I am thinking of buying into a speed tree subscription in order to create my greenery for the game project I am working on.
The part that confuses me on this topic is what the real cost of it is.
The sit says it costs $20 / month, which is fine, but then you go to their store and each individual tree type is like $20 - $160.
I would have thought if I was paying for software called “SpeedTree” the main advantage would be that it saves time and money on the cost of creating trees for my game.
However, if I just buy a subscription, without the tree packs, I still have to model my own trees by hand? That isn’t faster, or cheaper… its just an added cost.
Or am I missing something? Their site is just all over the place.
I don’t understand your confusion.
SpeedTree is software for creation foliage. If you buy subscription you have access to software for month and you can create any amount of foliage to use it later. it saves time and money because tree creation in SpeedTree is a creative process that doesn’t involve modeling, sculpting, texturing skills. All hard work SpeedTree is doing for you, your part is only Design -> Export. Also SpeedTree create variation of “same” tree, different ages and etc.
I recommend you to watch tutorials how to create trees by hand in 3d software and how you do it in Speedtree.
Also, you don’t have to buy subscription in order to buy trees from marketplace
You can also just buy the individual trees from their store and use them in UE4. You don’t even need a SpeedTree subscription if you’re not planning on making trees, plants, etc. yourself.
The real cost is if you have to pay someone to make the trees. Not a bad deal if you or have someone willing to make the same number of tress available for purchase for nothing but the amortized cost would be greater than what it would cost to purchase the entire catalog.