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Until now I have struggled with making 3D grass both look dense and not require several 3mb, 64,000 vert models using the "tree" method (crossed planes) copied and pasted innumerably..
So I realised how to do it with lofts to produce great results with hardly any performance cost! I think others have used this from what I've seen.
Here's how:
1) Create a loft template as a LINE. Have it about 1m long or whatever, from 0,0,0 to 0,-1,0. Put the pivot point at 0, -1, 0.
2) Get your background template image in GMAX set up, and draw around the outside of the area you want to cover, and then criss-cross back, and then back again like so:
3) Now, loft it like you would do taxi lines, but this time it'll loft 1m up! Fantastic!
4) Now for performance's sake, change the path and shape steps to 1 and optimise it. You don't want nice curved corners, you wont notice and the penalty is too high!
5) Now unwrap like normal, put the top and bottom (left and right here) to 0.001 and 0.999 to avoid the last pixel so you don't get the line along the top.
6) Export the finished product and correct for the curvature of the earth (FSX) with MCX. Now enjoy!
So I realised how to do it with lofts to produce great results with hardly any performance cost! I think others have used this from what I've seen.
Here's how:
1) Create a loft template as a LINE. Have it about 1m long or whatever, from 0,0,0 to 0,-1,0. Put the pivot point at 0, -1, 0.
2) Get your background template image in GMAX set up, and draw around the outside of the area you want to cover, and then criss-cross back, and then back again like so:
3) Now, loft it like you would do taxi lines, but this time it'll loft 1m up! Fantastic!
4) Now for performance's sake, change the path and shape steps to 1 and optimise it. You don't want nice curved corners, you wont notice and the penalty is too high!
5) Now unwrap like normal, put the top and bottom (left and right here) to 0.001 and 0.999 to avoid the last pixel so you don't get the line along the top.
6) Export the finished product and correct for the curvature of the earth (FSX) with MCX. Now enjoy!



