Ask the Experts / Tree Selection

Yeh so, there's already been a topic about this which I cant find.

So me and sloB were talking, and we realised how much we sucked at tree selections, seeing as though this is ask the experts, and we dont class ourselves as experts. Give me..or us..some advice on tree selections.

I usually try to fill every square in my park with tree's or architecture or water or whatever. Anywho, I dont know the names of tree's, I always say, "the tall white one" or "the green one".

Pl3a$3 H3|p!!1!! OMG WTF!!11 LOL!!1

yes we were talking and i do want help. Come on guys, i expect like coaster ed or mantis or someone to give a 5 paragraph response. im dissapointed...

try a few cypresses (pointy green ones), with some larger cypresses (dark green) and maybe some of those christmas tree looking ones. And don't build it on flat ground.

Copy other peoples' selections. That's what I do

Really, just fiddle around till YOU think it looks good. Experimentation is good - just keep trying. Get a blank map up and make clusters of different combinations to find out what works best.

i think i have one of the best tree selection and im sure many will agree.I tend to use small trees and avoid covering the whole park with trees (seperate areas just for trees).Eds is also very similar and small but he places em differnt

borrow.......

Copy other peoples' selections. That's what I do

Really, just fiddle around till YOU think it looks good. Experimentation is good - just keep trying. Get a blank map up and make clusters of different combinations to find out what works best.

I concur Mantis. I usually use the 1/4 trees, since they are just nicer and maybe hack a few bushes under the one tile tree.

I have been using the same basic tree selection since Aquarius. My personal favorites are the two palm trees, the deep green pine, the chinese cedar, then the small and large hiba tree, the really deep green smaller trees (camperdown elm and so on), and sometimes I will use the monkey puzzle tree. I normally add or remove a few trees from that, or change how often I use some depending on theme.

color is just as important as texture. If you want a wet look, don't use dry colored trees. Think of the climate and everything before you decide on a selection. And my own little concept is that treeing is like flower arranging; you pick your "theme" or "main" tree, and then select other trees to either accentuate or clash it.

I must be your worst nightmare...

Copy other peoples' selections. That's what I do

Really, just fiddle around till YOU think it looks good. Experimentation is good - just keep trying. Get a blank map up and make clusters of different combinations to find out what works best.

Exactly. I like to look at other people's selections, then add or minus a tree from that.

I used LoV's tree's alot.

Yeah there isn't really a big secret to trees. Step one is to look closer at parks that you like to see what they did with trees. The basic tree selection I used in egypTopia was inspired by Sirspud's park Thornhill Groves. He used some trees that I hadn't really used before and I really liked the look of that park so that was my starting point. As you get more experienced you'll find trees that you like to use more and eventually you can skip this step. When you're starting out though, there's nothing wrong with learning from the pros and the best way to do that is to look at their work and see how they did it. The nice thing about trees is there's no secret to how it was done.

Step two is to prepare the land for trees. If you throw up trees on randomly raised rocks or even worse flat ground, people like me will jump all over you. I've been there but I've moved on and so should you. This means giving the ground a little terrain. Take that terrain tool and make some small hills. You'll have to do it one corner at a time if you want it to look good. It's time consuming yes, but I'm only here to tell you how to make it look good. If you want to save time you'll have to talk to someone else.

Step three is to recognize that tree selection isn't everything, how you place the trees is important. If you grab a tree and click all over the place then grab another one and repeat what you will get looks decent but obviously random. If you want your trees to look good you have to control the placement. What I usually do is work in clusters. I find a main tree and place a few of those (call it tree A). Then I have two or three secondary trees and I place one of each of those next to every tree A in small clusters. That's a good start but it still looks a little sparse. So next I turn to my workhorse trees. These are a mixture of trees and bushes that I use for everything. Cypress trees and bushes go good with most other trees so I fill in with these.

Step four is more advanced. This goes beyond atmosphere and moves into theme. You have to think like you are viewing a natural forest. For a general theme I might use some of the dead trees. Not every tree in a forest is living. Scatter some dead trees around, not too many though. Leave some small clearings and scatter them with bullrushes. Maybe scatter some rocks in the area. Add a couple 1/4 tile flowers. If your theme lends itself, you can throw in a couple of cottages or some ancient ruins. These things will make your forested area more than just a scattering of trees but rather part of the overall theme. This is important. You want to make themed sections not patches of theming surrounded by trees right?

I hope that was helpful. Most of this process is unconscious for me. Just keep building stuff and refine your sense for what looks good in the game and you may find that you start to enjoy placing trees. If you make it art than it won't be so tedious. This is just a description of tree-ing for realistic parks. If you want to do something more fantasy oriented there's no simple process, just try stuff out and keep what you like.

If you throw up trees on randomly raised rocks or even worse flat ground, people like me will jump all over you.

Busted

yes we were talking and i do want help. Come on guys, i expect like coaster ed or mantis or someone to give a 5 paragraph response. im dissapointed...

You got your wish.

You have to think like you are viewing a natural forest. For a general theme I might use some of the dead trees. Not every tree in a forest is living.

most theme parks don't have a natural forest in them.

That's a good point. It goes back to what I said about theme. Most theme parks have themed areas surrounded in trees. What I'm talking about is encorporating the trees into the theme. If you want to make an imaginary theme park you might not want to do that though.

By another line of reasoning, even if trees in theme parks aren't put there but are the remnants of trees that were already in the area or if they were put there, there are certain natural tendencies that will take over. Trees die. There are clearings in between groups of trees. Even if you don't want to go so far as to put cabins or ruins in your tree patches it still helps to give them a chaotic sense of natural growth. Well that's what I think anyway.

thanks a lot Ed, very helpful

Busted

*points and shouts at the evil-doer*

There's something else I wanted to add concerning Natelox's comment. My response earlier I now realize refers to one style of parkmaking but it is not the only style. I usually go for realism in my parks and that means giving the trees a naturalistic look. I've also thought though that sometimes you don't want a realistic look, you want more of a heightened fantasy look. I'd call this the 'Mario Bros' look but all I mean by that is lots of clean edges and bright colors. Cartoony in a way. For that kind of a look you'll probably want to avoid being naturalistic and concentrate on using varieties of bright colors and working with the contrast between different textures. It's less about the details and more about broad paintstrokes of colors and textures. I think this better describes what Natelox does (in his last park anyway) and it has an appeal of it's own. So yeah that is an alternative. I'm thinking that I want to use that style in Dreamscapes.