Blender Cookie - Creating a Topiary

Note: this tutorial is free but i share the HD 1080p videos and the source files

As a follow up to the Topiary Exercise from last week, this is a short course explaining my process for creating a detailed rhinoceros topiary like the one below.

My goal was to construct a topiary that A) looked appealing and B) accurately represented the structure of its real world counterpart. Here?s how the course breaks down:

Lesson 1: The IvyGen addon is an excellent tool for quickly generating vines and it plays a crucial role in this course. In the first lesson we?ll overview the addon and all of its settings.  

Lesson 2: Following the overview, we?ll apply what we?ve learned about IvyGen to generate the underlying branch network of our topiary structure according to a guide mesh.  

Lesson 3: Lastly we will use Blender?s particle hair tools to grow an outer shell of leaves. Then we?ll apply some simple Cycles materials and lighting for a finished topiary render.