The process is linger than creating a mesh automatically by using the 'Triangulate mesh' menu, but the control you get over the shape is much more precise.
The general idea is to create the mesh by following the shapes of the object.
In the case of the leaf:
- it's important to keep the midrib consistent, so I created an envelope for it.
- Triangles on the body need to follow the angle veins.
- The overall border has a double line, that way the border will never look stretched
In the case of the trunk:
- The triangles must follow the shape of each fold
- Be sure to separate each part. For instance, having two roots sharing the same triangles will restrict their movement and generate distortions
- The order in which you paint the shapes is the visual order of image. The triangles painted at the beginning, will be under the other (so during the animation you can hide them behind)
I'm using this script to transform the shapes I painted into triangles. Every shape painted is made of 4 or 3 points. Anything bigger than that won't work.
I hope -even when it's not a tutorial- it makes some sense
Please write if you have any feedback or question
