If you are passionate about anime and want to replicate the look of stylized landscapes from films like Your Name, this tutorial will guide you step-by-step in creating stylized trees in Blender. You will learn how to use Geometry Nodes to generate trees that look painted, just like the ones seen in your favorite anime, with the addition of natural animations to simulate wind.
Anime Stylized Trees and Leaves Blender Tutorial
Creating a stylized tree in Blender has never been easier thanks to Geometry Nodes and the Geo Trees package. This tutorial has shown you how to create trees with a painted look, perfect for projects that require stylized 2D/3D animation. Whether you’re working on an animation or a landscape project for a film, these tools will help you achieve spectacular results.
Don’t forget to download the project file to follow the tutorial step by step.
What You’ll Learn in This Tutorial
- Creating stylized trees in Blender using Geometry Nodes.
- Techniques to add realistic textures and painted colors to trees.
- How to use the free Geo Trees package to generate non-destructive and customizable trees.
- Adding animations to your trees, such as leaf movement with wind.
Creating a Stylized Tree in Blender: Key Steps
1. Start with a Cube
The first step to creating your tree is to add a cube in Blender. Go to the 3D view, press Shift + A and select Mesh > Cube. This cube will serve as the base for our stylized tree.
2. Add Painted Textures
To achieve a painted effect, you’ll need to add leaf textures that always face the camera. This way, the tree will have a 2D painted look, just like those seen in films like Your Name.
3. Use Geometry Nodes
Now, it’s time to dive into Geometry Nodes. Add predefined node groups like Simple Instancer and Rotate Instances to Camera, which will allow you to instance leaves onto the cube’s geometry. These nodes will help you achieve a realistic result without too much complexity.
4. Color Your Tree
To add color to the tree, use an Attribute Node to store the surface normal and then apply a Diffuse Shader for the color. Link these nodes to a Color Ramp to define the color you want.
5. Add the Trunk and Branches
For the trunk and branches of the tree, you can download the free Geo Trees package, which provides advanced nodes for creating realistic and customizable trees. These nodes will help you easily model and manage plants, reducing manual work.
6. Create Realistic Leaves
By using instances, you can add leaves to your tree. Use the Separate Components node to separate the trunk from the leaves and correctly instance the leaves on the branches.
7. Simulate Wind
To make the tree feel alive, add a Noise Texture to the Geometry Nodes to simulate wind movement. Link this to the Set Position node to displace the leaves based on noise, creating a natural movement effect.
8. Animate the Movement
Finally, to complete your stylized tree, apply a simple animation that simulates the movement of leaves in the wind. Play with the settings of the Noise Texture to achieve the desired movement.