February 2022 – Updated release 10b adds compatibility with Blender 3.0 and 3.1 beta. Get the update from your user profile.
Seven years in, The Grove is ready for its biggest release ever! Jam-packed with fresh new features that lift the simulation to a whole new level. Add to that an exciting new interface, waiting for you to take it for a spin.
Let nature take its course and grow natural trees for use in 3D visualization, art and film. Simulate the seasons by growing, bending and pruning in interactive steps. Watch your trees evolve year by year. Natural parameters will guide the growth of every branch from trunk to twig, and even the slightest change will resonate through the tree’s spreading branches.
Mimic the character of all kinds of trees. Start with a preset like Ash, Birch, or Maple. Then make the tweaks to let it search for light, and to build up the strength to lift its own weight. Grow everything from a slender pine to a wide spreading oak, all the way down to a willow that weeps.
The Grove is a unique simulation algorithm surrounded by a bunch of awesome tools all wrapped up into a Blender addon. Get in on The Grove and you get in on the most natural and fun way of growing 3D trees!
Feel free to add as much detail as you want. You can now build lightweight models without compromise. Most of the detail is in the youngest growth of a tree – in the countless leaves, flowers and fruits – and this is where twigs take over.
Twigs are small branches that use regular 3D geometry to represent all of these details. You can model them to any level of detail, or purchase The Grove’s handmade twigs to get stunning results quickly.
Twigs attach fluently to branch ends and alongside your tree’s branches. Side twigs rotate around the branch with the golden angle and they face the sky, just like in nature.
With just a few twig models in memory, you can create more variations of trees to fill up your scene. The low impact on memory (and disk space) makes the trees ideal for GPU rendering. Lastly, the Grove’s unique twig system not only works great in Blender, it also translates well to your favorite 3D software.
Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea’ – purple beeches are used to steel the show. They are planted as solitary trees in big parks or stately gardens.
Most trees are green, but many also have purple red variants. Examples are plum, maple, beech and the very popular red Japanese maple. Most of these genetic variations are quite rare in nature, but people love rare things and so we started propagating these trees. A single purple beech tree that was found in Germany over 300 years ago is believed to be the ancestor of the majority of trees now planted in parks and gardens.
Carpinus Betulus – hornbeam stands out with its abundance of winged fruit. The bright green color contrasts with the darker green of the sharply detailed leaves.
Tilia cordata – an elegant species of linden tree, with much smaller leaves. With only one third the size of a regular linden leaf, it gives this tree a very fine appearance, in contrast to the bold character of common linden.
Fraxinus angustifolia – narrow-leaved ash is closely related to olive. The feathery appearance makes it an airy tree that feels distinctly Mediterranean, and this is where it mostly grows naturally.