PROCEDURAL VEGETATION

I began experimenting with growth.

        I took nodes
        as a starting point.

        I recursively added further child
        nodes to build a network of branches.

        I required an algorithm capable not
        of physically accurate growth but of visually

        pleasing vegetation.

I took the concepts of gravity
         stimuli and recursion.

I began experimenting with constraints
        to produce vine-type structures.

The vines would creep along floors
        and drape over edges.

They appeared natural.

The ray-casting method was just too unstable—

vines would exhaust space
and intersect scenes.

I created growth based upon sun
direction & previous growth. I cast a ray
in that direction.

Then I discovered ivy

generation,
implemented brute
force against all triangles,

        clamped the new child

        to this surface.

The results were far more stable.

HI THERE

I started working on a procedural tree/

vegetation generator yesterday. It generates a vast
variety of trees/

plants/

shrubs dynamically.

Most are quite convincing.

Here is a video showing variations
of African acacias.

*

Great work. You generate very convincing trees.

Procedural is the future.

*

It would be cool to see a landscape
without bark or leaves.

(Am I the only one that got enjoyment

out of building a tree, flinging it
into a spin, then building
another and doing the same?)

*

Have you explored plant succession?

        This would use natural systems
        to bring about forests (the end game).

        It would be rad if the longer you painted

        the farther you succeeded, or if erasing
        would turn back time.

(This would actually be quite simple to implement, I think.)

PROCEDURAL VEGETATION DISAPPEARS

Procedural vegetation
is not viewable from great distances.

It's basically just a bunch of palm trees,
cliff bushes and other stuff.
It doesn’t really work. So what's the trick
so it won’t disappear?

                                  Procedural veg is only good
                                  for small things like grass,
                                  stones.

                                  I took the tree generator. It’s a bit laggy but
                                  I can generate trees.

                                                                   I also added a fern factory.

Sounds great.
I'm guessing this is the finished product?
I'll have to try this out until
we figure out how to merge.

                                  Have you considered just preloading a couple hundred
                                  or so procedural trees?

                                  With enough possible trees
                                  and no two trees in sight ever
                                  being identical, it would be impossible
                                  to notice repetition.

                                  You could also regenerate some of the trees over time

                                  as you transition to a different
                                  world.

NOTES

I recently learned of a 3D modeling technique called “procedural
vegetation.” To my limited understanding, its technological basis is a
simple program written for the purpose of creating“natural” growth
patterns by setting up a high number of chance operations to occur
during rendering, in combination with the use of such mathematical-
but-biologically-occurring devices as the Golden Mean and Fibonacci
numbers. The final animated effect thereby mimics the look of “real”
vegetative growth with its irregular, “natural” patterning. Procedural
vegetation is the best method currently available for generating
“convincing” flora in the 3D environments of gaming and film.

All language in this series was culled from online gaming articles
and fora.

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