Leaderboard

Hi All, I did a short tutorial to show how easy it is to modify the shape of a tree by using Geometry & the Object Slice Modifier. Hope this helps Jamie

In the object reaction modifier options you could try changing the calculation method. I don't know what it is in your plant but "use vertices" is the default. If your wall object has too few vertices this will not work very well. Try changing this to "generate points on face" and making the step a small number like 1". You can choose "show magnetic points" to visualize this. I am guessing that the 3DMK has already has a good setting for reflection distance, magnetic distance, and max strength. Hope it helps ! Paul

For broadleafs with complex edge conditions you can either Use an opacity map or use a an instanced mesh for the leaf path mesh. Probably the best way to get familiar with the leaf builder mesh would be the manual. It does a really good job of explaining what each of the parameters do and it is a quick read. When I model specific leaves I usually end up using an opacity map. I make a square plane with enough segments to give me a little geometric variation then the fine detail of the shape is achieved with the opacity map. For simpler leaves I just use the leaf mesh builder on its own. Hope it helps Paul

Hi Noahman, I am not really sure. It looks like there is something going on with the material. If you are using a two sided material effect It has to know which direction is up and which is down in order to work properly. In your plant modifiers do you have vector directional modifiers on all paths ? I usually put a vector directional modifier on every path to specify which direction will be treated as up (positive) and down (negative). If you don't you will sometimes get strange results on your later paths (leaves). These black spots might be a result of normals facing the wrong direction on the leaves. This is just a guess. Maybe you could try a flat material and see if you still get strange results ? Is your leaf material a two sided material ? I

The screenshots showing trees of my first tree pack 'Oak Forest' which is already released but also some trees of my second upcoming tree pack. All branches lying on the ground are from quixel megascans and not included in the pack! There will be a big update on the first tree pack too in a few weeks. Also more lighting presets and other new features! Link to buy my first tree pack 'Oak Forest': https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/slug/trees-oak-forest Here you can watch the 'Magic Autumn' video in HQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P6Lp3wCbM0 ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Oy0zZ8

To export Point Cache to FBX, you have to create Selection Set of the object. It'll enable you to export Point Cache animation to fbx. You'll have to select 'selection set' in FBX export settings.

Hi jialuo, Yes, we've almost finished developing version 2.0, which has a node editor. Beta will be available soon: Thanks!

my first work with GrowFX

Hi Ako, Cool plant! Thanks!

Thanks Eduard problem solved!

I'm glad to be back. This is my new project - Lakeside house. House in the forest in minimalistic style. All 3d. All vegetetations were made in Growfx. Hope you like it. More about this project - > https://www.behance.net/gallery/83194795/Lakeside-house https://www.instagram.com/xshd/

for the size issue you might try resetting the xform of the original object. I am not sure about the material. It looks like the material ID is just inherited from the referenced object unless you check "generate new multi material". What is the material ID of your instanced object? If it is not five, try changing it to 5 and see if that works. Hope it helps !

It might be easier just to treat the paths like the splines and use the graph to manipulate them. Just make 1 path and use a "distributor" distributor and up the count. Then you could just use a leaf mesh to build the fronds and use different material ID for each frond type. You could use the "shape" direction modifier, but given your example it looks like a simple "vector" modifier with some graph manipulation would do it. Would this give you what you need ?

Все, спасибо! Вот что у меня получилось: Что я сделал: Так как у вас это был Editable Poly, то я зашел в режим выделения Border, и выделил границы. Затем создал из них сплайны: Там есть кнопка Create Shape from Selection. Затем пришлось применять утилиту Reset XForm к этому сплайну, иначе Garment Maker не хотел нормально работать. Ну и применил модификатор Garment Maker, который создал такую поверхность. Тут я думаю можно просто распределять из вершин как есть... Чтобы менять плотность, то можно менять плотность в самом Garment Maker. Спасибо!

Hello, I have no idea if this technical possible but it would be awesome if we could use photoscanned trunks as a mesh for our growfx object. Maybe convert a IG_mesh builder into a metamesh? When I use a photoscanned trunk in 3ds I often use a slice mod to get a clean cut on the top, maybe growfx can use this flat shape to connect to another meta mesh? Cheers, Tobi

Hello, Is there any news about how to use photoscanned trunks as a mesh in growfx to create a realistic tree?

Hello, last few days I was busy with making animated trees and grass for my personal project. I wanted to make trees with wind animation and scatter them with ForestPack, but I've faced with multiple issues. Finally, I've found the way how to make correct cache and use it without any problems. 1) Create tree and add Wind modifier into the After Mesh Modifiers. If you'll add Wind into Direction it will change topology and it will be unacceptable for the Point Cache modifier. 2) Turn on "Convert to mesh" option in the Properties of the GrowFX object 3) Set GrowFX Cache option to One file (For some reason File per frame generates broken animation). 4) Start caching. 5) Test results to be sure that everything is OK. 6) Add Point Cache modifier to the GrowFX object. 7) Set Point Cache record option as One file per frame (this time, for some reason, Point Cache didn't work with One file). 8) Copy your GrowFX object and convert it to mesh. 9) Add Point Cache modifier to the mesh object, and load cache. Done! Now you can scatter your tree model with an animation.

Это все будет в версии 2.0, там уже будет нодовый редактор, и будет возможность группировать ноды как угодно. Спасибо!

hello , just got growfx yesterday , today i am exploring it and got 3ds max crash white using trim modifier , i added trim modifier and clicked on (lines) , and 3ds max crashed , i checked it 2nd time to confirm , but it crashes , ( i was in mesh mode ) ( 3ds max 2018) 2nd crash : exlevel - growfx - created growfx object - ctrl+z = crash

I've been trying something new and can't seem to figure out if it's possible. I have a GrowFX object with a distributor with a higher count, and high chaos offset. I'd like the splines to angle more the farther away from the center of the GFX object they are. Is there a way to do this? I can't seem to find a way to make it work. Attempting to make something like this:

From what I know, obj doesnt strore vertex color data. You need a different format, can maya import fbx ?

Hi Aaron, I am pretty sure the point cache won't work if the polycount changes. All it does is change the position of existing verts in order to prevent calculating bones, morphs, etc. I have exported proxies for this but you end up having hundreds of proxies per plant, (one for each frame). This does work. It is probably the way you will need to go if you need proxies. I haven't done it in a very long time, however, I think I remember it being pretty easy. There may be a better way to convert a growing animation to a mesh. I am just not aware of it ( the last time I did it was 2012 )

I don't know of any tutorials for flowering plants specifically. The basic idea would be to have a parameter in a previous path affect the angle bend, vector, and whatever other properties you need to make the petals open convincingly. In the case of flowers, the growth of the plant may have already stopped. What I would do in this case would be to add a "dummy" path that would be invisible. The length of this path would be what affects the angle bend (opening) of your petals. I have a pretty extensive tutorial on plant growth animation here: It doesn't cover flowering plants but it should cover everything you need to get there. I would also check the tutorial library on the exlevel site. There might be something there. I haven't checked in a while.

Wind settings is simple. Here is wind speed table Set wind speed from 1 mps (almost calm) to 5-10 mps - good wind Set stiffness for branch equal to branch length. Fore example if branch length = 1 meter, then stiffness = 1 meter. Set desired flexibility & frequency. Tweak turbulence

Hi Faisal, We've updated all versions of GrowFX, and now you can download the update. Thanks again!

Hi Everyone, Today we've updated all versions of GrowFX! We found and fixed some small bug. Thanks!

Thanks a lot for your file! You've very incorrect wind settings. Stiffness is very small, although it should be within the length of the branch or more. As a result, you had to set the value of the Scale frequency is also very small. Although on the other hand you got the desired result And thanks to your settings, I found the cause of the problem and fixed it now. With the usual settings it doesn't manifest itself. What is the problem: Since we fixed some problems, I described it here: So when you moved your plant some distance from the scene center, this new problem appeared, because your perturbation speed more than the speed of the wind. Now I've removed the influence of the plant position on all perturbations, and the problem has been solved. At the moment you can simply move your plant to the coordinate [0, 0]. Also later today you can download the new version when we update it on the server. I'll let you know. Thanks again!

Could you attach proofs? In my opinion new wind is very good! Amplitude multiplier remains the same as it was before and equals 20, but now you could adjust it. Please make viewport previews with old wind and new wind!

Hi Everyone, Today we've updated the full and demo version of GrowFX. We found and fixed a bug related to the incorrect opening of old versions of gfx-files. Thanks!

Choisya

Eucalyptus tree

Hi, I dont know if this is new to anybody else but I just figured out a cool feature: When you use the Vector_dir Modifier (Direction Modifier) and go down check "Another Global Vector" and "Orientation for leaves" you can pick your sun as global vector and your leaves will direct to the lightsource like it is mostly in the nature Cheers, Tobi

Hi Treeclimber GrowFX is a 3ds max plugin exclusively. It is a smaller program inside of 3dsmax that gives 3dsmax instructions on how to build a 3d model of a plant. The .max file you are seeing is the file that is opened by 3dsmax. It contains the .gfx file, as well as the paths for the image (texture) files (.tiff, .tga, jpg., etc). the.gfx file is a file you can open using growFX when you are inside of 3dsMax. the other files are just images. they are mapped to the surface of the 3d model within 3dsMax. As far as getting these files into a lightweight program. I think it might be kind of difficult to do. Usually the models produced in growFX are too large for a lightweight viewer. I think there are a few people around here who are using it to make smaller models for use in realtime rendering, but the ones in the library are generally too large for that purpose. You would also need to know a bit about 3ds max in order to export the model to a format usable by a 3dviewer. What would you like your final product to be? That will help me give you some more direction as far as what resources to point you towards. Hope it helps, Paul

While I'm a general fan of node-based editors in many situations, and I do look forward to it in the context of GrowFX, I personally appreciate that Eduard and team have been adding new features into the current version. Many new features have saved my ass in the last year as they have been specific tasks I needed to solve and Eduard added them. I 'm personally highly thankful that new features have continued to come along. I look forward to V2. But for me I'm thinking that the node system itself is a big enough feature, by itself, to warrant a new version. I think that GFX has one of the best track records of customer support of any company I've dealt with--and a large reason for that is quick responses of features to solve customer problems.

Hi All, I completely re-made this tree as my first version was...ummm...pretty terrible. https://exlevel.com/forum/index.php?/topic/518-jacaranda-mimosifolia/ So anyway, after quite a lot of trial & error, and many different versions here is the result Attached are some renders of this improved version. Cheers Jamie

Hard to modified it.

Hi Tobi, Ok, we'll think about how to implement it. But only after the release of version 2.0. Thanks!