Now we have to attach a texture to the trunk. If you're interested in creating a bark texture look at the tutorial for plant textures.

Open TOOLS --> MATERIAL EDITOR or simply press "M"to open the material editor. The next steps should be obvious if you look at the following pictures.

This was the first part of the tree. Save now the tree in MDL format using the maxexport plugin. www.conifiles.de/maxexport4.zip Do not forget the UVW mapping coordinates (see previous page), else you'll get a corresponding error.

Let's continue with the creation of the branches and leaves. We'll use splines in the same way we did when creating the trunk. The shape is equal to the shape of the shadow we'll get later. So you could also create a form which contains better the leaf-like character for the shadow. But for me it'll do it a bit simplier. It is an advantage to draw a straight line in height of the first crotch. That will help us later when aligning the leaf model to the trunk model..

Here now convert the spline to an EDITABLE MESH. That was the last similarity to the creation of the trunk. The leaf surface won't be extruded, it will stay flat like a sprite (the reason why I don't use sprites here is that with sprites you'll get no shadow and a much higher entity count). Ok, let's map the model. Choose the UVW MAP modifier. Then select PLANAR MAPPING.

Now assign the texture for the leaf model in the material editor. Same procedure like mapping the trunk. For the texture I am using a TGA image, because with this format we are able to have gaps in the texture. Look into the plant texture tutorial for further information. When you're done the last part follows. Copy the leaf surface and rotate it 90 degrees. After the rotation you have to check if both parts are crossing each other in the middle. But we'll do that again in MED. I could do the same in WED with two models, but in this way I saved an entity with the same result. . The entity count is extremly important because for every hundred entities you have to increase the nexus with 10. Save the leaf model in MDL format. Do NOT check the SAVE WITH ALPHA CHANNEL flag! If you created the trunk and the leaf model in the same file don't forget to delete the trunk so it won't be also exportet. Do you wonder why wo do not save both parts in one model? The leaf has a TGA skin and the trunk has a BMP skin.It is no problem to create the leaf AND the trunk skin in TGA, but this our way is easier and it has the advantage that you can replace the leaf model for trunks that are symmetrical.

Now load the leaf model into Gamestudio's MED.

Check first if the branch textures on the crossed parts meet in the middle. If not, align it.

The surfaces are only on one side skinned. If you look at it from the opposite side it will be invisible. So in the next step you have to copy the surfaces, paste them in the same place and flip their normals.

We're almost finished. When exporting the model from MAX we lost the alphachannel of the texture. But id had not helped checking the SAVE WITH ALPHA CHANNEL flag in the export window of MAX. Then the whole skin would be invisible. So change in the skin editor by clicking VIEW --> SKINS. Now do FILE --> IMPORT --> SKIN IMAGE and load the TGA skin.

You made it! This tree has 210 polygons (110 for the trunk and 100 for the leaves and branches).

Mirek Thier (Lolek) März 2002 / translate by Matthias Wermund (xck3001)