for research, I´ve made a research for generating 3d-tree´s in composting software like Nuke. I have combined classic game-3d-multiplane with nuke 3d-displacements nodes and for tree wind motion I had used a default grid wrap node.
now i can build my “forest”-gizmo to easily generate a 3d-forest/tree “on the fly” in 3d compositings including a soft fake-trees-shadow and fast relighting/shading feature. the render time is not so good (3-4 sec per frame in PAL) I´ll want to export the data to Maya and Renderman how can render the tree pass faster and have more features like deep shadows.
and this here is the original “source” image….