planting plan taxing my computer

[Jefferson]

I am attempting my first planting plan for a landscape friend of mine. He's quite excited about he possibility of a 3D rendition [mesh, some minimal structures, a bulkhead, water plane, and 3D plants ] to make things "come alive" for affluent clients. Me too, this could translate to quick cash with level of accuracy so much less than typical construction documents.

Enough background........

I am using the newly aquired tree/vegetation library [ArchiBAM ] and as I begin to populate the model with various plants + trees, things really begin to bog down. I expect this but would really appreciate some/any tips some might offer as to the "best" settings splitting the difference between appearance and efficient running of ArchiCAD.

I have posted a screen shot showing my current typical settings. So far the BAM settings seem to impose the least strain on my computer, thus the chosen setup.

I am completely green [no pun intended] to this and would truly appreciate the benefit of someone's previous learning curve.

[Dwight]

Had World War I poet James Kilmer lived now instead of being shot by a sniper in 1918, his famous poem would have started:

"I think I shall never see
as many polygons as in a tree."

It is all about excess polygons. The only way to cope is to turn your view quality all the way down until your final view - no shadows or edges.... if those BAM trees have adjustments, set them to be coarse, globally and re-complexify them just before rendering the final.

For really intensive foliage rendering, Electric Image Universe copes best, where elements can even be made to wave in wind.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Jefferson wrote:
I am attempting my first planting plan for a landscape friend of mine. He's quite excited about he possibility of a 3D rendition.

Ditto Dwight's comments about polygons. At least the ArchiBAM trees have fewer than some, because the folliage is little bitmap images ... but there are a lot of them for some trees.

In your screenshot, you have resolution set to 36. Try something pretty low - like 7 - unless you're really close to the trunks in some of your views.

If you don't need to fly around too much, try the PictBox BAM trees - which are only 2 polygons each, bitmapped.

Unless you need animations, IMHO the easiest way to do this kind of thing is with Piranesi (more so than Photoshop, although I'd use PS too)... since any vegetation image can be brought in as a 'cutout' and placed in the 3D scene with automatic scaling...and awareness of the depth of other objects (so it can be dragged behind a bench, but in front of a wall, for example). Piranesi 4 allows these cutouts to be saved and placed in additional scenes. If you need a 3D tree, Pir 4 also allows 3D objects from almost any 3D format to be brought in as '3d cutouts', and rotated and placed where desired. It's very visual and quick (once you learn it of course) and Pir is useful for 'painting' 2D site/landscaping plans as well.

Just to muddy the waters. 😉

Karl

[Jefferson]

Thank you Gentlemen.

This is as I had suspected.................and if the poet had been aware of polygons imagine the pros.

I'll try turning things down as much as possible, in addition to running in wireframe.

The Piranesi is definitely on my list, but now it's taking a back seat to the upgrade and all will be driven by cash flow. Good tips about the Pic Box trees and such. I wasn't very happy with the first look at them but speed may out weigh their deficits.

I'll go play some more. Thanx again.

[Anonymous]

for landscaping/planting 'vue d'esprit' is quite extraordinary and amazingly cheap

very easy to learn

plants are 'grown' to order so none of them are the same

wind effects (as in EIU) if you like that kind of thing

pre-built 'atmospheres'

procedural textures which can be based on topography (aspect, slope, height etc)

animation wizard

volumetric lighting and, with the latest version, radiosity

etc

the demo version allows full quality, unwatermarked, renderings to be saved

for what you're trying to do other software 10x the price can't even come close

bill

[Jefferson]

update...

my landscape friend came by this afternoon to check out where I was at and together we opted for the picboxs. Once I had his input as to which plant/tree option matched his idea of what they should look like. They will convey the concept just fine, and allow my computer to run! I actually was getting error messages, something like, [ I had them copied and then moved on ], not enough help file or something or other. Point being not enough horsepower, "give it up buddy"............basically it seems that my rig doesn't have the juice. And it's no weak machine. How do people get it done otherwise?

Bill I have copied the demo to disc and will give it some time on my working vacation, starting tomorrow.

Thanx gain gents.

[Dwight]

One solution:

For rendering: distributed processing in Cinema or Electric Image using their proprietary trees.

[Dwight]

And another thing - altho not ArchiCAD applicable:

http://www.bionatics.com/home/index.php3?QuelleLangue=en

[Aussie John]

if your vegetation has ability to decrease the resolution then it is not too difficult to modify the script so the objects more distant from camera have a lower resolution