Foliage

Topics about foliage and vegetation in games.

Foliage Tutorials

General Techniques

• Hedges and Topiary a quick tutorial - by 'Vig'. Modeling and texturing method for stylized bushes.
• Tree making fast technique? thread on Polycount. Tree modeling techniques discussed.
• Tree texturing thread on Polycount. Tree texturing discussed.
• Real quick tree texturing question thread on Polycount. More tree stuff.
• Modeling a tree crown with ease Polycount forum post.
• any tutorials on grouping and spreading out vegetation realistically Polycount forum thread.
• "BC" - some simple, game-friendly ivy - by James 'Uly' Stout. How to create game-friendly ivy meshes & textures.
• 3D TreesTutorials thread from the Polycount boards. Multiple methods.

3ds Max

• Climbing Rose Tutorial - by Mark 'Jenn0_Bing' Foreman. How to create custom and efficient ivy-style meshes in 3ds Max.
• Trees for Beginners in 3ds Max Tutorial - by "braveryd". Using the AEC Extended: Foliage tree generator in 3ds Max.
• Tree creation using particle generator - by Andy Zibits. Using a particle system in 3ds Max.
• Bending vertex normals and using vertex color - by Eric Chadwick. Using the Edit Normals modifier in 3ds Max to bend the vertex normals of low-poly foliage planes.
• Bending the vertex normals with Normal Thief - by Eric Chadwick. Using the Normal Thief script in 3ds Max to bend the vertex normals of low-poly foliage planes.
• Tree Modeling Techniques and Principles (PDF) - by Matthew D'Onofrio. Modeling efficient low-poly branches in 3ds Max using Extrude Along Spline.

Maya

• Sprite-Based Particle Trees - by Steven J. Tubbrit. Using a particle system in Maya.
• Ultra-efficient tree texturing and modeling - by Andy Zibits. Using Paint Effects in Maya to create the foliage texture and branches.
• Low-poly Tree Using Maya PaintFX - by Jeramy Cooke. Using Paint Effects in Maya to create the foliage texture, then hand-modeling the tree.

CryEngine

• Creating foliage in 3ds Max for CryEngine 3 Crydev forum post.
• Vegetation Procedural Animation and Shading in Crysis - by Tiago Sousa. A detailed overview of Crytek's process for vegetation shading.

Unity

• Tree Creator Tutorial - by larsbertram. Using Unity to create trees.

UDK

• Creating Foliage for UDK ($) - 3dmotive tutorial by Damian 'teaandcigarettes' Lazarski. Using 3ds Max 2012, Photoshop, and UDK to create grass and tree branches. See also the Polycount forum thread.

Foliage Tools

These tools are useful for creating game-resolution models.

Stand Alone

• frecle tree[d] (exports formats .B3D, .OBJ, .X) (alternate download via web.archive.org)
• ShoeBox: Mask Image by Hendrik-Jan "renderhjs" Schoenmaker - converts tree photos into transparent textures.
• ngPlant

3ds Max

• TreeGen script for 3ds Max
• TreeMaker script for 3ds Max
• ATree3D script for 3ds Max

UDK

• SpeedTree in UDK ($)

Foliage Rendering

• Alpha Blend
• Sorting Problems
• Foliage Shading
• Emissive
• NormalMap

Foliage Examples

• Battlefield 4 Vegetation - Art dump Polycount Forum thread.
• Foliage growth in CryEngine 3 Crydev forum post. Probably using a gradient in the alpha to grow the leaves. Another video here showing both grass and leaf growth.