Why is the tree one of the hardest things to get right in 3d games?

[A Black Falcon]

Stunning shots of some buildings in PGR3 for X360.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/629/629819p1.html




Ingame screenshots of PGR3.

http://www.bizarreonline.net/index.php?a...ts=1&id=30







Maybe they look better up close, but from a distance... I know, I know, trees are hard because they aren't square and they have lots of small, branching parts. But those trees, honestly, don't look much better than the classic (and abymal) crossed-sprites tree...

[Dark Jaguar]

You know, I've never really had a problem... Up close all trees look pretty bad, even ico's, but from a distance they all look good.

You know, I thought of a way to not have to deal with grass rendering at least. Set the game in the prehistoric past when dinosaurs roamed the earth eating from trees and each other, but grass hadn't evolved yet. Notin' but dirt.

[A Black Falcon]

I just find those "crossed polygon" trees awful looking... make it a crude 3d tree, but make it 3d... the only worse kind of tree is the "treewall" -- you know, that flat texture on the edge of the track (saying that because it's usually done that way in racing games) that shows an image of a forest... so bad...

Oh, and yes, grass is another issue. Newer games do do it better, though, with some taller grasses in addition to the normal "the world has been mowed" stuff...

[Great Rumbler]

I think trees are inherently more complex than other things, like buildings and cars. However, I've seen plenty of games that do trees right, but rarely in racing games.

[Dark Jaguar]

How DO they get the sheep to eat the grass so evenly?

Generally, structures humans build are constructed to look attractive to other humans or with simple geometry in mind so the physics is easier to work with, so they are easier to render thanks to all that. But, there are a few things that are pretty wiggy... Like, destroyed structures. Generally every destroyed building I've ever seen looks like it's supposed to look like that.

[Great Rumbler]

:confused2

[A Black Falcon]

I think trees are inherently more complex than other things, like buildings and cars. However, I've seen plenty of games that do trees right, but rarely in racing games.

Very rarely. The only decent trees you see are in some FPSes, and even there it's usually some trees, not all trees...

In PGR3, for instance, I have a suspicion that those trees wouldn't look quite as nice as they do if they weren't blurry...

How DO they get the sheep to eat the grass so evenly?

Or goats. :)

Generally, structures humans build are constructed to look attractive to other humans or with simple geometry in mind so the physics is easier to work with, so they are easier to render thanks to all that. But, there are a few things that are pretty wiggy... Like, destroyed structures. Generally every destroyed building I've ever seen looks like it's supposed to look like that.

Often true...

[Dark Jaguar]

Okay, let me clarify GR. Every CG destroyed building I've ever seen looks like it's supposed to look like that.