Low-poly trees for Babylon.js – GLB forest assets

Trees in Low-poly Style for Babylon.js

Low-poly trees drop into Babylon.js as GLB: load them with ImportMeshAsync from @babylonjs/loaders, or LoadAssetContainerAsync when you need instantiateModelsToScene for many copies. Every tree ships with LOD0–LOD3 and a base pivot, so lod0.addLODLevel(30, lod1) and addLODLevel(80, lod2) gives you distance culling without extra work.

Because the faceted look comes from flat shading and vertex colours (COLOR_0) instead of textures, one material covers Oak, Scots Pine, Spruce, Birch and the rest of the 14 trees — set a material that multiplies by vertex colour. Solid leaf geometry means no alpha overdraw, and thin instances render thousands of trees in one draw call per mesh. LOD0 sits in the few-hundred to couple-thousand triangle range, which suits WebGL, WebGPU, mobile and VR.

About the Low-poly style

Low-poly vegetation is the cheapest style to render and to ship.

Flat shading: one normal per face gives the crisp faceted look; no normal maps.
Colour lives in vertex colours (glTF COLOR_0), so there are no textures, no UV work and almost no video memory.
Leaves are solid geometry, not alpha cards: no alpha testing and no transparent overdraw, which matters on mobile GPUs.
One material can be shared by every model in the scene, so trees batch and instance easily.
Typical budgets range from a few hundred to a couple of thousand triangles at LOD0.

A good fit for mobile, WebGL/WebGPU, VR, strategy, city builders and stylised indie games. In the engine, use a material that multiplies by vertex colour.

Using it in Babylon.js

Babylon.js loads GLB through the glTF loader in @babylonjs/loaders: ImportMeshAsync (or SceneLoader.ImportMeshAsync in older code), or LoadAssetContainerAsync when you need many copies via instantiateModelsToScene.

LOD: lod0.addLODLevel(30, lod1), addLODLevel(80, lod2) and so on; passing null as the mesh hides the object beyond that distance.
Thousands of trees: thin instances (thinInstanceAdd with matrices) render in one draw call per mesh; use regular createInstance when each tree needs its own picking or logic.
Leaves: glTF MASK maps to alpha-tested PBRMaterial (MATERIAL_ALPHATEST).
Collision mesh: set isVisible = false and use it with checkCollisions or Havok physics (PhysicsAggregate with a MESH shape).