Bryce Tree Objects (BTO)Bryce 7.1 Pro ― Bryce Tree Objects (BTO) ― 2 ― The Tree Lab screen...

Bryce 7.1 Pro ― Bryce Tree Objects (BTO)

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Bryce Tree Objects (BTO)

Bryce uses two different files for the Tree Lab: tree presets (TPS) and leaf presets (LPS). These are accessible from the Tree Lab but do not work as expected. Using the BTO files from the Create menu gives better trees.

Tree Lab

The Tree Lab has two dropdown menus, one labelled Tree Shape and the other Foliage Shape. The respective files can be found under Bryce\Presets\Treeshapes\ and Bryce\Presets\Leaves\. There is a third folder Bryce\Presets\Trees\ and the files in there cannot be accessed from the Tree Lab but from the Create shelf when holding down the [Alt]-key when clicking on the tree thumbnail on the shelf.

When just clicking on the tree icon, a default tree appears in the workspace and this tree can be modified in the Tree Lab. However, when the [Alt]-key is held down when clicking on the tree, the Open dialogue pops up and any filename.bto anywhere on the computer or the network can be opened.

This much is well known like holding down the [Ctrl]-key while clicking in the tree icon opens the Save As dialogue and the selected tree can be saved anywhere on the computer. This tree will be saved with the name given and a bto file extension.

Tree Lab Flaw

There is a serious flaw in the Tree Lab: the settings are not updated when a new Tree Shape is selected from the dropdown. This fact was brought to my attention when I read the Instancing Lab Tutorial by Peter-Gene Budarick von Ide’ aka Kine-magiK, which is available here: https://www.horo.ch/docs/guests/pdf/InstancingLab_Kine_magiK.pdf. He mentions the flaw in paragraph 49 on page 18. This explained why I never found the selected tree shape resemble a natural tree.

A Default tree Selecting Acacia

https://www.horo.ch/docs/guests/pdf/InstancingLab_Kine_magiK.pdf


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The Tree Lab screen shot above at left shows a default tree after clicking on the tree icon on the Create shelf. At right, I selected an Acacia for the tree and foliage shapes. The wireframe view at right already shows that this cannot be an Acacia.

None of the values under Branch / Trunk have changed, neither has Gravity for the Tree Shape. Though I selected the leaf for an Acacia under Foliage Shape, Scale and Number of Leaves have not changed, neither has Distribution. What indeed changed was the trunk material; the leaf material is randomly set anyway. Make an Acacia tree to an Acacia tree

Below at left, I set all values for the Branch / Trunk, Tree Shape and Foliage manually to the correct values and I finally got something that resembles an Acacia.

All values adjusted manually for Acacia Acacia loaded as BTO

We can get to this result much faster by just loading the Acacia.bto file via holding down the [Alt]-key when clicking on the tree symbol on the Create shelf, navigate to Bryce\Presets\ Trees\. The result is shown above at right. All values are correctly set (that’s how I knew them) but the label on the dropdowns indicates Default. To “nicify” the Tree Lab, you can select Acacia from the Tree and Foliage Shape dropdowns. This will change nothing except the dropdown label updates.

By the way, when you hold down the [Alt]-key while clicking on the dropdowns in the Tree Lab, you can access individual TPS and LPS files anywhere on the computer or network, but also this does not update the values in the Tree Lab. Tree Material and Randomness

Whether the tree shape is selected from the dropdown or the tree was loaded as BTO, the wood material (trunk, roots, branches, twigs) get the assigned material. The leaf material is always randomly set. Even if a tree is saved as BTO, when loaded later, the leaf material is replaced by a random one.

If a leaf shape is changed the first time using the drop down, the leaf may get another random material. Changing it again does not randomise the material again. Best set all values and shapes before materials are assigned and then leave those dropdowns alone.

Each time a tree is loaded, even a saved BTO, its shape will be randomised. The changes are not dramatic in most cases but the resulting tree is slightly different than the previous one. It appears, however, that the shape stays the same if another shape is selected and then later again the same as before.


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Treeshapes (TPS), Leaves (LPS) and Trees (BTO)

The table shows the installed trees. TPS and LPS are selected from the respective dropdowns in the Tree Lab, BTO are loaded. The list shows at left the filename, at right under Remarks the name as it appears in the dropdowns. Some trees are only available as TPS, some only as BTO and some as TPS and BTO.

Tree Name TPS LPS BTO Remarks

Acacia X X X

American Plum X X X Plum, American

Apple Tree X X X

Aspen X X X

Austrian Pine X X X Pine, Austrian

Autumn Apple 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Ash 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Aspen 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Birch 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Cedar 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Autumn Elm 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Fir 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Maple 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Oak 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Autumn Pine 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Bald Cypress X X X Cypress, Bald

Bamboo X X X

Basswood X X X

Beech X X 0

Birch X X X

Black Walnut X X X Walnut, Black

Cedar of Lebanon X X X

Coconut Palm X X X

Common Ash X X X Ash, Common

Common Holly X X X Holly, Common

Common Juniper X X X Juniper, Common

Common Lime X X X Lime, Common

Date Palm X X X Palm, Date

Dogwood X X 0

Douglas Fir X X X Fir, Douglas

Elm X X X

Eucalyptus X X X

Fir Tree X X X Fir

Giant Sequoia X X X

Gingko X X X Ginkgo (Maiden Hair)


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Hemlock X X X

Hornbeam X X X

Horse Chestnut X X X Chestnut, Horse

Italian Cypress X X X Cypress, Italian

Japanese Maple X X 0 Maple, Japanese

Joshua Tree X X 0

Magnolia X X 0

Mangrove X X 0

Monkey Puzzle X X 0 Monkey Puzzle Tree

Mountain Ash X X 0 Ash, Mountain

Norfolk Island Pine X X 0

Norway Maple X X 0 Maple, Norway

Norway Spruce X X 0 Spruce, Norway

Papaya X X X

Poplar X X 0

Red Oak X X 0 Oak, Red

Rhododendron X X 0

Russian Olive X X 0 Olive, Russian

Sassafras X X 0

Scotts Pine X X 0 Pine, Scotts

Seagrape X X 0

Silver Maple X X 0 Maple, Silver

Spruce X X 0

Sugar Maple X X 0 Maple, Sugar

Sumac X X 0

Sweet Gum X X 0 Gum, Sweet

Sycamore X X 0

Tamarack X X 0

Tulip Tree X X 0

User Leaf 0 X 0

Weeping Willow X X 0 Willow, Weeping

White Cedar X X 0 Cedar, White

White Oak X X 0 Oak, White

White Pine X X 0 Pine, White

Yew X X 0

Winter Cedar 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Winter Elm 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Winter Maple 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Winter Oak 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Winter Pine 0 0 X Variants 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Tree Name TPS LPS BTO Remarks


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Bryce Tree Objects BTO

Using BTOs is the better choice than modifying the default tree. The caveat of using BTOs is that there are 108 in total and you have no idea how they look like until you have loaded one. Below, all BTO trees are shown rendered. Render Setup

The tree is in the world centre and shown in the size it loaded. The wood material is the one that came with the loaded tree. The leaf material is always the same — not a good choice for every tree, but the objective was to be consistent.

The scene is lit by the Bryce sun and the ambient light is provided by a pure white HDRI with casting shadows disabled (for render speed). It is rendered as backdrop but with low light. The ground plane is default grey but Diffusion was set lower and Cast shadows disabled to get a bit of light from underneath.

All trees are at the same distance from the camera. A copy of the tree was moved nearer to the camera and appears at the left frame to show branches, twigs and leaves in more detail. Care was taken to not obscure the shadow cast by the tree. BTO Renders

All renders are 600 x 600 pixels and in this size embedded in this document. Use the magnify option in your PDF viewer to enlarge. At right is a Default tree for reference.

Remarks

Any BTO tree can be tweaked in the Tree Lab. To save a successful tree, I recommend saving it in the Objects Library. This guarantees that it is not randomised when loaded, wood and leaf materials are retained and the tree can be modified in the Tree Lab anytime nevertheless. Below, pages 6 to 14, the 108 renders. Remember to zoom-in if you want to look at any details. Each render is identified by its BTO filename.

As you can see, the trees you get when loading a BTO file are much better and look more natural than if fiddling with a default tree.

Because a tree is randomised when loaded, it may look a bit different than the ones shown below.

July 2014/horo

https://www.horo.ch/


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Acacia American Plum Apple Tree

Aspen Austrian Pine Autumn Apple 1

Autumn Apple 2 Autumn Apple 3 Autumn Apple 4

Autumn Apple 5 Autumn Ash 1 Autumn Ash 2


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Autumn Ash 3 Autumn Ash 4 Autumn Ash 5

Autumn Aspen 1 Autumn Aspen 2 Autumn Aspen 3

Autumn Aspen 4 Autumn Aspen 5 Autumn Birch 1

Autumn Birch 2 Autumn Birch 3 Autumn Birch 4


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Autumn Birch 5 Autumn Cedar 1 Autumn Cedar 2

Autumn Cedar 3 Autumn Cedar 4 Autumn Cedar 5

Autumn Cedar 6 Autumn Cedar 7 Autumn Cedar 8

Autumn Cedar 9 Autumn Cedar 10 Autumn Elm 1


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Autumn Elm 2 Autumn Elm 3 Autumn Elm 4

Autumn Elm 5 Autumn Fir 1 Autumn Fir 2

Autumn Fir 3 Autumn Fir 4 Autumn Fir 5

Autumn Maple 1 Autumn Maple 2 Autumn Maple 3


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Autumn Maple 4 Autumn Maple 5 Autumn Oak 1

Autumn Oak 2 Autumn Oak 3 Autumn Oak 4

Autumn Oak 5 Autumn Pine 1 Autumn Pine 2

Autumn Pine 3 Autumn Pine 4 Autumn Pine 5


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Bald Cypress Bamboo Basswood

Birch Black Walnut Cedar of Lebanon

Coconut Palm Common Ash Common Holly

Common Juniper Common Lime Date Palm


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Douglas Fir Elm Eucalyptus

Fir Tree Giant Sequoia Gingko

Hemlock Hornbeam Horse Chestnut

Italian Cypress Papaya Winter Cedar 1


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Winter Cedar 2 Winter Cedar 3 Winter Cedar 4

Winter Cedar 5 Winter Elm 1 Winter Elm 2

Winter Elm 3 Winter Elm 4 Winter Elm 5

Winter Maple 1 Winter Maple 2 Winter Maple 3


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Winter Maple 4 Winter Maple 5 Winter Oak 1

Winter Oak 2 Winter Oak 3 Winter Oak 4

Winter Oak 5 Winter Pine 1 Winter Pine 2

Winter Pine 3 Winter Pine 4 Winter Pine 5

Bryce Tree Objects (BTO)Bryce 7.1 Pro ― Bryce Tree Objects (BTO) ― 2 ― The Tree Lab screen...

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Transcript of Bryce Tree Objects (BTO)Bryce 7.1 Pro ― Bryce Tree Objects (BTO) ― 2 ― The Tree Lab screen...