Aspen Realism (by z929669)

[z929669]

Discussion topic:
Aspen Realism by z929669
Wiki Link

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Replaces vanilla aspens.
The updated version is significantly better than the original. I know the author quite well.

[DoubleYou]

Screens look very good.

I think I know this author too! 

[z929669]

3 hours ago, DoubleYou said:

Screens look very good.

I think I know this author too! 

Thanks ... and I just discovered that the screens could be better had I remembered that ACMoS is setting Billboard for aspens ... I will grab some others when I have some time

[Mousetick]

Interesting discovery that I didn't know about. Looking very good. Nice work, Z. I like the broken branches marks on the trunk, nice touch.

This style of younger, skinny tree would benefit from a denser tree population. I believe that the shape of the tree is naturally influenced by how close it is to other vegetation and how much light it can receive. When sparsely placed, it can look a little incongruous IMHO.

[z929669]

1 hour ago, Mousetick said:

Interesting discovery that I didn't know about. Looking very good. Nice work, Z. I like the broken branches marks on the trunk, nice touch.

This style of younger, skinny tree would benefit from a denser tree population. I believe that the shape of the tree is naturally influenced by how close it is to other vegetation and how much light it can receive. When sparsely placed, it can look a little incongruous IMHO.

Thanks.

Yes, these seem to be modeled after a monoclonal stand in Idaho and likely elsewhere, where they compete for light. Aspens can grow as a 'colony' from a common root system (I believe the Idaho stand is one of the largest organisms on Earth). I did not bother changing vanilla placements, so there are stragglers (and my CK skills are rudimentary at best). I agree that the mod would benefit from some fuller aspens in places, but with straighter trunks than vanilla, IMO.

I didn't create the models but rather used Tamu's as a resource. I made plenty of NifSkope modifications though. I do plan on loading these up into Maya or 3Ds Max to rework them at some point. Still have a lot of learning to do yet.

[Mousetick]

Aspens come in various shapes and forms. A straight trunk can be as valid and correct accurate a representation of aspen as a bent or split trunk, depending on where you live, or which kind of aspen you're looking at.

Some pictures of North-American aspens (aka aspen, quaking aspen or trembling aspen): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Populus_tremuloides

Some pictures of Eurasian aspens (aka aspen , quaking aspen or common aspen): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Populus_tremula

The Bethesda artists may have used different sources of inspiration for the vanilla aspens. Perhaps they made a cross between aspen and birch trees, as they somewhat look alike and are easy to confuse. You may find this comment on the UESP amusing like I did: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim_talk:The_Rift.

[z929669]

23 minutes ago, Mousetick said:

Aspens come in various shapes and forms. A straight trunk can be as valid and correct a representation of aspen as a bent or split trunk, depending on where you live, or which kind of aspen you're looking at.

Some pictures of North-American aspens (aka aspen, quaking aspen or trembling aspen): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Populus_tremuloides

Some pictures of Eurasian aspens (aka aspen , quaking aspen or common aspen): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Populus_tremula

The Bethesda artists may have used different sources of inspiration for the vanilla aspens. Perhaps they made a cross between aspen and birch trees, as they somewhat look alike and are easy to confuse. You may find this comment on the UESP amusing like I did: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim_talk:The_Rift.

They did give those birch trees aspen leaves (ish)

While there is definitely variation in aspens (even in same species), they tend to have skinnier, whiter, straighter, and longer trunks/branches than birch. Most aspens in Skyrim look like birch to me (and a bit like [crab]apple trees). I wanted to try some trees that are more certainly aspens.

Nature precludes our ability to say things like 'never' and 'always' whilst remaining 'correct' ... so I tread carefully

[Greg]

I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda confused the two and created aspirches or birspens by mistake.

[Mousetick]

11 hours ago, z929669 said:

Nature precludes our ability to say things like 'never' and 'always' whilst remaining 'correct' ... so I tread carefully

You're right, 'correct' was a bad choice of word on my part, 'accurate' would be more appropriate.

11 hours ago, z929669 said:

I wanted to try some trees that are more certainly aspens.

I'm no aspen or tree expert, quite the opposite in fact, but I agree the tree style in your mod does look more like stereotypical North-American aspens.

This is a shot of Pando (Fish Lake National Forest in Utah)

Quote

The clonal colony encompasses 43.6 hectares (108 acres), weighs nearly 6,000 metric tons (6,600 short tons), and has over 40,000 stems (trunks), which die individually and are replaced by new stems growing from its roots. The root system is estimated to be several thousand years old with habitat modeling suggesting a maximum age of 14,000 years.

Holy cow...

Another shot that looks very much like the trees in your mod:

 

Whether this style looks good in-game or better than the vanilla style, using the vanilla density and placement, is another matter