Trees on a troll

Question Modeling

I want to create and scatter a bunch of stylistic pine trees on the back of a troll, but I'm not sure how to best proceed: should I model them, use the tree sapling addon or use geometry nodes?

So far I've tried to model a basic tree trunk with the intention of eventually creating leaves and branches through planes with opacity maps, but I don't want repeat the same tree model too much.

I've also tried the tree sapling addon and used a bend modifier on each tree to get some variation, but I don't find them stylistic enough.

I've looked a bit at geometry nodes on YouTube, but it's kind of an information overload sometimes so I want to be sure it's the way to go before I spend too much time with it.

In the end, the troll and trees has to be UV unwrapped and textured - I'm not sure if that is a factor I should keep in mind as well before I pick a method?
023-04-05 163925.png
  • spikeyxxx replied

    Hi Avvind,

    It really depends...if, like in your image, you'll have, like 8 stylistic trees, I'd say, make them one by one, maybe using the Skin Modifier...when there are going to be a lot more, then the Sapling Addon might be the best start (it comes with UV's already!) and you can use it as a base for stylistic trees ... see:

    https://cgcookie.com/courses/creating-a-stylized-3d-forest-environment-with-blender-2-9

    Creating the trees with Geometry Nodes is not something I'd recommend...If you want to distribute trees, GN might be able to help you.


    1 love
  • Omar Domenech replied

    I agree with Martin. It depends on how much tree's there will be on top pf the gentlemen here. If there aren't many trees then you might be better off making each one unique, if there is an intermediate amount of trees you'll probably be able to get away with having multiple unique trees and then scattering them. Same for if there's a lot of trees on him.

    But if there are lots of trees and they are not the main focus, then you might be able to use trees you find on the Blender Market or online somewhere. You'll save lots of time.

    If you're planning on doing the trees yourself, then here's a lesson where Kenan makes trees:

    https://cgcookie.com/lessons/trees-mod

    1 love
  • Avvind replied

    Thank you for the replies and recommendation guys! I will check out those courses. :)

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