| Q: Verdant Plant Mechanic makes
3D plants – what if I don’t know 3D? |
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A: You can modify existing
plants pretty significantly just by changing textures
and branches widths and heights, the trunk, and other
variables – so you can start with a full tree or
plant and turn it into something else just through experimentation.
Making plants from scratch does require some practice,
but you don’t need to understand 3D modeling and
rendering to do it at all.
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| Q: Where can I get good plant textures? |
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A: You can get them from
the web, take them yourself, or buy a textures CD. WorldBuilder
has a lot of plant textures in it. If you own WorldBuilder
you can use those textures. Digital Element will also
be shipping a series of texture CDs to make this process
a lot simpler. Digital Element has both commissioned digital
shoots at botanical gardens and occasionally bought the
rights to textures over the internet. |
| Q: I am told beginners start off
modifying existing plants – where can I get them? |
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A: VPM comes with 6 plants
on it. Verdant for Photoshop comes with over a dozen more
plants. Digital Element also has plants for sale, such
as the Arizona plant pack. Verdant plants are less expensive
than competing plant technologies. |
| Q: Where Can I Use Verdant Plants? |
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A: Unlike some companies,
our Verdant plants work in all of our plugins –
so you can buy or build a plant and use that same plant
in WorldBuilder, Maya, SoftImage, Max, and Photoshop.
Each of these plugins comes separately. |
| Q: What formats can VPM export to? |
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A: 3DS, LWO, OBJ, DXF |
| Q: What kinds of plants can I create? |
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A: Using the Visual Modeler
Layout you can create almost any kind of plant you want
to. We use the tool in house for making fruit, vegetables,
trees, bushes, flowers, and more. |
| Q: Can I use Verdant Plants for
Computer Games? |
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A: Currently, plants from
VPM can be exported to OBJ and of course the Max Maya
and XSI plugins will translate the geometry into host-product-native
formats. Digital Element is working on a realtime plugin
that will make this all easier and provide levels of detail,
damage states, polygon reduction, and more. |
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| Q: I am a 3D modeler – why
use Verdant? |
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A: A general modeling program
can model anything. For most people, however, creating
realistic plants that animate in the wind can be time
consuming. Verdant makes this simple with its SoftImage,
Max, and Maya plugins that perform wind animations and
more. Also, Verdant plants are procedurally generated,
so if you want a lot of bushes and flowers and you are
using Verdant they can all look different. |
| Q: Is Verdant Plant Mechanic Easy
to Use? |
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A: VPM has four modes of
use. Each is targeted at a specific skill level. The basic
level, Plant Render View and the Wizards requires no skill
in 3d modeling or even Photoshop. Other modes offer more
versatility and require different skills. |
| Q: Is VPM for Mac and PC? |
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A: Verdant for Photoshop
is already for the Mac and the PC. We plan on releasing
a Mac version of VPM in autumn and a Mac version of the
Maya plugin sometime thereafter. |
| Q: So if I just own VPM, what can
I do with my plants? |
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A: Well, owning a Verdant
plugin or WorldBuilder will increase your versatility
dramatically. However, you can export to OBJ and 3DS as
a solid model. The model, though, will lose its ability
to randomize or be modifiable by VPM thereafter. |
| Q: What makes Verdant plants different
than Max or Maya Models? |
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A: Verdant plants are dynamic,
so that once you create one Oak you can get a lot more
Oaks without additional modeling. Also, Verdant handles
wind animations and specializes in this so it will look
more realistic. Finally, VPM is faster than traditional
modeling. |
| Q: Can VPM make grass? |
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A: Grass is as much about
placement as it is about geometry. True 3D grass through
Verdant is obviously possible, but not too feasible since
it is a lot of polygons and good looking placement is
importanr. If you need real 3D grass take a look at WorldBuilder,
which is optimized for re3D grass and has some advanced
placement conditions. |
| Q: How much can I change a plant
with just the easiest to use Plant Render View? |
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A: You can change textures
and the length, width, size of all of the parts. You can
also bend leaves and branches and change how many appear.
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