertexlitgeneric"
{
"$basetexture" "models\msc\e_tree1"
"$alphatest" 1
"$nocull" 1
"$model" 1
"$nodecal" 1
}


please continue work

I'm thinking on releasing the models in steps (starting with a few trees and see what can be improved later) otherwise I never get to finishing them... :)

Here can you preview 2 of my trees, I think they look OK enough to be released.

Included is this one (http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage01.jpg) and a new one.

Birch model was changed so LOD texture need changing so will be in next release.

Download: Release 1 (http://ofpc.de/berghoff/files/dod/dod_foliagepack_release1.zip)

i like them. very natural, especially tree_alder.

but there seems to be a problem with skin 2 and skin3 on tree_alder.mdl. purple-black checkerboard :-(

also maybe the lod-change (on tree_alder mainly) is a little to early, don't you think?

i like them. very natural, especially tree_alder.

but there seems to be a problem with skin 2 and skin3 on tree_alder.mdl. purple-black checkerboard :-(



Ah forgot to mention the winter, autumn skins are not done yet sorry :(.

also maybe the lod-change (on tree_alder mainly) is a little to early, don't you think? I'm going to check this and going to add another LOD to that tree so last LOD can kick in a bit later.

Just a tip - if your using multiple "skins" per tree, beware of possible performance issues.

A model with multiple skins loads every texture it uses, even if that skin isn't used in the map. I imagine for a tree the textures are very small anyway, but if say you have spring, summer, autumn, winter textures and the mapper only chooses to use spring textures, the other 3 seasons textures get loaded anyway.

[QUOTE=Trp. Jed;1034573]Just a tip - if your using multiple "skins" per tree, beware of possible performance issues.
/QUOTE]

Thanks didn't know that yet.

Here's a shot from new tree:

Screen (http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage07.jpg) :)

Are you using normal maps on your bark texture? If you are I can tell you another performance saving tip.

cool...any chance of getting a "destroyed" version? with the broken trunk and the top laying next to it?

It´s great work also on the new tree !

some to your first release:

-use concave (http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Collision_model) for the collision model and more individual parts

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/6939/helper2kw8.jpg

$collisionmodel "name.smd"
{
$concave
}
$surfaceprop "wood"

-remove all faces that the player cant see

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6387/helpermg3.jpg

to the "tree_alder":
-the textures are to big , use 1024 max and make it to compressed vtf´s (i think u know that,second tree is perfect)

that lod model is crazy :D

Yes all those things will be fixed in next update (more lods for trees, model optimization and so on..) which also contain some new models.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage08.jpg

looks nice ;)

but i forgot can u scale the bark textures larger (same on tree_alder)
too many repeats

Here is a small update:

Release #2 (http://ofpc.de/berghoff/files/dod/dod_foliagepack_release2.zip)

2 new pine tree model included :D

---

Changelog:

- Release #2:


* added:- tree_scotspine1.mdl
- tree_scotspine2.mdl

* changed: tree_alder.mdl:
- Changed UV mapping
- Added extra LOD
- collision model
- Optimized model
- Removed skins

* changed: tree_commonlinden_1.mdl:
- collision model

- First Release
---

:)

Great Looking Trees !!

These will be used in my maps for sure !

Thanks!

:)

Flashy, when you get all these trees done, don't forget to make a single release thread with all the downloads so I can link to it in map models list. :)

Flashy, when you get all these trees done, don't forget to make a single release thread with all the downloads so I can link to it in map models list. :)

Sure. :)

Next in line is a nice big oak tree;

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/Berghoff/Day%20Of%20Defeat/DoD_foliage09.jpg

Hmm is it also possible to add some sort of gentle sway to trees? Where only the trunk moves slightly? Or is it too expensive on CPU/GPU??

You'd have to add 2 or 3 bones in the trunk and create a short animation. I don't know what effect that'd have on performance but since it's just something else to keep track of, it can't be good for fps.


The only problem with the trees I've tried ingame and HLMV is the switch between the LODs. I assume the lowest lods are just renders of the trees, but the colours, brightness and alpha on the trees are all different so the jump to that lod ingame is too obvious. If you can line the view up in HLMV properly and take a screenshot, that'd be a better way to get those textures since that's how the models appear ingame.

You can make trees sway, I've done it for Goldsrc although for that engine it was VERY expensive in terms of performance.

One trick we did in HaJ for a while is to create a material proxy for the leaf texture and make it gently sway back and forth slightly as a sine wave. It's not perfect but on our hedges it gave the impression the wind was gently blowing the leaves when you got close.

If you want it to sway, a simple bone animation would be best.

IMO, taking the big oak for example, a tree of that size wouldn't necessarily sway unless there was some pretty powerful winds. If there was just a slight breeze the leaves would then be rustling, with maybe slight movement near the top. Maybe it's something to think about.

Ok no sway then, no matter I think it looks quite good even without sway:



Oak & Birch models are nearly complete, also created skybox models of lowest LODs.

;)

beaut

Birch model is fixed.

Click for larger version of collection screens (taken in hlmv).

Download: Release #3 (ofpc.de/berghoff/files/dod/dod_foliagepack_release3.zip)


- Release #3:

* added:
- tree_oak1.mdl
- tree_birch1.mdl
- object_oakbranch1.mdl
- tree_oak1_skybox.mdl
- tree_oak1_skyboxfar.mdl
- shrub_oak1.mdl



;)

These don't overwrite any existing releases, correct? This is all new material?

BTW, I like this stuff, keep it coming if you have more.

These don't overwrite any existing releases, correct? This is all new material?

BTW, I like this stuff, keep it coming if you have more.

-Yes some do, with newer files, updated collision model etc.

-There will be more, once all models are done i think mappers can create nice french towns/landscape or even create a bastogne like map with pines, spruces (If wanted I perhaps can create even more lowpoly models which i think still have in archive somewhere :P ).

nice looking trees! but you might want to think about texture size again. if you have that 1024x1024 or even 2048x2048 texture with a lot of alpha, it will definitely kill performance a lot. just put about 20 trees behind each other and you'll see hard performance drops.

ie. dod_cherbourg_b2 (http://www.dayofdefeat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71712) has only a few of your trees in it and not even close to each other, but the map is uplayable for me (5fps and below) because of the size of the leafs-texture. and yes, i can play nearly every other map with at least 20 fps.

people with not so high machines will not be able to play the maps this model is used in.

I've seen great looking tree's w/ 256x256 textures...it's all about the authenticity...not necessarily the realism. I'll put it this way...I can put a few dozen 256x256 tree's in view that have decent lod and get both a great looking forest and no hard perf issues.

Hmm, i now have another pc with a old 9800pro to test with. For now i've added mipmaps to textures (somehow i missed to check this in program) and resized some. Since alder tree has many leafs over eachother i've lower that one to 512x512 gotta redo lod texture for next release.

Just redownload from previous link (http://ofpc.de/berghoff/files/dod/dod_foliagepack_release3.zip). Let me know if this helped. ;)

good now !

only a feew things, also remove the faces below (pic ) on all trees
(and maybe on physmodels too)
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1332/faceui3.jpg

also the skybox-trees dont need an physic model
and the textures still to big for my tastes

at all is it better now and goes in the final way, gw !

I've increased last lod change distance a bit now too make it less noticable aswell.

and the textures still to big for my tastes 512x512 still to big? Still have to fit 2/3 lod textures of whole tree on there :P.

no i take an look in the material folder, there are bigger textures

no i take an look in the material folder, there are bigger textures

Yes, later today it will release a newer version with 512x512 textures. :p Hopefully all will be fine.

edit; catch em here (http://ofpc.de/berghoff/files/dod/dod_foliagepack_release4.zip).

If there are any problems let me know otherwise i'll open a topic in releases part of forum :p.