Create 3D Grass and Sky in 3ds Max

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3D Grass and Sky

This 3ds Max tutorial covers the creation of a fresh grassland pictures. Photo is used as background and 3d grass is created with a scatter object. The final touch will be the sun which will be created with lens effects. I am using 3ds Max 2010 but this should be doable with many older versions as well.
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Step 1 Choosing the Background

First choose your favorite sky photo for the background. You can of course use mine if you want to. Click on the image below to download the sky with higher resolution.
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Add the sky image to background in 3ds Max: 1. Open Environment settings ( Rendering > Environment ) 2. Click None button in Common Parameters 3. Double click Bitmap and browse for your sky image
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Now the sky image appears on the background when you render.
Step 2 Grassland Hills

Next well create the hilly ground: Create a Plane in the top viewport ( Create panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Plane ). Go to the Modify panel and apply the following parameters: Length: 47 Width: 173 Length Segs: 100 Width Segs: 100 Select the Plane and add Bend modifier to it (Make a selection > Modify panel > Modifier List > Object-Space Modifiers > Bend). Go to the Modify panel and apply the following parameters: Angle: 80 Direction -90 Bend Axis: Y
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Select the Plane and add Wave modifier to it ( Make a selection > Modify panel > Modifier List > Object-Space Modifiers > Wave ). Go to the Modify panel and apply the following parameters: Amplitude 1: 4 Amplitude 2: 4 Wave Length: 125 Activate Gizmo sub-object level in the Wave modifier. Go to the front viewport and rotate the gizmo 90 degrees about the Y axis. You can also move it along the X axis to determine the exact location of the hills. For the sake of this tutorial its not required to get exactly the same kind of effect. The idea is just to create some nice hills.
Step 3 Single Steam of 3D Grass

Next well create the grass. First we create a single steam of grass and then we multiply it with the help of a Scatter object. Create a rectangle in the left viewport ( Create panel > Shapes > Splines > Rectangle ). Go to the modify panel and apply the following parameters: Length: 7,78 Width: 0,2
Use the Line tool ( Create panel > Shapes > Splines > Line ) to draw as big triangle as you can inside the rectangle. See picture below. (The idea of the rectangle was just to get the size right).
Delete the rectangle. Next well add some vertices to the object and bend it. Go to the Modify panel and active the Segment subobject level and select the two vertical segments like in picture below.
Divide the segments vertically to 5 parts. Picture below explains how to do this. First enter 5 and then click Divide.
Deactivate Segment sub-object level, go to the front viewport, and add Bend modifier to the Line. Apply the following parameters: Angle: 58 Direction: 90 Bend Axis: Y
Activate Center sub-object level in the Bend modifier and move the center of the modifier to the bottom of the line like in picture below.
Step 4 3D Grass with the Help of a Scatter Object

Lets create the Scatter object. Select the steam of grass you just created. Turn the grass into a Scatter object ( Create Panel > Compound Objects > Scatter ). Apply the following settings to the Scatter object: Pick Distribution Object Object: The hills you created earlier Scatter Objects Duplicates: 30000 ( Warning, this will generate 330 000 polygons. If you are low on memory you might want to try smaller values first.
Furthermore you might want to increase this value if youll create a very high resolution render. If your workflow gets sticky because of the high poly grass you could decrease this value for now and increase it just before the final rendering. )
Perpendicular: OFF Distribute Using: Random Faces Transforms Rotation X: 25 Rotation Y: 180 Rotation Z: 25 Scaling Y: 25 Display Hide Distribution Object: ON
Step 5 Grass Material in 3ds Max

Now were ready to create and apply the material for both the hills and the grass. Open the Material Editor ( Rendering > Material Editor ) and apply the the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Select both objects and apply a new material to them 2-Sided: ON Diffuse: Green (R86 G167 B0) Specular Level: 30 Glossiness: 0 Soften: 1,0
Create a camera ( Create panel > Cameras > Target ) in the top viewport and place it according to picture below. Activate the Perspective view and turn it into a camera view by pressing C in keyboard. Go to rendering settings ( Rendering > Render Setup > Common Parameters > Output Size ) and match your rendering resolution with the resolution of the background photo. Render your 3ds Max grass and youll get something like this:
Step 7 The Sun

Now is time to create the sun. Create an Omni light ( Create > Lights > Standard > Omni ). Go to the modify panel and apply the following parameters: Click General Parameters > Exclude New dialog appears, just select Include in the top of the dialog and click OK. Now the Omni light doesnt illuminate any
object. Add Lens Effects to the Omni light: Open Effects panel ( Rendering > Effects ) Click Add button and choose Lens Effects from the list. Click OK. Click Pick Light and select the Omni light Minimize Lens Effects Globals section Add Glow and Ray effects with the following parameters:
Render your grasslands and youll see the shining sun!
As soon as the first light is created the default illumination of 3ds max turns off. Additionally we modified the include/exclude parameters so that the omni doesnt illuminate anything. Thats why the 3d grass appears black.
Step 6 Illuminate Your 3ds Max Grass

The final step of this tutorial is to create a more interesting illumination. Create Target Directional Light ( Create panel > Lights > Standard > Target Direct ). Go to the Modify panel and apply following parameters to the light: General Parameters Shadows: ON Intensity/Color/Attenuation Intensity: 0,7 Directional Parameters Hotspot/Beam: 92 Falloff/Field: 94 Shadow Map Params
Shadow Map Params Size: 4096 Create a Skylight ( Create panel > Lights > Skylight ) Go to the modify panel and apply the following parameters to it: Multiplier 0,4 Sky Color: light yellow (R255, G255, B221) Place the target light according to the picture below.
Activate Light Tracer ( Rendering > Light Tracer ) and apply the following settings:
Now just render the image and youre done. Beware, the rendering might take a long time.
Ok, thats it for now. Lets continue in the comments!
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48 Responses to 3D Grass and Sky

Anderson
says:
APRIL 11, 2010 AT 11:18 AM
I`ve been trying go make a realistic unfolding magazine but with no success ( Im a newb at CG). Your stuff is great for people like me, I like your blog a lot. It`s on my Delicious. Keep the good work up !
REPLY
LSerrano
says:
APRIL 16, 2010 AT 12:07 AM
Ahh!! the amazing scanline xD thanks for this bro. Greetings.

REPLY
Eny Erawati
delicious . clear explanation, like it so much thank you
says:
APRIL 23, 2010 AT 8:11 PM
REPLY
franciz
ok
says:
JULY 8, 2011 AT 4:16 PM
REPLY
Shasith
says:
APRIL 24, 2010 AT 2:29 PM
Yap hes explaining very clearly like it lot thanks, a lot bro
REPLY
SERG says:
APRIL 24, 2010 AT 5:24 PM
GOOOOOD =)
REPLY
Chandana says:
MAY 2, 2010 AT 5:43 PM
High 5.. you are the man bro keep it up.
REPLY
uzair says:
MAY 16, 2010 AT 7:11 AM
thanks for the tutorial. was using hair and fur and my notebook seemed slow. Anyway, i am stuck at the gizmo part. I cant rotate or move the thing. When i select the plane, whether i click move or rotate, the plane wont move but the selection box. any idea how to move it? would appreciate fast response as projects due soon.
REPLY
polygonblog says:
MAY 16, 2010 AT 8:51 AM
Not sure whats going on. Maybe you could send me your file and Ill try to help. Ill contact you by mail.
REPLY
Mathias
says:
JUNE 11, 2010 AT 11:12 AM
Heej, do you know what the problem was here, because ive got the same question ) i select the gizmo and he only rotating the box als total block, so i cant make it curved.. but again, great tutorial if i look to the result!! greetz
REPLY
Aramil87
Thank u so much!
says:
MAY 20, 2010 AT 1:33 PM
REPLY
IBRAHIM ABU ARRH

MAY 22, 2010 AT 12:03 AM
says:
It is a nice job THANK YOU >>>???<<<

REPLY
Abhrajit Das
SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL
says:
MAY 28, 2010 AT 3:20 PM
REPLY
Youngkie Pratama says:

JUNE 5, 2010 AT 10:03 AM
Great tutorial! very clear and catchy!. hope you make another great tutorial
REPLY
Mathias
hi,
says:
JUNE 13, 2010 AT 11:07 AM
ive got a problem with the first render with the sun First he gave an error but i could solute that
by changing the frame buffer type ( F10 > Render > Sampling Quality > Frame Buffer Type )to Interger (16 bits per channel) instead of Floating Point (32 bits per channel) but now when i hit render i get the error: MSG 0.0 error: Lens Effects effect expected unsupported GBuffer channel transparency can someone help please? greez mathias
REPLY
polygonblog says:
JUNE 13, 2010 AT 2:43 PM
Sounds like you are using Mental Ray. This was designed for scanline renderer
REPLY
Mathias
says:
JUNE 14, 2010 AT 12:05 PM
You are my hero ;o) that was indeed the problem!
shahab ahmad says:

MARCH 19, 2011 AT 8:05 PM
helo mthias.i am shahab from pakistan.i really like this software but there is no institute in my city.so i request you if you know something about this software please guide me.reply must.
REPLY
Uzair says:
JUNE 18, 2010 AT 8:33 AM
Alright, so i downloaded 2010 version instead of 2011 and got through the whole tutorial with ease. Al though i skipped where there was error, i still continued. Anyway, i am unable to make the grass. I did the 4th step twice, on different object as well, but just cant get it on Emailed the author but no reply. Maybe something wrong with email. So if the author is reading this, please email! I will send copy of the file.
REPLY
polygonblog says:
JUNE 18, 2010 AT 3:00 PM
Im on holiday at the moment. Ill contact you when Im at home again (in one week).
REPLY
Donald says:
JUNE 21, 2010 AT 3:00 PM
great tutorila but how i can animate grass?

REPLY
Trump says:
JUNE 22, 2010 AT 12:47 AM
Great tutorial though i am also having trouble with the gizmo like two other people. It seems when i apply the wave and select gizmo to rotate it, it selects the whole box yellow outline instead of sections on the actual plane. Any help would be appreciative, thanks !
REPLY
polygonblog says:
JUNE 25, 2010 AT 2:33 PM
It sounds like you are doing it correctly. The yellow box is the gizmo and you should rotate it 90 degrees about the Y axis in the front viewport.
REPLY
cup says:
JUNE 23, 2010 AT 12:55 PM
good explanation .. added forward hopefully this blog, plus a lot of the tutorial .. very useful for me .. thanks very much .. Every one MUST Bookmark This Page .
REPLY
Ovejo_Black
says:
AUGUST 10, 2010 AT 3:42 PM
La verdad que estn muy buenos estos tutoriales, no conoca esta web. Saludos.
REPLY
Frost_CZ
says:
AUGUST 12, 2010 AT 12:56 PM
Hello, this is a great Tutorial. Very well written and understandable. But I have problem. When I go Render, on the hills I have a very litle grass steams even if I duplicate 65000. In views (prespective,front) it is look good but after Render greater part disappears. I have 3DsMax 2009. Can someone help me, please?
REPLY
CSPen
says:
AUGUST 27, 2010 AT 2:25 AM
i was having a problem with rotating the gizmo of the wave modifier. you explained it perfectly, but i was having a problem seeing it. i switched to working in all four view ports where i was better able to grab the Y axis and rotate it to achieve what you had in your screenshot. love the site. granted im jumping from the monster to the warehouse lighting tutorial. ive decided just to do them from the start. keep up the great work.
REPLY
Lazaro'
says:
SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 AT 7:57 PM
Very nice tutorial, nice explanation ( but the render takes me like 2 houres rofl ) good job dude & keep going !!
REPLY
Poer says:
Beautiful! It takes 4 hr to render with my old CPU:( Anyway, thanks for your great tutorial!
REPLY
modenagrunch
says:
SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 AT 12:43 AM
This is hands down one of the best tutorials. I really like how you direct by telling us where to get the items. Oustanding!Thank you for making my life a little easier.
REPLY
ArmzzWare
says:
NOVEMBER 18, 2010 AT 10:07 PM
Dude your Fin Awesome, you made that so simple to follow..exactly what i was looking for! thanks alot! I really recommend you open a youtube channel id subscribe to you anyday!
REPLY
Julian
says:
JANUARY 13, 2011 AT 4:12 AM
Hi, i have a problem with the first render of the sun, i render it in scanline renderer but it always appears like its in front of the camera, and it covers almost all the render, please help
REPLY
shahab ahmad says:

MARCH 19, 2011 AT 7:57 PM
nice job. keep it up.thanks

REPLY
Nicolas
says:
MARCH 19, 2011 AT 10:46 PM
all your tutorials are fantastic, siple steps and explanations to make great thinks, im using 3ds 1 half year and this tutorial are so helpfull, thank you !
REPLY
Jeff says:
APRIL 1, 2011 AT 12:21 PM
wowthumbs up!
REPLY
Dee
says:
APRIL 1, 2011 AT 7:47 PM
Tutorial is great, but I have problem with the sun It didnt show up and I did everything as written Please help!
REPLY
mohammed sa'eed says:

APRIL 17, 2011 AT 12:31 AM
you are the man , soooooooooooooooooooo brilliant but so heavy render i appreciate your tutorial so damn much bro
REPLY
Mukul
says:
JUNE 19, 2011 AT 7:21 AM
Hi, Good to see your tutorials ! Nicely explained all your tutorials are superb ! Well i am having a problem in omni light setting ( Click General Parameters > Exclude) ??? Thanks !
REPLY
dillon
says:
JULY 22, 2011 AT 1:57 AM
If I were to but a soccer ball on the hill, how would i keep the soccer ball from glowing to brightly with all of the lighting?
REPLY
Tahira says:
JULY 24, 2011 AT 3:41 AM
Um i am trying to set up the light and when i render, a dialogue box comes up saying The following render effects are not compatible with the bitmap format selected for rendering. The selected bitmap format is: RGBA Colour 32 Bits/Channel Lens Effect what set up do i need?
REPLY
Col. Hati
says:
SEPTEMBER 17, 2011 AT 1:24 AM
Thank you very much for this splendid tutorial, this is exactly what I was looking for. Came up as the first search result. Much obliged
REPLY
student
says:
Have a problem. When I go to add the compound object with the grass stem selected and click scatter the grass disapears. I continued anyways but when I get done and select my terrain as the distribution object nothing is duplicated. I can still find the grass stems vertics but nothing else. Please if anyone could tell my what im doing wrong? Or tell my where I could find a tutorial on how to do grass that is seen in AAA industry games it would be very helpful thank you.
REPLY
polygonblog says:
Hi! Not sure what is going on, but try to create the grass stem with polygons. Start with plane, edit vertices with Edit Poly, and bend with the Bend modifier.
REPLY
Masashiro
says:
Wow i am blown away by this!!!

REPLY
Seb says:
OCTOBER 10, 2011 AT 10:43 PM
Hi, First of all thank you for this tutorial! Im having some problems with the shadow areas; my grass is completely saturated could somebody help me please? Thanks
REPLY
still
says:
JANUARY 29, 2012 AT 12:32 AM
hello all. thanks for polygon blog.i like polygon blog..

REPLY
Jr.D
says:
FEBRUARY 21, 2012 AT 3:40 PM
your the best thanks for the help Polygonblog

REPLY
Calvin
says:
FEBRUARY 29, 2012 AT 2:49 PM
Great tutorial! Keep em coming and THANKS!

REPLY
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Home

3ds Max Tutorial

3D Grass and Sky

3ds Max Tutorials Elsewhere

Step 1 Choosing the Background

FREE 3D MODEL OF ROAD BLOCK FROM 10RAVENS

BEST FREE CROPPED TREES

Categories 3D Render 3D Tips 3ds Max Tutorial Free Textures Learn 3D

Pages About Contact Create a Tutorial

Step 2 Grassland Hills

My Graphic River Portfolio!

3ds Max Tutorials

Step 3 Single Steam of 3D Grass

Step 4 3D Grass with the Help of a Scatter Object

Step 5 Grass Material in 3ds Max

Step 7 The Sun

Render your grasslands and youll see the shining sun!

Step 6 Illuminate Your 3ds Max Grass

Ok, thats it for now. Lets continue in the comments!

Click to share if you like it!

48 Responses to 3D Grass and Sky

APRIL 11, 2010 AT 11:18 AM

APRIL 16, 2010 AT 12:07 AM

Ahh!! the amazing scanline xD thanks for this bro. Greetings.

APRIL 23, 2010 AT 8:11 PM

JULY 8, 2011 AT 4:16 PM

APRIL 24, 2010 AT 2:29 PM

High 5.. you are the man bro keep it up.

JUNE 11, 2010 AT 11:12 AM

MAY 20, 2010 AT 1:33 PM

IBRAHIM ABU ARRH

It is a nice job THANK YOU >>>???<<<

MAY 28, 2010 AT 3:20 PM

Youngkie Pratama says:

JUNE 13, 2010 AT 11:07 AM

JUNE 14, 2010 AT 12:05 PM

You are my hero ;o) that was indeed the problem!

shahab ahmad says:

great tutorila but how i can animate grass?

AUGUST 10, 2010 AT 3:42 PM

AUGUST 12, 2010 AT 12:56 PM

AUGUST 27, 2010 AT 2:25 AM

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010 AT 7:57 PM

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 AT 12:43 AM

NOVEMBER 18, 2010 AT 10:07 PM

JANUARY 13, 2011 AT 4:12 AM

shahab ahmad says:

nice job. keep it up.thanks

MARCH 19, 2011 AT 10:46 PM

APRIL 1, 2011 AT 7:47 PM

mohammed sa'eed says:

JUNE 19, 2011 AT 7:21 AM

JULY 22, 2011 AT 1:57 AM

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011 AT 1:24 AM

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 AT 4:50 PM

SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 AT 5:02 PM

Wow i am blown away by this!!!

JANUARY 29, 2012 AT 12:32 AM

hello all. thanks for polygon blog.i like polygon blog..

FEBRUARY 21, 2012 AT 3:40 PM

your the best thanks for the help Polygonblog

FEBRUARY 29, 2012 AT 2:49 PM

Great tutorial! Keep em coming and THANKS!