3D Grass and Sky
This 3ds Max tutorial covers the creation of a fresh grassland pictures. Photo is used as background and 3d grass is created with a scatter object. The final touch will be the sun which will be created with lens effects. I am using 3ds Max 2010 but this should be doable with many older versions as well.
Step 1 Choosing the Background
First choose your favorite sky photo for the background. You can of course use mine if you want to. Click on the image below to download the sky with higher resolution.
Add the sky image to background in 3ds Max:
- Open Environment settings ()
- Click ‘None’ button in Common Parameters
- Double click ‘Bitmap’ and browse for your sky image
Now the sky image appears on the background when you render.
Step 2 Grassland Hills
Next we’ll create the hilly ground:
Create a Plane in the top viewport ( ). Go to the Modify panel and apply the following parameters:
- Length: 47
- Width: 173
- Length Segs: 100
- Width Segs: 100
Select the Plane and add Bend modifier to it (). Go to the Modify panel and apply the following parameters:
- Angle: 80
- Direction -90
- Bend Axis: Y
Select the Plane and add Wave modifier to it ( ). Go to the Modify panel and apply the following parameters:
- Amplitude 1: 4
- Amplitude 2: 4
- Wave Length: 125
- Activate Gizmo sub-object level in the Wave modifier. Go to the front viewport and rotate the gizmo 90 degrees about the Y axis. You can also move it along the X axis to determine the exact location of the hills. For the sake of this tutorial it’s not required to get exactly the same kind of effect. The idea is just to create some nice hills.
Step 3 Single Steam of 3D Grass
Next we’ll create the grass. First we create a single steam of grass and then we multiply it with the help of a Scatter object. Create a rectangle in the left viewport ( ). Go to the modify panel and apply the following parameters:
- Length: 7,78
- Width: 0,2
Use the Line tool ( ) to draw as big triangle as you can inside the rectangle. See picture below. (The idea of the rectangle was just to get the size right).
Delete the rectangle. Next we’ll add some vertices to the object and bend it. Go to the Modify panel and active the Segment sub-object level and select the two vertical segments like in picture below.
Divide the segments vertically to 5 parts. Picture below explains how to do this. First enter 5 and then click ‘Divide’.
Deactivate Segment sub-object level, go to the front viewport, and add Bend modifier to the Line. Apply the following parameters:
- Angle: 58
- Direction: 90
- Bend Axis: Y
Activate Center sub-object level in the Bend modifier and move the center of the modifier to the bottom of the line like in picture below.
Step 4 3D Grass with the Help of a Scatter Object
Let’s create the Scatter object. Select the steam of grass you just created. Turn the grass into a Scatter object (). Apply the following settings to the Scatter object:
- Pick Distribution Object
- Object: The hills you created earlier
- Scatter Objects
- Duplicates: 30000 ( )
- Perpendicular: OFF
- Distribute Using: Random Faces
- Transforms
- Rotation X: 25
- Rotation Y: 180
- Rotation Z: 25
- Scaling Y: 25
- Display
- Hide Distribution Object: ON
Step 5 Grass Material in 3ds Max
Now we’re ready to create and apply the material for both the hills and the grass. Open the Material Editor ( ) and apply the the following:
- Select both objects and apply a new material to them
- 2-Sided: ON
- Diffuse: Green (R86 G167 B0)
- Specular Level: 30
- Glossiness: 0
- Soften: 1,0
Create a camera ( ) in the top viewport and place it according to picture below. Activate the Perspective view and turn it into a camera view by pressing C in keyboard. Go to rendering settings ( ) and match your rendering resolution with the resolution of the background photo. Render your 3ds Max grass and you’ll get something like this:
Step 7 The Sun
Now is time to create the sun.
Create an Omni light ( ). Go to the modify panel and apply the following parameters:
- Click General Parameters > Exclude…
- New dialog appears, just select ‘Include’ in the top of the dialog and click OK. Now the Omni light doesn’t illuminate any object.
Add Lens Effects to the Omni light:
- Open Effects panel ()
- Click ‘Add…’ button and choose Lens Effects from the list. Click ‘OK’.
- Click ‘Pick Light’ and select the Omni light
- Minimize ‘Lens Effects Globals’ section
- Add Glow and Ray effects with the following parameters:
Render your grasslands and you’ll see the shining sun!
As soon as the first light is created the default illumination of 3ds max turns off. Additionally we modified the include/exclude parameters so that the omni doesn’t illuminate anything. That’s why the 3d grass appears black.
Step 6 Illuminate Your 3ds Max Grass
The final step of this tutorial is to create a more interesting illumination. Create Target Directional Light ( ). Go to the Modify panel and apply following parameters to the light:
- General Parameters
- Shadows: ON
- Intensity/Color/Attenuation
- Intensity: 0,7
- Directional Parameters
- Hotspot/Beam: 92
- Falloff/Field: 94
- Shadow Map Params
- Size: 4096
Create a Skylight ( ) Go to the modify panel and apply the following parameters to it:
- Multiplier 0,4
- Sky Color: light yellow (R255, G255, B221)
Place the target light according to the picture below.
Activate Light Tracer () and apply the following settings:
Now just render the image and you’re done. Beware, the rendering might take a long time.
Ok, that’s it for now. Let’s continue in the comments!
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48 Responses to “3D Grass and Sky”
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Polygon Blog is devoted to unique 3ds Max tutorials. All tutorials on this site are about 3ds Max. Furthermore, these tutorials don't require any plugins. They are doable with just 3d Max. If you have a good idea for a new 3d Studio Max tutorial, please let us know!
I`ve been trying go make a realistic unfolding magazine but with no success ( I’m a newb at CG). Your stuff is great for people like me, I like your blog a lot. It`s on my Delicious. Keep the good work up !
Ahh!! the amazing scanline xD… thanks for this bro.
Greetings.
delicious ….
clear explanation,
like it so much
thank you
ok
Yap hes explaining very clearly like it lot thanks, a lot bro
GOOOOOD =)
High 5..
you are the man bro…
keep it up….
thanks for the tutorial. was using hair and fur and my notebook seemed slow. Anyway, i am stuck at the gizmo part. I can’t rotate or move the thing. When i select the plane, whether i click move or rotate, the plane won’t move but the selection box. any idea how to move it? would appreciate fast response as projects due soon.
Not sure what’s going on. Maybe you could send me your file and I’ll try to help. I’ll contact you by mail.
Heej,
)
do you know what the problem was here,
because i’ve got the same question…
i select the gizmo and he only rotating the box als total block,
so i can’t make it curved..
but again,
great tutorial if i look to the result!!
greetz
Thank u so much!
It is a nice job
THANK YOU >>>???<<<
SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL
Great tutorial! very clear and catchy!…. hope you make another great tutorial…
hi,
i’ve got a problem with the first render
with the sun…
First he gave an error but i could solute that
by changing the frame buffer type ( F10 > Render > Sampling Quality > Frame Buffer Type )to Interger (16 bits per channel) instead of Floating Point (32 bits per channel)
but now when i hit render i get the error:
MSG 0.0 error: “Lens Effects” effect expected unsupported GBuffer channel “transparency”
can someone help please?
greez
mathias
Sounds like you are using Mental Ray. This was designed for scanline renderer…
You are my hero ;o)
that was indeed the problem!
helo mthias.i am shahab from pakistan.i really like this software but there is no institute in my city.so i request you if you know something about this software please guide me.reply must.
Alright, so i downloaded 2010 version instead of 2011 and got through the whole tutorial with ease. Al though i skipped where there was error, i still continued. Anyway, i am unable to make the grass. I did the 4th step twice, on different object as well, but just can’t get it on
Emailed the author but no reply. Maybe something wrong with email. So if the author is reading this, please email! I will send copy of the file.
I’m on holiday at the moment. I’ll contact you when I’m at home again (in one week).
great tutorila but how i can animate grass?
Great tutorial – though – i am also having trouble with the gizmo like two other people. It seems when i apply the wave – and select gizmo to rotate it, it selects the whole box yellow outline instead of sections on the actual plane.
Any help would be appreciative, thanks !
It sounds like you are doing it correctly. The yellow box is the gizmo and you should rotate it 90 degrees about the Y axis in the front viewport.
good explanation .. added forward hopefully this blog, plus a lot of the tutorial .. very useful for me .. thanks very much ..
Every one MUST Bookmark This Page ….
La verdad que están muy buenos estos tutoriales, no conocía esta web. Saludos.
Hello, this is a great Tutorial. Very well written and understandable.
But I have problem. When I go Render, on the hills I have a very litle grass steams even if I duplicate 65000. In views (prespective,front) it is look good but after Render greater part disappears. I have 3DsMax 2009.
Can someone help me, please?
i was having a problem with rotating the gizmo of the wave modifier. you explained it perfectly, but i was having a problem seeing it. i switched to working in all four view ports where i was better able to grab the Y axis and rotate it to achieve what you had in your screenshot.
love the site. granted i’m jumping from the monster to the warehouse lighting tutorial. i’ve decided just to do them from the start.
keep up the great work.
Very nice tutorial, nice explanation ( but the render takes me like 2 houres rofl ) good job dude & keep going !!
Beautiful! It takes 4 hr to render with my old CPU:( Anyway, thanks for your great tutorial!
This is hands down one of the best tutorials. I really like how you direct by telling us where to get the items. Oustanding!Thank you for making my life a little easier.
Dude your F’in Awesome, you made that so simple to follow..exactly what i was looking for! thanks alot!
I really recommend you open a youtube channel i’d subscribe to you anyday!
Hi, i have a problem with the first render of the sun, i render it in scanline renderer but it always appears like it’s in front of the camera, and it covers almost all the render, please help
nice job. keep it up.thanks
all your tutorials are fantastic, siple steps and explanations to make great thinks, im using 3ds 1 half year and this tutorial are so helpfull, thank you !
wow…thumbs up!
Tutorial is great, but I have problem with the sun
and I did everything as written 
It didnt show up
Please help!
you are the man , soooooooooooooooooooo brilliant
but so heavy render
i appreciate your tutorial so damn much bro
Hi, Good to see your tutorials !
Nicely explained all your tutorials are superb !
Well i am having a problem in omni light setting
( Click General Parameters > Exclude) ???
Thanks !
If I were to but a soccer ball on the hill, how would i keep the soccer ball from glowing to brightly with all of the lighting?
Um i am trying to set up the light and when i render, a dialogue box comes up saying
“The following render effects are not compatible with the bitmap format selected for rendering. The selected bitmap format is: RGBA Colour 32 Bits/Channel
Lens Effect
what set up do i need?
Thank you very much for this splendid tutorial, this is exactly what I was looking for. Came up as the first search result. Much obliged
Have a problem. When I go to add the compound object with the grass stem selected and click scatter the grass disapears. I continued anyways but when I get done and select my terrain as the distribution object nothing is duplicated.
I can still find the grass stem’s vertics but nothing else.
Please if anyone could tell my what im doing wrong?
Or tell my where I could find a tutorial on how to do grass that is seen in AAA industry games it would be very helpful thank you.
Hi! Not sure what is going on, but try to create the grass stem with polygons. Start with plane, edit vertices with Edit Poly, and bend with the Bend modifier.
Wow i am blown away by this!!!
Hi,
First of all thank you for this tutorial!
I’m having some problems with the shadow areas; my grass is completely saturated… could somebody help me please?
Thanks
hello all….
thanks for polygon blog….i like polygon blog…..
your the best thanks for the help Polygonblog
Great tutorial! Keep em coming and THANKS!