Wybren van Keulen presents a new tree add on for Blender. It's based on the natural growing processes in nature.
The Grove is the exciting new way to grow natural 3D trees. Simulate the seasons in interactive steps. Each year growing, bending and pruning to evolve majestic trees. This simulation based algorithm evolves true to nature trees with beautifully balanced shapes.
The Grove's innovative algorithm springs from countless hours of research on how real trees grow. The Grove takes no shortcuts and stays true to nature. Mimic any tree's character by flowing sugar and hormones though its branches. One single set of parameters defines the tree’s entire life from sapling to hero tree. Then build high quality models that are lightweight to render, with intricately detailed twig models.
Get in on the most natural 3D trees ever seen in computer graphics. The Grove is available as a Commercial Addon to Blender and runs on OSX, Linux and Windows. Get growing!
The Grove is now on pre-sale for €109 ex VAT. Visit www.thegrove3d.com for details.
46 Comments
Ok, you got my interest! This looks really, really good! Now.. I would like to know if it's possible to animate growth in believable way and if branches connect to trunk with good topology or are they still separate meshes, because that is really important in closeups. Anyway.. looks much better then sapling addon, oh yes! Do you have any plans for the future releases?
You cant animate tree growth with this addon. You can clearly see that with each growth segment variation on particle system for branches changes, this is because he is using particle hair emitter for branches.
I did a bit similar thing when I animated tree growth in this http://www.makron.com/ and the thing is that you have to use emission system with zero gravity to generate results so that it wont re-seed particles when geometry changes.
I don't think they use particles there.
This is a good example of why paid addons are a good thing. It seems unlikely to me that anyone would bother simulating real tree growth (an improvement on existing free solutions) for free. Less likely, anyway.
years ago it also seemed unlikely that anyone would bother developing a complete 3D package for free.
And here we are with Blender...(Free)
Well, no one person built Blender alone. I'm not saying paid > free. I'm just saying having paid as an option is good, because once in a while someone works harder on an add-on than they would if there was no money in it. I think it's very weird that some people think nobody should be allowed to make money on add-ons. It's as if they think the same add-on would be provided for free, if only the author wasn't allowed to make money.
I get your point and it's a very valid one. And it is the foundation philosophy of the CG Cookie Blender Market.
However, I think what people are getting at with the idea of Blender and add-ons being free is two fold:
First, Blender is an open source free excellent 3D modeling, gaming, painting, and animation application. Even the code itself is open source and freely available to any and everyone.
Second, the way users can give back to having such a high end 3D application is to develop free add-ons. It's like making a donation back to Blender instead of cash in the spirit of open source software.
It's the same with GIMP, Krita, Inkscape, and other open source free high end software. Developers do it because they are committed to open source being free.
But I see the other side of the coin as well.
Thankfully, I have not seen any lessening of the free add-ons since Blender Market opened. I'm glad to have both philosophies.
So far, I've given all of my models away on Blend Swap with CC0 so people can use them however they want. In that regard, a couple of my models have ended up being used in animations and tutorials. Even though they are CC0 everyone that I know of has given me credit, which was nice but unnecessary.
Anyway, I'm a capitalist and I give a tip of the old Donegal to anyone who can find a way to make a profit off their efforts.
I'm also a philanthropist and so I give another tip of the old Donegal to anyone who gives back to the community for what they have received from the community. It's a somewhat like volunteering at a soup kitchen or giving to charity to help others.
That's why I enjoy being a member of the Blender community.
In fact Blender is not "free", it costs thousands of hours of work spent by the Foundation, the developers and the community in the last 15 years to create it and improve it.
I see this new market of paid add-ons and assets with good eyes. People now can work on what they love and earn something from it. If the person is rich, give his/her work for free to the community, no problem about it.
Blender community is going to be mature, now, and this is good for everyone.
Seems like a cool plugin, prize seems to be a bit too high for a tool like this though. Something in between 20-50€ would be fine prize for tool like this.
Ya, I thought so too. plus I think they should accept more than just euros. Currently I was thinking about saving up but then I saw it was euros only and that closed the door instantly for me since I'm in America.
They only take PayPal for payment, and I had no trouble buying it in the US. $117 got me the Grove, plus two of the "twig" optional foliage things. So far it looks like I will get at least my money's worth out of it.
Yeah, a little too high. Competitors will show up though.
Really?... that's weird. on their sight the make it seem as though they only accept Euros. thanks Zoot, I guess I'll look into that!
I think that 50-60 Euro will be good price for this tool. 130 EURO is a little bit too high.
It looks really great. I would buy it for max. 50 Euros because Blender is only my hobby.
This looks phenomenal. And, I really appreciate the snappy preview video- a beautiful demonstration of the capabilities of Blender.
Like some of the others have mentioned, the cost is a little high for me as a hobbyist, but if they can sell it at that price point, more power to them. Open source platform ≠ free everything. There seems to be a trickle down effect in the Blender community, however, in that someone makes an expensive product, and others copy it and sell it for cheaper or free. I'm not advocating nor condemning this, it just seems like that's how it happens. I've seen multiple grass and lawn packs since Andrew Price released the Grass Essentials.
In any case, it would be cool, and possibly more profitable, (but certainly not mandatory) if a stripped down version could be created that is within reach of more artists who use the tool.
Great work, F12. I'll be watching you in the future.
I don't see what's revolutionary here, any decent tree generator can do what they're showcasing.
"Get in on the most natural 3D trees ever seen in computer graphics.".... I'm sorry, no! They're competing against big players like speedtree, plantfactory, and countless others.
Looks more like an aggressively commercial, eye-catchy trendy thing to me.... The nice thing is it's a Blender addon, so you have the trees right inside of Blender. That's their main selling point.
Well compared to speedtree its a bargain, ..on the other side compared to the allready existing free tree addon, its quite a lot more. I do wonder how such things sell. I personally don't often need a tree. If i do, i sculpt, use the tree addon, or posion ivy (for bushes) addon. I am curious if it was like 25 or 50 euro, wouldnt a lot more people buy it?. with 150 you need to be a virtual tree huger. Its fine if he wants to, I completely agree he can make money with it, but.. i doubt he will now.
its 1 time 150
vs 3 times 50
or 6 times 25
or 15 times 10 euro.
I'm curious have people ever analyzed what good selling points are for Blender, how often are popular addons sold against what price. (because such details might attract more scripters).
Agree.
"They're competing against big players like speedtree, plantfactory, and countless others."
Not necessarily. I own (well, rent) SpeedTree for Unreal Engine 4. It's nice, but there are a few issues.
• I can only use it for UE4.
• I have to keep paying $19/month, without ever truly owning it.
• The SpeedTree guys haven't really added a major feature in quite a while.
• No Linux version (if I recall correctly). (I don't use Linux, but since Blender has a huge Linux user base, this is a problem.)
With that said, I do enjoy SpeedTree and it's plenty for my game dev needs. But as I do some animation work, too, even with SpeedTree for UE4, I can still see a use for this Grove addon in Blender.
• SpeedTree has several options, including SpeedTree for UE4 or Unity ($19/month and can only be used for the respective game engine), SpeedTree Architect 7 ($500 USD) SpeedTree Studio 7 ($900), or SpeedTree Cinema 7 ($5000).
Each one is suited for a particular workflow--in other words, it's not pipeline-agnostic. SpeedTree Cinema 7 isn't ideal for games, and SpeedTree for UE4/Unity can't be used in 3D animation. The fully-featured versions are Windows/Mac/Linux, but the game-engine versions are Windows and Mac only (no Linux).
• PlantFactory costs between $495 to $1,995 USD. And while assets can be used in 3D packages, it's best use is within other e-On products, like Vue and Carbon Scatter. (Windows and Mac only; no Linux version).
• XFrog is pretty pricy as well at $400 for the modeler (whether standalone or addon version for Maya or C4D), and centers around catalogues of pre-made assets. (PC/Mac/Linux)
• OnyxGARDEN is about $200 for each of its several components individually, $600 to $700 for one of two bundle packages, and is only available for 3ds Max. (PC only)
There are, of course, those various free plant generators around (the usual suspects: ngPlant, Arbaro, Tree[d], IvyGen, Sapling, ZTree for ZBrush, etc.), but most aren't nearly as well-featured and straightforward as this The Grove seems so far, are a bit unrefined with UI, and their developers have generally stopped working on most of them for years now.
And as a personal note, I'm a fan of options. I like having options, because rarely do two options do the same thing the same way, and their results look noticeably different. For example, I prefer the way the trees in SpeedTree look over the trees in PlantFactory, but I do like both styles. I also prefer SpeedTree's UI a little more. Creative options make for a happier world.
So while I already work SpeedTree for UE4 and use other free generators, I'm still interested in this product, The Grove. I think there are others like me. ;)
Note that the $109 euto price is *before* the 20% off discount, so it's actually like 87 euro on sale, or just under $100US when you pay through PayPal. I bought it and have been having fun with it, and I think I will easily get my money's worth out of it.
The licensing model is basically "trust", which makes me feel good and I am very happy to support the developer's efforts.
Zoot, since you bought it, can you tell me if you have to buy twigs or they are completely optionals? Other then twigs , do you get some foliage, I hope: how many do you get?
Looks good
I’m hesitating between The Grove and Space Tree Pro
Not yet clear to me if The Grove has such many more advantages then Space Tree Pro, because of the price difference
There is a quick start Grove manual but not yet a detailed manual or did I overlook ?
Possible to use the grease pencil and shape your tree or ivy ?
I don't know the full details of the differences as of yet, but I'm sure glad that we've got some nice Blender-focused premium options to decide from now. :)
This looks great. I think the price is a good one compared to the other professional quality products out there. I'd like to see wind effects built in and things like the occasional dead branch. adjustable leaves changing color in autumn would be an easy thing to do as well.
Those are good points. It can't be all things to everyone, but they advertise that it supports all seasons. I get that they offer "twigs" for summer and spring and that no leaves could be the dead of winter. But it would have been more enticing for me if the twigs included an autumn and early spring (i.e., buds and/or early sprouting leaves) as part of the twigs "package" that did represent all seasons.
I don't have the add-on, but perhaps it's possible for users to change the colors of the twigs that they offer for sale. That would be OK but I didn't see anything about user control over the twigs.
The other concern is that their website implies (or at least I inferred) that the twigs are proprietary in that only they can provide them. I'm wondering if people can make their own twigs even if they are not the same quality the ones you buy from them. That would make it more appealing to me because I would want to have a library of twigs that represented distinct environments without having to wait on them to get around to creating them a year or five from now.
And it wasn't clear on their website if the flowering spring twigs were an option--meaning with or without the flowers. What if I want to use that type of twig in late summer or autumn without the flowers? I have the feeling that if I buy the flowing twig and can only use it as a flowing tree--which is not very flexible.
Finally, I would have liked to see a wider variety of different types of twigs. Except for the Willow, the ones they offer would look about the same from a distance. I would have like to have seen some fir, pine, cypress, palm, plumeria, etc. that were distinctly different or perhaps a twig from different parts of the world or environments (Africa, Asia, desert, jungle, etc.).
In any event, they caught my attention, but they didn't give me enough information about the future for me to buy into it yet. With effort, I can come close to realistic trees using Sapling or creating my own from scratch using the Skin Modifier. They are probably more work, but how often do you need trees in a close up with incredible detail.
I'm tempted, but not sold.
But I do have a challenge for them. If you want to capture the tree market, then develop a way to create different tree types. So far you have a basic trunk and limbs. But develop a banyan tree with a complex root structure that would take days or weeks to create by hand, different palms, the Montezuma Cypress (Mexico), etc.
I'm not criticizing what appears to be an excellent tree add-on; I'm just making observations and suggestion--all of which may not be possible.
I've got more or less your same doubts, BFM2: the product seems really nice, expecially how it deals with foliage ( it avoids all the extra work from weight adjusting in sapling, for example), but the lack of a user forum in their site or a section where to post questions like yours it's not a selling point at all for me.
I think I'm going to mail them to have more infos about:
1-Memory consumption: I've already bought addons that deliver good output with excessive memory usage, I'd like to know how much weight a normal detailed tree.
2-Twigs policy: how many do I get if I buy now, if I'll get future twigs for free, If I can create new one.
3-If there's a "season switch" for materials , foliage placement or so on.
So would anyone say that Blender can, realistically, hold its own against Max or Maya? Those are horribly expensive programs that can require many add-ons, that cost money, to make a decent scene...depending what you are looking for actually. Water, smoke, physics...I believe those were all add-ons. It has been a while since I messed with Max.
What do you think? Can it?
It depends about what do you mean by hold its own. Every program has its nice set of features: to me modeling in blender is extremely easier then modeling in 3dsmax ( not talking about maya because to me it's modeling workflow is the worst). Rigging is easier in maya, 3dsmax is better integrated with 3rd parties software , sculpting is better in zbrush.
To me the biggest drawback about blender is the lack of integration with VRay ( you have a special version of blender to use ) and with substance painter ( but you can save the textures), but nowadays it's getting better and better in these fields too.
If you are an hobbyist or are still deciding if 3d could be a real job for you, I'd go hands down on blender. If you switch to professional, I'd start to learn maya or max, more because their are industry standard than for lack of blender functionality.
Just my 2 cents
Definately can. If I could get 3ds Max for free I wouldnt still use it, its really buggy software and basic modelling workflow is painful compared to Blender. The advantage max has is the crazy amount of plugins and premade assets, but otherwise its inferior to Blender in almost every way.
If you're looking for commercial 3d program I would suggest to check out modo, 3ds max and even maya are too tied to their past.
It's a very good looking plugin, with some fantastic assets being procedurally generated.
Price is a bit steep for hobbyists and solo modelers, but I could see a studio with a defined budget picking it up and using it for some cool projects. :D
Impressive results. Good value for anyone doing architectural work. Congratulations.
Wow. Good work! But there is several problems with colors and muterial reflection.
For 15 years I had been using Vue to create trees that can be animated with wind. It's a great software. I used to use Blender only for modelling. But, since 2.5 version, things changed: sapling was a good surprise (before it there was a simple and nice addon to create trees, made after Big Buck Bunny). Now I create my trees in Blender.
Vue also has an algorithm to create animated clouds and atmospheric effects. But, with Cycles (which is a revolution!) Blender is quickly reaching Blender in this resource.
The result of Blender evolution is that now I'm using almost only Blender.
Vue, if you really want to use professionally, costs a minimum of U$ 480. But now they offer Plant Factory, a cheaper alternative to create plants: U$ 199. It comes with a lot of plants species. The creators of these softwares made, 20 years ago, an option to proprietary software. Ok, it's their choice. But Blender it's free, and has more and more resources.
I used this example of costs to say that € 109 for an addon like this is a bit high. But I don't know the composition of the costs, mainly the costs in hours. Complain is so easy.
I'm only saying that there are a lot of options:
- sapling addon - comes with Blender
-Tree[D] - kind of freeware, really basic and limited, but it works (I installed in Linux successfully, using Wine)
- ivy - comes with Blender
And many others mentioned in the comments.
Oops, I meant that Blender is reaching Vue.
Another person infected with BM Cancer.
I recently ask leagal about blender addons and they laughed at me.
they told me anything that touches the code of blender is free.
So from my understanding.
Someone could easily ask you to pay for this and thats ok
but they cant stop you from changing it, building on top of it or giving it away and the source code must 'be made available'
Personally i follow the developer like a fan and i am happy to support them when they ask a reasonable price.
Like IK text
However my opion is and it will be equally as egotistical
blender market has only taken a right here and now aproach to exploiting artist and developers for present financial gain.
There is no long term goal.
Simply just because someome opens a market it doesnt make them a competor or even a good competor.
There are much better products on the market already. Which leads to my next point.
Blender
'WAS'
A community of thriving artist and developers working together. Unfortunately wanna be capitalist and pretend irion man have put wheels in motion to hinder and drastically slow down blender development.
Unfortunately the cancer has already spread.
I think its great to suoport developers.
Though this doesn't just mean money and this kind of payment has been proven to be more motivating for workers then financial gain.
If you went to blender market and bought every addon it would be more then Adobe CC. on top of that you are buying from people who have no accountability to keep on developing and supporting the next version of blender.
People can wave their hands around in the air and say will continue to develope but again there is no accountability.
blender is an underdog and this is why people love it. Blender is cutting edge because it has to be shared.
Unfortunately blender market is a poor attempt to try and commericalise something which is already free.
Strange kind of thinking when you think about it don't you think?
So support the creators with genuin thought filled suport gratitude, positive afirming action and if you can support financially then pay.
Keep blender free and use blender as an industry tool for development and make money that way. Thats what the blender community really becomes proud of and how blender will really grow because its operating in a fully functional industry.
IMO their is a cancer in the blender community of development and its growing unfortunately though its never to late.
Within less then 6 months of blendermarket opening up its pricess escalated with uneducated marketers throwing random prices on random products; quality is questionable.
soon no one will share in development because BM Cancer is slowing developement down to almost a crawl.
If you want to build a better world share and keep it free. We need to come together.
Look at pixar open subdiv. It is changing the way we all work because its open and free for more minds to work on its intergration and development.
Now think about why pixar would have done such a thing?
If you pool five developers togeher who are working on something similar you will have a much better product than just one person.
if you have a community of people testing then rapid developement increases 10 fold.
Isiolate the logs on a fire and the flames of the fire quickly die out. Put the logs on the fire closer together and the flame burns bright and strong.
Blenders ideals are not a coin that someone has an amazing insight of and can open up a cute little shop because they believe they can see both sides of the coin.
From off the top of my head Blender represents freedom, developement, creativity, change, collaboration and community; hardly a two sided coin.
If you want a better blender the answer is not money and a cute cheap little market.
Its about coming together and working together. It sounds like a nostalgic voice from the past, but truely that is where the future of a better blender is at.
Togetherness and openess this really is the only way forward.
That's quite a rant; you may find that people actually read your posts if you're more concise and to the point.
You're acting like the Blender Market and other addons for sale are ruining the rate at which other people are creating and releasing addons for free. Have you even looked around BlenderArtists lately? People are still just as free and open-source about Blender addons as they've been before.
Now, we're just seeing some very nice addons which are benefitting from giving their developers a higher incentive to spending more time and effort on their addons than usual smaller efforts from community developers trying to piece together addons in their spare time on free weekends.
It's folks like you who hold Blender's best potential back, folks who panic at the sight of a dollar sign. Even though nothing in life--not even Blender--is truly free. Behind Blender is thousands, if not millions, of man-hours and tons of other people's money that have fueled its production. Even much of Blender's core took donation money to develop--people often forget that.
Blender Market and other stores haven't slowed down the rate at which the community still thrives as a community. If anything, they're starting to place Blender on a platform it's never reached before. Some of these addons are pushing Blender into competitive territory it's never seen.
Where would RetopoFlow be without aid of a market? How many more years would we have gone without a MotionTool around? And what about people who live in countries where a little money made from the market can go a long way towards powering their creations? I think a lot of us Westerners take our cozy lives for granted--some people in the world may rely on both Blender's generosity and Blender Market's opportunity.
Though, don't worry--there are plenty of developers out there who resist selling their addons, out of personal preference. For every "premium addon" there is out there, there's a developer who prefers to release theirs for free.
Oh, and if you'd really just wanted to not pay for it, you could technically get several marketplace addons for free from their GitHub depository, such as Contours. It'd be awfully cheap of ya' (haha!), but it's an open option.
hahahha thats awesome.
"People like me" your funny.
Perhaps read my post again and try not to be so offended.
Well, this mentality is exactly what is driven me away from Blender. I am looking now for mature tools to do my job, like 3ds Max and Vue. Following your view, Blender will never leave its adolescence.
There's no free lunch, buddy.
Never mistake a single troll for an entire community.
I bought.
Well, I was searching for tree generator, that places instances as leafes for years!!
Also bought a couple of twigs, just to look what are they - they are cool, but I don't think, that I will use them much)
Also like stability of this addon, it is coded very well.
Price is pretty good (comparable to my monthly donation to opensource)
Also hopes, one day there also will be ability to grow bushes as well.^^
Thank you for this awesome stuff!
I bought the add-on and all the twigs. This is the best tree generator software I have ever owned. I have Onyx, VUE and lots of X-Frog.
Now they working on introducing a couple of natural phenomena that will allow for more tree characters, especially conifers.
Sounds awesome!)
What I can't seem to find is information on whether or not I can use the trees I create with this for my commissions or architectural jobs, which would be the main selling point for me at this time.