easy roads in unity

Sorry, guilty as charged. I went back and read all the instructions (not just the first few sentences) and this time ran it under Safari. It seemed to run a bit better this time, but I still ran into one issue I had in FF and one new one. Although I'm learning to adapt to your key/mouse navigation system, I still sometimes get "lost", so I press the "z" key to reset the camera. The problem is that it returns the camera to the default location only momentarily. As soon as I move the mouse it returns to its lost position. The other issue I ran into with Safari is that while I was trying to return the camera, it crashed Safari.

The good news is that now that I understand how it's supposed to be used the road functions are really very nice. No doubt a huge amount of very cool coding going on in the background. This is really a very cool project and I encourage you to keep it going.

 

Thanks for the nice words bigkahuna, much appreciated! I think the issues you have with navigation are due to the webplayer. The standalones really work much better.

Meanwhile the issues with the textfields is fixed. I changed something yesterday and didn´t yet apply it to some other functions. The webplayer is updated.

 

Running it in full screen is the ticket. The GUI is a bit funky, but usable. I just tried it in FF and it worked the same as Safari in full screen. The other thing is that it wants you to use short, closely spaced control points. Something I didn't learn until I tried it a few times.

It isn't until after the road / terrain is modified and you give it a road test do you really see how nicely this app works. Very cool, I'm looking forward to the final release!

 

Good news~~~~

 

Actually you can add points as far as you want as long as you stay between an angle of around 35 degrees (depending on the road width) with the vector between the last 2 points. This is to avoid overlapping faces when corners are too sharp. Perhaps this should be an optional parameter as you can always reposition a waypoint in the case of overlapping which you will notice easily, especially when you create the road geometry.

I will further optimize this because the used maximum angle can be smaller the further away you click. I do find it annoying myself, when I click somewhere that seems perfectly fine and it doesn´t work. And also, if I remember well, the angle is calculated in 3D space. So when you are at the top of an hill and the next point is at the bottom on a steep slope but in a straight line, chances are it will not work. I will change the angle comparison to horizontal only so it will work.

Using bigger distances makes it easier to create smooth long bends. Smaller distances gives more control over things like tilting start and end points for shorter bends.

@Iphone, hope you like it!

 

Soon to come ~ ~

 

I need some feedback from those who are interested.

Unity uses the the alpha channel for the 4th texture on your terrains. For ease of use Easyroads uses this 4th texture to paint the road on the terrain.

Please let me know (reply here or send me a PM) if you intend to use Easyroads in your current project with the splatmap export options and the texture you want to use to paint the road is currently not the 4th texture in your editor. Of course you can easily switch textures in the editor but if you already painted your terrain this can be a hazzle. You will have to redo parts of your terrain. Should I make a splatmap conversion script that will take care of this?

Also let me know if you use more then 4 textures on your terrains (which is generally not recommended for performance reasons). In this case splatmap 2 needs some modification. I was going to add this feature to the full version but maybe I should already add it to the first release if it is important to you?

 

It's goodnews for me!!
I'm looking forward to the final release!

 

I see the Bigworld engine, Unity may also 4th texture?


It was too great.

 

Hello Raoul

Please count me in for the $20 offer.

Very nice tool. Congratulations.

 

Very nice job, Raoul. I went through the v1.0 demo and this works very well.

Will we be able to change the road texture to dirt roads, two tracks and various other paths like foot trails?

What if we wish to have a main road and then have a two track trail off of that like in some deserts and country roads? Is it possible to branch roads? Or rather start and stop them to make branched roads.

I had a high point where it built up the terrain where it looked like those old railroads going over a valley. I was wondering if after hitting the build if in Unity terrain editor I would be able to keep the road at the same height and flatten the terrain to make the valley and put a (model) bridge under there. Just wondering. Or this would go under stopping and starting new roads where you could stop it at the edge and continue it then put your bridge in. I see you have a bridge in one of your pictures, so was that how you did that?

I definitely want to purchase the Windows version when it comes out. Keep me posted.

 

“Windows support will follow soon”
I am waiting...

 

I still have to install Unity on Windows which should make debugging a bit easier. I will do this today. Hopefully the issues can be solved quickly!

 

Any news on this?

 

Hi Zante,

This is the old thread. Have a look here, http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=23519 for demos for both the Mac and the PC.

Raoul

 

Hi Raoul does this works with unity free too? i´m very interested in EasyRoad, because i´m having a strong headache with imporing 3d app track mesh to Unity and setting the correct height...

 

That's cute and everything but this thread is a year old and theres a link been posted to the new one.

 

Hi, yes it does work with the free version of Unity. This is the link to the other thread duke mentioned, http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1.0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online. And my own website where you can download a demo, http://www.unityterraintools.com

 

raoul wich is the lowest unity version that suport it????sorry for my english

 

Hi Carlos,

V2 requires Unity 3.x . EasyRoads3D 1.7.x is the last version that runs on Unity 2

Let me know if you have further questions!


Ps. This is the old thread about EasyRoads3D, here are links to current threads...
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/82331-EasyRoads3D-v2-is-out-%96-Road-rivers-procedural-geometry-for-Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1.0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online

 

Hi Raoul,

We're thinking of using this asset to generate some race tracks, we want to hide the actual road itself but maintain it's physical properties, is this possible?

 

Hi Adam, we have already been in contact by email.

Anyway, yes, this is possible, just disable or remove the renderer component!

By the way this an outdated thread, the following ttwo are up to date:

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1.0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online?highlight=easyroads3d

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/82331-EasyRoads3D-v2-is-out--Road-rivers-procedural-geometry-for-Unity

 

I am really happy with this tool. However I am looking for modelling app folder to locate my geometry of road (.obj file). Please guide me.. :-|

 

Hi AGPJ,

After creating your first road object the folder "EasyRoads3D" will be created in your main project folder, not the assets folder! Inside this folder you will find folders named after each road object name in the scene. In these folders you can find road specific files like the road shape in texture format which is used to embed the road in the terrain splatmap but also the .obj

btw. like also mentioned in the thread above, this is an old thread of EasyRoads3D, the threads linked to in my post above are up to date...

 

Hello everyone, i'm working on a project using unity. I started doing my project on Unity 3.5 and then I changed to Unity 4.0. I have "Easy roads 3d" but i'm not able to use it on my project. If I create a new scene, then I'm able to create a road using "Easy Roads", but if I try to add a road to my existent project, it doesn't appear anything... Can someone help me? Thanks!!

 

Hi Larissadeoliv,

So, if you import the package in a new project all works fine. If you export in an existing project it does not work?

What is it that does not work? Importing the package, accessing the EasyRoads3D menu at the top, Adding markers? Moving markers? Deforming the terrain?

You mention Error at the top, do you mean you get error messages? What error messages?

You can also send me the project so I can look at it myself. In that case contact me through PM or the website www.unityterraintools.com

btw, this is a very old thread, here are up to date threads regarding EasyRoads3D:

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/82331-EasyRoads3D-v2-is-out-–-Road-rivers-procedural-geometry-for-Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1.0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online

 

Hello, raoul. Tell me please, when EasyRoads3D version 3 will come? Is that plugin work with only terrain or it could work with a simple mesh? I saw a system, which build a different wires. Is version 3 included this feature and is it work only with terrain? Thank you.

 

Hi zelmund,

Do you mean the below movies? These are indeed version 3 demos. The side object system in those videos are fully functional and yes, you can use them on a mesh instead of a Unity terrain object. On your website I saw some screenshots that could have been done with EasyRoads3D, send me a PM or email me through my website if you are indeed already using EasyRoads3D Pro. I will then send you the latest v3 test build so you can have a look at it.

Also, as mentioned in more posts on this page, this is a very old thread.

Up to date threads:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/82331-EasyRoads3D-v2-is-out-–-Road-rivers-procedural-geometry-for-Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1.0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online

 

Hi,
We are porting one of our game that uses Easy Road Extensively on Windows 8Metro X86. We are getting a first Error (But we believe there will be others) about the ArrayList. Can you support us urgently? Our email is info ( at ) twelve games (dot) com

 

Hi,

I already replied to an email from you.with the same question. Like mentioned we do not use Windows 8 ourselves. is anyone else experiencing a problem on Windows 8 or Windows 8 Metro?

 

I am using Unity on Windows 8 and just downloaded EasyRoads Pro today from the Asset store. Only issue I have right now is that the road isn't rendering in the Scene view. It renders fine in the Game view, though.

I have checked "Render" on the road.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Zach

 

Hi Autonoma,

Thanks for letting me know, it indeed should run fine on Windows 8. It seems to be a Windows 8 Metro issue, I am working on it.

Regarding the road mesh not being visible in scene view, this usually happens when you have custom layers selected for scene view. EasyRoads3D uses layers 30 and 31, if these layers are turned off the roads will not be visible in scene view. To fix this, first name layers 30 and 31, any name will do. Ater that, select the layers dropdown at the right top of the Unity editor. The newly named layers will now be visible in this dropdown. Make sure they are both enabled!

Let me know if you need more help with this.

 

That worked perfectly! I am able to see the road now in Scene view just like the demos show.

I have a couple more questions though, I can either post them here or email them to you, whichever is easier/better for you.

Thanks,
Zach

 

Hi Autonoma, what you prefer, you can contact me through the contact page on www.unityterraintools.com and I will reply by email. Or you can ask here on the forums although this particular thread is quite outdated...

 

hello there. i have a problem with building road. after i placed markers, i hit button to generate road. aftr that i have a small screen with process line but its not moving and i have an error in log with that text:

DirectoryNotFoundException: Could not find a part of the path "C:\Users\dmiurk\Documents\easyRoads252\Assets\EasyRoads3D\backups\RoadObject01\OCCQCCQDCD.backup".
System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, Boolean anonymous, FileOptions options)
System.IO.FileStream..ctor (System.String path, FileMode mode)
(wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.IO.FileStream:.ctor (string,System.IO.FileMode)
EasyRoads3D.BufferedFileWriter..ctor (System.String fileName, Int32 size)
EasyRoads3D.BufferedFileWriter..ctor (System.String fileName)
EasyRoads3D.ODOOCQDOQO.OODOOOOQDC (System.Collections.ArrayList OCCQCQDOQC, System.String path)
EasyRoads3D.ODCOCCDOQQ.OOCQCQCCOD (Vector3 pos, Single r, UnityEngine.Transform thisObj, Boolean ct, System.Collections.ArrayList objs, Boolean nHandleVegetation)
EasyRoadsEditorMenu.OCQCQOQCCO (.RoadObjectScript target) (at Assets/EasyRoads3D/Editor/EasyRoadsEditorMenu.cs:281)
EasyRoadsEditorMenu.FinalizeRoads () (at Assets/EasyRoads3D/Editor/EasyRoadsEditorMenu.cs:197)


its happens every time. create new project and reimport asset not working. work stoped =(

 

Looking at the path you have chosen to store terrain backup data inside the Assets folder (General Settings Tab > Backup Location).

It is only recommended to use this setting when you are using EasyRoads3D through the assets server. Otherwise I would keep this setting at its default setting "Outside Assets folder path".

Can you double check if "General Settings Tab > Backup Location" is indeed set to "Inside Assets folder path"? And can you also double check whether the folder : \Assets\EasyRoads3D\backups\RoadObject01\ exists and that same folder but then outside the assets folder inside the EasyRoads3D folder of the main Project folder?

Regarding the error, I am quite certain folders should be created if they do not exist. Also because I have not seen this error appear before. I will double check this and fix things if necessary. An update is about to be released anyway so if there is somethign wrong with this I will include this in the update.

Can you let me know if these folders indeed do not exists and if you indeed want to store backup files inside the assets folder? To get you going, you could try for now to manually create these folders.

 

Ok, i found how it works. For the first, when "inside asset folder path" checked it create folder outside project folders, but not creating folder inside. I set backup locatin to "Outside asset..." and its work ! but i met another thing. road can be created this time but terrain not adjusting to road. it can be adjusted when i double check Multiple Terrains with Enable Debugging.

im using unity 3.5.7 may be this is a problem =)

edit - about not creating road. that wasnt bug. my terrain wasnt ftaten. so easyroads couldnt do hole, but jus hills. so before creating roads, need to flaten terrain and then build roads. i think i missed a lot in guide =)

 

Thank you for the information! I will double check the folder creation bit...

Regarding the terrain deformation, I don't think it is a Unity 3.5.x issue. Do you have more then one terrain in your scene? In this case you should indeed enable "Multiple Terrains". Apart from that, the terrain you are currently working on must be selected from the dropdown further below in the Inspector.

btw. This is the old thread about EasyRoads3D, here are links to current threads...

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/82331-EasyRoads3D-v2-is-out--Road-rivers-procedural-geometry-for-Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1-0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online

 

I appreciate the tool and I'm eager to see intersections added. I do have a couple thoughts:

1) It's frustrating when I select the easyroads object and it starts doing the math to make the road editable. ... then I have to rebuild the terrain. It ends up wasting minutes of time if I accidentally click the wrong object.

2)Bumpyess is a great addition - but I'm curious, do you plan any additional features in this area? I'd love more control over the noise (even if it were just TWO noise generators that way we can put low frequency and high frequency noise down.) Or, leave it as is and allow us to import our own noise map (generated from WorldMachine or something).

2.5) would really love a way to put down higher detail segments in the road. e.g., potholes, seams) at random. Just randomly replace faces with imported geometry. Random size (e.g., 1 face by 2 faces, 4x4 faces) and random scale height (some potholes deeper than others) could really add a lot and seems like it might not be that hard to add.

Thanks

 

Hi Goblox,

1) The recommended workflow is, create your roads and bake them when finished (either manually by moving the road mesh outside of the road object hierarchy and remove the road object itself or automatically through the main EasyRoads3D menú "Finalize EasyRoads3D Objects"). When you are not working on the road objects and you do actually want to keep the road objects in the scene, I would keep them in Edit Mode. All this is to protect the original terrain data. That is also why the road object switches back to Edit Mode after playing the scene. When you bake the roads this will not happen anymore.

2) I am not planning to add more control to the bumpyness unless there is a general wish for that. On the other hand, implementing noise map support shouldn't be too complicated. I can look into that.

2.5) Do you have examples of this you can send to me? It would be interesting to see what this looks like as the final result. How do these potholes blend regarding the textures with the road geometry itself?

BTW. Please use the more recent EasyRoads3D threads to post as this is a very old thread that I only used to show my first experiments with creating roads in Unity. The links are in my post above

 

Hi Raoul

Hope that you are well!

I've recently upgraded to the latest version of Unity 4.3.1f1 and I'm using EasyRoads3D Pro 2.5.4.

I've found these issues:
1. When I start a new Project and import your asset (From the asset store) the top menu tools are not visible. There are no warnings or error messages it just simply does not show up.
2. On my existing Project that I had for WP8 I have started to port it over to Windows Store. However when I try to build I get the following error message:
Type 'EasyRoads3D.RenderedObjects' has an extra field 'heightMap' of type 'System.Single[,]' in the player and thus can't be serialized (expected 'spatmaps' of type 'UnityEngine.Texture2D[]')
UnityEditor.BuildPlayerWindow:BuildPlayerAndRun()

Type 'EasyRoads3D.RenderedObjects' has an extra field 'map' of type 'System.Single[,,]' in the player and thus can't be serialized (expected 'terrain' of type 'UnityEngine.Terrain')
UnityEditor.BuildPlayerWindow:BuildPlayerAndRun()

Thanks for a great tool, hope you can find a solution to the problems above.

 

Hi Dweebster, how are you?

Yes, in order for the latest 2.5.4 version to be approved by the Assetstore team, the EasyRoads3D menu had to be moved from the top menu. You can now find it in in the top menu under:

GameObject > Create Other

And, yes there is indeed an issue with WP8 when developing for the Windows Store. I am looking into this. In the mean time, EasyRoads3D is an editor tool, the EasyRoads3D dll is not required for the final build. Simply duplicate the project, remove the EasyRoads3D scripts folder and you can build for the Windows Store.

Also, this is the old thread about EasyRoads3D in the early stage 4 years ago, here are links to current threads...

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/82331-EasyRoads3D-v2-is-out--Road-rivers-procedural-geometry-for-Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1-0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online




The 2013 Christmas sale in on! Click here

 

Hi Raoul

I bought EasyRoads3d - thank you, it's an awesome product.

Quick question: If I increase the road width setting, the bridge side objects pop up through the road at the original width. Is there an easy way to fix this or do I need to create new bridge geometries for the different road widths I need?

Thanks again

Adam

EDIT: reposted in newer thread.

 

Hi n4cer500,

Find below a copy of my answer to the same question in the Asset Store forum thread about EasyRoads3D .

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Indeed the geometry of side objects do not automatically adjust to width changes of the road.

Did you build your own bridge side object or are you using the one in the example side objects package? If you are using the example bridge, you can do two things.

1. /Assets/models/bridgeConcrete. This object is used for both the start and end object. You can import it in a modelling App and make it wider.

2. Increase the scale of the same object in the import settings. But this may also require tweaking the Y position in the start / end prefabs a little bit to avoid the bridge slightly poking through the road.

In both cases the next step is to open the "bridge Concrete" side object in the 2D Geometry Editor window inside the Side Objects Manager and trace the new node positions on the z-axis.

After building the side objects in the scene you select the "Bride Left" side object in the Hierarchy and tweak "X Position" in the Inspector so the Left Rail perfectly matches the new width of the concrete element. You can do the same with the "Bridge Right" side object.

Let me know if you need further help with this...

Raoul

 

Was just tried the free version. For some reason all markers are placed in the same but random place and not where I pointed by mouse.

 

Hello Efril,

What exactly do you mean with "the same but random place"?

Is that random place the center of the scene view? In that case, the only known issue regarding placing markers is that when the scene cam is set to "Iso" the markers are positioned in the center of the scene view. If that is what is happening on your side, try "Persp" mode (click the the center cube of the scene gizmo) or for example "Top" view.

Let me know if this doesn't help.

Raoul


Recent EasyRoads3D threads:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/82331-EasyRoads3D-v2-is-out--Road-rivers-procedural-geometry-for-Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/22097-EasyRoads3D-v1-0-for-Unity-Plugin-version-Online

 

I really really want to buy this product, I've tried the free version from the asset store and downloaded the version off the site, when I load either one into a brand new project the easy roads 3d menu is not available. If I do buy this will you work with me to get the menu to show up?

Jay Durnil

 

Hi Jay,

I belief you also send me an email about this.

Since v2.5.4 the EasyRoads3D menu (also for the Free version) is located in:

Top Menu > GameObject > Create Other > EasyRoads3D

This is also mentioned in the manual in “Quick Start” at the top. The reason is that Unity does no longer allow Asset Store extensions to be positioned in the main menu.

In v3, only starting the main road network will be a menu item. All other options can be accessed directly from the Inspector.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I have the tool water plus, I would like to use it if I make a river your instructions say to import it, it uses a mesh prefab to represent the water surface until it goes through a "bake" process. Would it be possible to use this with EasyRoads and if so where should the prefab go so easy roads sees it, if this is not possible where should any water object go so easyroads can see it, I am looking at a pro version to see if I can get this to work, if i can I will go ahead and purchase as it is an awesome tool!!