Advanced foliage shader [released]

oh, i did not mean to disable them permanently – only temporary in order to see if the diffuse + ambient lighting of billboards and mesh tree match — which i think they do.
anyway.
the easiest way to darken the billboards would be to edit the "AfsBillboardTree CutOut.shader".
find:

col.rgb = col.rgb * input.color.rgb;​

and replace it with e.g.:

col.rgb = col.rgb * input.color.rgb * 0.9;​

where "0.9" is your darkening factor.

 

Hey,

i have just bought AFSv5 and integrated it into my scene. It is working very well with Yughes Tropical Plants pack and my custom made Vegetation.
I want to ask you if there is an option to disable/reduce wind effect on specific materials? I am using the ground covers from the Yughes Pack quiet often and they are moving quiet unnatural.
Also i have encountered an error on Unity 5.6: When i try to build my game, the #if UNITY_EDITOR in the CombineChildrenAFS.cs has no effect resulting in a error. I have fixed this rather hacky and i would appreciate a official fix.

thanks

 

unfortunately there is no option. you will have to use the foliage tool to rework the mesh and the baked bending data.

i will look into this.

 

Thanks, that did the trick!

Another question: I have a 4x4 multi-tile terrain setup. Is it okay to just assign one of those tiles to the Terrain slot on AFS Setup? (It's only for syncing settings, and all the terrain tiles have the same settings...but would this change something on the terrain, or does the sync go from terrain->AFS?

 

that should be fine.

 

Hey Lars, I'm currently upgrading from Unity 5.4 and Afs 4 to Unity 2017 and the latest version of Afs 5
Left is U 5.4, right is U 2017:
https://imgur.com/KBdgCox
Colorspace Linear, Deferred Lighting, followed theinstructions on inserting the custom shaders in the Graphic settings.
Is there something else I'm missing to get the right to look like the left? (all textures are set to sRGB)
The main issue seems to be that the "Color" isn't applied on the right side, atleast it looks pretty similiar when I remove "Main Color" on Afs 4.0

 

you are right, color is ignored...

you may change this by editing the "AfsTreeCreatorLeavesOptimized (instanced).shader" shader.

find:
fixed _Cutoff;
and add this line:
fixed4 _Color;

then find:
o.Albedo = c.rgb * IN.color.rgb;
and change it to:
o.Albedo = c.rgb * IN.color.rgb * _Color;

 

I'm still trying to get good transitions between mesh trees and billboards, with shadows. In this screenshot:

* Shadow distance is 220m (as you can see by the shadow cast by the elongated white cube)
* Billboard Start is 125m
* Fade length is 20m
* Max mesh trees is 1000, just to be sure that's not confounding things.

Trees in the foreground clearly have realtime shadows. Those in the distance are good-looking billboards. It's the trees in the middle distance that look bad -- too bright and flat. Those are all in the distance between the effective shadow distance (much smaller than what's set in Quality Settings) and the Billboard Start distance.

And what I don't understand is why the tree shadows stop at such a close distance, creating that section of ugly trees in mid-distance.. And that shadow->no shadow distance doesn't change if I increase the shadow distance even more. Even more oddly, if I increase the Billboard Start distance, the only thing that changes in that transition between too-bright trees and the proper billboards.

So I guess those mid-distance trees are mesh trees that are not casting shadows, yet aren't proper billboards yet. I saw a graphic somewhere (I thought it was in the manual PDF, but can't find it now) showing that the Billboard Start distance was more complicated than it appears, with basically a double-distance transition...but I can't find it now, and I don't see how that would explain this -- with the realtime shadows never changing distance, even when I increase all values. Can anyone explain what's going on, and how to make the trees cast shadows out to the realtime shadow distance (assuming Start Billboard setting matches it)?

BTW, this looks the same whether or not I've edited the AfsBillboardTree CutOut shader to darken the billboards.


thanks
Dave

 

i think so too.

you will find it in the section "Tree creator shaders" -> "Improved fading"
https://docs.google.com/document/d/...Y5H46FtpSDM1UQdRk/edit#heading=h.8l8kuguftupt

these are your settings:
* Shadow distance is 220m (as you can see by the shadow cast by the elongated white cube)
* Billboard Start is 125m
* Fade length is 20m
--> this means that real time shadows on mesh trees start to fade out at Billboard Start - 2 * Fade length = 85m

you would have to change them like this:
* Shadow distance is 220m
* Billboard Start is 240m (Shadow distance + Fade length. actually it might be a bit higher or lower depending on how unity already fades out real time shadows)
* Fade length is 20m

but a such long billboard distance will most likely kill your frame rate...

 

I tried that, and that's what I'm puzzled by: Increasing the Billboard Start distance has no effect on the tree-shadow distance. It only extends the distance of the trees in that mid-range group which have a flat, no-shadow look. The tree-shadows always stop at the same distance from the camera (about 35m), whether BIllboard Start is 50 or 150 or 250.

It seems like something else is locking the tree-shadow distance at a fairly small distance and neither Quality->Shadow Distance nor Billboard Start distance affects it. But what's doing that?

EDIT: And it's definitely something with the AFS tree shader -- when I switch back to the default Unity Tree Creator shader, tree-shadows work as expected, using shadow distance and billboard distance. Here's a screenshot, with a few trees using the default shader and the rest using AFS -- it's easy to tell which are which.

 

hmm, i just tried that in the provided demo scene: there it works like charm. please make sure that terainn settings and settings in the setup script are synced.

 

Aha! I have a 4x4 set of terrain tiles, and assigned the first one to "AFS Setup" -- but now when I assign the tile that I'm looking at there -- and now the billboards all look fantastic! I can adjust shadow and billboard distance, everything works nicely.

So how do I deal with a 4x4 grid? You'd said earlier it should be fine to just assign the first tile, but that's not working for me....

 

if one terrain is assigned to the setup script the shaders will pick up billboard start and fade length from that terrain.
so theoretically you just have to make sure that all 4x4 terrain share the same billboards start and fade settings.

 

Ah....maybe that's what's going on. (The problem is just an artifact of my crude testing.) Thanks, I'll try it that way.

EDIT: Yup, that was it, thanks much for the help!

 

Hey guys. Was wondering if I could get a hand solving a hopefully simple problem.

Been using AFS on a group collab for a few months now and today I set out to find a workflow to start creating our own foliage assets. After painting vertex colours on my model, and importing I created a prefab that moves and sways like I intended. BUT when I go and add it to the terrain editor the same way as the grass and high grass prefabs from the demo I run into issues.

It looks like the prefabs placed with the terrain editor apply the vertex colours I painted across the planes. Bending on the terrain meshes also seems different and I'm assuming that I've missed a step somewhere. Any help you can give on the proper way to get custom assets set up would be super helpful.

 

please check the dry and healthy color applied to the details added using the terrain engine. start with setting them to rgba = 1,1,1,1 – as these will be baked to vertex colors as well so they might conflict with you baked bending data.
next you could check which bending mode is used by the foliage shader for the terrain. it must match your vertex colors. do so by having a look into the setup script --> Terrain Detail Vegetation Settings --> legacy bending

 

I set the Dry and Healthy colors both to white. Doesn't change anything there.
Legacy Bending is enabled in the AFS setup script, and the foliage shader is using legacy Vertex color.

 

hmm, then i do not really have an idea why the detail meshes on the terrain show up black.
do the details meshes in the included demo look fine to you?

 

The docs say to use this to make the billboards fade out gradually at the far tree distance. Is that still an option? Is there a performance cost?

 

no, default is billboard cutout shader now. so no fading.
performance is not effected.

 

So "Billboard Fadeout Length" isn't an option anymore?

Actually, what would be nicer than a fadeout length: an "attrition" distance/zone where the billboards disappear one by one instead of all at once. Would look more natural than an obvious line that activates the billboards. Just an idea

 

Hey lars, noticed two bugs in the latest version of your touchbending script, which is quite noticeable if you set the parameters to something like this :

Bendability: 0.6f
Disturbance: 9f
Duration: 44f

Bug 1:
If you enter AND exit the same collider again before the last touch was removed, you set the first touch in the list to left.
Solution:
Change

Code (CSharp):

1. if (touches[i].playerId == pID) {

to

Code (CSharp):

1. if (touches[i].playerId == pID && touches[i].left == false) {

in the OnTriggerExit Method.

Bug2:
Even when the collider is left, the plant gets it's speedUpdates from 'tempPlayerVars.Player_Speed
Solution:

• Add finalTouchForce to the struct 'touch'
• Add
  Code (CSharp):

  1.  temp.finalTouchForce = temp.go.GetComponent<touchBendingPlayerListener>().Player_Speed;

to OnTriggerExit

• Add a float 'speedForce' or something like that

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. float speedForce;
3.                 if (temp.left == true) {
4.                     speedForce = temp.finalTouchForce;
5.                     // timerLeft = 0 --> player is outside the trigger
6.                     temp.timerLeft = Mathf.Clamp01(temp.timerLeft - Time.deltaTime * duration);
7.                 }
8.                 else {
9.                     speedForce = tempPlayerVars.Player_Speed;
10.                     // timerLeft = 1 --> player is inside the trigger
11.                     temp.timerLeft = Mathf.Clamp01(temp.timerLeft + Time.deltaTime * duration);
12.                 }
13.  
14.             //    Set timer according to Player_Speed if player is inside the trigger
15.                 temp.timer += Time.deltaTime * Mathf.Lerp(1.0f, speedForce, temp.timerLeft);
16.  
17.          ...
18. ....
19.                 finalTouchForce.w += speedForce * temp.easingControl * disturbance;

to the Update method

 

thanks a lot for sharing.
i have not been able to reproduce any strange bending. but i assume that you have done some testing, so i will just factor in your code changes.

 

Oh I forgot to mention how the bug is noticeable:

Bug 2:
I used touchbending on a plant that bends 90 degrees and slowly returns to it's original position over the next ~ 30 seconds. So there's enough time to trigger more than one touch on the same plant and then move a few feet away and look at it.

So If you do this (trigger more than one collider enter and exit) and then exit and look at the plant slowly unbent itself, you'll see it skip a few degrees backwards and forwards when you move around a bit while looking at it from afar

Bug 1: was just noticed while debugging BUG 2

 

Hi Lars! Can I hear your personal opinion about the Volund Vegetation Shader (Volund/Standard Scatter (Specular, Surface) in the Blacksmith Environment? I'm really new to vegetation shading, and I would very much like to hear how you'd compare AFS against Unity's attempt. Merci!

 

hi,
i am not sure if i know exactly which shader you are talking about – despite the fact that i only had a quick view at the black smith shaders a while back.
nevertheless from what i think i can remember there are some major differences:
- afs supports deferred translucent wrapped around diffuse lighting.
- afs gives you full control over bending and wind animation and syncs it with built in wind zones.

 

Having an odd problem with AFS Tree Creator shader: When the tree bends in the wind, the branches bend more than the trunk, so the trunk separates from the branches. See screenshot (more extreme than I'd generally do, but easier to see the problem, which also happens to a lesser degree with less bending). Am I doing something wrong?

 

either the model is corrupted which means: baked bending for trunk and leaves does not match.
or the bark and leaf shader are not in sync and use different bending functions (due to changes, updates – whatsoever). latter can be addressed by manually reimporting both shaders.

 

Hello,
I'm trying to use Foliage tool on a mesh that is skinned and has bones attached to it. Therefore it uses skinned mesh renderer. It seems that the Foliage Tool requires the regular mesh filter that is not present when you have the skinned mesh. Basically I'm trying to implement similar workflow to dynamic foliage as the developer of the "Ghost of the tale" where he has two foliage meshes, one skinned and one static and he exchanges them on/off depending on the collider status (http://www.ghostofatale.com/dynamic-vegetation-system/). So I guess what I am trying to do is to have exactly the same setup for both meshes so the shader works exactly the same way on both of them, therefore when I exchange meshes from static to dynamic and viceversa you can't really tell the difference that something just got switched. I hope it makes sense. Any advice very appreciated! Thank you!

 

i am really not into skinning, sorry. so the only way i see right now is to manually paint the needed vertex colors in your 3d app.

 

no worries, thanks Lars. I kinda figured that the best way would be to actually keep it simple and just prep the assets with vertex color information in the native 3d app, before moving it to unity. Thanks a lot for a quick reply. I love AFS, I think you did a really fantastic job!

 

thanks!

 

Hello Lars. I already have your lux shader, your Color Ultra map, and your foliage shader 4 (and also use not yours but working with lux Enviro system) but I would to upgradeto foliagwe shader 5. I have a question I would to use only plants, and grass from your shader (to tress I use speed tree) and my question is, Is there in foliage shader 5 any editor for simple prepare grass, or foliage, bending with wind. I mean I dont ould to waste tiem to prepare every plant and grass in 3d software by vertex map.. Is there any editor builded in even simple, or any procedural generating this? My next question is Is there any way to use yout plants, and grass using unity terrain, I mean put it by painting or something like that, To make culling simpler than it was in foliage shader 4. I mean I have to put grass / plants on terrain, then I have to group it, then I have to cull this group. Is there any made by you (or not) asset that makes your amazing shaders into one editor when I could simply using unity terrain with Color map ultra shader, paint plants and grass on terrain and have automatic culling (this one from unity terrain) It would be great, to have something like ,that. Your shader I think are best visual way in asset store, but there is need of soemthing that connects it together, esspecialy nowadays, when small teams do something, there is no time to paint terrain with foliage and then connect it and then make it cull I hope you could help me. Best Regards

P.S my alst wquestion ius there way to make plants grass covered by snow with foliage shader? this is what I wonder too esspecialy that Lux, and color map ultra have this option

 

afs ships with the foliage tool – which lets you simply adjust primary and secondary bending parameters right within unity. however edge flutter and phase variation should be painted manually in your 3d app (vertex color green and red). this usually takes only a few minutes per plant.

you may want to have a look into my latest package: advanced terrain grass.
https://forum.unity.com/threads/released-advanced-terrain-grass.494865/

 

Thank you for your fast reply. Your advance terrain grass seems to be interesting but have it any component where for example I could set what distance dissapear grass, and other where dissapear plants? I mean for example if I have already grass and plants on terrain Then I make quictart for Advance terrain grass and I it just works yes? For example I put grass prefabs on terrain, It makes some groups of grass etc? Or have I put grass on terrain using unity terrain?


"afs ships with the foliage tool – which lets you simply adjust primary and secondary bending parameters right within unity"

What exactly is primary and secondary bending parameters?


Last question is Is advance grass already contains foliage shader 5 for grass and plants? I just dont want to buyt foliage shader 5 and advance grass, (I dont need trees in my game I use speed tree)
Regards

 

grass and detail vegetation get culled at the same user defined distance.

if you already have grass on your terrain simply adding the script should do the job.
of course you will most likely do some fine tuning to benefit from atg's features.

it is not an authoring solution. you will have to paint the grass manually. or use any 3rd party tool like terrain composer.

prmary bending is the displacement along the wind direction. secondary bending is a bending along the y axis as used e.g. on the branches of a tree.

if you only need grass and smaller foliage all placed using unity's terrain engine atg would be the package to go with.

 

OK thank you so mcuh for seponse, but as I understand it dont use prefabs , or terrain detail or grass map, so this is to much work for me to build additional grass maps outside unity. I'm looking for something what help me edit terrain and add your plants,using also color map ultra shader, to unity terrain. We have advance terrains, and we need some tool that help us make it fast place on terrain with culling (like it is in unit terrain, but unnity terrain grass looks bad). SO maybe I will ask other way, Is there any outside asset store unity terrain editor, that color ultra map cooperate, and what gives then simple culling option with your grass.plants shader? As you mention terrain composer it seems to be interesting but it is compatible with color map ultra? I mean because I ould buy terain composer but if it isnt compatible with your color map ultra then I even cant use it in simple way. You should really think about implementing any terrain unity editor for your shader to connect the m all in one great package

 

i am not sure if i get you properly...

atg uses the grass density maps from the terrain. so if you have already painted grass on your terrain its distribution will be simply picked up.

you can simply use it to place grass. you do not have to use it for the terrain.
other tools would be gaia or gena or even map magic: each tool which writes to unity's terrain density maps would work.

 

"atg uses the grass density maps from the terrain. so if you have already painted grass on your terrain its distribution will be simply picked up." Do you mean unity terrain density maps too. I mean standard unity terrain? If yes this is what I would to hear And this will be my next buy.

And what aout foliage shader/ grass and snow? Is there chance to make any simple dynamic snow on your grass? Like in lux shader or simpler, any thing?

 

yes.

i have not added this feature yet – but it should be straight forward by e.g. following lux's approach.

 

OK thank you for info I will for sure use advance grass then, And waiting for plants snow implementing thank you

 

Hi,
i have a problem with touch bending feature.
It works fine until i delete(Destroy) a GameObject with player listener script attached to it.
Im spawning enemies (with player listener script attached) and they are colliding with environment (GameObjects with touch bending collision script attached).
But when i Destroy an enemy object, it gets bugged:

Then previously collided environment objects completely stop moving.
Am i missing something? This approach should be quite usual, isn't it?

 

it throws an error only if you destroy the object which is registered to a currently active "touch" – which i personally do not find to be a common approach
but in case you may destroy these objects you should add a safeguard before accessing the touchBendingPlayerListener:
if (temp.go. != null) {
touchBendingPlayerListener tempPlayerVars = temp.go.GetComponent<touchBendingPlayerListener>();
}
else {
do something here
}

 

This works for me:

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. touchBendingPlayerListener tempPlayerVars = null;
3. if (temp.go != null) {
4.    tempPlayerVars = temp.go.GetComponent<touchBendingPlayerListener> ();
5. } else {
6.    continue;
7. }
8.  

I hoped there is some "non-coding" solution for this problem. But it works now so whatever..
Thank you

 

you are welcome

 

Hello lars. I tested foliage shader 5 . Thank you so much for foliage tool, it makes that there is no need to add any vertex color in 3d software. It just take settings from your standard fern and it just look great! I think you should mention about it more on your asset page, because it is huge time saver. Also grass postprocesor is great. Yo ushould really tell people that thee ar such a tools, for graphic designers is a huge time saver really! Do you Advance terrain grass also work with this posprocessors? I was asking before about automatic mesh preapration, and you said there isnt something like that, so I'm very positive suprised! Only one thing is that grass postprocessor should be more like component not changed name because its not to intuitive now. But it works so thanks

 

yes, it does

 

Great! You should really record some tutorials to our shaders, even simple, I understand that there are great explanation scenes but they are only after you will buy asseet. For example even screen of main manager of ATG would say a lot about shader and possibilities

 

i might have to rethink my whole asset store strategy – and get a new computer first as all my ssds and hds are full

 

Confused about grass and custom meshes. I understand that we can paint trees etc on a unity terrain and then reposition them onto that custom mesh. What about grass ie paint grass onto the unity terrain and then have it reposition to the custom mesh that is on top of that terrain. I guess I should ask what is the recommended, optimized way to put grass onto a custom mesh using Advanced Terrain Shader? Denseness etc.

If it ends up just being we manually (or with a tool) place the grass geometry directly on the custom mesh then we lose any of the gains from the terrain, like how trees work, LOD, billboarding etc? Correct?

Thanks