A data driven approach to generate realistic 3D tree barks

3D models of trees are ubiquitous in video games, movies, and simulators. It is of paramount importance to generate high quality 3D models to enhance the visual content, and increase the diversity of the available models. In this work, we propose a methodology to create realistic 3D models of tree barks from a consumer-grade hand-held camera. Additionally, we present a pipeline that makes use of multi-view 3D Reconstruction and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to generate the 3D models of the barks. We introduce a GAN referred to as the Depth-Reinforced-SPADE to generate the surfaces of the tree barks and the bark color concurrently. This GAN gives extensive control on what is being generated on the bark: moss, lichen, scars, etc. Finally, by testing our pipeline on different Northern-European trees whose barks exhibit radically different color patterns and surfaces, we show that our pipeline can be used to generate a broad panel of tree species’ bark.