Realistic Redwood or Sequoia trees American Giant trees mod.

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Tapuach
Posts: 5
Joined: 06 Aug 2013 04:12

09 Aug 2017 05:25

Hey people. I have long time thought that the trees in ATS that is big and supposed to look like the American giant trees, they look unrealistic. In ATS they look more like a giant version of nordic pine trees or xmas trees. I would love it if someone could mod these trees into ATS.
Would be amazing if someone could make the trees look like this. :D :) :) :) :) :) :D
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123Goh!
Posts: 83
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09 Aug 2017 05:46

Those trees would be nice to see in the game. I've seen those trees in real-life in person. Those trees are amazing and beautiful. :) ;) :D

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Callipso
Posts: 750
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Location: Flagstaff, Arizona

09 Aug 2017 06:40

Vegetation is complicated thing to mod, If you have access to some 3D modeling software, tons of spare time (to get it right), the know how to make proper light maps, and knowledge the animation system works for the game then you can possibly add them into the game. making a 3D model is the easy part, the hard part comes when trying to make a proper light map. so the people who can do this will be the advanced modelers. After that you get into the animation system, one has to apply the right animation for each leaf and also the trunk needs to become static or else you have a situation were the entire tree moves back and forth with the wind. Most do not know where the animations for the vegetation models are and how SCS applies them, making this feat of creating new tree models one for experts to tackle. I tried to make some of my own and gave up trying to figure out the animations and light maps, I would have loved for the trees I made to be in the mod. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Tapuach
Posts: 5
Joined: 06 Aug 2013 04:12

09 Aug 2017 12:17

I would be really interested to see those trees you made :) Aniway it doesn't have to be super-realistic. It just need to have the characteristic of those trees. The trees that is now ingame allso don't look very realistic, but they look like wrong kinds of trees. If you had the giant trees in the game the most of what you would see aniway would be just the trunk, and the leafes/needles would be so high up that you wouldn't really see it in a close-up, so it doesn't have to be so detailed. you wouldn't need the leaves to move in the wind. The whole tree could just be static.

EDIT: The trees that is now ingame looks like this. Looks like it copied from ETS2 and made taller. You can't even see the trunk. The sequoia/redwood has a huge characteristic red trunk.
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EDIT: Even Rig n Roll had trees that looks more like it. Maybe possible to use their models, and improve it a little? But there would have to be much bigger ones with thicker trunks too.
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EDIT: Gta V has nice ones too, but of course this is a whole different kind of graphic level. Anyhow nice to consider for ideas. :)
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Last edited by tkk7406 on 09 Aug 2017 23:20, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Please avoid posting multiple times repeatedly, use the "Edit" button if you want to add something instead

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Callipso
Posts: 750
Joined: 12 Feb 2016 23:40
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Location: Flagstaff, Arizona

09 Aug 2017 23:59

here is the old topic where I posted some pictures of the models I was creating: https://promods.net/viewtopic.php?f=37& ... vegetation
NOTE: I had finished a Canary Island Palm and had started on a Olive Tree model when I stopped working. I had intentions of making models for ATS as well in the same fashion.

I don't think SCS is going for actual realism in its vegetation as you are just driving by them in a truck and not really sticking around to enjoy them so they tend to build their models with less detail than would normally be seen in trees and bushes. As for ATS most of the tree vegetation models do look like they were ported from the ETS2 database and then placed on the roadside, perhaps they didn't want to make new models for trees that looked somewhat similar, though those larch and spruce trees are not what you would find in the states.
The problem is that there is a particular way to create these models and import them into the game, if you imported them as static models you would have to place each tree individually on the map that would be incredibly time consuming especially for areas that are heavily forested. Using the vegetation shader and importing as detail vegetation you can use the placement tools in editor that allow you to attach the vegetation model to the terrain in a certain density allowing a one step solution to placing many trees.

SCS has their own mapping system that applies their models and vegetation cannot accept, displacement, normal bumps, or much else beside the diffuse and alpha transparency maps on these models. So the detail ends up being on the low end regardless of what is being imported. You basically have to live with a cylinder like trunk and hope the texture is good enough to create a feeling of realism.

Tapuach
Posts: 5
Joined: 06 Aug 2013 04:12

10 Aug 2017 15:35

Nice palmtree. Sad that the olive tree didn't got really finished. :/ Yeah, I can see how much work just for a tree. :P
I think for the giant American tree, I could live with just huge red/brownish cylinders with good textures that make it look like the bark of the tree. High up there can be something green with low textures that can look like leafes/needles from the distance. It doesn't need to move with the wind. Just to get the feeling when you drive by it. They can even stand between some of the trees that SCS allready has in the game. Some of them can allso stand alone. Would be beautiful if someone could make it, so Promods among others can use them in the map. I think it's really some of the most important trees to include in a Californian landscape. :)



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