Creator Wizard Seth Dev Log #11 - Leaf Experiments, Branching Realism Improved

www.creatorwizardseth.com

So I am creating more trees today. Let's start with one inspired by some of the branching formations of oak and maple trees.














This looks a lot better then my last attempt. The branching looks much more natural. The way the branches thin out near the top however is incorrect and needs more tuning. There is a linear shrinking from trunk to twig and this is not natural or correct. Let's throw on some leaves and see what it looks like.



I am using a different style of leaf that I have created. The geometry is more randomized and facing many different directions. This makes it easier to perceive the volume because there is more samples for your eyes to analyze for how light is interacting with the leaves at that location.

Now here is a floating branch which has leaves which dimensions are half of the bigger leaves. Half the dimension means 1/8th the volume because we are working in 3 dimensions. This means 8 times as much control over the shape and 8 times more detail. This has to be a good thing right? 


Let's finish our first tree with our original size leaves and see what we get.



Let's see what is wrong with this result. The shape is that of an upside down triangle which is not natural at all. There is a lack of detail at the bottom and this is because the leaf size is too large to really do anything fine with. This is also because the branches are not in a natural configuration, they are similar to that maybe of a tree that has been pruned vigorously but this is not the look I am aiming for.

Okay, now let's move on. I am very confident that smaller leaves will provide a much better result. 

For smaller leaves we will also need some finer branches.





Notice the taper behavior of the branches is much more refined and natural looking. The trunk also retains proper width up the tree and in my next couple refinements I will be able to create a distinction of main structural branches and offshoot foliage branches.





The main flaw in this design is the initial trunk split at the bottom and the way the splits veer off in different directions and have a very strange curve to them. It's possible that a tree can grow like this but something about it does not look correct to me.

Naturally trees have branches that vary in width and this tree is a bit too uniform in the branch width but there is some variation however I can improve on this greatly. 

Lets begin adding leaves. 


We can already see the potential is much greater here.








Some adjustments to the lighting...




Here I reduce the environmental lighting to enhance the self shadowing effect of the tree.



It's not perfect, but clearly we are moving towards perfection. 
And once again, it is becoming increasingly clear that I am in fact a wizard from the 5th dimension.




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