I’ve been working on a new specific tree model constantly required for some of my archviz projects. It’s called “pitangueira” here where in Brazil. I don’t think there is a name for it in English, but the scientific one is Eugenia uniflora.
So I’m sharing some images of the work (still in progress) here.
For now it has 3 LODs: detailed 400k tris for closeups; 70k and 20k for median and far distances.
I’ve created the textures using photos taken from the real tree (I have one in my backyard :D).
I need to work more on the leaf variation. There are two colors randomly distributed for now, but I want to add at least three variations and place the lighter ones on the younger branches, as it is in the real tree. I’ll put some more work on the fruits too.
The background stuff is one of my last archviz projects that I’m using as environment to test the tree materials, colors, scale, etc…
C&C are welcome.
Very nice. If there’s one thing I’d nitpick on it would be the thickness of the leaves. Seems the original is one of those type that has these relatively thick leaves, so typical for a lot of vegetation in more tropical climates. Perhaps a more pronounced normalmap can help here. The fruits could perhaps be a little bigger too but that quickly changes the whole look of such a tree. This is very neutral and I like it.
If you happen to come across an exterior which is stunning in Unreal, then it has to be @rabellogp. I really envy his exterior lighting work and the details he puts into them.
Hey @rabellogp, can you share any of your test work(exteriors) with community so that we can study them
Thanks! Yes, that tree has thick leaves indeed. I’m still thinking on how I could achieve that “thick border” effect on closeups. The ordinary normal map just give some imperfections to the surface. I’ll probably try a custom paint normal map with extra work on the borders…
Thanks, man.
My studies are always paid works that I sell to someone. So I couldn’t just share it for free… Same with the assets, I’m always working on something that I’ll probably drop on the marketplace. I’m thinking about a tutorial, but it’s very time consuming and I don’t know when I’ll be able to dedicate some time to this… Meanwhile, you can always ask me about specific stuff or techniques in my topics or via PM and I’ll be glad to help if I can
Yeah Speedtree (the build in texture tools) can’t do that. It can do puffiness but not thickness. You just need a simple alpha of the leave and make a normalmap out of that so it gives you a nice fat border. Bit off falloff on your white before you make a normalmap and you should be good to go
Now there is 4 leaf variations and a version with flowers. I’ve also tweaked the tree parameters to improve its structure compared with the real one.
Yet to do:
I’m still not happy with the fruit and flowers distribution, the must be organized in clusters and it’s not looking like that for now.
The fruits are too spherical and uniform (looks like mini Christmas balls :p) I’m also working on that.
I’ll improve the normal maps to give leaves a “thicker” visual.
That final shot has such an awesome integration of a backplate. It always stuns me to see what a huge impact it can have. Very nicely done!
I mean, it IS a backplate right?
There is no backplate there, it’s all 3D scenario. 5 square kilometers of landscape with satellite textures and real topography. The details are concentrated on the neighborhood of the houses. You can see the place where those pictures were taken marked in red:
Well, goes without saying that makes the entire thing even more impressive! Do you bake the entire scene?
