Making realistic 3D trees

The FrostBit Software Lab at Lapland University of Applied Sciences is developing a simulator platform from the ground up to advance the development, training, and validation of autonomous driving and safety systems for forestry usage. The development work is enabled and resourced by the AGRARSENSE project which includes several use cases for agriculture and forestry. Lapland University of Applied Sciences is part of forestry use case which is led by Komatsu Forest AB. Creating realistic 3D trees for the AGRARSENSE project required a blend of artistic vision and technical expertise. In this article, I’ll go through how I used Blender—a free open-source 3D modeling software renowned for its comprehensive toolset, including modeling, sculpting, and add-ons. — To do the models of the trees. And how I used Adobe’s Substance Painter, Substance Designer, and Substance Sampler—that are industry-standard tools for texturing. — To create lifelike and realistic textures for the 3D models I made in Blender.