Available Now!! RapidUnity Vehicle Editor Resource Pack v1.5

Hi all,

I just wanted to let you all know that I am currently hard at work on v1.5 of my Vehicle Editor Pack.

If you have not heard about this pack before, checkout previous forum topic.
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=52133

or my webpage.
http://www.alabsoft.com/rapidunity.shtml

In v1.5, I have made my Vehicle Editor compatible with the Official Unity Car Tutorial.
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/car-tutorial



This amazing tutorial includes two very good car rig's and even better control scripts, one car is an arcade type racer, and the other is a high-end racing simulation type setup.

In fact both car rig's have several parameters that can be modified to affect the cars handling, in fact the high-end simulation rig even has a parameter which defines the time it takes from when the handbrake is released, to the physical time it takes for the mechanical operation of the brake pads being disengaged from the wheels! This is a serious car simulation setup!

And my RapidUnity Vehicle Editor allows you to modify any of these parameters both from within the Unity Editor, or at runtime, and even better you can save and load complete car setup data to and from file.

The image below shows just a few of the parameters that can be modified!



This allows you to find your preferred setup at runtime, and then save the settings, and apply them to the car in the Unity Editor!

And finally, the other great feature of my Vehicle Editor is the ability to change the body and wheels of the cars, there are five wheel and body combinations to choose from, and in v1.5, five more will be included, plus you can of course use your own!

The image below shows one of the car wheels and body sets included with the Vehicle Editor pack!



I am hoping to have this new version complete by Friday 2nd July, that's less than a week!

And the upgrade will be completely FREE to currently registered users!

New users will be able to purchase the new version at the same great price of £15 for indie developers and £30 for commercial developers, however this offer will only be available for a short time, after which the cost for v1.5 will increase to £21 for indie, and £42 for commercial users.

 

I like it.. Very Nice!, all controls in one table.. ..

 

Hello greg,

Amazing update coming, will the upcoming update be compatible with Unity 3.0 Beta because at the moment it isn't ?

 

Hi Maurice,

How do I get access to the BETA?

I can then test the Vehicle Editor and make it compatible.

BTW, my update is coming along nicely, its great to be able to make use of the Unity Car Rig's with my own cars!

The handbrake is especially good fun, operated by the space bar, you can speed into a corner, press space bar, throw the car to one side and get a nice slide around the corner! With tyre smoke as well!

I will try and post some pics, but I am keen to spend my time completing the update, just working on the runtime scripts adding the GUI sliders, and finishing off the code to save and load car settings from file.

I have invented a new file format, cannot decide on file extension, I like .ves (Vehicle Editor Settings) or .uvs (Unity Vehicle Settings)

What do you think I should go for?

 

Hello Greg,

Access to the beta only when you buy Unity3d 3.0, it has something to to with the use mono version.

I try to make a printscreen of the error.

I like VES, and i am awaiting the update with excitement.

 

Ok, I originally purchased Unity 2.5 standard for $150, then 2.6 was released FREE.

But its good really for developers like me, means lots of new users!

Looking in the Store, you can only get Unity 3.0 Pro at the moment...

Do you know if 3.0 will be released FREE in the non-Pro version?

 

Hello Greg,

Unity3D 3.0 will also get a free version.

 

Hi all,

Just quick note to say I have nearly completed v1.5 of the Vehicle Editor. Apologies for the delay, I hit some problems and it slowed my progress.

As mentioned before v1.5 allows you to use the Unity Car Tutorial vehicle rigs, and also includes both editor and runtime script interfaces to change any parameter via slider controls.

The best new feature is the ability to save your preferred settings at runtime, and then apply them to your vehicle in the Unity Editor.

This will enable users to share settings files, I myself hope to produce a set of predefined setting files for certain types of vehicles, arcade racer, simulation racer, road car, etc, etc...

The screenshot below shows one of the included car and wheel sets using the Unity Tutorial Car rig, and you can see the Runtime Vehicle Editor dialog, with the Save Settings... button, and all the available parameters. The Runtime Vehicle Editor dialog can be hidden by using the H key to hide and unhide it.



v1.5 will be available very soon... FREE to existing users!

 

Hey greg, I was curious, could share some insight into how you set up the ingame adjustment settings? I am trying to figure out how to do something similiar in my game right now.

 

Hi,

Funny you should ask, I am still pretty new to Unity myself and I have been compiling a document of scripting code as I have been going along.

I find it really useful as a reference, it drives me mad when I want to do something, e.g. get the collider object attached to a game object, and I cannot remember the exact syntax.

So I refer to my referece document, nothing worse than trying to find the code in one of my previous scripts, and not being able to remember which script it was in etc.

I am hoping to tidy up my document and make it available as a resource to all.

It covers all sorts of handy things you want to do in your scripts, from getting a game object name, or the selected object in the editor to changing a rendering parameter or collider value within a scene.

Of course changing runtime values via a GUI interface will also be covered.

Watch this space...

 

Hi all!

My documentation is complete, just updating my website and then going to create a video tutorial.

In the meantime, I have posted a webplayer demo of the Unity Car Tutorial scene and advanced car rig, using one of my vehicle wheel and body sets! Give it a whirl!


http://www.alabsoft.com/Unity3D/VehicleEditor_v1_5_Demo.html

Please note modifying the wheel radius and suspension travel can course some strange results, but all the other parameters really help change the behaviour of the vehicle, remember these settings can be saved and then applied to your rig within Unity using the new version of my vehicle editor.

 

It's finally ready!

Sorry for taking so long, had to iron out some bugs of my own, and I found a nice quirk with Unity Car Tutorial cars if you rotate the prefab after dragging into a scene, however I have discovered a nice simple workaround which fixes any issues.

I have uploaded an updated version of the user guide on my website, which you can download and read about the new features of v1.5.

Go check it out! http://www.rapidunity.com

 

Definitely looking forward to being able save the settings after adjusting them during runtime. Also wanted to ask, is there a way with your resource to set whether the vehicle is front, rear, or all wheel drive? I never could find anything about it in the documentation or scripts, unless I just overlooked it.

 

Hi, glad your looking forward to my new features!

And yes sorry for some reason I did not cover this in the user guide.

For my vehicle rig there is a parameter called Drive, which can be set to FWD, RWD, or 4WD.

For the Unity Default car, there is a settings for each wheel called canDrive and canSteer, in the Unity Car script it sets the two front wheels to canSteer, and the rear wheels to canDrive.

I will look into adding a setting the same as my rig, for setting car to FWD, RWD, and 4WD.

With the Advanced Unity car, in the Drivetrain script there is an array called Powered Wheels, by default this is set to a size of two, and has the rear wheel assigned.

Again I will look at adding these settings to the Vehicle Editor, in the meantime you can change the Powered Wheels array size to 4, and assign all wheels, or change the rear wheel assignments to the front wheels.

 

great tool, love it. Is it released yet?

 

it's good tool, I love it.

 

Yes it is available now, goto http://www.rapidunity.com

I am offering at reduced price at present, Indie license is £15, commercial license is £30, offer ends on July 31st, at which point cost will raise to £21 and £42 respectively.

Look out for more car and wheel sets coming soon, and some more video tutorials showing the new features of v1.5

 

Hi all!

Just to let you know I am putting the finishing touches to an extensive video tutorial.

The video tutorial will be available in sections, starting with showing you how and where to download a beautiful Porsche 997 GT3 race car model for FREE.

http://www.3dvia.com/models/F7AFDBEDFFD1E3F5


Then using trueSpace7.6 (which is a fully-featured 3D authoring package, and is also available for FREE) to modify the 3ds file for use within Unity.
http://www.caligari.com/downloads.html

And then finally, show you how to use my RapidUnity Vehicle Editor to setup the car within Unity, and drive it at full throttle around the stunning Unity Car Tutorial scene!

You can play the scene in the webplayer by clicking the link below the screenshots.

The car rig used in the demo leaves tyre marks and dust kicks up if you slide on the grass at the side of the track!

And don't worry if you roll the car as I did (see image below), the car will right itself after a few seconds.

You can also hide the Runtime Vehicle Editor by pressing H on the keyboard.

Have fun!













http://www.alabsoft.com/Unity3D/VehicleEditor_v1_5_Porsche997_Demo.html

 

Nice, I see that it has really improved from the last time I saw it

Ehe, remember the time when you said you'll give me a free license? http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=318595#318595 :d

 

It has indeed Alex, many thanks for your comment!

 

NIce one!

I have been following it for a while now, I just wish I had the money to get a copy!

 

Hey Greg,

Had my eye on your tool for a while, and just couldn't help it today, I had to pull the trigger (got 3d roads to go with it... seemed like a set to me ).

One question... have you tested with Unity v3 yet?

Cheers,

Galen

 

Just purchased a copy. Very nice tool. Thanks for making it available to us.

 

Hi RoyS and galent!

I am now on the beta for Unity3, so testing it at present, there is a problem with EditorWindow under Unity3.

Should be sorted soon...

Finally thanks for your kind comments, glad you like it!

 

Hi all,

Just to let you know I have not forgotten all about my video tutorial, it is done, I just need to add the narration.

As you know I have been busy releasing two new RapidUnity tools to add to my suite.

Scripting Reference

and

Light Library

Checkout http://www.rapidunity.com for more information!

 

I just tried to use version 1.5 but when I import the package I get this error:

Assets/A-Lab Software RapidUnity Vehicle Resource Pack v1.5/Editor/VehicleEditor.js(109,41): BCE0018: The name 'Car' does not denote a valid type. Did you mean 'System.Runtime.ConstrainedExecution.Cer' ?

I get the error both when I try to upgrade an existing project, and when I import into a new/empty project. It may just be something simple I am doing wrong or overlooking, I haven't had much free time here lately to try and figure it out yet.

Update: Just in case anybody else runs into this issue, Greg helped me with this error, I needed to import "UnityAdvancedCars.unitypackage" and "UnityDefaultCar.unitypackage" before importing the vehicle resource pack.

 

Thanks for updating your post James!

Basically the error occurs if you do not import both packages created when following the help doc.

If you run into the same problem, just drop me an email and I will email you links to download the packages if you are having problems creating them using my help doc and the Unity Car Tutorial project.

I plan to stop this being an error in v1.6 with a workaround if the Vehicle Editor cannot find both the Unity Car Tutorial rigs in a project.

 

Just to let you all know there's only 1 day left to get my Vehicle Editor for only £15.00

From Wednesday 1st September, the cost will be £21.00.

 

Hi,

Just to let you know from now until the end of September, you can save 20% off all my RapidUnity tools!



Go to http://eepurl.com/78kE for more information!

 

After I installed the package to v3.0.0f5, I got the following messages in console:


Besides, it has errors in shaders too:
1. car-diffusebumpfresnelreflect2D
2. Glassreflect2D
3. Normal-BumpSpec_EnvLightmapped

Please help.

 

Anybody?

 

The Glassreflect2D is from the Unity car tutorial, and doesn't work in Unity v3 at present. The soundcontroller issue in your screenshot, just follow the debug message and switch the AudioSource method calls to the recommneded new methods and that issue will go away.

Cheers,

Galen

 

Hi all,

With the recent release of Unity3, I just wanted to let you know that all my RapidUnity tools and fully compatible with this new version of Unity!

And to celebrate the launch of Unity3, and the compatibility with my RapidUnity tools, I am offering 20% off each of my tools for the next 5 days only! (Offer ends Sunday 10th October 2010)


Go to http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=a43667b88456c932f84bb8739&id=d0fac57b57&e for more information!

 

Hi Greg,

I am considering buying the Vehicle Editor - but do you know if the shader problems in Glassreflect2D has been solved?

Or is there an alternative shader I can use?

 

Me too

 

Hi all,

Unity have now updated the Car Tutorial, and it is compatible with Unity3.

See forum topic http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/61...-work-on-unity-3.0-pro?highlight=car+tutorial

Or jump to http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/car-tutorial to download new version!

Just gonna download and test with Vehicle Editor myself...

 

Greg, Please edit the PDF document so that it says to import all three packages that came with Vehicle Editor Resource Pack v1.5. I got the same error message as jprofitt. I think that the pack isn't compatible with Unity v3.0.

 

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you now that my RapidUnity Vehicle Editor is featured in the latest issue of Unity Creative Magazine (http://3dattack.us/3DAttack/Magazine.html), issue 4 Nov/Dec is due out any day now!

If you have not come across Unity Creative Magazine before, then your missing out, its a great resource and read, issues 1 to 3 are still available to purchase for only $5.99 each.

The article/tutorial in Issue 4 about my Vehicle Editor covers taking your own 3D car model, or one you download from the web, and takes you step by step to getting your model from your 3D Authoring application into Unity and configured and driving around the scene!

Also included in Issue 4 is a FREE car model to use with my Vehicle Editor, plus an exclusive reader only offer to purchase my Vehicle Editor at a reduced price. See the magazine for more details!

All the best!

 

Greg you mentioned long ago an update of the pack, is it still coming.

Maurice

 

do i get it right that we can buy the pack and the cars are included?
If yes: do you own the licences from Porsche, Audi, Mini etc? If we buy your commercial licence, are we allowed to use the cars?

 

Hi JeffMorris,

I have updated and combined the two unitypackages that contain the Unity Tutorial cars, and created a single unitypackage using the newly updated Car Tutorial (http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/car-tutorial) project files, which is now compatible with Unity 3.

I will email all existing owners of my Vehicle Editor a link to the new package shortly.

 

Hi Maurice!

Good to hear from you again, yes my update is still in progress, I just have lots of other projects on the go at present, not enough hours in the day.

v2 will come out one day, something I have also been looking at is a track designer, enabling users to create race tracks, and add track side objects all within Unity, something for the future...

 

Hi Schlumpfsack,

The cars are included, however they are simply included in the download, but not sold as part of it, as I do not have licenses from the manufacturers.

If you look at the Vehicle Editor page on my site (http://www.alabsoft.com/verp.shtml) it mentions that the models are included in a format that can be used with Unity and my Vehicle Editor, and it tells you where you can obtain the original format models, you are welcome to use the models as you wish.

 

What should I change in the "Smooth Follow 2" script to get either driver's seat view looking at dashboard or view over vehicle's hood?

 

The easiest way to do this, is to remove the Smooth Follow 2 script from the Main Camera, and simply position the Main Camera in the vehicle where you want the view to be from, and then simply attach the camera to the vehicle GameObject in the Hierarchy.

That way where ever the vehicle moves your camera will go...

Make sense? here's an image to help explain, a picture tells a thousand words etc...



BTW, in my RapidUnity Scripting Reference http://www.alabsoft.com/scriptref.shtml guide it explains how to setup multiple cameras in a scene, and how to switch between them using the numeric keys, would be ideal for this if you want to be able to switch from in-car to behind or above etc...

 

what's in the pack? could you post here some info, I cannot check the web player at the moment
thanks

 

Checkout my website for full details of the RapidUnity Vehicle Editor

http://www.alabsoft.com/verp.shtml

Also checkout the latest Unity Creative magazine http://3dattack.us/3DAttack/Nov-December2010.html, there is an article and tutorial showing how to use my Vehicle Editor with any car model you create or download/purchase online...

 

Hi Greg, just purchased this a few days ago and very impressed. I am just inserting my own model, everything is cool apart from I have no values in the wheels part of the panel, so I can adjust them properly. I have the custom wheel in just no values like the adjust on the box colliders etc?

I also get an error coming up that might be linked:

ArgumentException: Empty path not allowed
System.IO.StreamReader..ctor (System.String path, System.Text.Encoding encoding, Boolean detectEncodingFromByteOrderMarks, Int32 bufferSize)
System.IO.StreamReader..ctor (System.String path)
(wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.StreamReader:.ctor (string)
VehicleEditor.OnGUI () (at Assets/A-Lab Software RapidUnity Vehicle Resource Pack v1.5/Editor/VehicleEditor.js:140)
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)

Any help will be great!

Thanks

Chunk

 

Just a quick follow up, even when I throw in the new rig these settings are not viewable ie no value on sliders which means if I adjust height they just fly off!

V odd and apologies if I have done something incorrect etc.

Chunk

 

Hi Chunk!

Glad you like my Vehicle Editor!

The issue you are seeing with the sliders causing the wheels to fly off, is because you need to place the vehicle at 0, 0, 0 when you are editing it.

Once your done, you can move it and rotate it anywhere in your scene, but remember if you need to edit it via the Vehicle Editor, move it back to 0,0,0 first.

Hope that makes sense!

The other Empty path not allowed error I have not seen, so it may be something else in your project causing it.