Camera

One of the problems with using planar textured objects, is that we must continually rotate them to face the camera (in order to see a good 3D effect). "Forest" can do this task automatically with the rollout options. Also, the plugin allows us to build only the trees which are inside of field view of the camera (Forest is the only plugin for 3DS which includes this feature), so we can create large areas of vegetation without the problems of number of faces and an excessive workload for 3DS.

Camera

With the Camera button we assign a camera in the scene, "Clear" un-assigns it. "Copy" assigns the current camera to all Forest objects in the scene.

Auto assign to active view

This checkbox automatically assigns the camera to the active view, ifit exists.

Only before rendering

This checkbox enables this feature only before rendering, to avoid continuous redrawing of the Forest objects.

Area

Limit to visibility

Using this checkbox, we limit the trees only to the areas covered by the camera's field of view.

Expand

Sometimes (in scenes with camera motion), it's possible that some trees will appear or disappear "suddenly" from the edge of view because the vision limit is very narrow. With this parameter, we can widen the field of view. With a 10% or 20% value, the effect is solved in most scenes.

Far Clipping Plane

This parameter limits the creation of trees beyond a specified distance from the camera. This value is defined in scene's unit system.

Back Offset

Extends the creation of trees behind the camera's position. Use it in combination with the "Expand" parameter, to fix the problem of trees and shadows appearing suddenly from the edge of view.

Trees Facing Camera

Enables the automatic rotation of trees towards the camera. CAUTION: This feature is not fully implemented in 3D Studio Viz because sub-object animation is not supported in this program. We use a walk around which runs well in most scenes. Perform some tests with Forest Lite to see if it fulfils your needs.

Use on Custom Objects

Applies the facing camera to trees created from "Custom Object" sources (Geometry List). If the checkbox is disabled, it is only applied to template trees.

Copy Parameters

Copy the current camera parameters to all Forest objects in the scene.

Density/Scale Falloff

Lets you to define density and scale curves for camera distance.

If "Use Environment Range" is on, the range values are taken from the Canera's environment range. This allows us to assign different ranges from each camera easily.

Be careful if you use falloffs with camera motion, because trees may appear or disappear suddenly (the distance to camera changes when moving).