Free and some low cost tree software.
Plant Generation Software Packages
| Tool | Description | Pros | Cons | Pics |
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| XFrog - see the XFrog Page |   | |||
| SpeedTree | Available as an SDK ($10k for a single-product license). The SDK integrates with the Unreal Engine, and also the Gamebryo, BigWorld, Vision, OGRE and Multiverse engines. Also available as a standalone tool, $5k for Cinema, or low-cost version $900 for Studio for non-game use. | Fully 3D trees without using a lot of polygons, with dynamic LOD. Includes an option to design your own trees. The runtime allows trees to move with the wind. | The SDK package ("Speedtree for Games") is expensive and not usable for freely-distributed apps. |    |
| Lenné3D | Very powerful plant software, once available as plugins, is now built into their Biosphere 3D software. | Leverages Xfrog. The results of several years of academic research into realtime rendering of large number of plants. | Rather large file sizes. |  |
| ngPlant | Standalone application for creating plants. Looks very much like a simpler version of Xfrog, with a more narrow focus. Yorik's blender greenhouse has free trees made with ngPlant for use in Blender; the emphasis is on non-realtime rendering. | Free and open source. Seems fairly powerful for a free program. | Lots of complex controls, would take a while to learn. |  |
| Unity Tree Creator | A tree authoring tool is part of the Unity game engine. | Good looking trees, optimized for realtime rendering. | Tightly integrated with the game engine, unsure if useful beyond Unity. |  |
| Silvador | A tree authoring tool targeting the VBS2 system, from Bohemia Interactive. | Attractive screenshots. | No price given, no real info. Seems to be competitor to SpeedTree, specifically in the VisSim "serious games" field. |  |
| Virtual Gardening and Virtual Bonsai | Standalone application from JFP, Inc., for modelling gardens and bonsai trees. | Beautiful output, realtime interaction (OpenGL) | Only available in Japanese |  |
| Arbaro | Tree modelling tool, Free and open-source, written in Java. | Free (gratis and libre). Writes OBJ files. | Look like just a few types of plant possible. |  |
| tree[d] | Tree modelling tool, free, as a plugin for gile[s] or standalone. Exports to "x" and "b3d". | Seems fairly easy to use. | Just does simple trees (trunk/branch/leaf model). |  |
| Ivy Generator | The ivy grows from a single root following different forces and constraints. | Free and cross-platform. | Minimal UI. |  |
| Algorithmic Botany: VLAB (Linux) and L-Studio (Windows) | Dr. Prusinkiewicz's full package, was available as shareware, now around $300 (?) Latest website has no information about availability. |
| QuickTime:    | |
| OpenAlea | Research software | Looks powerful | Very low level, focus is on biological research |  |
| Treemagik | Tree modeler, $50 for Windows, from Aliencodec. |
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| Plant-Life | Plant modeler, $45 for Windows, from Aliencodec. Does "rocks, mushrooms, grass, weeds, ferns, lilies, flowers, bushes, twigs, tropicals". |
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| Dryad | Standalone tree app, for Windows and Mac. Claims to output models in OBJ format. |
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| Plant Studio | Herbaceous plant modeler for Win32. Use to be inexpensive, now free. |
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| Forester Arboretum | Tree modeler, $35 for Windows. Generates detailed trees in POV-Ray, .x, and .obj formats. |
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| Tree Professional / Tree Still, Tree Storm | Decent package from Onyx Computing, a bit old now. Standalone tree designer and well-integrated MAX plugin. |
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| Intel Smoke Library (see Procedural Trees and Procedural Fire in a Virtual World) | Open-source library for procedural simulation of fire and smoke, which curiously also does proecedural creation of trees. |  | ||
Plant Software: Only Available as a Modeler Plug-in
| Sapling | Blender Plugin (free) | Looks like rather basic branching geometry, but capable of a few common tree types. |  | |
| Branches | 3DS MAX Plugin (free with registration) | "not a tool for generating procedural trees, but a modeling tool for creating trees by hand ... intended for games." |  | |
| Laubwerk Plants Kits | 3DS MAX Plugin (€149+VAT per pack of plants) | Quality of the trees looks good. There is a free version that includes two species. | It's just 10 species of tree, although each comes in 3 shapes, 3 ages and four 4 seasons, for a total of 36 variations. |  |
| TreesDesigner | LightWave Plugin ($100) with separate LeavesGenerator ($80) | Where the branches/ trunk split, it is quite smooth, better than the "intersecting cylinders" of nearly all plant software. Reportedly, there are no restrictions on use of the output. | The branch angles look rather unnatural, and it appears to only do tree-type plants. |   |
| DPIT Nature Spirit | Plugin for Cinema 4D, €300 | Really odd, lumpy, unnatural-looking trees. |  | |
| Maya Paint Effects | Maya plugin (included with standard Maya product) | "Create a jungle of trees and plants in a matter of minutes" - "paint" grass onto the ground, and you can customize |  | |
| Digital Landscapes | Softimage plugin (NT / Irix) from JFP, Inc.Based on the research of Dr. Norishige Chiba of the Department of Computer Science at the Faculty of Engineering at Iwate University. | Beautiful output, impressive control of plant distribution | Only available as a plugin. |  |
| Bionatics ("based on" AMAP, see old plant software page) | Three products: natFX (Maya/MAX Plug-in), EASYnat (3ds VIZ Plug-in), and REALnat (billboard generator) | Same large plant library as AMAP. | Expensive. Very restrictive licensing on use and redistribution of the resulting models You can only use the plants they provide. Somewhat discontinued as of 2013. |  |
| Digimation - Tree Factory | Has reasonable-looking sample trees. |
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| Tree Druid | Plugin for 3D modeler Carrara ($80), also available as a standalone app ($100) | Includes 36 trees. | an old program by this name had very crude, unrealistic plants (left) |   |
Plant Software: Old/Historical
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