Procedurally placed trees
by Bill Vee · 10/05/2012 (8:15 am) · 9 comments
I have been working on some code to allow the placement of trees procedurally.
The code can be used to place any object like trees, rocks, grass and such.
It is integrated into the terrain code to allow it to be paged in and out just like the terrain. Any object when placed ,as long as it has collision geometry, can be collided against.
www.dayofwar.com
Edit: I didn't make it clear in this post but the code I refer to is my custom terrain class not T3D's terrain system.
The code can be used to place any object like trees, rocks, grass and such.
It is integrated into the terrain code to allow it to be paged in and out just like the terrain. Any object when placed ,as long as it has collision geometry, can be collided against.
www.dayofwar.com
Edit: I didn't make it clear in this post but the code I refer to is my custom terrain class not T3D's terrain system.
About the author
#2
i will try to do it with t3d's terrain system.
same type of technique was used in Xenocell (http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/21889).
10/05/2012 (9:18 am)
great idea.looks nice and perfect.i will try to do it with t3d's terrain system.
same type of technique was used in Xenocell (http://www.garagegames.com/community/blogs/view/21889).
#3
10/05/2012 (9:26 am)
yeah, Id love to use this for OMNI and DoA 
#4
John K.
10/05/2012 (12:53 pm)
Looks great, Bill. Do you have a property to set the density of the objects? Being able to vary density for different objects would be great for tweaking the overall look of the scene. It looks great!John K.
#5
10/05/2012 (7:59 pm)
One item that may help for far away views is coloring the ground around vegetation to approx the same as the vegetation. That way for a view longer away the ground coloring itself will denote vegetation. This is something I will be exploring when I get to that stage. 
#6
Thanks
10/07/2012 (11:59 am)
Nice looks good. Will the code be a resource or pay? Just wondering and any release date it might hit the market?Thanks
#7
even more curious, what is this "custom terrain class" you are working on? all procedural based methods?
10/11/2012 (3:48 pm)
How does it differ from using the Forest tools or just hand placing tons of models -- performance wise? seems like it would cause more lag, if using all static models like that? or no?even more curious, what is this "custom terrain class" you are working on? all procedural based methods?
#8
As far as performance I have not noticed any adverse performance issues.
Th custom class I refer to is a terrain system that I have been working on for a while that is based on the marching cubes technique developed many years ago. The main features of this type of terrain is you can have seamless landscapes with caves and overhangs.
10/11/2012 (6:05 pm)
@ Jeff Yaskus - I use a similar method as the forest tool but on a per chunk scope. So as chunks of terrain are changed in real time the associated forest, or rocks or grass or what ever I have for that chunk, are updated. And as chunks are unloaded are removed as well and saved to disk for later retrieval.As far as performance I have not noticed any adverse performance issues.
Th custom class I refer to is a terrain system that I have been working on for a while that is based on the marching cubes technique developed many years ago. The main features of this type of terrain is you can have seamless landscapes with caves and overhangs.
#9
I have also been toying with different ways to auto-populate the flora for a semi-realistic outdoor "simulation" - rather than manually placing all of the plants, trees, etc... on approach I tried was using the min/max slope and underlying texture to determine and generate the appropriate flora, but still needs tweaking.
I'll be interested, if your resource becomes available!
11/14/2012 (5:29 pm)
@ Bill - caves and overhangs for torque terrains would be a great improvement.I have also been toying with different ways to auto-populate the flora for a semi-realistic outdoor "simulation" - rather than manually placing all of the plants, trees, etc... on approach I tried was using the min/max slope and underlying texture to determine and generate the appropriate flora, but still needs tweaking.
I'll be interested, if your resource becomes available!
Torque 3D Owner Paul Yoskowitz
WinterLeaf Entertainment