Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Tutorials/guides/tips on how to use Indigo and the Indigo exporters
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thednx
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:38 am

Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by thednx » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:33 pm

Hi Everyone,

i am really looking for some help on using Blender and vegetation, and rendering with Indigo.
Indigo brings the best results in renders, I want to stick with it, but i am -really- frustrated with finding at least a rough guideline on creating plants in Blender and rendering with Indigo.

enclosed is a screenshot of the direction i am going for.

What are my pains and worries? Maybe someone could point me in the right direction:
There are built-in scripts in blender like Ivy Generator and Sapling. But once i get to the texturing / materials i get lost.

1. what is Your best experience in creating / modeling plants for output in Indigo in the first place?
2. I know how to basically texture / assign a material: how do i use a "pine tree" material or grass material (http://www.indigorenderer.com/materials/categories/7) on my mesh? Do i model a branch and then assign the material? Do i create a grass blade mesh and then assign the material? If yes, how?

A short and to-the-point step by step tutorial for a tree, or moss covered rock would be very much appreciated...especially starting from the mesh, to using the material.

thanks!

Dennis
Attachments
green.jpg

StompinTom
Indigo 100
Posts: 1828
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:33 pm

Re: Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by StompinTom » Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:36 pm

Whew, big topic, but one that's not too hard to get a handle on.

I've found that the biggest factor in creating believable vegetation is a controlled randomness. Obviously, you can't make each blade of grass unique, because the RAM requirements for the geometry would be astronomical for even a simple scene.

Are you comfortable using Blender's particle systems? The way I typically disperse vegetation through a scene is by using particle systems and proxy meshes for high-rez plants / trees. You can paint density and size maps to really mash things up and layer up the particle systems to get really thick and lush vegetation.

It all kind of works the same way, except on different scales. If you want to get super-detailed with your moss, you'd do the same thing (model a few moss bits and scatter them over the rocks with a controlled density map); if you want a forest of trees, you'd get a few different trees and scatter them over a terrain object.

In terms of texturing grass / leaves, etc. I usually just model the grass and leaves, because with instancing it doesn't really matter if your grass has 2 polys or 2000.

Anyway, does that help?

EDIT: For the image above, I would start by modeling the terrain, the water, the rocks, etc. to get your base geometry. Texture everything like you normally would. Apply a particle system to the rocks, set the Physics model to None (this creates static instances) and use a density map to control where the moss grows thickest. Attach your little moss bits to a group and set the particle system to Group. Use a similar method for scattering the grass over the terrain.

thednx
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2011 11:38 am

Re: Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by thednx » Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:06 am

Hi,

thanks for the tips!
Are you comfortable using Blender's particle systems?
Yes, ive tinkered around quite a bit with it and am pretty comfortable with it.
proxy meshes
Say what now?
You can paint density and size maps
i`m doing some research on that.

Just one more question to this huge topic (I really think I am writing a tutorial when I am done with this :D )

Materials. You said i sure -texture- everything and then apply materials....but, the materials in the Indigo Materials DB are "complete": do i still have to texture??

This is what my small logic mind puts together from what I have learned:
1. create a plane (example)
2. unwrap it
3. assign the material from the Material DB (as external material)
4. voila! *Indigo-Miracle happens* and a leaf is rendered.
5. use this leaf object in a particle system.

only i dont get far with that "philosophy".

StompinTom
Indigo 100
Posts: 1828
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:33 pm

Re: Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by StompinTom » Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:57 am

thednx wrote:Hi,

thanks for the tips!
Are you comfortable using Blender's particle systems?
Yes, ive tinkered around quite a bit with it and am pretty comfortable with it.
proxy meshes
Say what now?
You can paint density and size maps
i`m doing some research on that.

Just one more question to this huge topic (I really think I am writing a tutorial when I am done with this :D )

Materials. You said i sure -texture- everything and then apply materials....but, the materials in the Indigo Materials DB are "complete": do i still have to texture??

This is what my small logic mind puts together from what I have learned:
1. create a plane (example)
2. unwrap it
3. assign the material from the Material DB (as external material)
4. voila! *Indigo-Miracle happens* and a leaf is rendered.
5. use this leaf object in a particle system.

only i dont get far with that "philosophy".
Yeah, that works. If you're using Indigo materials, then you just have to unwrap your objects and tweak the UV layout so that the material looks good on it. Just remember, texturing won't save you. A good idea always is to get the modeling done, look at it as a clay render and evaluate if you have sufficient detail or if the geometry is convincing enough. Then you augment it / close the gap with texturing and lighting.

Proxies are low rez meshes that are linked to high-rez models which Indigo loads at runtime. It's basically a way for you to keep your poly count way down while working, and then at render time you bring in the heavy artillery. Very useful for vegetation, because trees and plants can get very heavy, polygon-wise.

Density and size maps: black and white images. Just unwrap your object, create a new image in the Image Editor, switch to Texture Paint mode and paint wherever you want more density, etc. Remember to save the image as an external image (in the Image Editor).

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aleksandera
Posts: 380
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Location: Slovenia

Re: Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by aleksandera » Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:45 am

Must say I'm not comfortable using proxy meshes :oops:
Where can I find out more about it?

Thx!

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aleksandera
Posts: 380
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Location: Slovenia

Re: Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by aleksandera » Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:45 am

Nevermind I solved it.
Maybe some other question would be appropriate here:
Blender can now export fur in Cycles.
Cud she same code be implemented for Blendigo - Indigo?
Just asking :mrgreen:

StompinTom
Indigo 100
Posts: 1828
Joined: Mon Sep 04, 2006 3:33 pm

Re: Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by StompinTom » Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:58 am

aleksandera wrote:Nevermind I solved it.
Maybe some other question would be appropriate here:
Blender can now export fur in Cycles.
Cud she same code be implemented for Blendigo - Indigo?
Just asking :mrgreen:
I hope so.

Also, PyNodes are due to be merged after the impending 2.66 release, which means that there will be access to creating custom nodes for shaders and such. I'm hoping that means that we'll be able to migrate to using Indigo nodes to construct complex materials! It would be much easier to set up and manage, especially when dealing with compound materials such as blends and coatings.

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aleksandera
Posts: 380
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Location: Slovenia

Re: Bridging the gap - Blender Vegetation and Indigo

Post by aleksandera » Wed Feb 13, 2013 1:30 am

Wow, can't wait! :shock:
Does this include feature like OSL - Open Shading Language in Cycles? :D

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