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The Staff of SOH
Making Gmax Trees...
- Thread starter Blood_Hawk23
- Start date
kelticheart
Charter Member
They are beautiful!
Blood_Hawk,
they are splendid indeed. Finally we'll be able to see Northern Hemisphere trees in ETO!
Lindsay's trees are fine, but they look too much "Aussie" gum trees to be 100% credible up here. Apart from the CFS1 model, which I do not like much, and Wolfi's nice forest patches we only have Gary20's BoB trees available for Europe.
BoB trees are fine, but limited in number and shape to represent European natural variety fully.
Ouch! I was almost ready to release my interpretation of Pen32Win's primary French airports, of which I had patiently replaced all of later Lindsay's tree libraries with Lindsay's/Mask Rider's early trees. I did this over a long period, because my first experiences with GSL work did not reveal immediately the frame rate impact of enriching airports with lots of trees.
When I found out that Lindsay's later tree production produced a sizeable negative impact on CFS2 animation rate, I was so burned out with all the work I had done before that I left everything alone for a while. Besides, I wasn't sure yet that the problem was in the trees and not with some other scenery object.
Then Pen32Win discovered the problem which took him to overhaul Gary Burns' BoB object library and, in turn, that took me back to the experiment lab, using Pen's meter to judge the frame rate efficiency of each single scenery object then available.
Finally Canion's ETO object lib was released together with Captain Kurt's great ETO repaints of CFS2 primary stock objects. Both added yet another dimension to dressing up any ETO airport, while my GSL projects took on the aspect of the famous canvas woven by Penelope, Ulysses' wife.
Woven by day and then taken apart by night........To date this must be, at least, the fifth time I re-did those sceneries with new objects released or replacing the worst fps performing ones!
Now I am facing the same job with your new trees.......
NO PROBLEM! As long as the final results will be something that will not spark again the same little devil of "hey, I could improve that......"
At any rate, my aim is to create sceneries that will be easy to recognize as belonging to that nation. This world does not look the same all over, so British airports will look similar among them and different from the French ones, the German ones, the Italian ones and so on.
Besides: no PTO objects in ETO and vice versa: no tropical forest patches or Japanese hangars in France and no hardwood forests or RAF barracks in South Western Pacific!
No scenery shall be exempt: I am using Achim's packs, good for early war years for their simplicity, Pen32Win's 2TAF (some of Pen's works look great to represent airfield late-war buildup)and Gary Burns' (aka Gary20) BoB airports. In any of these, every time I was able to find aerial pictures, I tried reproducing the historical layouts with the material at hand.
Last but not least, someone should look into the Cees Donker's magnificent RAF object library. Stunningly beautiful, historically sound objects, yet quite heavy on fps. If their frame rate could be improved, the resulting sceneries would become the best RAF airfields ever seen!
Cheers!
KH
Blood_Hawk,
they are splendid indeed. Finally we'll be able to see Northern Hemisphere trees in ETO!
Lindsay's trees are fine, but they look too much "Aussie" gum trees to be 100% credible up here. Apart from the CFS1 model, which I do not like much, and Wolfi's nice forest patches we only have Gary20's BoB trees available for Europe.
BoB trees are fine, but limited in number and shape to represent European natural variety fully.
Ouch! I was almost ready to release my interpretation of Pen32Win's primary French airports, of which I had patiently replaced all of later Lindsay's tree libraries with Lindsay's/Mask Rider's early trees. I did this over a long period, because my first experiences with GSL work did not reveal immediately the frame rate impact of enriching airports with lots of trees.
When I found out that Lindsay's later tree production produced a sizeable negative impact on CFS2 animation rate, I was so burned out with all the work I had done before that I left everything alone for a while. Besides, I wasn't sure yet that the problem was in the trees and not with some other scenery object.
Then Pen32Win discovered the problem which took him to overhaul Gary Burns' BoB object library and, in turn, that took me back to the experiment lab, using Pen's meter to judge the frame rate efficiency of each single scenery object then available.
Finally Canion's ETO object lib was released together with Captain Kurt's great ETO repaints of CFS2 primary stock objects. Both added yet another dimension to dressing up any ETO airport, while my GSL projects took on the aspect of the famous canvas woven by Penelope, Ulysses' wife.
Woven by day and then taken apart by night........To date this must be, at least, the fifth time I re-did those sceneries with new objects released or replacing the worst fps performing ones!
Now I am facing the same job with your new trees.......
NO PROBLEM! As long as the final results will be something that will not spark again the same little devil of "hey, I could improve that......"
At any rate, my aim is to create sceneries that will be easy to recognize as belonging to that nation. This world does not look the same all over, so British airports will look similar among them and different from the French ones, the German ones, the Italian ones and so on.
Besides: no PTO objects in ETO and vice versa: no tropical forest patches or Japanese hangars in France and no hardwood forests or RAF barracks in South Western Pacific!
No scenery shall be exempt: I am using Achim's packs, good for early war years for their simplicity, Pen32Win's 2TAF (some of Pen's works look great to represent airfield late-war buildup)and Gary Burns' (aka Gary20) BoB airports. In any of these, every time I was able to find aerial pictures, I tried reproducing the historical layouts with the material at hand.
Last but not least, someone should look into the Cees Donker's magnificent RAF object library. Stunningly beautiful, historically sound objects, yet quite heavy on fps. If their frame rate could be improved, the resulting sceneries would become the best RAF airfields ever seen!
Cheers!
KH
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
UT,
I'll give that a try. they don't cast shadows anyways so it won't hurt to try.
Kelti,
yeah thats my plan. trying to get some standardized tree types. You would think that there would be more online. but i'm having a devil of a time getting info that I can use as a reference.
If anyone has some pictures or info on tree types in Europe, please pass it along.
I'll give that a try. they don't cast shadows anyways so it won't hurt to try.
Kelti,
yeah thats my plan. trying to get some standardized tree types. You would think that there would be more online. but i'm having a devil of a time getting info that I can use as a reference.
If anyone has some pictures or info on tree types in Europe, please pass it along.
BH,
I wouldn't blow a fuse over the type of trees too much, oak, pine, birch is a pretty good european mix. You could always mix in different sizes, and have small versions of the trees as bushes. It's the overall colour impression which is possibly more important.
Cheers
Shessi
I wouldn't blow a fuse over the type of trees too much, oak, pine, birch is a pretty good european mix. You could always mix in different sizes, and have small versions of the trees as bushes. It's the overall colour impression which is possibly more important.
Cheers
Shessi
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
well right now the color is black. I haven't tried UTs idea yet. I'm going to try that next.
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
Got it!!!
I think.
Ok i tried UTs suggestion. at first I didn't think it worked. but as a moved around the tree it lit up depending on the sun angle.
Now i had done a few other things that may have effected it. so I have to do just the model with the transparency. With the self illumination at 100% it was too bright in the sun. So I'm going to do a few and see which looks better with different settings. I'll make them all in the same model to test the group thing as well.
Pictures to come.
Allen,
If you want to try it with just the transparent material please do. I have to go out for awhile with the family. So it won't be finished till tonite.
Till Later,
John
I think.
Ok i tried UTs suggestion. at first I didn't think it worked. but as a moved around the tree it lit up depending on the sun angle.
Now i had done a few other things that may have effected it. so I have to do just the model with the transparency. With the self illumination at 100% it was too bright in the sun. So I'm going to do a few and see which looks better with different settings. I'll make them all in the same model to test the group thing as well.
Pictures to come.
Allen,
If you want to try it with just the transparent material please do. I have to go out for awhile with the family. So it won't be finished till tonite.
Till Later,
John
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
ok here are a couple screenies.
what are your thoughts. should I try a 50% transparency? The other trees in the picture are LW's. They don't light the same way.
what are your thoughts. should I try a 50% transparency? The other trees in the picture are LW's. They don't light the same way.
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
Moving on...
Getting better... Now i just have to work on my alpha channel.
sorry its dark but it is morning. Atleast now the textures match better.
Getting better... Now i just have to work on my alpha channel.
sorry its dark but it is morning. Atleast now the textures match better.
kelticheart
Charter Member
Please, let me be a rivet counter for once!
Blood_Hawk, we have maple trees here as well. Stradivari's violin backs and sides are made of maple wood, sometimes "flamed", sometimes "birdseye" maple. Stradivari's birthplace city of Cremona lays only 40km far from here, he didn't buy instrument grade maple wood from Canada!
Their foliage is already getting bright orange this time of the year.
Some maple trees in the mix, please!
Cheers!
KH
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
Trust me Kelti, I plan on some maples and others. I'm looking for some good Chestnuts right now.
What I need is good quality pictures. It seems I'll have to make my own if I want them. I have a few and access to a few more.
The foliage here is already going past. The Red Maples were beautiful this year. Even My big Sugar Maple looked great.
What I need is good quality pictures. It seems I'll have to make my own if I want them. I have a few and access to a few more.
The foliage here is already going past. The Red Maples were beautiful this year. Even My big Sugar Maple looked great.
kelticheart
Charter Member
John, how about these? European Chestnuts, Maples and, very common here, Walnuts.
I have several of the above trees on my piece of land, last spring I counted over 20 walnuts. There are more pics in the attached zip.
Cheers!
KH
Attachments
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
Kool, Thank you Kelti.
now I need a Silver Birch. I forget the others that I was looking for.
May need a few cottonwood, poplar and ash.
Do you have Cedars?
now I need a Silver Birch. I forget the others that I was looking for.
May need a few cottonwood, poplar and ash.
Do you have Cedars?
kelticheart
Charter Member
We are becoming CFS2 park rangers......
Here you go, my friend:
European ash, birch, cedar, oak, white and black poplar. Here the distinction between cottonwood and poplar does not exist. Both white and black poplars produce the same fluffy, furry, cotton-like aerial seeds like American cottonwoods.
The main difference between white and black poplar is the shape and their favourite growth environments. White poplar is what we call here a water tree, it thrives wherever there's a lot of water nearby, preferably along small streams, ponds and river banks. Here you can follow rivers and any kind of streams from the air just by following the white poplars, their shape is akin to any broadleaf tree and their bark almost as white as birch bark is.
As you can see below, black poplars are shaped like a spearhead, they are not as thirsty as the white poplars and they grow very tall and very old. Up until a few decades ago, here in the Po valley, they were commonly planted one on each side of a gateway, or the beginning of a farm entryway, or a country road to mark the entrance point that could be seen from far away, thanks to the height of the tree. Just like two green huge pillars, they can easily reach 40' to 50' of height, about 15 metres, if not more.
Cheers!
KH
Here you go, my friend:
European ash, birch, cedar, oak, white and black poplar. Here the distinction between cottonwood and poplar does not exist. Both white and black poplars produce the same fluffy, furry, cotton-like aerial seeds like American cottonwoods.
The main difference between white and black poplar is the shape and their favourite growth environments. White poplar is what we call here a water tree, it thrives wherever there's a lot of water nearby, preferably along small streams, ponds and river banks. Here you can follow rivers and any kind of streams from the air just by following the white poplars, their shape is akin to any broadleaf tree and their bark almost as white as birch bark is.
As you can see below, black poplars are shaped like a spearhead, they are not as thirsty as the white poplars and they grow very tall and very old. Up until a few decades ago, here in the Po valley, they were commonly planted one on each side of a gateway, or the beginning of a farm entryway, or a country road to mark the entrance point that could be seen from far away, thanks to the height of the tree. Just like two green huge pillars, they can easily reach 40' to 50' of height, about 15 metres, if not more.
Cheers!
KH
Attachments
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
Kelti,
Thank you very much. I should be able to get back to them tonite. These will help a lot.
Gius,
Once I have the individual trees finished, I'm going to send to some for use in your scenery projects. The only down side would be that each tree has to be made to rotate to aircraft. I think that your current euro buildings could use them in place of the ones you have. Speaking of your buildings, I have a few more finished.
I'm considering using the Gerrish textures just for some variety. Its just a thought for now. I'm not sure how to interpret his read me.
I think I've burned out Allen on this one. Sorry Allen.
He deserves just as much of the credit. He has done all of the research into the .asm file coding.
Its definitely a group project.
Thank you very much. I should be able to get back to them tonite. These will help a lot.
Gius,
Once I have the individual trees finished, I'm going to send to some for use in your scenery projects. The only down side would be that each tree has to be made to rotate to aircraft. I think that your current euro buildings could use them in place of the ones you have. Speaking of your buildings, I have a few more finished.
I'm considering using the Gerrish textures just for some variety. Its just a thought for now. I'm not sure how to interpret his read me.
I think I've burned out Allen on this one. Sorry Allen.
He deserves just as much of the credit. He has done all of the research into the .asm file coding.
Its definitely a group project.
I haven't been doing to much anyway.
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
Well I have 8 textures finished. Three of them are pine. I do have a beech and ash to add to the mix.
Kelti,
The pics are great but I'm not sure I can make the textures from them. I'm trying to find images that I can make 1024x1024 textures. So they have to be atleast that big to start with. I think there are a couple in there. They will help me Identify some of the tree types.
Here is a short list of sizes and types...
Pines-not sure of the exact type one might be a fur.
2m
5m
10m
20m
Birch-I need another pic to make larger ones.
2m
5m
10m
Ash
10m
15m
Beech
10m
20m
Oak-two different ones so far.
10m
20m
25m
I'll post some pics once they are modeled. so far only the two oaks are modeled. Both of the larger sizes.
Kelti,
The pics are great but I'm not sure I can make the textures from them. I'm trying to find images that I can make 1024x1024 textures. So they have to be atleast that big to start with. I think there are a couple in there. They will help me Identify some of the tree types.
Here is a short list of sizes and types...
Pines-not sure of the exact type one might be a fur.
2m
5m
10m
20m
Birch-I need another pic to make larger ones.
2m
5m
10m
Ash
10m
15m
Beech
10m
20m
Oak-two different ones so far.
10m
20m
25m
I'll post some pics once they are modeled. so far only the two oaks are modeled. Both of the larger sizes.
kelticheart
Charter Member
Shoot! Some of them were huge, I reduced them 1024x768 before packing them because I was afraid SOH system would have not accepted a large zip file attached to a thread. Had I know better, I would have kept them the size you need.
Which ones do you need? I only have to open up Google pictures and type in the name of the tree in Italian. Then I'll make single zips per each tree keeping the file down to an acceptable size for a thread attachment.
I used the Italian name to be sure Google would have picked European tree pictures. Should you like to give it a try yourself, the names are as follows:
- Ash=frassino
- Birch=betulla
- Cedar=cedro. Keep in mind we have citrus plants spelled in the same way. Also Lebanon Cedars can be found in Southern Med here and there, called Cedro del Libano. I sent you a picture of the tree akin to North American cedars, here a cold climate tree of the evergreen conifer family.
- Chestnut=castagno
- Conifer=conifera
- Elm=olmo
- Hemlock=abete
- Maple=acero
- Oak=quercia
- Pine=pino
- Poplar=pioppo
- Walnut=noce
Extremely common in Europe is the locust tree, called here "robinia pseudo-acacia". Thorny, with small oval leaves gathered around a single stem, it's appreciated by beekeepers, for the clear, flavourful honey produced from locust tree flower nectar. The strong, sweet scent produced by its flowers in spring can be smelled from very far away.
On the other hand, it can become a pest, up here it is, because it's a fast growing hardwood tree that reproduces itself both by aerial seeds and sprouting new plants from the root network, suffocating other slower growing hardwoods.
Let me know how else I can help you.
There! The attachment was accepted. In it you will find large pictures of all the trees listed above, so that you can reduce them down to the size you need. I also attached a large picture of a Black Locust tree, that I forgot to add in the zip.
Cheers!
KH
Attachments
Last edited:
Blood_Hawk23
Charter Member
Kelti,
You have my email, right? Anything you find that might be too big just email me. These are great. It will be a couple days before I dig back into them again. I'm going to finish the ones I have so far. I had to fix all of my alpha channels. The tree trunks were see through.
There are some great raster images but you have to pay for them. Kinda stinks. They'd make things a lot easier. Oh well.
Keep them comeing my friend. The better the tree is isolated the easier it will be to cut out. If you want to help feel free. Might give you a break from those prop textures.
You have my email, right? Anything you find that might be too big just email me. These are great. It will be a couple days before I dig back into them again. I'm going to finish the ones I have so far. I had to fix all of my alpha channels. The tree trunks were see through.
There are some great raster images but you have to pay for them. Kinda stinks. They'd make things a lot easier. Oh well.
Keep them comeing my friend. The better the tree is isolated the easier it will be to cut out. If you want to help feel free. Might give you a break from those prop textures.