3DS MAX Creating Forest Scene in 3DS Max Tutorial

Step One

In this tutorial, we will make a forest scene in 3dsmax. First let us create the base forest landscape ground, draw and modify a Quad Patch as shown.

Figure 1.  Click here to view larger image.

Step Two

Hide it in the viewport for now.

Figure 2.  Click here to view larger image.

Step Three

We will make a single tree with plane objects and then scatter it on the Forest landscape. Draw a Plane with roughly a size (length and width) as shown. Don’t take the Length Segments sand Width segments more than 1.

Step Four Open the Material Editor, choose 1st empty slot and assign the diffuse texture of a tree to the Diffuse slot.   Figure 4.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Five Assign the material to the plane. We have to fix the unwanted stretching of the texture.   Figure 5.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Six Add a UVW Mapping modifier to the plane. Leave the Mapping style to Planar. Then, in the Alignment group, choose Bitmap Fit and choose the same texture as we chose earlier.   Step Seven Now, go down “Plane” in the modifier stack. Turn ON “Show End Result” to see the effect of the above modifier (i.e. UVW Mapping). Then Adjust the Width value so that you get a standalone tree image (i.e. no extra repeated portions of texture).   Figure 7.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Eight Well, return to the Material Editor and choose “Mix” map for the Opacity map slot for the current tree material.   Figure 8.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Nine Under the Mix Parameters, choose “Falloff” for the 2nd Map (Color #2).   Step Ten Under Falloff settings, scroll to Mix Curve area and in the graph, add two more points as shown.   Figure 10.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Eleven Move the points as shown.   Figure 11.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twelve Go to parent Mix map and for the Mix map (next to “Mix Amount”) slot, assign the matching Opacity texture for this tree.   Step Thirteen Go to the topmost level of the material and set the Self-Illumination value to 100.   Figure 13.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Fourteen In the Front viewport, adjust the Pivot position of the tree (Plane01) as shown.   Figure 14.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Fifteen Turn the Angle Snap option on in the main toolbar and in the Front viewport, rotate the tree -120 degree in Y axis while pressing SHIFT key in the keyboard.   Step Sixteen Make sure, Copy method is chosen in the Clone Options dialogue box. Set the Number of Copies to 2 and click OK.   Figure 16.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Seventeen Assign a sky blue color to the Environment Background Color.   Figure 17.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Eighteen Open the Render Scene dialogue box and check “Force 2-Sided” option. Then hit Render. We will scatter this tree over the landscape.   Step Nineteen Collapse any of the plane to Editable Mesh.   Figure 19.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twenty Then attach other two plane objects to it. Now all the 3 planes are within a single tree.   Figure 20.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twenty One Unhide the Landscape model.   Step Twenty Two Select the Tree and choose Create Panel > Geometry > Compound Object > Scatter. Then click Pick Distribution Object and click on the landscape object in the viewport.   Figure 22.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twenty Three Go to Modify panel, scroll down and in the Display group, choose Display value = 10 and check “Hide Distribution Object”.   Figure 23.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twenty Four Scroll back to the up and set the Duplicates value to 1000. Turn OFF the “Perpendicular” option. Choose “Area” distribution method.   Step Twenty Five You can transform (locally and on the face of distribution object) the trees with the options under Transforms.   Figure 25.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twenty Six Apply a grass material to the landscape model with a suitable grass texture. A tileable generic grass texture will be the best option. Adjust the Tiling values as necessary. Also lower the Blur value.   Figure 26.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twenty Seven You may like to choose “Random Faces” instead of “Area” distribution method. It will allow the trees to be positioned randomly on the landscape.   Step Twenty Eight Use another Tree Diffuse and Opacity with another material (with Mix Opacity map as earlier) to get another type of trees. And scatter them as well as earlier. These trees will fall on the earlier trees. So, adjust the Translation on Face values so that they do not occupy the same place.   Figure 28.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Twenty Nine Add a Target Direct Light in the scene and set the parameters as shown.   Figure 29.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Thirty Expand the Shadow Parameters roll-out and lower the Density value to 0.5. Expand the Optimizations roll-out and check the “On” option under Transparent Shadows group.   Step Thirty One Add a camera and assign it to the Perspective viewport. Adjust the Camera viewport to have a better angle of view.   Figure 31.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Thirty Two Assign a Sky texture map to the Environment Map. Note that if you want to have an animation where the camera will move through the forest you will have to use a Sphere object to project the sky texture (or procedural sky material) on it. I covered this method in another tutorial named "Environment Scene - Tutorial for beginners" . However, for now, keep this simple.   Figure 32.  Click here to view larger image.   Step Thirty Three We have to move the target of the Direct light below the lowest limit of the landscape. Otherwise, due to the elevation, the lighting may not be distributed well.   Step Thirty Four Adjust the Camera viewport more if you think. Then render the scene.