► Beast ◄

Currently can not test myself, but do not see the reseaon why it should not.



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I was wondering the same. Were building a VR game right now(using Vive) with Procedural voxel terrains and have been making the rounds with the various shaders on the asset store. Of course would have to wait for a triplanar version before we could test.

 

I have a VR project as well. Would love be to use this shader if it won't give any weird artifacts and performs well.

Can it be used for VR and do you have any metrics regarding VR?

 

@Arkhivrag Thanks, in some cases it's fine to just use one smoothing group, but certainly shouldn't most of the time. I appreciate the solution nonetheless.

I was tinkering around with it today a lot more, and I'm a bit confused about some things. First of all, I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or what, but I can't really see a difference between Beast and the UBER tessellation variants - for the test I'm using 4k maps, the meshes are tessellated like there is no tomorrow in both shaders but putting them side by side and I can't spot a single difference between them[the one on the left is Beast, the on the right is UBER].

Is this expected or I'm missing something? Even tho I was using some really high quality textures I couldn't seem to reproduce the level of visual quality you had on the pictures - what's the secret of those?

Also I didn't investigated this thoroughly, but something seems off when the GI is baked - currently I don't have the time to set up a proper scene, but based on these debug shots I'm not sure if it would work correctly

 

Isn't recalculating the normals/tangents on interpolated/displaced vertices mathematically incorrect?

Imagine that we're casting a high res mesh vs. a plane to create our normal map. The normal map contains the difference in light reflection vector (normal) vs. the original plane (points up), with the height map containing the difference in height. The theory is that via tessellation/displacement and the normal map, we are reconstructing this surface on the GPU.

So, in the shader, we tessellate and displace the vertices; this moved them to the place they were in a high resolution mesh. Now our vertex is in the right place, but it's normal/tangent still points up.

But after we apply our normal map, our normal/tangent now point in the correct direction they did in the high res mesh producing the correct result, because those angles are stored vs. an up vector.

Now lets consider this new technique, where you recalculate the normal/tangent for the interpolated/displaced vertex. You take a couple of samples from the height map and generate your new normal/tangent or use the ddx/ddy to generate a new normal, then perturb it by your vertex normal. In this case, the resulting normal used for lighting is NOT a reconstruction of the high res mesh, but something totally different. I would expect this, at best, to produce a kind of contrast effect on the lighting (which could also be done cheaper in the lighting equation).

So, IMO, this seems like more of something you would do with bump mapping- not normal mapping. Now, keep in mind that many games use bump maps and pass them off as normal maps; but if you are working with a high quality quixel/substance/PBR style workflow, I would expect this to mostly produce a minor distortion to your lighting normals which would exaggerate the lighting.

Now, if you're NOT using normal maps, then this makes a lot of sense, because you want to interpolate the normal in that case. Or if your normal maps are not used as part of a surface reconstruction (ie: bump maps).

 

Currently can not test myself, but do not see the reseaon why it should not work or have any problems.



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I do not have UBER ,can not compare, but those images look very similar.
As for Beast promo images quality, I was using these textures collection. Includes all PBS textures. No secrets, just Beast and everything on max quality.
GI is fixed in v2017.4 Just download new version.



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Similar question here #78



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Not trying to be mean about it, but this is totally incorrect.

You're showing screenshots without normal maps; of course they are going to look better. You're technique only makes sense if you're working with non-normal mapped geometry, but who does that with tessellation?

With a proper normal map, the tangents and normals should NOT be recalculated per displaced vertex, because the normal is already encoding the correct lighting vector vs. the original plane- so adjusting those normals/tangents is producing a wrong result, because you're no longer applying this against the original normal it was cast from. Now, you can always argue that you like the way something looks, and that can be fine in graphics, but it's not correct, and the shader pays a hefty price tag for it (2 extra samples and a bunch of math).

You may have to do this in your curved world shader because you are changing the basis onto which the normal mapping is applied; what was once flat is now curved, so you want the lighting normals to be curved as well, as you need that flat plane to wrap around until it meets itself again.

But it makes absolutely no sense to do this for a standard tessellation shader. Essentially, beast is just Unity's standard shader w/ tessellation, with a much more expensive tessellation stage who's only benefit is to make the lighting incorrect. With the effect being very minor, to boot. I would suggest at least turning this into a shader_feature so users can turn it off, since it's rather expensive.

I downloaded your shader this morning to see if I was missing anything; here's a comparison shot of the same texture using standard Unity tessellation and beast:




Also of note:

- You need to set the target to 4.6 to make it run on OSX platforms.
- You have a precision issue somewhere in your pipeline causing that 'triangle' look in the shading on your example scene. You should be able to remove this, though I haven't looked enough to figure out where it's coming from. Maybe from those un-normalized/skewed normal/tangents you munge as "tangentCoef/normalCoef"?

 

- Yes, making tangent calculation optional makes sense. Will be added int the next update.
- Compilation target can be easily changed just from one file CompilationTargetLevel.cginc (at my side I need it to be 5.0)



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Hi Arkhivrag, are you considering add some crack free solution?

 

Here is temporarily solution #99



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Thanks, I already saw the post ... i hope in a more robust solution.
Could make the difference versus other tessellation shaders.

 

@Arkhivrag dont use ddx, ddy with tessellation. It's not very stable and might produce artifacts in VR.

Use:

Code (CSharp):

1. float me = tex2D(_HeightMap,IN.uv_MainTex).x;
2.                 float n = tex2D(_HeightMap,float2(IN.uv_MainTex.x,IN.uv_MainTex.y+1.0/_HeightmapDimY)).x;
3.                 float s = tex2D(_HeightMap,float2(IN.uv_MainTex.x,IN.uv_MainTex.y-1.0/_HeightmapDimY)).x;
4.                 float e = tex2D(_HeightMap,float2(IN.uv_MainTex.x-1.0/_HeightmapDimX,IN.uv_MainTex.y)).x;
5.                 float w = tex2D(_HeightMap,float2(IN.uv_MainTex.x+1.0/_HeightmapDimX,IN.uv_MainTex.y)).x;
6. // ....
7.                 float3 normalOffset = -_HeightmapStrength * ( ( (n-me) - (s-me) ) * perp1 + ( ( e - me ) - ( w - me ) ) * perp2 );

instead

 

Beast does not use any derivatives (ddx, ddy, fwidth and things like that).
Thanks for code, but Beast uses more optimized method



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Hope next week will have test on HTC Vive and Occulus 2



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hey,

i am getting error using the script (unity 5.4.1f1):

Assets/smoothy.cs(10,17): error CS0246: The type or namespace name `Dictionary`2' could not be found. Are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?

 

On the very first line of the script file add:

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections.Generic;

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thanks
i knew i was missing a namespace thingy, but not being a coder, i wasn't sure wich one.

 

Does this shader support Unity terrain?

 

Currently no.



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Found unreleased video of the Beast. This video was captured before the snow scene and then I forgot about it. unfortunately not in 4K.

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VR tests passed successfully.



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Am I missing something or did jbooth recently show that Beast isn't any different than Unity Standard Tessellation except that Beast is doing some things incorrectly?

 

Just unnecessary tangent reconstruction in some situations. In the latest version it is optional.



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OK, but in the comparison shot shown by jbooth, the results are virtually identical. So what does Beast do that you can't get with Unity's shader? What's your selling point? Thus far I don't see one.

 

Beast is built above Unity free tessellation shader and offers several major improvements:
• Normal/Tangent recalculation inside domain stage (tessellation shader pass). Giving better light interaction after displace effect (especially if using no bumpmap).
• Integration into Unity Standard shader with fully usage of physically based shading.
• Supports lightmapping and global illumination.
• Faster shadow caster pass with controllable tessellation LOD.
• Fully compatible with all type of Image Effects.



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Thanks for the clarification.

 

Hello Arkhivrag,

I am interested in your asset, since I am working on a game for Xbox One but I was wondering if your asset would work on Xbox One. Right now I am using the Unity tessellation shader and it works well, specifically the one based on distance. But your asset seems to have depth and shadows.

Regards,
Carlos

 

If Unity free shaders work on Xbox One, Beast should work as well.



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What about performance? any chance to use it for VR with decent fps(small scenes)?

 

Depends on tessellation strength, but mostly performance will be excellent.



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Yes, it works very well in VR ... (baked lighting):



but the cracks at corners and UV shells are kind of a gotcha ...

 

[EDIT]
Next update will include editor solution for generating 'crack-free' tessellation mesh.

If this is handled well (cracks and UV shell edges) I will be sold. I was messing with Beast at a friend's house and we were getting really nice results with baked lighting + normal maps - and up close in VR it looks pretty amazing (in the limited tests I did) but the cracks are the killer for my current project. If this gets fixed (and I know it can be because there are other shaders that have fixed it) I will be on board

 

Hi guys,

Just in case that you are not aware of it, the cracks are very easy to fix if you have the UVs of the texture and photoshop or any other image editor software. All you have to do is to paint a line around the edges of the shells(uvs shells) with a grey color(128 for all RGB channels) in the height texture, and done. That will totally remove the cracks of any tessellation shader.

Regards,
Carlos

 

Next update will include solution for generating mesh with smoothed normals for reducing cracks on edges. It is not 100% crack-free.



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Just tried your asset today. Nice! It does the job but there is some point that I have to comment, correct me if I'm wrong.
1. It is quite disappoint that you did not include more sample scenes, maybe at least the one that you used in your screenshot slide show. The snow and rock screenshot was incredible, but it is nothing if we cannot try or see it in Unity. Or are they closed-source or proprietary?


2. The height multiplier input is quite small, it took me some time to figure it out that it was here.

 

Textures used in pormo video and posters are here.
Makes sense to change Displace Strength parameter position inside material editor.



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HI Arkhivrag,
I'm testing the new update on the unity cube and with the new crack reduction and seems very promising.
Are you still working on an 100% free?
Max

Crack reduction Off (crack 100%)

Crack reduction On (crack 50%)

 

Currently that is all.
In tessellation there is only one method that can generate crack free displace completely inside shader called PN-AEN. (have some difficulties to implement it in Unity)
For now, to get rid off cracks on edges you will have to manually adjusts displace texture (using PhotoShop) or provide mesh with smoothed UVs (saved inside UV1).



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I see, €124.17, it is quite the price there.
But the pack looks very good.

 

Hey @Arkhivrag
I saw requests for tri-planar shaders, any plans for implementing splat maps or other ways to reduce tiling? (I would assume right now that the shader will tile over large distances correct?)
Cheers,
Colton

 

Tri-planar shaders are in TODO list. No ETA available.



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Hey man,

we faced this issue with your shader
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/tessellation-problem.452026/

Scaling affects how the tessellation works and it ends up being screwed up.
The script in the thread fixes it.

There is a solution in the thread, check it out, it might be something you can address, implement or add as an option

 

Do Unity tessellation shaders do the same? Or only Beast?
For me it seems to be Unity Engine bug.



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HI Davit, does it work with unity 2018.1 mac and ios metal ?

 

2018.1 will be supported after it is officially released.
As for iOS metal, if Unity built-in Standard shader and Unity tessellation shaders works on your device then Beast will work too.



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Shader error in 'Standard (Tesselation)': invalid subscript 'instanceID' 'UnitySetupInstanceID': no matching 1 parameter function at line 166 (on metal)

StandardTesselated

2018.1 beta2 with Mac on metal

 

2018.1 will be supported after it is officially released.



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allright, thought I would test that standard tesselation shader already