TreeSketch: Interactive procedural modeling of trees on a tablet

Steven Longay¹, Adam Runions¹, Frédréric Boudon², and Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz¹
¹ University of Calgary
² CIRAD/INRIA, Virtual Plant Team, UMR AGAP

Abstract

TreeSketch is a system for modeling complex trees that look natural yet are creatively designed. The system integrates procedural tree generation with a multi-touch tablet interface that provides detailed control of tree form. The procedural component is based on the concept of tree self-organization and simulates competition of branches for space and light as the tree develops from a seedling. The modeler can control this process by directing growth with a procedural brush, changing parameters as the tree grows, interleaving controlled and autonomous growth, and editing generated forms. Complex trees can be created in a matter of seconds.

Reference

Steven Longay, Adam Runions, Frédéric Boudon, and Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz. TreeSketch: Interactive modeling of trees on a tablet. Proceedings of the Eurographics Symposium on Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling, pp. 107-120, 2012.

Download PDF here (26Mb), or download the reduced version (4Mb). The definitive version is available at the publisher's site.

Videos

TreeSketch is no longer available for downloading from Apple's App Store (we were unable to keep up with changing versions of iOS and iPad), but here are some videos created by Steven Longay showing how it worked.

TreeSketch 2012 SBIM Video: Accompanying video to the SBIM 2012 paper above (MP4, 88 Mb).

TreeSketch 3.0 Promo Video: Shows key new features of TreeSketch 3.0. Topics include: painting trees, adjusting tropisms, sketch based tropisms, width constraints, bending and pruning branches, and scene illumination (MP4, 56.2 Mb).

TreeSketch 2.0 Promo Video (MP4, 12.1 Mb)

Details of TreeSketch 2.0 are explored in the videos below:

TreeSketch 2.0 - Painting Trees: Topics include: painting trees, adjusting the brush, viewing changes, depth and painting, painting a sprial tree, and exclusive growth (MP4, 64.4 Mb).
TreeSketch 2.0 - Parameters for Painting: Topics include: branching angle, tropism, branch straightness, resting parameters, saving and loading trees, point density, kill distance, and perception angle (MP4, 71.4 Mb).
TreeSketch 2.0 - Autonomous Growth: Topics include: the auto-grow feature, auto-growth with painting, selective growth, apical dominance, bud light sensitivity, branch drop threshold, and gravimorphism (MP4, 95.1 Mb).
TreeSketch 2.0 - Direct Manipulations: Topics include: width constraints, bending branches, over-sketching, and pruning (MP4, 45 Mb).
TreeSketch 2.0 - Lasso and Flow (MP4, 21.1 Mb)
TreeSketch 2.0 - User Interface (MP4, 40.2 Mb)

Most of these videos are also available on Vimeo through this link.