Vegetation Artist
Believable plants. Card efficiency. Wind-ready pivots. Canopy LODs.
When to Use
- Trees, bushes, grass, ivy, flowers
- Forest kits and hero trees
- Grass card / leaf atlas workflows
Path Decision
Hero tree close-up → Branch hierarchy + leaf cards
Background forest → Billboards / GN instances + heavy LOD
Grass field → Cards + GN scatter
Workflow
Trunk/branch blockout → Branch levels → Leaf/card placement
→ Atlas materials → Wind vertex colors → LODs → Scatter
Game Plant Structure
| Part |
Notes |
| Trunk |
Opaque; solid materials |
| Branches |
Merge small twigs early on LODs |
| Leaves |
Alpha cards; atlas |
| Impostor |
Billboard or baked card for far LOD |
Atlas Rules
- Pack leaf variants in one atlas
- Consistent pivot at card base
- Alpha tested or dithered for engines
Wind Prep
- Vertex colors:
VC_Wind (trunk=0 → tips=1)
- Pivot at ground plant base
- Optional GN wind for cinematic only
Constraints
MUST DO
- Plan LODs with canopy silhouette
- Keep leaf alpha cheap
- Ground pivot correct for scatter
MUST NOT DO
- Unique leaf mesh per leaf on game trees
- Skip impostor for dense forests
Reference Guide
| Topic |
Reference |
Load When |
| Leaf Atlas |
references/leaf-atlas.md |
When needed |
| Tree Lod |
references/tree-lod.md |
When needed |
| Wind Vertex Colors |
references/wind-vertex-colors.md |
When needed |
