Any one tried xfrog Plants

[Lude]

Hi has anyone used the xFrog plants, trees etc.

I've checked out the website they look great but the site it’s self is terrible. It's all over the place.

It says you need a plugging to use them and that they are free for download (Lightwave, maya, C4D) but I couldn’t even find them. I must be going blind.

Lude.

[MooseDog]

i tried them, but it's an enormous pita. the lw plug-in gets the model into layout, and from there you have to save out as an lwo. they look really nice rendered, but are HUGE, and i mean friggen' HUGE in polycount, and once exported are difficult to edit in modeler. my $.02 ;)

[tcoursey]

Super Realistic even on extreme closeups. The previous post about being large files is absolutly correct. However there are methods of getting them down to whatever size you need them at. They sell a product that goes along with the Models that alogrythmically (is that a word) reduces the polycount. Because it is all mathmatical in its creation it can easily reduce the poly count without reducing the overall look.

Check into it, they are really nice models!

[noiseboy]

A recent email correspondence with the Greenworks guys suggests that they are developing a version of Xfrog for LW similar to the one for C4D and Maya.

[vpii]

I bought the mountain library from them direct. All the 3d formats come on the cd ready to go including lightwave, so you do not have to use the plugin they are ready to go. They are very detailed and large files. I use then with HD instance,
with out that you will not get many loaded, unless you have alot of ram. I would buy more if need for a project.

[bloontz]

QEMLoss 3 does a pretty good job of reducing them. They really are very nice models and the Xfrog software (I have the PC standalone) is a lot of fun. I've been waiting for the Lightwave version of Xfrog for a couple of years now (I stopped holding my breath a long time ago).

[Lude]

thanks guys for the info

[Lude]

So the models will work with fPrime?

So what’s the free plug-in used for - just reducing there complexity?

[MooseDog]

it's a layout plug-in that gets the xfrog file format into layout. think of it as a translator for layout.

[kopperdrake]

So the models will work with fPrime?

So what’s the free plug-in used for - just reducing there complexity?

You get various versions of the model on the CD, Xfrog native file format and .low format. Personally I've never used the xfrog format so not sure why you'd use it - I've never needed to :)

They'll work fine with FPrime, and they also supply flat single poly versions for distance trees which are great :) I tend to use the real poly trees wherever I need shadows and depth, but string a whole bunch of single poly trees in the background (and behind the camera for reflections) to save on memory.

Can't recommend them enough...very realistic.

[bloontz]

Personally I've never used the xfrog format so not sure why you'd use it - I've never needed to :).

You would use it if you want to alter the model in Xfrog, either the standalone pc app or version 4 plugin (not currently available for lightwave). You can also store animation data in an Xfrog file that can be played back via a plugin and I believe there is also a level of detail feature available through a object replacement plugin.

[kopperdrake]

Oh, thanks :) Sounds vaguely familiar so I guess I must have read it somewhere before :) Thanks for that :D

[neversummer]

Can anyone post a render of a house or building with xfrog being used for the trees/plants/landscaping and what not? I've seen the gallery on their site and it's not very impressive... just wondering how it looks in the hands of some skilled lw'ers

[vpii]

http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?t=31722

here is an example with xfrog and hd instance

[badllarma]

Hi all here how I do it,

Bring in the LWO. Xfrog tree into Modeler
Use QEMLoss 3 x 2 (any more than 2 and your leaves get screwed up) :eek:

And then your models will not be too bad on the ploy count the main thing is how the leaves use transparency which you should change to using clip maps which cuts down a hell of a lot on render time.

Oh and if your using more than 3 of the above mentioned trees in a given scene YOU NEED HD Instance :D

On a final note those who have Xfrog on the very bottom of the Xfrog layout on the left hand side is a VERY small tool for reducing the poly counts of the Xfrog trees themselves. May be worth experimenting with this AND QEMLoss 3. :)