Version: Unity 6.1 Alpha (6000.1)
Language : English
Design a tree
Performance tips for trees

Create trees and leaves from meshes

You can base a Tree Editor tree or its leaves on meshes that you have imported into Unity.

Working with an imported meshThe main graphics primitive of Unity. Meshes make up a large part of your 3D worlds. Unity supports triangulated or Quadrangulated polygon meshes. Nurbs, Nurms, Subdiv surfaces must be converted to polygons. More info
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isn’t the same as working with SpeedTree. For more information about importing from SpeedTree, refer to Import trees from SpeedTree.

Import a mesh

To learn about exporting models from a 3D modeling application and importing them into Unity, refer to ModelsA 3D model representation of an object, such as a character, a building, or a piece of furniture. More info
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.

The mesh you want to use needs to be in the Ambient-Occlusion folder the trees are in. For more information, refer to Shaders and the Ambient-Occlusion folder.

Use a mesh for the tree

A Tree Editor tree has a Mesh FilterA mesh component that takes a mesh from your assets and passes it to the Mesh Renderer for rendering on the screen. More info
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component that can reference your imported mesh.

To assign your imported mesh to the tree:

  1. In the Inspector window > Tree Hierarchy view, select either the root node or one of the branch groups.
  2. In the Mesh (Mesh Filter) component, select the mesh picker (circle).
  3. In the Select Mesh window, select the mesh you want to use.

When you use an imported mesh, you can’t add leaves or branches to the tree.

Use a mesh for the leaves

You can use the leaf group’s mesh geometry mode to use an imported mesh. It can be flowers, fruit, or any other object you want to attach to the tree.

Note that the mesh’s transform must be 0,0,0. Any other transform is added as a distance from the tree, so the object floats by the tree instead of being attached to the branches. Hide the original mesh from the sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
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to avoid seeing it at the 0,0,0 location.

Additional resources

Design a tree
Performance tips for trees