XfrogTune [by greenworks organic-software], can be used
as a companion product to Xfrog 3.5, or any other version, or as a
companion product for any of the XfrogPlant Libraries, in which
there are trees or models that consist of tree and leaf components.
These can be bushes or even certain cacti. There are 21 plant
libraries including the one in Xfrog 3.5, which is their Basic
collection. I will review the plant library of the USA Southwest in
a future review. Through the use of XfrogTune, one can reduce the
complexity of branching structures and, thus, reduce the number of
polygons. While any vast decrease in polygons can be noticeable,
XfrogTune gives the user the ability to control the decrease
manually, by setting up parameters; branch level by branch level,
or automatically. Even the automatic controls give users a choice.
The latter can set up the automatic controls to work with branches,
foliage, or both. When one opens XfrogTune, the first shot is
basically a black screen with an overhead tool bar. One then opens
an XFR file, which is an Xfrog file. The golden tree in XfrogTUNE
is the same tree as the green tree that appears in my review of
Xfrog 3.5.
I found only two problems with this program - one was the black
background color of the display screen. If there was a way to
change it, I couldn't find it. The tree's trunk and branches tended
to get lost in the background [see below].
When the program is first opened, a default of 97.4% automatic
reduction is displayed. Notice the branches on the left and on the
right, are leafless. Even though this reduced the polygon count to
88,854, the result was not acceptable for this tree. However, that
was not a problem. All it meant was that the procedure would not be
done fully automatically - using both branches and foliage. Please
note that none of the trees were fine-tuned. They are basically,
all rough examples to show how easily one can reduce polygons and
still have a good-looking product.
Before I display the trees with reduced polygons created using
manual parameters, notice the tree on the right in the above screen
capture. At 100% in XfrogTune, the count was 134, 829, while at
100% in Xfrog 3.5, (shown two images below in green) it was 474,507
polygons.
The tree on the above left has fewer polygons than the previous
tree on the left (in the earlier picture). However, I feel it looks
better. The tree on the right has even fewer polygons, and a very
small file size. I will come back to file sizes shortly. The trees
above were created manually setting up individual parameters. Below
are the default parameters. I set up my own, but since each
circumstance is different, I felt it better to show the default
ones.
When one decides on parameters, one takes into account where the
tree is placed in a scene. One can visually test this under
Display on the tool bar and place multiples of the tree in a
scene.
Lastly, we can compare these trees to the ones created in Xfrog
3.5.
As to file size � Xfrog 3.5 gives more of a choice of file
formats for export, than does XfrogTune. If one compares the file
sizes of 3ds and OBJ files, one will see that OBJ files are much
larger. The same tree in Xfrog 3.5, as an OBJ, was 49.4 MB. As a
3ds, it was 12.8. However, XfrogTune only has file formats for
export of OBJ and WRL. While OBJs can go almost anywhere, they can
be quite large. Of course with smaller polygon counts, the file
size becomes very manageable. I feel the lack of export choices a
little confining, but not limiting, since it is possible to convert
OBJ or WRL to other formats; however, that doesn't always work
perfectly. I believe that XfrogTune is a great companion to Xfrog
3.5 and XfrogPlants, even though it only works on trees and
"tree" type models. Even if you only use a few Xfrog
trees, I believe it is an excellent investment. XfrogTune requires
as the minimum system configuration: a computer equipped with an
Intel Pentium II 200 processor and Windows 95/98, 2k or NT 4.0 or
later, 32 MB free RAM, 10 MB free hard disk space and a graphics
board that supports OpenGL.
-
XfrogTune retails for $149.00 USD
-
Demo Version [Save-Export are disabled]
-
Combination manual and a tutorial.
- Xfrog 3.5
Review
- Coming Soon: Review of the Plant Library of the USA
Southwest.
- As always, I invite you to visit my personal website:
Perpetual
Visions
All supporting images are copyright, and
cannot be
copied, printed, or reproduced in any manner without written
permission from the artist.
- The Paula
Sander's Report is a regular Renderosity Front Page
featured column, where Paula [Renderosity's Sr. Staff Writer]
investigates and comments on graphic software, techniques, and
other relevant material through her reviews, tutorials, and general
articles.
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