3D World

TuTorials

Master large-scale environments

18

aDD lights to the boarDwalK

The final Forest Pack object adds light geometry to cables strung along

the boardwalk. In the top view, draw a zigzagging renderable spline between

the posts. Divide all the spline segments in half and lower the new vertices

slightly to create downward curves as though the cable is affected by gravity.

Create a new Forest Pack object and add light geometry and transform

randomisation. To array these lights along the spline use Path Distribution

mode and set the distance between the lights using the Spacing value.

17

Paint the reeDs

We can hand-paint areas using Forest Pack. Here

we’ll create a new Forest object to add reeds. Go to the

Areas rollout and add a new Paint area. Click the button

to activate Paint mode then click and drag on the terrain.

It’s important to understand that you’re only painting

an area – the plugin remains fully parametric so you can

adjust geometry, density and randomisation at any time.

13

scatter the Patches

Next, create a second Forest Pack object using

the terrain as a surface and add the patch to the Items

list. Add Exclude splines to remove grass from inside the

buildings, on the lake bed and under the boardwalk, as

well as creating clearings. A grid-like appearance can

sometimes be visible – to break this up, add Translation

randomisation as well as the usual Rotation and Scale.

14

cull items that aren’t visible

There’s little sense in wasting resources calculating

items that aren’t seen in the final render. Go to the

Camera rollout and enable Limit to Visibility and Auto

Assign to Active View to use the current camera to

remove items that aren’t visible. If you still need some

items to be retained for reflections, you can extend the

scatter beyond the frustum slightly using Expand.

15

aDD layers oF grounD cover

Realistic ground cover is achieved by mixing several

layers of plants to add visual complexity. Using the same

optimisation tricks as the grass, create new Forest Pack

objects for long grass, dead leaves, sticks and twigs,

mushrooms and tall weeds. Create believable interaction

between the layers by drawing unique Exclude areas and

experimenting with different distribution maps.

16

Place grass arounD the boarDwalK

Grass grows taller around the boundaries of objects where it cannot be

trampled or cut. Create a new Forest Pack object to add long grass and weeds

around the boardwalk. Add the same spline used by the RailClone style to

the Forest Pack object’s Areas list and set the mode to Include. Increase the

Thickness until the grass area is slightly wider than the boardwalk. Then, to

remove the grass from under the boardwalk itself, add the same spline again,

set mode to Exclude and change Thickness to roughly the width of the planks.

streamline the

Forest Pack ui

To customise the

Forest Pack UI to suit

your workflow you

can enable or disable

individual rollouts from

the General settings.

In addition, anywhere

you see a double arrow

(>>) the content can

be collapsed in order

to streamline the

interface even further.