Ask the Experts / Foliage

Foliage is probably the thing I find most difficult to get right. Sometimes it starts off nicely, but it seems to always turn into a cluttered mess for me. Does anyone have any suggestions/techniques to create appealing foliage?
Thanks in advance,
~CC9

I'm no expert, but what seems to have worked for me is grouping. You group smaller objects around or under large ones. So in theory you could start off with a large tree, then surround that with smaller trees, and then cover the ground with bushes/grass. Also flowers can be used to add some color if needed, but try not to overdo it. You can scale it down to a tree with grass/bushes/flowers under it if you're working with a single tile. Hope this helps!

PS: Asymmetry is key when working with natural foliage. Good looking foliage takes time compared to random clicking.

You have to put a lot of thought into foliage: not only your selection, which has a lot to do with the atmosphere and theme that you are conveying, but also to the placement. Are you building a dense forest? A rainforest? A desert? A theme park in a temperate zone? All these different locales will result in a different style of foliage placement. Then you have to consider whether it's natural foliage or whether it was placed/arranged by the theme park itself.

It takes a lot of thought and a lot of practice. There isn't one right method for it, honestly. Hopefully this info helps though.

Thanks Gwazi and Supra, excellent tips, I'll keep them in mind!

You might also Google "planting design", check out several references and the images. Go to a park, university campus, larger urban spaces, identify hard and softscape. Once you do it a few times, organizing principles will be revealed - more or less, to the degree you connect with whatever is around you. Then it's just a matter of learning the software, be it rct/gis/cad. You could go to the library as well, check out the landscrape and architectural sections, just browse - note several parkmakers have progressed to various design careers.

Make sure you don't have too many nor too few types of trees/shrubs etc. I usually have about 5 types of fulltile, 2 or 3 quartertile and 3 or 4 types of shrubs, many people seem to prefer a bit less variation. Keep differences in color/size etc in mind when selecting, as well as (if you wanna take it one step further) which exact types of trees can be naturally found in the area/region/country or whatever you want a park to look like.

Once you've established whích plants to use, you have to find out how to use them. As Gwazi already pointed out, you really have to think of whether the map's supposed to be a forest (dense) or for example a polder (less foliage, more planted & grouped).


Best tip, when building something think of some parks/areas that are much like the one you want to create and google it. Check the density, type of trees etc. Other than that it's mostly a matter of taste and style.