A Tree in 3D Studio Max

Today I did a tutorial on how to make a tree using 3D Studio Max, firstly I started by making a Spline which was the base of the tree trunk, I then created a circle which was to be used to give the trunk its roundness, this was achieved by using the ‘Loft’ tool and selecting the circle.

After I had created the trunk I used the modify command panel where I selected the deformations tab and picked scale, I then played with the control points until I had a trunk that I was happy with. I then went onto to the same tasks to create some branches for the tree.

Now I had to give my trunk and branches some colour, I opened Photoshop and made a 2480 x 2480 pixel image of a horizontal striped map, this was coloured blue and white.

I then pressed ‘M’ in Studio Max to bring up the material editor box, I selected diffuse colour and imported the map into the program, I then dragged the image onto my tree trunk and branches.

I then used the surface parameters rollout tool and selected length repeat spinner, this adjusts the length of the bitmap image in the model and can give you a bigger or smaller gap between the horizontal stripes.

A tree obviously isn’t a tree without leaves, to make these I made a box shape and beveled it out to an acceptable length so that the leaves would look realistic and not be to squashed together or to far away from the tree, I then used the ‘Taper’ tool to curve the box so that the leaves were not linear, I then added more segments to the box so that the curves would be smoother.

I then went back into Photoshop and drew up some leaf shapes, I made them green with a white background and then did the same but the leaves were white on a black background, this was for the opacity setting.

I went back into Studio Max and opened the material editor again, I then imported my white and green leaves image into diffuse colour and the black and white image into the opacity setting, I then clicked 2-sided so my image would appear on all the shades of my box.



I then rendered a final shot of my image and this is what it came out like:

Front View


Side view


Top view



Overall I feel I am making progress with 3D Studio Max and that I now know the basics quite well, I am looking forward to working with this program more in the future.