POV-Tree is an easy to use although not perfect utility by Gena Obukov, 
to make different kinds of trees. It exports them as mesh{} objects 
(/not/ mesh2{}!) to be used in POV-Ray scenes.

One of the problems is that the meaf meshes do not have consistently 
oriented normals. The obvious solution is to make one's own leaf mesh 
and use that as a Custom Mesh in the Leaf section of POV-Tree. The 
following code is such a simple mesh I want to share with you.

//start code
triangle {<-0.380625,0,0.1>,<-0.480625,0,0.2>,<-0.480625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<-0.380625,0,-0.1>,<-0.480625,0,0>,<-0.480625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<-0.380625,0,0>,<-0.480625,0,0.1>,<-0.480625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.380625,0,-0.220856>,<-0.480625,0,-0.1>,<-0.480625,0,-0.2>}
triangle {<-0.080625,0,0>,<-0.080625,0,0.121029>,<-0.280625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,0>,<-0.380625,0,0.1>,<-0.380625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,-0.2>,<-0.380625,0,-0.1>,<-0.380625,0,-0.220856>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,0.1>,<-0.380625,0,0.220856>,<-0.380625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,-0.1>,<-0.280625,0,0>,<-0.380625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,-0.2>,<-0.280625,0,-0.1>,<-0.380625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,0.1>,<-0.280625,0,0.2>,<-0.380625,0,0.220856>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,0>,<-0.280625,0,0.1>,<-0.380625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<-0.380625,0,0.1>,<-0.480625,0,0.1>,<-0.380625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.380625,0,0>,<-0.480625,0,0>,<-0.380625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<-0.380625,0,-0.1>,<-0.480625,0,-0.1>,<-0.380625,0,-0.220856>}
triangle {<-0.380625,0,0.220856>,<-0.480625,0,0.2>,<-0.380625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<-0.480625,0,-0.2>,<-0.480625,0,-0.1>,<-0.680625,0,-0.12253>}
triangle {<-0.680625,0,-0.12253>,<-0.680625,0,0>,<-0.880625,0,0>}
triangle {<0,0,0>,<-0.080625,0,0>,<-0.080625,0,-0.121029>}
triangle {<-0.080625,0,-0.121029>,<-0.280625,0,-0.1>,<-0.280625,0,-0.2>}
triangle {<-0.080625,0,-0.121029>,<-0.280625,0,0>,<-0.280625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<-0.480625,0,-0.1>,<-0.680625,0,0>,<-0.680625,0,-0.12253>}
triangle {<-0.080625,0,0.121029>,<-0.280625,0,0.2>,<-0.280625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<-0.480625,0,0.1>,<-0.480625,0,0.2>,<-0.680625,0,0.12253>}
triangle {<-0.480625,0,0>,<-0.480625,0,0.1>,<-0.680625,0,0.12253>}
triangle {<-0.280625,0,-0.1>,<-0.380625,0,0>,<-0.380625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<-0.080625,0,-0.121029>,<-0.080625,0,0>,<-0.280625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.480625,0,-0.1>,<-0.480625,0,0>,<-0.680625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.080625,0,0>,<-0.280625,0,0.1>,<-0.280625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.480625,0,0>,<-0.680625,0,0.12253>,<-0.680625,0,0>}
triangle {<0,0,0>,<-0.080625,0,0.121029>,<-0.080625,0,0>}
triangle {<-0.680625,0,0>,<-0.680625,0,0.12253>,<-0.880625,0,0>}
//end code

Copy these triangles into the Custom Mesh window and you are in business.

Now, an interesting use of this well-normalized leaf mesh is to provide 
the leaf with an interior_texture{} as leaves often have a lighter 
underside.

Beware, for the following issue. It appears that the trunk and branches 
mesh is inside out! In some situations, you may need to add the inverse 
parameter to object {WOOD} in the tree file.

Hope you enjoy this.

Thomas

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Thanks for your investigation into this. I haven't used POV-Tree yet, but it's
on my to-do list. Your recommendations will be useful.

I assume(?) that Gena is no longer actively updating the program. Do you have a
link to the 'latest' version? I did a web search and I can't tell which is the
latest one. v1.5?

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On 19-5-2013 2:17, Kenneth wrote:
> Thanks for your investigation into this. I haven't used POV-Tree yet, but it's
> on my to-do list. Your recommendations will be useful.
>
> I assume(?) that Gena is no longer actively updating the program. Do you have a
> link to the 'latest' version? I did a web search and I can't tell which is the
> latest one. v1.5?
>

Latest version seems to be 1.5b, assuming I have the latest version of 
course ;-)

A pity that Gena is not actively involved into this anymore. There are a 
number of improvements and bug fixes needed and - especially - a planned 
mesh2 export which never saw the light.

Otherwise, POV-Tree is a nice tool which gives fairly good results, 
especially as CSG output, which is the old TomTree macro by Tom Aust. 
For close ups however, the mesh export is average imo, even with higher 
resolutions. With higher memory usage the app becomes rather unstable too.

Thomas

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On 17-5-2013 10:37, Thomas de Groot wrote:

> Beware, for the following issue. It appears that the trunk and branches
> mesh is inside out! In some situations, you may need to add the inverse
> parameter to object {WOOD} in the tree file.

Using inverse, you may get a "Parse Warning: Cannot invert a patch 
object." However, it seems to work nonetheless.

Thomas

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As the primary orientation of the leaves is unclear (it appears to be 
along -x) my leaf was oriented towards +x. Here is a new leaf:

triangle {<0.380625,0,-0.1>,<0.480625,0,-0.2>,<0.480625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<0.380625,0,0.1>,<0.480625,0,0>,<0.480625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<0.380625,0,0>,<0.480625,0,-0.1>,<0.480625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.380625,0,0.220856>,<0.480625,0,0.1>,<0.480625,0,0.2>}
triangle {<0.080625,0,0>,<0.080625,0,-0.121029>,<0.280625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,0>,<0.380625,0,-0.1>,<0.380625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,0.2>,<0.380625,0,0.1>,<0.380625,0,0.220856>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,-0.1>,<0.380625,0,-0.220856>,<0.380625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,0.1>,<0.280625,0,0>,<0.380625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,0.2>,<0.280625,0,0.1>,<0.380625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,-0.1>,<0.280625,0,-0.2>,<0.380625,0,-0.220856>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,0>,<0.280625,0,-0.1>,<0.380625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<0.380625,0,-0.1>,<0.480625,0,-0.1>,<0.380625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.380625,0,0>,<0.480625,0,0>,<0.380625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<0.380625,0,0.1>,<0.480625,0,0.1>,<0.380625,0,0.220856>}
triangle {<0.380625,0,-0.220856>,<0.480625,0,-0.2>,<0.380625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<0.480625,0,0.2>,<0.480625,0,0.1>,<0.680625,0,0.12253>}
triangle {<0.680625,0,0.12253>,<0.680625,0,0>,<0.880625,0,0>}
triangle {<0,0,0>,<0.080625,0,0>,<0.080625,0,0.121029>}
triangle {<0.080625,0,0.121029>,<0.280625,0,0.1>,<0.280625,0,0.2>}
triangle {<0.080625,0,0.121029>,<0.280625,0,0>,<0.280625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<0.480625,0,0.1>,<0.680625,0,0>,<0.680625,0,0.12253>}
triangle {<0.080625,0,-0.121029>,<0.280625,0,-0.2>,<0.280625,0,-0.1>}
triangle {<0.480625,0,-0.1>,<0.480625,0,-0.2>,<0.680625,0,-0.12253>}
triangle {<0.480625,0,0>,<0.480625,0,-0.1>,<0.680625,0,-0.12253>}
triangle {<0.280625,0,0.1>,<0.380625,0,0>,<0.380625,0,0.1>}
triangle {<0.080625,0,0.121029>,<0.080625,0,0>,<0.280625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.480625,0,0.1>,<0.480625,0,0>,<0.680625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.080625,0,0>,<0.280625,0,-0.1>,<0.280625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.480625,0,0>,<0.680625,0,-0.12253>,<0.680625,0,0>}
triangle {<0,0,0>,<0.080625,0,-0.121029>,<0.080625,0,0>}
triangle {<0.680625,0,0>,<0.680625,0,-0.12253>,<0.880625,0,0>}


Thomas

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