Painting - mesh vs non-mesh brushes

[gabbagabbahey]

so, my question about the mesh and non-mesh paint brushes when painting in a scene:

what's the difference technically between "plant" and "plant Mesh", and the same for the "tree" and "tree Mesh" brushes [besides the actual plant and tree types available] ?

and is there a difference in the rendering between the mesh and non mesh, or when converted to polygons?
and is there a difference when applying them to nurbs grids and random painting applications?

and what are those little circles next to some of the icons in the upper right hand of some of the boxes?

I looked in the PDF files and found nothing. Info please.. Thank you and have a nice day. Happy holidays, everyone. PEACE.

[autumn]

you know, I was wondering about that little circle thing too....

[user_deleted]

you have to convert the brushes to polygons to render in mr. this slows down render times signifigently, depending on the setings you chose in (modify->conver->paint effects to polygons). you might consider rendering brush effects in maya software and compositing them later.

some of the brushes have animation wich might be what the circle you see is.does it looks like a pie chart?

the mesh brushes are 3d, the non-mesh ones are painted flat on the surface.

btw, you can paint on polygons in maya 6.

[gabbagabbahey]

thank you.
since my trees will be seen at a distance, i think i'll stick to building them trunk and appropriately configured poly/nurb model with a texture. it's a quick scene, but it still needs to look real enough, not cartoony. but that info has helped my decide.
getting maya6 installed is holiday time work..file transfers. ugh!!

and not to push my luck, those little circle things?..

PEACE, everybody.

[gabbagabbahey]

thank you.
since my trees will be seen at a distance, i think i'll stick to building them trunk and appropriately configured poly/nurb model with a texture. it's a quick scene, but it still needs to look real enough, not cartoony. but that info has helped my decide.
getting maya6 installed is holiday time work..file transfers. ugh!!

and not to push my luck, those little circle things?..

PEACE, everybody.

[user_deleted]

in the visor? all i see is the little clock thingie that looks like a pie chart in the upper right hand corner of the tree mesh brushes.

[gabbagabbahey]

yeah. the little clock thingie that looks like a pie chart. that's what i'm asking about.

PEACE.

[ncheater]

"the mesh brushes are 3d, the non-mesh ones are painted flat on the surface. "

Is this correct ? In my renders (Maya SW) both Tree and TreeMesh looks like 3d objekts but yes they are applied as 2d but not flat on the surface.

"the little clock thingie that looks like a pie chart"

I always thought of that as how long that painteffect takes to render, seems to be accurate for me but its only my guess.

[joojaa]

"the mesh brushes are 3d, the non-mesh ones are painted flat on the surface. "

Yes they are 2d, but aa special kind of 2d wich will look and interact with 3d.

[gabbagabbahey]

thank you! thank you all! now i'm am clear,and i am working at getting those polygon faces minimized. [white oak reduces nicely, but those pine tree needles!!]

i tried doing a nice model for a tree trunk like the ones in the Cinefex" issue with Shrek [1], but the texture i used wasn't wrapping too well. will proceed with mapping..
and i'll have to use the meshes as well. but as few as possible. Gmask said something about converting to 15,000 poly faces or less. so far i'm getting a half decent render at 26,000, but not for those pine tree needles, just the bigger leaves. i'm working it out.

thank you all again. PEACE.