Amplify Impostors - Next Generation Billboards

We'll have to check the article, but I believe it requires an alpha map which we don't store.(our's is either 1 or 0, no gradients) From our tests, it does seem to work, but the gains may not be worthwhile.

 

Have you fixed the issue with two different impostors rendering for each eye?

 

Indeed, it would be nice. MSAA and Amplify impostors results in terrible flickering in VR, the only option (that I know of) is to use CTAA from asset store instead of MSAA, but it doesn't work with URP unfortunately.

 

Depends on the issue, and platform, and Unity version. Do let us know if you run into any problems, AI has its limitations but it should work for most cases. Recently tested with HDRP+VR and it seemed alright, however we are on the lookout for problems.

Sorry, we handle a lot of daily reports, is this referring to an existing issue posted here?

 

Hi !

I got this error in OctahedronImpostorURP.shader and SphericalImpostorURP :

"
failed to open source file: 'AmplifyImpostors.cginc'
Compiling Vertex program
Platform defines: UNITY_ENABLE_REFLECTION_BUFFERS UNITY_USE_DITHER_MASK_FOR_ALPHABLENDED_SHADOWS UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF1 UNITY_SPECCUBE_BOX_PROJECTION UNITY_SPECCUBE_BLENDING UNITY_ENABLE_DETAIL_NORMALMAP SHADER_API_DESKTOP UNITY_LIGHT_PROBE_PROXY_VOLUME UNITY_LIGHTMAP_FULL_HDR"

And when i bake the render is full black.

I use Unity 2019.3 with last URP and Amplify Impostor 0.9.7

 

Hello,

Any change on your side, when did this error began to appear?

I recommend removing the Amplify Impostors package and re-importing the latest version; be sure to also import the URP package under AmplifyImpostors\Plugins\EditorResources\RenderPipelinePackages\ImpostorsURP.

Let us know if it helps!

 

Quick update folks, we found an issue that causes considerable differences when baking simple URP impostors. I just got some additional details from our developers, and this is most likely a bug in the Impostor baking shader since URP is the only pipeline that always requires a custom shader to be able to bake something since we can't rely on deferred path because URP doesn't have it. So most likely something has changed in the Unity standard URP shader that the baking shader isn't taking into consideration




Apologies for the inconvenience, we'll post additional details as soon as possible.

 

I already did that, but when i bake is still black, i change hidden to Amplify in the sahder, so i can manuly put the OctahedronImpostorURP on the material and assing manualy the bake impostor texture did before the update and the error gone.... But the "BakingURP.shader" is notified as "not compatible" for SRP on the inspector, so maybe that why i got an black baking "UnityPerMaterial var is not declared in shader proprety section (_BaseColor )"

 

Hi Amplify. Great tool!

I was looking to try out some clouds from an external software.
So i was curious to hear if there is a setup for Houdini, 3dsmax, maya etc. for rendering. (specifically the Octahedron model)

Also will there be transparency without alpha clipping?


Thanks a bunch!

 

Hey there,

So after importing that package, you see any errors? If so, let's pause there, something is happening.

What do you mean by "so i can manuly put the OctahedronImpostorURP on the material and assing manualy the bake impostor texture did before the update and the error gone"?

But the "BakingURP.shader" is notified as "not compatible" for SRP on the inspector, so maybe that why i got an black baking "UnityPerMaterial var is not declared in shader proprety section (_BaseColor )"

I'm having some difficulty understanding what you mean. Assuming we get rid of the error your getting, you just need to add the component to the object you want to bake and create the impostor; no manual shader assignment required.

Please elaborate.

Hey there, thanks!

I'm afraid that the baking process is exclusive to Unity for now. We've received similar requests, perhaps we can tackle something at a later stage.

Impostors do not support semi-transparent surfaces, only cutout.

 

Yes after reimport i still got the problem. What i mean is before i update my project on URP, everything work good, and i baked 90% of my model. But since i update my project and go to URP, Amplify impostor didn't work anymore when i bake i got black impostor, so the only way i found to still use it, it's to manualy put the texture i previoulsy baked manualy on the impostor. I try to delete the asset and full fresh reimport it, but nothing change.

 

Hey there, it's been a year, any word on Instanced Indirect so that it can work better with Vegetation Studio?

 

Thanks for elaborating.

Not sure what could have happened on your side, can you send us one of the problematical impostors?

Which version did you upgrade from?

Thanks!

Short answer, complicated; and not just development, also in terms of distribution. I'll get in touch with you directly regarding modified shaders.

 

Amplify Impostor "version":"0.9.7.001"
Unity 2019.3.0f6
URP 7.1.8

 

Hi
Do Impostors support last 2019.3 Unity and URP 7.3.1?

 

Thanks!
Can you forward us a sample impostor to support@amplify.pt?

They should, any problems?

 

Not yet
Thanks just want to be sure before I start

 

Hi, I'm testing your asset with the trees of the asset Mtree and found this issue:




When I walk away at a certain distance the tree "blanches", do you know why this happens? Is there any way to avoid it?

Very good asset by the way, you did a very good job.

 

Thanks for reaching out!

Is this with URP?

 

Oh, yes, sorry, I was going to say it but I forgot. Yes, it's URP.

 

Hey, no problem!

So there's actually an issue when using the latest URP version, we'll need to update our own shaders and push it out in an update as soon as possible.

That said, you could be seeing a couple of other problems:
-If the impostor works well at closer distances but displays no shadow further away, this could very well be related to your project settings.(e.g. shadowmask distance)
-Other causes may be the lack of Light Probes or previewing the scene without actually calculating your lighting.

Hope it helps.

 

Yes, it seems that was the problem! Thank you very much for the help.

 

Hi, I just added your asset to my project and I need some help, my trees have a custom shader for the leaves which gives them their color and also adds a bit of sway due to the wind. The wind sway I don't need at a distance but the color is quite important obviously, how would I get the color back into the tree and would this be changeable at runtime as well? (the color is defined based on the time of year and should be able to change at runtime)

I'm using URP in 2019.3.14f1 and the leave shader is made in Shadergraph as a regular PBR Graph shader

 

Hello,

Thanks for using AI, hope we can assist.

You'll need a custom Baking and Runtime shader for that. We currently support this mostly via our own editor, Amplify Shader Editor. We used to support this via Shader Graph but that ability was locked on later versions; unfortunately, the only way to use Shader Graph for that purpose is to use a rather old version.(early 2019 Unity versions)

Official Wiki - Custom Baking with ASE

Hope it helps, apologies for any inconvenience.

 

hi - you mentioned there was a "Create a LOD Group automatically" toggle " but I can't find it anywhere. can you help please? thanks

 

Yes, Preferences tab.

 

Impostors fail to work if I move it from Assets Root to prevent trash in project root

 

I've been using this for the better part of a year now (built-in RP), for plants, grass and AI vehicles/characters in the distance. So far, so good!

I'm using a custom shader built on the template provided in ASE, which brings me to a feature request! Currently, the "Amplify Impostor" node features a Standard and Specular shading mode. However, I'd like to see a "Lambert" shading mode as well, much like ASE offers. The entire project uses Lambert shading, so we're wasting a wee bit of resources on performing Unity's fancy BDRF on impostors

 

What do you mean? You should be able to use it on any folder.

That's great to know! Are you using it on Lake or is it for another project?

I'm not fully sure if this is possible but I will ping the devs for additional details. We're making good progress on realtime impostors so, hopefully, we're going to have something to share soon.

Thanks!

 

I have Import impostors import URP addon everything work fine.
Then move Impostors into Assets/_Packages folder and they stop work.

Errors in shaders can not find AmplifyImpostors.cginc

 

Yes, that's right, using it in Lake alongside of Vegetation Studio.

I attempted to modify the script, which creates the node since switching from Standard to Lambert shading in a surface shader takes a few modifications. But everything rolled over and broke, so I figured you guys know this best

Currently still hoping for cylindrical impostors, since our impostors are never close enough to be viewed from top-down. These would need fewer frames and thus yield higher resolution. All in all a great tool with the Amplify quality stamp, but I think these two points would cover more basis in the long run, at least in my case

 

Hmm.. In that case I won't be able to use AI for the trees in my case which is unfortunate. I don't own AS and I don't want to spend $60 just to get this to work for the trees (my project is in 2019.3.14f1 so I can't use the older method that you suggested)

 

Hi,
tried to impost a speed tree. Got only the chunk whitout leaves. Any suggestion?


Generated texture seems to be good:


Regards
\Viktor

 

That's odd, it seems to be working from our tests.

What's your current Unity version? Please make sure that you're using the latest version from our site.

Can you replicate the problem on a new empty project?

That's awesome, thanks for confirming it, I've been following it for a while.

One of our devs mentioned that we can't guarantee it regarding Lambert shading. As for additional baking options, we're definitely going to be exploring that in the future; we just need to finish real-time impostors which are proving to be more challenging than we anticipated.

We completely understand, it's a shame that Shader Graph was closed off as we would've liked to keep supporting it. Let us know if your find that AI is not right for your project, we would be happy to work something out via support@amplify.pt.

Here's to hopping we can support Shader Graph again in the near future.

You can also code your own shaders but it's a fairly complex process if you're not familiar with it; we don't recommend it.

Hey there,

Use the Nature/SpeedTree shader on your materials, that should do it. (tested it to confirm that's it's working)

Thanks!

 

Have tried one more time and every thing work as expected
May be just need to reload Unity sometimes

 

Ah cool, good to know!

 

Learn how to bake multiple objects into a single Impostor asset in our latest tutorial.

 

Hi, I'm having some weird issues with Amplify Imposters. Got it awhile ago, haven't really used it until now. Project is on 2018.2, MacOS, built-in pipeline, using default imposter settings. The imposters have some problems:

* Translucent.
* At certain angles, they break up into slices.

See screenshots. Maybe I'm doing something obviously wrong, but the workflow sure seems straightforward! Appreciate any help.

thanks
Dave

 

Hey there,

Octahedron impostors will breakdown at close distances, as you can also see on our samples, it's an expected limitation of the technique used that allows for smooth blending between views. Spherical impostors will holdup better at close distances but do not provide smooth blending.

-Impostors are not translucent, we will need to examine a small sample with the problem present. (support@amplify.pt)
-Those split face impostors are quite unusual, is it a single impostor?

Thanks!

 

Hey there,

I converted Book of the dead assets into built-in pipeline and made impostors of them. I love the look of impostors, even up close, (I want my game to look like a painting). But today I noticed I have worst perfs with impostors only, compared to mid poly Book of the Dead forest. It's super weird, especially knowing BotD assets are very poorly optimized (lots of diffrent materials for just rendering one tree). So in the end, more vertices and more draw calls = better performance in my case.

What am I doing wrong here ?

Infos that maybe could help :

-I bake impostors in 8192, then reduce in 2048 using crunch compression
-I have a lot of different trees (using almost every trees of BotD pack)
-I made the most simple impostor shader you can do with amplify shader, just to see if it would help, but it did not.
-I'm using LOD's, noticed the issue by changing the LOD bias in the quality settings of the project. It was at 0.01 by default just to keep the impostors. I tried with 10 during a playtest, so all the impostors are replaced with the original mesh. I noticed at this moment the game was actually smoother by 5 fps without the impostors.
-I'm using the asset "NGSS2" for my shadows.
-I thought maybe NGSS could be the cause of my issue, so I completely removed shadows, but it did not helped.
-In my impostors materials, GPU instancing is on and my trees are not set to static.
-I'm using unity 2019.3.15, built-in pipeline, with latests versions of Amplify.

Full polygon forest, 11.7 ms




Full impostor forest, 11.9 ms


(don't mind the trunks missing here, I removed them intentionally from the impostors in the baking process)


Thanks in advance for your help

 

Hey there, thanks for reaching out to us!

That's a bit odd, CPU usage seems way too high on the Impostor version. It's not immediately apparent what could be happening there but I would recommend testing a development build with the Unity profiler for additional details.

Would it be possible to test that specific scene on our side? We're available at support@amplify.pt, we recommend WeTranfer for large file sharing. (small sample, including all materials, impostors, textures, and any custom shaders)

Thanks!

 

Hi! today i installed the plug in and got all these errors

Im using unity 2019.4.0f1 LTS
and URP


Thanks!

 

Be sure to download the latest ASE and Impostors, that should clear it right off; if not, be sure to remove their folders first.

http://amplify.pt/download/

 

Hey,

After reading this, I think my issue is all about overdraw. I don't have the issue in your test forest scene.
I sent you a mail with a debug project, could you confirm me that it's about overdraw ? (having lots of impostors, I just want to make sure where the problem comes from, before spending time remaking every impostors)
Another clue towards that is that the sprite mesh impostor maker was not detecting my mesh silouhette, so I ended up making quads for all my impostors. Based on the article linked above, it's very bad for performances.

Thanks for your insight

 

That's interesting, if Amplify Impostors is not creating the Meshes there's definitely some sort of problem; testing the current sample with default quads is not going to provide any meaningful insight as to the actual issue, let's instead try to identify the AI problem.

You are correct in assuming that quads would be detrimental, how did you go about overriding those meshes? This is not the intended use, curious to know more about your steps so we can possibly improve a few things.

-Can you replicate the bake issue that doesn't create any meshes?
-Are you on the latest AI version?
-Do you see any warnings/errors after importing AI or baking?

Looking forward to your reply!

 

Would it be possible to add a gamma value to the Impostor shader so I could tweak the brightness of individual impostors in the scene?

Currently I bake lighting into the scene which results in the impostors being too dark, it's only when I enable realtime lighting that the impostors are closer to the colour they should be but ideally I'd still like to brighten them a little.

As realtime lighting is an option in my game (quality vs performance) I need to deal with impostors looking correct with either baked or realtime lighting, so being able to add brightness to impostor materials at runtime would work well.

Is a gamma value something you could add? If it could accept -ve values as well to darken some objects as required then that would give maximum control.

Thanks!

 

We might be able to extend the base runtime shader in the near future but it's not something that we can tackle at the moment, I can't really guarantee it.

I recommend either manually editing your Runtime shader to add any custom properties or using ASE to create a custom shader.

 

Hey, thanks for the follow up !
Rest assured, the quad mesh issue was a while ago, it's working well now. A better explanation of the issue I got :

The problem was not that the amplify mesh generator was not working, it's just the silouhette was not appearing in the preview. But now :



As you can see here, the problem is solved with the updates I made since. But several mounths ago, when I baked my trees, I could not see my mesh silouhette. So I ended setting up quads in the billboard mesh part of amplify impostor baker (like the image above) for all my trees. I just thought at the time it was not a big deal, and even that it was maybe better to use less vertices. So probably nothing is wrong with my impostors assets, except the setup I made was bad.

Now, a good setup would be like this I guess :



Anyway, I'm going to rebake them, with a good billboard mesh this time. Also, I think i'm using way to much different trees for such a small forest, 5 - 7 trees should be enough.
So I'm going to remake my forest and will let you know if it's working fine.

 

Hello,

Thanks for elaborating, we appreciate it. In any case, if it was not showing up, that usually means that something went wrong; usually a misplaced parent transform too far from the actual object but we can't know for sure.

7 impostors shouldn't be a problem, it would be interesting to see a re-baked version.

Just to be clear, the version you sent us uses quads correct?

 

Thanks for the advice, I don't think any of my trees have the issue right now, but good to know if it's happening again

That's right ! Quads generated by amplify impostor baker.