Producing Tree Textures

Fate Gardens’ tree textures are built in Bryce where hundreds of prims can be used to render the images.  The software can also be used to add decoration and lighting before snapping an image and rendering a black and white alpha mask.  One trick to the mask is setting all of the materials on the tree to flat solids to avoid greyish edged.  Another alpha trick is rending the original tree image on a background colour comparable with the bark and leave colours to avoid a halo effect.

The 512×512 textures are then ported into Paint Shop Pro where the alpha mask is shrunk a fraction of a hair, again to avoid a halo, and applied to the image.  Any number of filters, always a bit of sharpening, are applied to the image.  This is highly experimental; one never knows what might make the image pop.  When I’m happy with the result, it’s exported as a tga file to preserve the alpha layer and be compatible to the grid’s file system.

Being able to film the original tree on a flat background and as a mask solves loads of alpha problems I experienced early in my career.  Never having to resize the image very much helps the clarity compared to the first round of trees I built inworld.  The most important aspect of the process though is being happy with the results myself rather than desperately concerned that people will appreciate and purchase the finished product.  My work has been much more satisfying and lucrative when treating Fate Gardens as a hobby rather than a corporate necessity.