[BETA PROGRAM] Landscape Builder - realworld, GPU acceleration, prefab placement

The latest features currently being testing in the Beta Program are:

1. HDRP preview support
   
2. LDRP preview support
3. Vegetation Studio Pro support
   
4. Groups Object Paths
5. GPU acceleration (particularly on modern Mac desktops or laptops)

The Beta Program is open to all existing Landscape Builder customers. Just Message us with your Unity invoice number to get access.

 

I have both assets, can I participate?

 

Sure, just message me with your email address.

 

Ok, done!

 

i only have EasyRoads3D, can i apply also

 

Sure

 

If you have any of the following products you can apply:

AQUAS Water Set
AQUAS Lite
EasyRoads3D Pro (requires version 3 beta 7.7 or newer)

 

The latest beta (1.3.0 beta 1d) is up on the site. It includes:

• [FIXED] Terrain Detail Resolution is not set until grass is applied to a landscape
• [FIXED] Scene is not set to changed when Camera Path is modified
• [FIXED] Preset lists not always available before Assign Textures/Trees/Grass From Presets clicked
• [FIXED] Using the height picker and clicking the terrain, will attempt to apply a modifier if the modifier tab is selected next
• [IMPROVED] Valley and Lake landform modifiers now have the option to add water at the same time
• [NEW] Enable or Disable individual Texture, Tree and/or Grass types
• [NEW] Enable or Disable individual bodies of water
• [NEW] Filters - Restrict Tree, Grass, Mesh placement by Terrain Texture
• [NEW] Runtime sample scripts and prefabs
• [NEW] EasyRoads3D integration - create LBMap's to define road corridors for Texture, Grass, and Tree placement
• [NEW] AQUAS Lite integration - create an ocean or lakes in a Landscape
• [NEW] Topography Layers - add one or more Base, Additive or Detail layers

 

If you have joined the Beta Program and have trouble accessing the download area, make sure you are using the latest link or message me.

 

First try:



Landscape builder + AQUAS Water Full.

 

On the Landscape Tab, under Scene Settings, there is a "Add Screenshot Device to Scene" if you want to take screenshots at runtime. This will automatically remove the boarders for you. There is more info in the manual.

You might want to set the trees etc back a bit from the sand. Don't forget to overlap the height of the sand and the grass a little so that they blend in well. You could also turn on noise for the sand and/or grass texture.

 

Second try:



Using:

Landscape builder
AQUAS Water Full
Distingo
AmplifyColor
azure[Sky]
SSAO Pro
Super Sampling SSAA

 

Nice beach scene.

You can also use the in-built Landscape Builder day/night lighting system for the sky etc. It can be added from the LB Landscape tab under scene settings and then it has its own custom editor available in the Unity Inspector. There is a section in the manual that explains it's many settings including how to use it with procedural skyboxes or 6-sided skybox materials.

 

In version 1.3.0 we're introducing a new Topography Layer system which allows you to mix and match Perlin Noise and Imagine Base/Additive/Subtractive and Detail layers. We're after some testers who are wanting to add real world data to their project. One popular source for heightmap data is www.terrain.party. Landscape Builder can use data in this format but we want to make sure this feature delivers what users want.

 

Another angle:

 

+1.

 

I am playing with LB Camera Path. It seems that one you check Closed Circuit, you can uncheck it, but the path still follows/bends as if you were going full circle.

 

Thanks for the feedback, we'll take a look at this.

 

Here's some screenshots from a quick scene I created with Landscape Builder while testing features for v1.3.0. The trees are from Nature Package, the grasses are from HQ Photographic Textures Grass Pack Vol.1 and the water is from the AQUAS water set.



In our main forum, I've written some posts detailing how I created the terrain and the new features in Landscape Builder I used. The link is: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/la...ion-1-2-0-released.387912/page-2#post-2626778

 

There is a fix in the latest build 1.3.0 Beta 3k. You can download the patchonly version. Let us know how you go with the fix.

 

Downloading now. Thanks.

 

Here I have used LB (Beta) with Aquas and Easy Roads v3. I created a racetrack and lined it with trees and added a little pond.



A short video of a drive along the track.
http://screencast.com/t/7eOv6vyH

 

If you want to remove the trees that are right on the edge of the road you can use the techniques outlined in this forum post.

 

That is what I used. What I would like to see is the ability to set a min and max width. This way I can map out something that doesn't butt up against the road, but would be a little offset.

 

Sounds like a good idea - we'll add it to the list. You can also overcome this in ER, by putting the Road Network back into Edit mode, ticking "Remove Trees", then Building the road again (Build Terrains button). That will remove all vegetation that is too close to the edge of the road. I think the default tree distance in ER is 5 metres so in this case you might want to lower this in the ER Setting, Terrain Management section. You could safely set it to 1 meter or even 0.

 

Thanks for the tip. That worked great.

 

I am using Terrain.Party and have a question (or feature request). The Terrain Height of LB defaults to 2000. But if I import a heightmap, it *looks* like you might be normalizing the values and using the full 2000m. Am I correct? This shows up when I import a height map that has the highest point below 350m.

It doesn't look like Terrain.Party provides the info needed for me to know what the min and max height are in the chosen area.

So, I guess what I am asking is not to normalize, or to handle the data differently so heights remain faithful to the real world data.

 

Yes, we introduced this to resolve another issue. We'll provide an option to enable/disable normalizing the input image. We'll have it off by default for Image Base layers and maybe on by default for Image Additive and Subtractive layers.

We will also look into how we can provide more info about the range of values for input images. I'll post an update when we have a fix available.

 

There is a patch in the download area: v1.3.0 Beta 4a. It includes some new options:

• Image Source (Default or Terrain Party)
• Normalise Input (on/off)
• In the Landscape tab under Stats - the min/max heights of the landscape

The new Stats info is there to help you match Layer Image Base/Additive/Subtract heights and ensure you are getting what you expect. We are considering offering some more Image Layer options but we'd like some more feedback and suggestions so that we can determine what people want.

We've seem lots of forum posts of people struggling to import real world data into Unity and we'd like Landscape Builder to be able to solve some of those issues. So, if people have suggestions or even a problem with importing data, ADD IT HERE.

 

About Full Beta versions and patches

The correct way to apply any patch for Landscape Builder is as follows:

1. Before you upgrade Landscape Builder in a Unity Project, take a full backup of the Unity project folder.
   
2. Version 1.3.0 requires Unity (Free or Pro) 5.3.4 or newer.
   
3. To upgrade Landscape Builder, open a new scene before importing the upgrade package. If you don't do this, the demo scene will not be upgraded correctly.
   
4. Restart Unity or re-load the existing project. In the Landscape Builder window, on the Landscape Tab, verify that the Version number is 1.3.0.
   
5. If a landscape was created in an earlier version, you will be notified of this in the Landscape Tab after importing the new Landscape Builder package. Click “Fix Now” to automatically upgrade the landscape.

Patch or Full?

If in doubt, download the full beta version which looks something like LandscapeBuilder_v1.3.0_Beta2f.unitypackage.
This will upgrade all the components of your current project (that's why you need to take a backup of your project first).

If you have updated your project "recently" and the _READ ME - updated regularly.txt in the download area doesn't mention a breaking change that requires the full version, you may be able to just apply a patch which is MUCH faster to download and apply. It will typically be called LandscapeBuilder_v1.3.0_Beta2f_patchonly.unitypackage or something similar.

But either way, ALWAYS restart Unity or reload the existing project else you could get some pretty weird behavior. This happens when we add some new features which needs to store additional information in the scene (like say a new Layer or Texture setting). If the scene hasn't been reloaded and you attempt to say apply textures, you may run into an error while a progress dialog box is displayed. The only way out of this (afaik) is to click File Open Project or File Exit from the Unity menu.

 

We've added some more features for better EasyRoads integration.

v1.3.0 Beta 5d includes:
EasyRoads integration - min/max distances from edge of road
EasyRoads integration - option to combine all roads into single map
EasyRoads integration - option to overwrite all existing road maps in destination folder

The patch is available for download now, or if you have an older version download a full beta first.

 

In v1.3.0 Beta 6e we've just added a new terrain shader that improves texturing on cliff faces. The standard Unity shader tends to stretch materials and doesn't do a great job of tiling on near-vertical areas of a landscape. This new shader, selectable from the Landscape tab under Terrain settings, should help. Let us know what you think.

 

Here is a link to help people get started with Layers

 

We're currently working on a Camera Path / Animator extension that will allow you to follow the path of one or more EasyRoad roads in your scene. We're also looking at closer integration with our LB Lighting component (which is part of Landscape Builder) so that we can offer fade in/out with the animator so that people can start working on cut scenes. If there are other features people would like to have with the camera path system - let us know.

Also, if you have a scene that you'd like to test this with we'd love to hear from you. Note: The EasyRoads v3 roads can't be finalized when creating the initial camera path (unless you want to manually add the camera path data points).

 

To create a camera animation that will follow one or more roads perform the following tasks:

1. Install LB 1.3.1 Beta 1a or newer
2. Create a new Unity Scene
3. Save the Scene
4. On the LB Landscape tab, create a new landscape
5. On the topography tab add a new layer
6. Select "Desert Floor Base" from Preset popup
7. Generate the topography
8. On the Texture tab, select a preset and apply textures
9. On Landscape tab, expand Scene Settings and "Add Camera Animation to Scene"
10. Follow instructions in manual "Camera Animator" on pg 62. You can get the latest manual also from the beta download area.

 

How did you manage to get the picture to animate? Can this be done an any resolution screenshot? Looks really nice.

 

I would venture to say that it is a simple animated GIF made from a video recording. Nothing "special" about it.

 

http://ezgif.com/

 

Thanks, didn't realise gifs could be so big, normally they are quite small. Works well on landscape screenshots, brings the photo to life.

 

If you are using the Landscape Builder Camera Animator with EasyRoads3D you'll need to be on at least ER3 Beta 7.7.1 which should be released shortly (potentially as soon as today so I'm told).

 

For EasyRoads3D Pro and Landscape Builder integration you need ER3 Beta 7.7.1 which was released today.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/ea...g-new-road-system.229327/page-47#post-2651033

 

We've seen an issue with LB Integration and ER3 where the camera path sometimes returns the incorrect height offset from the road when turning on and off "Follow Terrain Contours" in an ER road. If anyone can consistently reproduce this please let us know. We've seen it but can't work out how it happens.

 

What version of LB should I test with?

 

1.3.1 Beta 1b or newer. I've seen it in earlier versions too but I know it is in that one too. You'll need ER3 7.7.1 from their website.

 

In June 2016, we’re looking for testers to create the best landscapes using a combination of imported heightmap images from external sources like Terrain.Party and detailed noise layers.

The person who creates the best looking landscape with Landscape Builder in June 2016, according to the Landscape Builder Team, will receive a free licensed copy of LB.

If you already own LB, we’ll provide you with extra support for your current project when using LB. If you need a feature enhanced for your project, we’ll make it a priority and work with you to make sure it delivers the results you require.

Private Message me for details on how to join the program.

 

We're currently adding a new Topography Filter. A detail layer can be filtered by a Map (or the inverse of a Map). So, you could, for example, apply a detailed topography layer to everywhere except where there is a road (using the EasyRoads 3D integration).

Alternatively, you could export the heightmap as an image (from the Export tab), paint an area in your favourite image editor and use that to filter a topography detail layer. Hopefully we'll have a version to share soon on the beta site for you to try yourself.

 

Here is a quick example of creating bumpy roads with potholes etc. using the a Topography Layer Map filter and EasyRoads3D integration. This takes 5 minutes to create. This is a good example of LB and ER3 being better together.



We're using landscape position-based noise, so as the road or path meanders through the countryside / village / city / racetrack, the road surface will constantly be changing. If one of our detail preset layers doesn't suit you, given that this is a full-featured topography layer, you can change it to be just how you like. Customize a preset using the full list of noise modifiers like offset, height scale, lacunarity, gain, warp, or you can use one or more of the output or per octave curve modifies - either using a preset or by creating your own.

You now don't have any excuse to make the road surface just the way YOU want it.

 

Hey Jon, we like the look of Lands Afar. How is development on that project going?

 

On the Height Picker, I would like to see it also include inclination. Please.

 

I'd also like to be able to change the order of the textures on the texturing tab. Please.