[Asset WIP] Dimensional Gate / Portal for Unity3d (Pro Standard)

today sounds good to me perhaps im the first in line

 

no news yet id assume?

 

No . Its like 6:30 am in the morning @ the main office of Unity3d. I really have my hopes up for today. I hope they aren't government related...

 

Have to update the documentation again...

Your asset will be declined if you use the term Unity3D, or Unity Standard anywhere...

A few days more :cry: :-x

 

Ahh well. I'm sure you can get it on in the end ^_^

 

let hope its released soon

 

still no news?!?!?

 

Every single time they send me a message was at about 2am GTM+1 at friday. So in 14 hours I expect a message.

 

Its out Finally

 

Indeed, and it can be found here:
http://u3d.as/5H6

 

Good to see the package is being used. Based on some comments from the first users I'm going to make the following changes/updates in the next release:

- Make the Package conditionally dependent on the CharacterMotor instead of dependent
- Expand the manual to explain more in detail how to generate 2 dimensions
- Allow fog control per dimension

Also I've created a new parallel Dimensional gate scene.This is based on the Unity Lab 001 demo to give a better feeling of how it would work in a game. You can view the scene here:

http://peculiardeveloper.com/u3d/DAP/ (115 MB)

Edit:

Added to the list for the next release:
- Force Script Execution Order Fix
- Proper switching of Audio Listeners
- Bugfix on offset Distance
- Add an optional shader that only renders portals when near to prevent portal fighting

If you in the meantime have issues concerning flickering/delayed rendering of the dimensional gates, set the Script Execution Order of the main DimensionsAndPortals Controller above 1 (e.g. 100).

 

Info video about the DAP package online:

(Sorry for the bad quality...)

 

I'm curious about running this on iOS and Android. Any potential pitfalls or limitations?

I might be interested in this, but I'd want a bit more detail on how widely supported your implementation is on mobile. In particular, OpenGL ES 2.0 doesn't support gl_fragDepth without a special extension so I am wondering if you rely on that for any of your shaders (you mentioned you are working with a depth rendering technique and not using Unity Render Textures).

Thanks!

 

The normal limitations are also for iOS and Android (e.g. if two or more dimensional gates are in one view, fighting over the viewport occurs). I am not using the gl_fragDepth (at least directly).

I just tested new .apk right now to test the displaced test scene at OpenGL ES 2.0 and it is working properly on a Samsung Galaxy S2 running android 2.3 with exception of the effect shader (blur and noise over the portals). So the main feature is working. For testing on devices I am limited to the hardware I own (I am just a student, so no big set of hardware to test on).

So I can't tell for iOS since I don't own a mac at the moment to do an iOS build.

Edit: So indeed, no render textures or equivalent.

 

Ok, it should probably be fine on most OpenGL ES 2.0 devices, but I am interested in deploying on mobile would feel a bit better about buying it with some more extensive testing (especially on at least one iOS device). If I do end up getting it, I can post test results with the testing devices I have (iPad Mini, iPad 4, old Nexus 7...).

I was thinking of building a system like this myself, but if I can save myself some time it is worth the $20. I am mostly concerned with buying something that I will have to extensively rework to get it to do what I want. Do you happen to have a manual available on-line that goes through set-up and the API?

Thanks for the quick reply! Asset looks great though! I am still loading one of your larger test scenes so I can get a better look at it in action.

 

I can send you the manual that goes through these steps tomorrow via PM. I've properly commented on the scripts being used, so manipulation it should be no problem as well.

 

Thanks, that would be great! I've been going through your sample scenes and getting a better idea of how it works.

By necessity, you must be rendering the scene (or scenes) multiple times from different perspectives; are you doing any special optimizations for rendering the portal scenes? Skipping rendering portals that aren't visible, or clamping the portal camera frustum to the viewable area of the portal to cull as much geometry as possible? Any kind of automatic support for lowering/swapping materials for portal scene cameras? Any other interesting optimization features?

I am interested in targeting mobile devices so performance is always a concern, and I am interested in what kinds of features you may have already implemented. It seems like you're working mostly on PC, though, so you may not have needed to spend much time worrying about optimization.

I will be working on this more this week, and I will probably use your asset as a starting point.

Thanks again.

 

Materials are shared in the pipeline as long as they are in the same render path. So far the dimensional gates are not being disabled when out of view, however this will be a feature for the future. Parallel scenes have partly common rendering. Disabling any object (particles, light, etc) can be done per camera.

It is true that the package is primarily focused on PC so far, I will continue to add optimizations over time.

There are going to be some improvements in the next update as you can find over here http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/19...mp-Standard)?p=1398906&viewfull=1#post1398906

 

I've uploaded a file that holds the layers and tags settings for the demo scenes. Do note: only to use it if you import DAP in a new project!

You can find it here: http://peculiardeveloper.com/u3d/DAP/TagManager.zip
Once you have created a new project, go to the project folder and extract TagManager.asset to the /ProjectSettings/ settings folder in the new project.

Again: only to use it if you import DAP in a new (empty) project! This will delete all your existing layers and tags from your project!

 

Just FYI, I bought your asset a couple days ago and deployed it to an iPad Mini running iOS 7, and it seemed to run fine. The portal effects don't render on iOS either, but that's simply because the shader has an "upgrade note" that specifically disables gles. It must be some syntax issue Unity detected? It's likely easily fixed but I didn't look at it in depth.

The only initial issue I am having is the visual discontinuity when travelling through a portal. I should be able to fix it with the right portal geometry and some custom scripting. I am using the portals to create different types of non-linear, geometrically impossible levels (i.e. rooms that are bigger on the inside than the outside) so I need them to be completely seamless and invisible, but it's much less of an issue when they are used with lots of portal effects. It might be something you want to address in future updates (the worst case scenario is walking through a portal backwards).

I played the first bit of your floating island game; looks pretty good so far. Good luck with everything!

 

Thank you for getting the package.

I will add the shader fix for the next update. I am also working on the backwards walking issue (that is almost done) as well as the discontinuity.

 

Due to some changes in Unity 4.3, it could be so that the light rendering fails to update in time. This is already fixed in the next version that will be uploaded soon.

 

Bought it today, how to get updated version?

And i have a question:
I added simple square portal and have problem with it, when looking from alternative "realm".

Screenshot:
http://gyazo.com/d84aed76b7abee22b57193df9877226b

What it may be?

 

I'm solved above problem, i just forgot to add DAP_Portal layer to one portal.

 

First of all thank you for getting the package. I'm sorry I wasn't able to respond since I was out of town. I am glad you solved the problem. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Also I will submit the latest version to the asset store this weekend.

 

Update:
The newest version of the Dimensions and Portals package is now in the asset store.
You can find it here: http://u3d.as/5H6

There are the following changes:

• Allow fog control per dimension
• Script Execution Order Fixes (No more visual lag if you look through a portal)
• Fixed proper switching of Audio Listeners
• Bugfix on offset Distance
• DAP can now safely be used with Water (Pro Basic)

Coming updates:
The next updates will come faster due to having more time for the DAP package. Here is what you can expect for the next updates:

• Adding a CharacterMotor clone to prevent issues with projects without CharacterMotors
• Expand the manual to explain more in detail how to generate 2 dimensions
• More and better visual Dimensional Gate Portal shaders that also work on mobile. (Do note that this is only the FX, not the actual functioning. DAP works fine on mobile!)
• Prettier demo levels with some nice prefabs and models
• Visual object cloning when crossing portals
• Better two-way dimensional gate portal traveling behavior
• Raycast pass-through for portals and dimensional gates. (This means your AI could look through portals.)
• [PRO] Async level loading with portal connection to the new level
• [PRO] DX11 Render Texture Portal/Gate rendering (This means no visual FX will get lost)

Do note: the DAP package will go from 20 dollar to 25 dollar in one of the following updates (not this one) due to the extra features that will be added.

Considering:
Since I am also making another package that can controls the speed of time of each individual object, I can also add that to Dimensions and Portals, this would mean that the package will cost a bit more. I can also (if the asset store allows it) make two packages, one with and one without time control. Of course would cost less to have to combined package vs. the two separate packages. Please tell me if you would like this feature.

Bug
My apologies that a small visual bug got uploaded in the package, you can simply fix it by doing the following:

Open "CamSwitcher.cs"
Search for the following line in "setCameraNear":

Code (csharp):

1. camera.nearClipPlane = 0.001f;

Change the line to:

Code (csharp):

1. camera.nearClipPlane = 0.3f;

All should be fixed now.

Feel free to ask any questions, respond, etc.

Enjoy the package!

PS. Can a mod remove the poll?

 

I think it is necessary create a topic in Assets and Asset Store
Thanks for Asset.

 

Ty, just made the topic.

 

hi ,
i've bought this and am trying to use this with the oculus rift. any idea how to make this work with ovr camera? the unity package can be found on the oculusvr.com developer section. the package is free to download and doesn't require a oculus rift!
please help

 

Hi,
I have an idea on how to get this working. However it requires some adaptations of the package. I will look into this next weekend. Also if more people want OCR support I might make it a permanent part of the package.

 

awesome! this package is so far well above the rest in terms of creativity and expansiveness. it would be amazing to have OVR
support for it in the default package. the dev side of the rift is quite big at the moment.(people are calling it the next phone/internet)
I don't mind helping where i can. drop me a pm if you need it !

 

I've looked into it. And I've decided to include it into the package. However it will take at least one to two months before it will be in the asset store. The PRO features have a higher priority now.

 

Submitting a newer version to the asset store today since some people have issues with Unity 4.5 .

 

Another Oculus Rift dev here, bought your asset before getting to this post, is it possible to use this asset with the rift yet? thought id ask before i waste time tinkering with it.

 

It is about 40% complete. However due to the adaptations I am still considering on how to pack this.

 

Unity 4.5 fix has been released. It includes a pro-fx for the dimensional gate and a visual fix for flat portals.

 

Raycast system for dimensional gates is almost done. Expecting this to be uploaded to the asset store this or the next weekend.

 

Uploaded version 1.08 to the asset store. It should be online in a few days.

Changes:
- Added DAPPhysics class (Physics.Raycast facilitator for Dimensional Gates)
-- Included a demo script in the Displaced scene.
- Updated the manual
- Added PRO portal FX to parallel scene.



Enjoy!

 

Oculus Rift support with Deferred rendering is almost complete!

Preview:

 

I noticed something in the demo webplayer. If you edge through the doorway very, very slowly, it swaps the sides of the portals as if you were entering from the other side of it.

 

I am aware of this. This is due "Dimensional Gates" are presumed non-flat while portals are presumed flat. I am working on an implementation of "Flat Dimensional Gates" to resolve this. Should be ready for not the upcoming release but the one after that.

 

Awesome, I can't wait to try it out in my project!

 

Also a small preview of the setting of the new demo level:

http://peculiardeveloper.com/u3d/DAP/Demo/

Settings for FX are maxed out and no occlusion & light map baking have been done. So it might run slow on a certain pc's.

 

Very nice! Would it be worthwhile to put a FPS counter on it?

 

Thanks for the feedback. I will add the FPS counter and do some occlusion & lightmap baking as well. Furthermore I will add several quality settings. And I will reduce the blur a bit.

 

Tonight I will submit the Oculus Rift support for Dimensional gates to Unity.
Besides that there are some bugfixes;

• No more potential flickering when passing trough a dimensional gate (meaning MUCH smoother transitions).
  
• Fixed distance bug for parallel scenes.
• Fixed bugs where an update of unity sometimtes bugged the demo scenes.

Furthermore there are going to be some big changes for upcoming releases. I am looking in a per Dimensional gate rendering for Unity (at least for PRO and maybe the free version as well). This should resolve the issue of not being able to have two dimensional gates besides each other without seeing the same dimension in both gates. This also unlocks the option to have any number of dimensions.

However that is going to be a big overhaul. And I might separate the packages to a Unity and Unity PRO version due to the differences between them. I can't say for sure how it will end, but I will be working on it!

Also if feel free to send me an Oculus Rift for further development . I hardly make money out of the assets I sell after all the taxes and such .

Edit: From the 3rd of August the package will be $25 instead of $20.

 

DAP 1.10 is in the asset store. These are the changes:

• Oculus Rift support for Dimensions!
• No more potential flickering when passing trough a dimensional gate (meaning MUCH smoother transitions).
• Fixed distance bug for parallel scenes.
• Fixed bugs where an update of unity sometimtes bugged the demo scenes.

 

Hi,
Can we use Marmoset shader with this asset ? ( also Marmoset Sky object ? )
How are managed camera image effects ? Can we have differents settings for each scenes ?

I'd really like to know more about integration of this package.
Can we have acces to the docs ?
Tks !

 

I see no reason why the Marmoset shader wouldn't work. If Marmoset Sky renders via the default skybox component it should work as well. I don't own that package so I can't say for sure.

In forward rendering each camera has it's own image effects. In deferred rendering only the final camera's image effects are used (however this will change in a few updates since I am working on more PRO support that includes per camera image effects).

You can have different render settings per scene (meaning skyboxes, flare settings, fog, ambient light, etc.)

I will send you a copy of the manual via PM.

 

does this work with recent the recent rift sdk's? I'm just seeing black on the portal with ovr_unity_0.4.2