if the geomtry is good cause of the intant collection, would it work if I switched back to a leaf shape ngon instead of using a quad plane with alpha? would it be more efficient?
Even with instancing, it appears that the render time is much lower overall if all the plants use planes with alpha instead of leaf shaped geometry. One tree by itself might be faster with geometry, but with the number of plants we’re supporting in one scene we need to go with image planes.
I agree with Matthew – that second render is looking NICE! The only thing that sticks out to me is that I think the SSS is a bit more extreme with less geometry and is a bit overpowering in that one. I would also enjoy seeing some small branches connecting those leaves so that some aren’t floating off in space. A color map to go along with the alpha map would allow you to add those in as well as add some color variation and detail to each leaf without the need to do it procedurally.
Top notch work here, and full points for week 3!
