Newbie Question about Changing Trees

sandmanmax

I keep coming back to Carrara because the landscapes are just so awesome.  And Howie makes it super easy to get started.  So I've got the Stoney Creeky bundle and one of the Spruce Vale views is perfect for a scene I have in mind. But I don't want conifers.  I need deciduous trees.  How hard is to change all those trees to a different variety?  I think most of them are instances, so is it really just as easy as changing the source trees and all the others will match?  Of course, I'm still stuck at the "change a tree" part?  It 's just a question of magnitude.

MarkIsSleepy

The quick way to tell if it is an instance is to select one of trees and click the wrench icon to go into the modeling room.  If you get a pop-up asking if you want to edit the master or create a new master then it is an instance and by choosing edit the master any changes you make will propagate to all the other instances.

As for changing the tree type I have no suggestions, the tree and plant editor is one of the areas of Carrara that I haven't played with very much.  Lots of trial and error ahead of you I imagine. :)

Diomede

Welcome back to Carrara.

If you find the surface repicator that you want to adjust, yes, you can replace whatever tree Howie has with any other available tree in your scene.  So, make sure that the tree you want to use is already loaded in your scene if it is not already.  Select the replicator, enter the modeling room, and use the add and remove buttons to change the replicated object. 

 

Dartanbeck

Yes... what diomede said. Also, you may find some nice preset trees in the plant editor. I have a nice selection of Howie's products - so I can't remember where all of them came from... including one of his Arboretum kits... but it's easy to just open a tree by double-clicking it, and use the preset button to pick a different, fully realized tree. Then say "Yes" in regards to importing the shader, if you like.

Do let us know how you're getting along... there's a lot you can do ;)

WendyLuvsCatz

I drag trees to existing master trees in scene tab then drag up to same level and delete first one, this places it in the same place as the master tree.

TangoAlpha

Xfrog is also quite a good source of trees. They come in obj format as well as billboards and others. They're quite expensive to buy, but they often have freebies to download for the effort of creating an account, and are great in personal projects or commercial renders.

I think most of Howie's trees are replicants rather than instances. You'll find the master tree parented to the surface replicator, and it's simply a matter of swapping it out for something else.

If you want to make your own trees, start with the leaves. If it's a tree that grows locally, take lots of photos, especially of the bark (which you can use as a texture), the general tree shape, and the leaves, (paying attention to how they're distributed on the branches). You'll want leaf samples to scan or photograph - grab loads, you don't want to have to go back.

Make your leaves in the vertex editor like any other object. They do need a particular orientation, so it isn't a bad idea to load an existing leaf to use as a template. Leaves can be as simple as transmapped planes or fully modelled with dozens of polys. My preference of late had been to make small branchlets with a bunch of leaves on them (means you can have one less level of branches on the tree). Make 2 or 3 sets with different leaf textures as a bit of variety makes for a more realistic and less obviously replicated tree.

In the tree editor, it's usually quicker to start with a similar looking tree and tweak it. Replace its leaves with yours, grow/shrink the branches etc. There's no helpful documentation (typical), so it's more or less suck it and see, and learn from the settings used by others. Save often, cos the tree editor can be a bit crashy.