Visualization
About built-in and 3rd party, classic and real-time rendering solutions, settings, workflows, etc.

Presentation - Landscape (GRASS)

Anonymous
Not applicable
GRASS! I want some grass that looks like real grass/lawn.
I want it mainly for the final presentation in LightWorks, but OpenGL and AC Interanl Engine are fine too.

To me the ones that come in the AC library just don't cut it!

I have found some in LW but am not that exited by them as I am still in the steep learning curve with LW and as yet i havn't been able to get them to look realistick.

Who has found a good texture in LW and what settings do you apply (as this can make or break a final render).

PS - I have been using a 23" Apple Mac LCD monitor on my PC and it is heaven on a stick (as far as monitors go!) HIGHLY recommended.
6 REPLIES 6
Anonymous
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Laurence;

Post a screenshot of what you're trying to achieve (with your bad grass, man) - this will help people suggest 'better' ways. In many situations a combination of different techniques will prove the best way forward.

- Stuart
__archiben
Booster
the quest for the CGI holy grail no less?

the best method i've heard - i think it came from dwight - was to create two planes one above the other very close together (50-100mm). then give the top one an alpha channel with trasnaprency using a 'grass' type texture map.

you then get a sense of depth, shadow and randomness that one flat plane cannot produce . . . i think. then you can move onto the carrots . . .

dwight?

~/archiben
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Anonymous
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http://3dp2.0catch.com/weeds1.html

Maybe you can import so of this.
Anonymous
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Here is my trick:

Working on Art.lantis (wouldn't dream to do renderings with ArchiCAD, but maybe it is possible to do this with the 9.0 rendering engine), I attribute a "marble" texture from the library to the grass mesh.
This marble texture has the advantage of being a procedural texture. Well, I really don't know if it is a procedural texture (pattern generated by the computer, not a bitmap), but it seems to work ok
This texture can be altered, like more or less waves, colors, etc.
Over this texture I put a bitmap, which is a photo I took directly from a lawn, no tiling, no hassel. This Bitmap is turned about half transparent.
Tis way, the procedural map underneath masks the lack of tiling, and gives the surface a not homogenous look.
If you want to improve on this, you use a big texture file (see example).
This way, you can have nice closeups.
Better still is bumpmapping it slightly, but this makes rendering slower.
better still is using more than one picture, of different grasses, with different sizes and orientations.
But the most important part is to use a Procedural map underneath.
I have done this with a number of materials (earth, water, even walls) and it usually works.
Ah, and it is fast
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Thanks for that! You are a grass genius.