mikebarts Soft Shaded Trees

[pathetic_berserker 4]

thanks for the info Dasquade, I had a play around with those functions and I managed to get the fire geo and the collision geo working (forgot about weights), and ill just assume the view geo's working too, are there any debug commands like e.g "show view geometry" just so i can make sure on that?. Maybe i just need to get with the times and install win7, apparently the make convex bug is a winXP thing?

In O2 Structure/topology/find non closed is about the closest you'll get to a debug for view LODs.

Is that real what your saying about the make convex bug? I use vista 64 and get that bug, so if its true that win7 fixes, I'll start pouring a little more into my win7 piggy bank.

[mikebart 1]

i found something in search about it just the other day, i just had a quick look and couldnt find it again sorry, but someone was saying about it and they reverted back to the arma1 version, but yeah someone popped in and said it works in win7, might be wrong though.

[TankCommander 3]

Hey Mikebart,

Do you find that trees in the distance shade significantly less due to the simpler LOD's? I was just looking at one of the pics you posted over at Armaholic and could see how those trees beyond 300m or so would go back to looking flat.

LINK

Could there possibly be a solution to this maybe?

Other than that, I would still think the positives outweigh the negatives.

[mikebart 1]

well, the same rule as usual still applies with the altered vertex normals, the more vertexes a lod has determines how smoothly it will shade, lod 1 and lod 2 use the altered vertex normals, but lod 3 uses unified vertex normals with a projection render to texture of lod 1 for its texture (front, side and top) i might consider having front, back, left, right and top, for lod 3, maybe it will shade better, i think it would definitly reduce lod popping on the back and right sides of the tree, because its quite an asymmetrical tree.

Projection render of front view for lod3 in modo:

kind of another relative issue is that I've found colour consistency between lods is proabably the hardest thing to tweak when making trees for arma, you can get it looking right viewed from one direction and then view it from the opposite direction and colours will be different between lods, and then when you think you've got things pretty close, you change the time of day and its all stuffed up again, so basically i've tried to find a balance, so that colour consistency's not quite perfect but looks good enough, and you'd usually only notice the changes from the air, best advice I can give to anyone tweaking lods for colour consistency would be; dont tweak it through the .rvmat, tweak it on the diffuse map.

[KeyCat 131]

...i might consider having front, back, left, right and top, for lod 3, maybe it will shade better, i think it would definitly reduce lod popping on the back and right sides of the tree

Most of this is over my head but anything that will reduce the "LOD popping" gets my vote :)

Looking forward to see whats comes out of this, keep up your great work Mike!

/KC

[mikebart 1]

I've just been working on the trunk, added some roots and a light map, I somehow managed to get shadows working, no idea how, it happened when I imported the new trunk model. I've had to boost the ambient alot to tone down the shadows on the foliage, and thats had some effect on the shading by toning down its contrast, so you can see in those images how the altered vertex normals have less effect now, but I guess some sacrifices need to be made for shadows. the improvements on the trunk take the vertex count up to 1760.

Edited March 6, 2010 by mikebart

[mikebart 1]

hey guys, heres the final release, i've updated all the geo lods, the trunk and added a lightmap just to the trunk. mlod included

Download mb_elmSmall_V1.00

[Guest]

Updated version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

mikebarts Soft Shaded Trees v1.00

[Marko112 10]

Great work Mikebart, your work is very much appreciated!

ArmedAssault.info Mirror and News:

We have also added this release to your personal author profile

If a release or contact information is missing, feel free to drop a PM, it will then be added.

[KeyCat 131]

Receiving this error on start (mb_elmSmall_V1.00), anyone else seeing this?

ErrorMessage: File , line 1: Config: End of line encountered after mb_vegmissiles\config.cpp

/KC

[Reezo 45]

Is there a way to use these as a replacement for "normal" trees in ArmA 2 and its scenarios?

Thanks in advance!

[V-Storm 10]

anyone else seeing this?

I have also this problem.

[mikebart 1]

ahh, sorry guys, I found the problem, there were 2 extra lines in the $PBOPREFIX$, sometimes it happens when i binarise, im uploading a new verson now but if you dont want to download it again, just extract the .pbo, open the $PBOPREFIX$, and delete the 2 extra lines, and create the .pbo again.

And if anyone happens to see anything else out of order, like in terms of file structure or config, things you think might cause problems for using them with an island for example, please let me know.

Edited March 6, 2010 by mikebart

[mikebart 1]

Sorry for the delay guys, this one should work,

cheers for hosting Marko and foxhound!

http://www.esnips.com/doc/6a0c9243-2928-4ef8-a35a-8684367430ec/mb_elmSmall_V1.01 -fixed $PBOPREFIX$ was causing errors on startup

[Alex72 1]

Is it a massive job to change the the trees color? They stick out a bit on Utes image, but im sure they fit somewhere else better. Just wondering if they can be changed in color depending on what island they go on. :)

[Guest]

Updated version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

mikebarts Soft Shaded Trees v1.02

Edited March 8, 2010 by Guest

[neokika 62]

Thanks for the update, but still cant get to the game with this addon, gives e this error "File, line 1: Config end of line encoutered after mb_veg?".

_neo_

[gL33k 0]

i confirm. same problem about config.cpp:

File, line 1: Config: End of line encountered after mb_vegr_plant\config.cpp

[mikebart 1]

please tell me this one works,

Download mb_elmSmall1.02

-fixed $pboprefix$

-added surface types 'foliage' and 'wood'

Is it a massive job to change the the trees color? They stick out a bit on Utes image, but im sure they fit somewhere else better. Just wondering if they can be changed in color depending on what island they go on. :)

Yeah Utes is probably a bit dry for them, they're probably more suitable for a summer map, but its really up to the terrain artist to tweak colour's to suit their terrain, like i said in the readme, I really dont mind if you adjust colours to suit your needs, I might release some masked .psd's to make it easier to adjust, so that you can isolate diferent components e.g. leaves and branches and change colours individually, like i did with MB_grass

Edited March 7, 2010 by mikebart

[KeyCat 131]

Hi mike,

please tell me this one works,

Just had time to do a quick test and yes, this new version 1.02 load on my PC without problems.

/KC

[mikebart 1]

phew, thanks KeyCat,

I've just been working on some larger versions of the tree, just placed a few down on Utes, you can see how they still recieve light kind of the same with low video settings. They're pretty fun to fly around, the taller ones are quite dense you can easily hide a helicopter behind walls of foliage, i had some fun with some AA placed around and the larger trees really do provide effective cover.

low video settings

high video settings

the larger elms are still pretty cheap considering their size 5600 verts, should be ready for release soon.

[bushlurker 46]

Looking excellent again!

Just found the "fixed" download... Thanks...

... any plans for a generic "jungle tree" using your excellent new technique mikebart?

High bulk and low poly is a major bonus in a jungle situation... and, people aren't really looking that closely... a single "jungly" tree that looks OK at a good range of sizes would help a lot in high-volume lower-detail jungle-style islands... WWII Pacific Campaign islands, for example... ;)

B

[mikebart 1]

thanks bushlurker, no plans for jungle trees at the moment, im sticking with the western Europeans for now, deciduous forests, the kind found in france and england, so should still be good for WW2 but not so good for WW2 pacific. were you thinking of a fig tree or something?

[bushlurker 46]

Hi Mike...

Yeah - a Ficus or something... Much like the Birch in northern temperate climes - you see them all sizes from "almost bushes" up to 30m - they get everywhere and grow like fury...

An idea for another time, maybe... don't let me distract you from your current task... not when it's all going so well!!!

B

[mikebart 1]

Yeah they're pretty weird looking trees. The South Australian figs are everywhere in Sydney, they could be an interesting tree to model, they'd definitly be something i'd like to have a go at some time.

Almost finished with the larger elms, they're working really nicely with the smaller tree, im gonna make one more large version with a very tall trunk and all its leaves on top, just to act as canopy, this way we'll get much more visability in the deeper areas of the forest,

heres a few shots from the ground:

Edited March 11, 2010 by mikebart