Making realistic strawberries in Blender

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, just to summarize here are some tips if you are having problems. So this walkthrough is a bit tricky as baking in AO maps are not something done in beginner tutorials. I would recommend if you are a beginner, look for a beginner tutorial on baking maps (specifically AO maps) first. Unfortunately I would say generating the AO map is generally tricky to do own it's own even for a simple setup. In addition, you have to distribute the seeds twice. Once to generate the AO map, then hide those seeds and have another distribution for the actual seeds which are at a ever so slightly higher depth. Tweaking the AO depth to get good results requires trial and error to get right as this is what's required for many true photorealistic results. This only works for cycles . I think what you want to get from this video is the idea to use a baked in AO map to use as a height map to get the little seed diviots. From this, you can continue to experiment and learn more. Regarding the geometry node setup on the seed distributions, I have a .blend file available for download in the description. This tutorial was for an older version of Blender, I "think" it still works for 4.0 but it doesn't, you can still look at it with an older Blender version, you can see the node setup and covert it on your own to the most recent version of Blender. Hope that helps!

[@squishybluecat]

Damm, this is super impressive! I never would have thought of using an ambient occlusion map for displacement, but it looks like it works really well.

[@CanosieLabs]

Thanks!

[@PomaleeDon]

Your powers of observation rise to an uncommon level found in Blender videos, and they make your creations truly realistic. You're doing amazing work!

[@CanosieLabs]

thanks for the kind words!

[@filipelouzado]

Very good tutorial. Im brazilian and language is difficult for me. But reading ur coments in description and following ur steps i am finishing. Ty for ur knowledge. God bless, good job

[@motiongod]

Thanks for this. I also anticipate the making of the leaves

[@od1367]

I can't stop watching your vidoes!

[@davidlinarez3179]

Thank you very much for your help and knowledge. I have a problem. When I connect the seed collection in the "geometry nodes" at the strawberry level, nothing is reflected. Why does this happen?

[@Christopher-pz1mc]

wow amazing this looks really good. I have been loking for tutorials or some type of video that shows true photorealistic results in blender. Good jobb +1

[@CanosieLabs]

thanks, glad you found it useful!

[@nhiluong2919]

4:38 Add collection info and choose seed template? what is the seed template and where I can find it?

[@nhiluong2919]

Oh I'm see, thank you

[@rimostle]

at 5:51 if anyone is encountering the issue where the seed levels rise in the opposite way of way is desired (begin from the top) change the "Less than" node to a "Greater than" that fixed it for me

[@nhiluong2919]

4:58 i don't find "Seed level"? where is it a?

[@CanosieLabs]

Hi, At 4:58, I'm showing you the "seed level" input to the geometry node. The next section is where I show the creation of this input and what it does. See 5:16 to 5:51

[@gonebymidnight2881]

mind blowing skills man

[@CanosieLabs]

thanks

[@giftmokaba4127]

How do I make or download the texture for the seeds 4:00?

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, the seed texture isn't available to download as it only needs to be a dirty yellow color. Its too small for most renders.

[@giftmokaba4127]

@@CanosieLabs oh how do I make that dirty yellow colour?

[@CanosieLabs]

@@giftmokaba4127 hi, it's probably easiest to mix yellow and brown together using the cloud texture as a mask to do the mixing. Or you can just stick with a uniform dark yellow. RyanKingArt has good beginner tutorials on how to make materials if you need to know how to do that. But I wouldn't worry about it too much as the seeds are pretty small. hope that helps.

[@shehankavinga4649]

Great Tutorial, Thank you so much! Please make a tutorial on how to make realistic Pastry, Bread and Cake.

[@CanosieLabs]

thanks. I'm actually working on a pastry(specifically a fruit tart) next. Stay tuned for that!

[@pkdigitalcreative9896]

Any idea why my AO Map doesn't line up with the actual seeds?

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, I get the issue you described if 1) The mesh changes after the AO map is generated or 2) I generated a new AO map but I forgot to explicitly save it . It needs to be saved before it used in the render view (otherwise it'll use the pre-saved version)

[@pkdigitalcreative9896]

@@CanosieLabs Thanks for the reply! I get what you mean, but I sort of figured it out and it seems my sub-surf modifier was getting in the way. ;-) Cheers!

[@EXPLICITBG]

@@pkdigitalcreative9896 How did you solve the issue with the sub surf modifier?

[@skawt]

@@EXPLICITBG I had to apply the sub surface in order to get the seeds to line up

[@imcarter810]

Dude that's great!) You have a talant. Just don't give in

[@user-fe9lg9fm3r]

Hi! Thank you for the best strawberry tutorial on the internet! I have a problem, my divots are not aligning with the seeds. They're are in different directions and seeds aren't sitting in the divots.Why is this happening?

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, if there is a difference between what is being baked in the AO map and the actual seed placements, then there could be something different between the viewport and render settings. Ie maybe a subdivision modifier(or any other modifier) is only active in the view port. It could be caused by rotation and scale not being applied as well. Sometimes, if the AO map is generating all black, then there could be a object (that's hidden in the viewport) that's obstructing the raytracing. Hope that helps! I've also provided a sample .blend file with the node setup for people to play with. The link is in the descsription.

[@user-fe9lg9fm3r]

Thank you soo much! I really appreciate it 😊

[@EvilDD]

Looks good!

[@hazemkhattab326]

Great work, btw you forgot in the video to mention about adding seed distribution input, nonetheless your work is amazing

[@buddhathegod]

Very cool techinique! It's too bad the AO bake doesn't work, as in not lining up with the seeds, but a nice method to put the seeds on

[@CanosieLabs]

hmm, not sure what you mean by not lining up with the seeds. It will line up unless something is off like scale and rotation not being applied. Other reasons it's not lining up is that there is a some object obstructing the ray tracing. I've provided a .blend file that you can play with, that one works for sure as I just tried it out.

[@bacontaco2D]

What worked for me to have the seeds lined up, is that you need have the same levels in the Subdivision modifier for Viewport and Render, in this case 6 for both of them, then bake the map.

[@KreejGrater]

I can't get my AO map to come out as it does in the video. It appears to work for the upper part of the model but just looks black on the lower half of the model; almost like it is being lit from the top only. Did anyone else have this issue? Anyone know what's going on?

[@CanosieLabs]

hmm, If the top works but the bottom doesn't look right. Can you look at the actual image. Here's a few troubleshooting tips I had to go though. Is it a problem with the AO map or how the AO map is applied to the object? Is the strawberry UV unwrapped? Is there something that's overlapping the bottom of the berry? Ie maybe a object that's not visible in the viewport but visible in render? It sounds like the entire AO map is black on the lower half. I can reproduce that problem but only if I overlap another object with the berry.

[@KreejGrater]

@@CanosieLabs It turned out that I had a hidden object intersecting the berry. I was able to bake the AO successfully after removing the hidden object. Thank you for taking the time to respond!

[@rimostle]

@@KreejGrater Thank you so much for your comment. I had the same issue with intersecting objects and couldn't figure out the problem 🙏

[@virtualgirl666]

how could i make everything into a mesh? I tried applying the modifiers but it was doing weird things. Thanks!

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, with Blender and the geometry node modifier, you can't just apply the modifier to make the mesh 'real'. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way in Blender. You'll have to create a "realize instance" node in the node tree and then apply the modifiers. It's a bit tricky, but there's alot of tutorials on how to make the mesh real. Hope that helps.

[@virtualgirl666]

@@CanosieLabs thank you for responding! and i am sure it will!

[@ubuntu8908]

How this is unwrapped? Smart UV-project with 66degrees angle limit? First I tried only "Unwrap" but it is a cross. This tutorial is very good, althought speed have to be in mine case 0,5 or 0,25.

[@CanosieLabs]

hi I didn't use smart unwrapping. The berry itself is a basic shape so the top (covered by the leaves), bottom top have circular seams and there is a single seam going down the backside. Hope that helps.

[@ubuntu8908]

@@CanosieLabs Thank YOU! I got it working! I would appreciate it if you could still answer the second question: Is there any way to get this modifiers applied or converted to mesh? I tried in two ways but it loses modifiers. I added "realize instances" node before group output, but it took all the RAM (48Gb) and after that (about 3 minutes) still mesh was not like with the modifiers. Thanks and God bless!

[@CanosieLabs]

@@ubuntu8908 You can try the "make instances real' option. Option -> Apply -> "Make instances real". The are the object mode operations on the top right side of the viewport.

[@ubuntu8908]

@@CanosieLabs Thank YOU so MUCH! I picked up seeds and selected Object/Apply/Make Instances real, after that applied Geometry nodes (deleting first one) and it worked! God bless from Finland!

[@nhiluong2919]

after having seed level I don't know why it will not appear like when you adjust the level, increase or decrease the value, the seeds will only be lost or completely gone?

[@nhiluong2919]

Oh, I know, Thank you

[@anthonytieu1914]

Great tutorial and an impressive result!

[@CanosieLabs]

Thanks!

[@blackswan6386]

hey sir, nice video and thanks sharing your blendfile, allow me just qick question: is the green leaf texture included ? i looking for the green leafs texture, thanks sir have a nice day

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, the green leaf texture isn't included there. If you want a green leaf texture, I do have something similar for my Lupine flower tutorial. It's a green leaf that'll probably work out as well. You can get the download from the video description. It's free

[@bobboberton349]

How do you save /apply the geo nodes to the mesh? I tried applying it and the seeds disapear. And try adding a realize instances to different parts of the geonodes and it squishes the seeds.

[@CanosieLabs]

If you want to make the seeds "real", you have to go to Object -> Apply -> "Make Instances real" That should make the seeds turn into individual objects. You can't just apply geometry nodes like other modifiers.

[@bobboberton349]

@@CanosieLabs I guess my question was how do you do that with out the seeds being squashed. I figured it out my self I had to duplicate the mesh. then remove the displacement that was messing up the seeds. then take those seeds and add it to the mesh that used the displacement. thanks for the reply though, would love to see more tutorials on other fruit and vegetable models or food in general.

[@CanosieLabs]

@@bobboberton349 hmm, in the description I provide a strawberry model. Can you try using it? maybe in your .blend file, you have unapplied transformations that are effecting the mesh when you try to make the instances real.

[@NeoBlueCD]

I'm having some confusion with the bounding box/ distribution of the seeds. For some reason, when I play with the seed level, it doesn't move the seeds up and down the mesh, it just is rather an on or off switch, either completely covering the mesh or being gone completely. Any ideas?

[@CanosieLabs]

hmm, I have seen that before. The seed level is a fairly small number but it's relative to size of the object. So if your object is smaller, the adjustments have to be smaller otherwise you get a berry fully covered or none at all as you describe. If you still have problems, you can take a look at the blend file I provide. It has seeds and geometry nodes setup already to fool around with.

[@tiffanyyu9213]

What is the "Lattice" object in the lattice modifier settings?

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, it's used to deform the strawberry mesh. Its optional and not needed depending on the style you are going for.

[@mkewade2966]

How’d you get the seeds evenly distributed

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, Do you mean where the "Distributive point on faces" node is being used at 4:35? There isn't anything special there, it should distribute evenly across the surface automatically, unless your mesh has something weird going on. What result do you get with that node?

[@mkewade2966]

oof, nevermind I just had to watch the video again. Thank you. Nice video by the way!@@CanosieLabs

[@CanosieLabs]

@@mkewade2966thanks!

[@-webster3120]

if I select reset children it gets pretty filled up with copies of the strawberry, but if I turn it of, it looks more like it should but by the time I get to where we're trying to restrict where the seeds can go, they all disappear.

[@CanosieLabs]

weird, its almost like your strawberry object is in the collection. I've provided the geometry node setup in a .blend file (link in the description) for free so you can download it and compare it to what you have setup.

[@art-byfayleif3938]

Is there a way to do the strawberry slice?

[@CanosieLabs]

hmm interesting, I have not yet made a slice, I did create a strawberry cut in half in when I created fruit tarts: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5fbn2N8ppJsd6s For them I had to cut the strawberry model in half. The real tricky part is the edge that connects the face of the strawberry inside (which I used an image) and the outside. I had to manually fool around with things just to get it looking reasonable. A thin slice might be easier though, in fact, you might get away with just manually placing seeds since you won't need too many. hope that helps.

[@Lin-qv2rz]

Impressive at the least but definitely a tutorial for more advanced blender users

[@CanosieLabs]

yeah I agree.

[@Saunoa-i2y]

its amazing work

[@CanosieLabs]

thanks!

[@-webster3120]

The density is incredibly high! I had to restart my computer.

[@CanosieLabs]

Yeah, the density is high because strawberry is so small. What is the size of the object the geometry node is attached to? The density size is relative to the size of the object. So if the object is big and you put in a huge density, you'll get way too many seed instances.

[@bdinfectedgamers]

Nice job

[@CanosieLabs]

thanks!

[@-webster3120]

as soon as I plug the group input into the collection info, the strawberry is duplicated

[@CanosieLabs]

hmm.. I've provided the geometry node setup in a .blend file (link in the description) for free so you can download it and compare it to what you have setup.

[@melika2376]

thank you but where is the goddam leavessssss i need them!!!!!!!!!!!

[@motionpoint001]

Oh this tutorial is too complicated, as different bugs come up while I'm trying to make the Geometry Nodes scheme as you show. Firstly, my seeds were distributed on the mesh so unevenly that it didn't look like a strawberry. Maybe it's because of the Unwrapping (i just marked the seams, selected all the vertices and clicked on Unwrap) Currently, when I plug from the Group Input to Collection Info, the seeds just disappear. If you had any ideas how to fix it, I'd be the happiest Blender newbie in the world 😔

[@CanosieLabs]

hi, sorry to hear you are having problems. hmm, depending on your current knowledge of geometry nodes, the node setup can be tricky, bc there are lot of things happening. First, the input to the collection info node is a input parameter to the geometry node tree, not a group input. I actually provide the .blend file for the geometry node setup in the description. You have to go to my blog where it has the download links (since I change the dl link sometimes). Take a look at it there. There's a sample sphere with seeds around it. It's not a full strawberry model, but something to get started with.

[@kakihara111]

@@CanosieLabs You seem to be skipping some steps, at least in the beginning. This makes it pretty hard to follow in general. Just slow down a bit and show everything you do.

[@CanosieLabs]

@@kakihara111 I've provided the geometry node setup in a .blend file (link in the description) for free so you can download it and compare it to what you have setup if you are having problems following the video.

[@grandmastertrue]

bruhh, nothinh was working, then i realised my blender verision was 2.9. haven't been able to follow any tutorials since 2020 😭😭😭😭 edit: blender 4.3 is so much better and stuff actually works now

[@cr4723]

Please do not use a white screen / fade to white for transitions in the video. This is terrible for the eyes.