Jump to content
AutoDesSys

[Q] 3D printable trees for architectural models


Pobo

Recommended Posts

Hi,

I was hoping that someone here could help me. Excuse my ignorance, I am not an architect by training.

I am looking for 3D models of trees which can be 3D printed. The reason being that I am trying to create a match between a physical model and a virtual scene, a sort of virtual twin approach.

I am not necessarily looking for realism; aesthetic abstraction is also fine. Of course there are thousands of beautiful tree models, but most of them are created for rendering, relying heavily on texture-mapped foliage. Then are trees for table top gaming which to me look very cheesy and toy-like. And finally there are printable trees with huge poly counts which make them less suitable for realtime visualization.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Any help greatly appreciated!

// Tom

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd suggest modelling one yourself keeping in mind that trees by their nature are full of overhangs. Most 3d printers can't do overhangs very well.

A trunk with some basic branches at a steep angle as a placeholder for sticking some moss to maybe?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is an openable formZ file of many rectilinear sticks, (solids). It does not have trunks because back in those days HD space was too expensive to save big models. I also had a better tree from the Power PC days, but that file won't open today and needs a much older Mac with formZ dongle and probably version 3.6 or 3.9. 

Not to be confused with my dablings, here is a good software with much better trees by type: http://www.onyxtree.com

formz-trees.gif

Edited by Bo Atkinson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Search for:

There is a neat app called TreeSketch3 for iPad.  It was a university project and was really intuitive to use with a simple but comprehensive interface that exports tree models with great results.  The problem is that is very hard to find a copy online to download nowadays.

There are Shareware tree creation programs like: Treeit , Arbaro,  ngPlant, Powerplant

Here is a great site for detailed tree (and many other types of) models:   https://archive3d.net/?tag=Tree

These may require some work, eg. separating into separate meshes, making solids from open meshes, converting polys to solids, etc.

I use FZ for these tasks to process models and then import them into 3D Coat (sculpting software) for cleaning up, merging, simplifying and prepping for printing.  I finish by re-importing back into FZ for scaling and quality checking before exporting out .stl to print.

Do you have a photo of the level of detail/shape of foliage you are trying to achieve?  Maybe I can help out, it's a slow weekend.  If you choose a model from archive3d.net maybe I can convert it to a growable stl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Dear Des, Bo & Setz,

Many thanks for the great pointers. I likely wouldn't be using FDM printing but more likely an SLA flavour so overhang wouldn't be a problem.

@Setz many thanks for the kind offer. I think I first need to play around a bit myself.

@Bo I like the aesthetic of your trees. They are unmistakenly trees even though they do not have foliage.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 
 
On 9/5/2020 at 3:11 PM, setz said:

Search for:

There is a neat app called TreeSketch3 for iPad.  It was a university project and was really intuitive to use with a simple but comprehensive interface that exports tree models with great results.  The problem is that is very hard to find a copy online to download nowadays.

Here is what I dug up for this... doesn't look to be for iPad any longer.  Or at least, I don't see any mention of it.

http://algorithmicbotany.org

 

¢£

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...