Tips for realistic grassland foliage

[NYCChristoff]

Hi all,

Just working on my African Elephants habitat but really struggling to achieve a more natural distribution of plants without things looks “plonked” down.

I’m sure this has been discussed already so if anyone has links handy please just link them

It’s made more tricky by the fact the zoo is European and the grass is very green!

thanks!

 

[SotF]

Some of the larger elephant grass options can work rather well for that sort of thing.

 

[paul78]

I usually prefer building habitats that suit the biome I’m building in my zoos. If I’m building a temperate zoo in Europe or America I tend to use foliage that looks natural to the region I’m building in. I actually prefer the green grass in those biomes as well instead of the burnt yellow grass found in the Savannah during the dry season. That’s just my personal taste as I prefer realism in my zoos. One solution to this is to build in a grassland biome as it has the yellow grass. For elephants especially African I really don’t use much foliage at all and use rocks and logs instead. There are some good YouTube African elephant habitats that are made by geekism,deladysigner, and toves plays.

 

[Jeminyne]

Hi all,

Just working on my African Elephants habitat but really struggling to achieve a more natural distribution of plants without things looks “plonked” down.

thanks!

There's a tactic you can use that makes for more realistic looking savannah habitats, but it calls for a high piece count:

Some players cover the ground in savannah rocks and mossy rocks. The savannah rocks give that "African colouring" and the mossy rocks stand-in for grass. It's not the yellow grass idea you're asking for, but in reality Africa's grass is green when it's not the dry season, and i'd say it looks more like a real Africa habitat you see in actual zoos. To keep the piece count down, some people make most of the habitat just sand and dirt, then do the mossy rock idea in places where there's supposed to be "grassy areas." Painting tall grass under the mossy rocks so it sticks through them makes it look more like real grass. This often looks better than just having sand/dirt in some areas and painting grass in others.

Then you can bunch up shrubs and trees near rock formations you've placed; this usually looks better then just placing them randomly spaced out. If I find a good picture I'll post it here. @Danny_zoo you made something like this, right? I can't find the pics you posted though.

 

[markun]

I would also suggest blending grass, dirt and a little sand to break up the monotony of the grass. I can share an example if it doesn't make sense.

Also bear in mind that not much vegetation will survive in an elephant enclosure. So you'll need trees and shrubs to be somehow protected by barriers or rocks.

 

[MSQueen2Zoo]

I do a lot of rock work when using grassland animals so the habitats do not look so bare. I also add ponds in many habitats, not waterfalls, it is to trying on the game but many ponds with different color water. My YouTube channel link shows various plant, rock and water builds for a more natural looking habitat, hope this helps:
MSQueen2Zoo

 

[MSQueen2Zoo]

Really good suggestions on this thread from all.

 

[Danny_zoo]

There's a tactic you can use that makes for more realistic looking savannah habitats, but it calls for a high piece count:

Some players cover the ground in savannah rocks and mossy rocks. The savannah rocks give that "African colouring" and the mossy rocks stand-in for grass. It's not the yellow grass idea you're asking for, but in reality Africa's grass is green when it's not the dry season, and i'd say it looks more like a real Africa habitat you see in actual zoos. To keep the piece count down, some people make most of the habitat just sand and dirt, then do the mossy rock idea in places where there's supposed to be "grassy areas." Painting tall grass under the mossy rocks so it sticks through them makes it look more like real grass. This often looks better than just having sand/dirt in some areas and painting grass in others.

Then you can bunch up shrubs and trees near rock formations you've placed; this usually looks better then just placing them randomly spaced out. If I find a good picture I'll post it here. @Danny_zoo you made something like this, right? I can't find the pics you posted though.

I did, however it was only a trial to create the needed contrast in the grassland maps, and I honestly would not recommend this technique to build a zoo. The end result looks aesthetically pleasing from a distance, but it certainly leaves a lot to be desired up close as the rock texture is completely different than grass. Unfortunately until a terrain texture editor similar to the one in Planco is added to the game, there is really not an optimal compromise.

NYCChristoff seems to want this process in reverse though, he wants the dry African grass to become part of the temperate maps, mainly for a realistic looking Savannah exhibit. The thing is that the yellow grass you often see in movies and documentaries representative of the African plains, is for the most part dry grass, that is lacking the proper irrigation by nature. The African plains during the rain season are stunningly green. In real life zoos, we do not attempt to recreate this, what would be the point? Even billion dollar zoos like DAK that have gone to painstaking details to replicate the African Savannah, will bring in native African grasses, plants, even soil (AMAZING) but their savannahs will still look green in contrast to the African dry season.

As Jeminyne so eloquently pointed out, if your aim is to replicate the look of the African Savannahs during the dry season, your best bet is to just built on the grassland map, that is well equipped and suited for it. Interesting observation, during a visit to South Africa, I was able to make it to the Pretoria Zoo (National Zoological Gardens of South Africa) and their African Savannah exhibits looked greener that anything I have ever seen in the U.S or Europe, it was an exquisite palette of vivid green, that truly should tell you, that even in Africa the zoos will not have dry grass.

Now another alternative (you might not like it) will be to wait until Frontier releases an African DLC (hoping they do) that adds the necessary foliage we need in this game to truly represent the landscape of this country. It is likely that they will add native African grass species, that could elevate the look of thematic exhibits representing this part of the world. But this is a big if, since we have no idea if Africa will ever be a thing. They did an excellent job with foliage in the Australia DLC, so here is hoping that happens.

 

[ElectricMonk]

If you want a realistic elephant enclosure then you're best off going with dirt and no plants that are actually accessible by the animals - Elephants destroy pretty much all vegetation in their enclosures - just do an image search for elephants in zoos and you won't see much, if any grass or trees (if there are trees they'll likely be either dead or fenced off from the animals).

 

[Danny_zoo]

If you want a realistic elephant enclosure then you're best off going with dirt and no plants that are actually accessible by the animals - Elephants destroy pretty much all vegetation in their enclosures - just do an image search for elephants in zoos and you won't see much, if any grass or trees (if there are trees they'll likely be either dead or fenced off from the animals).

I'm going to add to this because my answer was a reference to African grassland exhibits as a general. ElectricMonk is absolutely right, a realistic Elephant exhibit would not have much foliage, as it would all get destroyed. However, this is not to say that they can not be aesthetically pleasing, and still maintain realism. You can used elevated natural boulders that act as planters within the habitat, that Elephants would not be able to reach. If you play around with this, it can look highly realistic and natural, and still seem like the pachyderms have complete access to the habitat. Another suggestion would be to built a longer exhibit, with plenty of trails for them to walk in that blends in with additional background and foreground African inspired exhibits. It is really all your choice, and a mixture of sand and dirt with green elevated planted areas would do the trick. Hope you get to built what you want, good luck.