A new tree add-on part III: multiple trunks

Version 0.0.5 of my new tree add-on adds functionality to specify a group of starting points facilitating the creation of hedgerows or twinned trees.

multiple trunks

When you want to create a hedgerow or a small copse of trees combining multiple trees might not lead to an acceptable result because branches might cross and the shape is not quite the way you want it to be. Also the amount of work needed to create a hedge of thirty plants can add up. I therefore added the possibility to define any number of starting points by refering to the locations of objects in a group.

Part of the scene setup used the create the example image is shown on the left. 
The empties (represented by the green cone shapes) are all in the same group and their locations are used as starting points.


The parameter settings were as shown on the right.  As usual the code is available as a zip-file on GitHub. More info on how to use the tree add-on can be found in two previous posts: A new tree add-on and A new tree add-on part II: better workflow

Future directions

I noticed that the mesh created by the skin and subsurface modifiers contains not only a huge amount of faces but also contains quite a precentage of vertices (20% or so) that are so close together that they practically overlap. Generating such a mesh takes a considerable amount of time so I think I will try to come up with a skinning method that is suitable for our tree trunks but hopefully somewhat faster.