Procedural tree generator tool - we'd love some feedback from you!

Coding
#1

Hi guys!

We’re three students from Europe, and we’re at the moment seriously considering creating 3D tree modeling tool.
But instead of modeling, all the tree models are already there, generated procedurally.
Since what you need are trees and not a process of modeling trees why waste time modeling them.

Let’s say you need a tree model for your neat game or your animated film or anything.
Imagine starting up our program and instead of being met with a complicated UI foretelling hours of laborious tree modeling, you’re in a forest.
You look around and every tree around you is unique, every tree is there for you to export as a 3D model. Very simple. You walk around and you soon find out that
this is no ordinary forest, but forest where vast amount of different trees grows in one place.

If you have some particular tree in mind, you can zoom out and browse through large amount of trees fast, filtering the ones you may want.
Obvious limitation is you wouldn’t be able to get very specific and unique tree you have in mind.
But other than that, it’s possible to generate pretty wide spectrum of tree types.

We have finished the first prototype, here is a screenshot and album that show how it looks so far:

960×540 147 KB

There are many more screeenshots on an imgur album:

[Album] imgur.com

What this all means is:
you can get good looking 3D tree models without any modelling skill whatsoever in a few minutes
you can select from basically infinite amount of trees
you can export basically infinite amount of trees
if you don’t need trees, you can just go for a walk in a tranquil and pleasant environment
What we’d like to know is from you, potential users, if this is a worthwhile endeavor.
How does it sound? Would this kind of program make your job easier and more pleasant?
What would you expect feature-wise of such program? Any suggestion is welcome.

Thanks!

#2

Is this aimed at open source?

A commercial product in this category will have some tough competition.

#3

[QUOTE=tokejepsen;29063]Is this aimed at open source?

A commercial product in this category will have some tough competition.[/QUOTE]

We haven’t decided yet, but open source is very much on the table.

#4

The lighting is great! You should do shrubs and hills next! I love procedural generation, noise is great hey.

#5

Thanks! Shrubs are easy compared to trees :slight_smile:

#6

I love procedural tree generation. The screenshots show some really nice looking growth patterns.

In terms of features, I would expect to be able to find things which most people may not even think of as a classic tree. For a benchmark, just image search “naturally weird trees”.

In my opinion, that’s the hardest thing about making great procedural gen. Too often the result is very static and boring. In real life, and in any stylized game/movie world that I would like to make, trees do weird things. L-systems and space colonization are great but they absolutely cannot account for some of the strange-ass, wonderful things that trees do all the time in our world.

You stated that as part of your design, very specific and unique trees are not what you’re going for. While I personally think that’s too bad, I can see how it’s a good way to be different from other tree generating programs. Also, that’s not necessarily incompatible with making your trees do weird things. Here’s a site that has a list of lots of imperfections common to trees:

http://forest.mtu.edu/research/hwbuck/hardwood_defects/defectlist.html

I understand if you feel like that’s a bit much to tackle. If I were to pick out a single thing about the trees in the screenshots which I would like to change, it would be their bases. Do all of your trees grow from a perfectly flat plane? Do they have roots?

In any case, good luck, and let us know if you decide to pursue this program further. :slight_smile: