Should i use the foliage tool and paint my trees in to my level or just drop and drag the trees into the level themselves?
Depending on your design. If level is small, means like a standard fps shooter or L4D2 map (still not really big levels) for example, you can place trees manually for better design effect. But standard way is use foliage paint, then edit it manually (you can select and remove single foliage, tree, rock etc). Here also other method with auto foliage painting, but in my opinion is better paint it manually even on large world (I work on open world game and this way is ok) then edit.
Finally, you can mix both method - paint manually in non key areas and place meshes in important for design places, for example around buildings etc.
So there are several options for adding foliage. but we need to consider the following:
- does the foliage need collision, such as trees or bushes?
- where is that foliage going to be, at a distance, up close, est?
- What are you looking for with foliage, such as a dense cluster of trees, wavey grass, est?
So if you’re producing background trees, trees at a distance or out of reach, you won’t need collision if you never intend on the player touching the trees. So in this case for ease of use i would use the landscape foliage, here. this way you can paint the terrain with a cheap landscape and forget about the rest.
So we need collision for the trees, be sure to set up collision on the trees ahead of time.. this way your maximize your performance. here I would definitely use the foliage tool.
now if you have background foliage, such as trees way out in the distance, using the 2d tree plane effect is your best bet, and these can be set up with the same foliage tool, or by setting up LODs.
I would almost never place the trees by hand, unless you want it to be a set piece or used in a specific way.
Thanks for both of your quick answers, really appreciated.