World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

Hi Colin,

How are you?

Yes, that is also why I mentioned 3.3. Real world situations, the same will apply as also for example with OSM, standard city blocks, no problem, but real world situations can be very complex.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Good thanks. Looking forward to seeing what's coming in ER3D. Haven't had time to spend on my Unity stuff since starting to work from home (too much doing the same thing all day, every day), but hoping to get back to it soon. I've booked a week off work and planning to finally get around to finishing my DOTS traffic implementation (I know James in this thread has a working one, but I've got some different requirements, plus you always learn something doing it yourself).

 

Vacation for me is ending this weekend. Then it is back to completing v3.2, the demo package and new tutorials.

Some optimizations have been done to v3.3 for which a new alpha will be available as well soon including the new v3.2 features.

And more complex bridge options is in the making in between things.

DOTS is also on the list to look into, how that can be integrated.

Good luck with your implementation and that it will work out well.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Great! I haven't even figured out the non-complex bridge options, but then I've been putting off actually trying to learn how to make bridges

 

Currently bridges can be generated through side objects, like the example in the demo package. So there are no true bridge specific setttings, this will be introduced later in v3.2

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Help!!!

I have this problem: "Shift + Click to add road markers does not work, instead the terrain is selected"

After following the instructions, remain the same.
Unity 2019.4.4f1, Unity 2019.4.6f1 and Unity 2019.4.8f1

 

Hi Barritico,

We ourselves still have not experienced this situation but the fix, resetting the Unity layout for example back to the factory settings, has a 100% success rate so far. There are no other known issues.

The way we figured out this issue was after a user send us a project in which this happened. The project was debugged back to Unity events not being triggered in OnSceneGUI() easily replicated with no EasyRoads3D scripts included and a bug report was send to Unity. However, to fix this they need to know through which actions the Unity editor gets into that state.

Anyway, if this fix does not work for you perhaps we can try the same? Can you reproduce this in a new project with only EasyRoads3D imported, and can you email it to us in that case?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi,

I get an error Msg when creating a Road with a RoadType that has more than one Side-Objct.
ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.
Parameter name: index
"System.ThrowHelper.ThrowArgumentOutOfRangeException (System.ExceptionArgument argument, System.ExceptionResource resource) (at <fb001e01371b4adca20013e0ac763896>:0)
System.ThrowHelper.ThrowArgumentOutOfRangeException () (at <fb001e01371b4adca20013e0ac763896>:0)
System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T].get_Item (System.Int32 index) (at <fb001e01371b4adca20013e0ac763896>:0)
EasyRoads3Dv3.ERMarkerExt.Init (UnityEngine.Vector3 pos, EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularRoad scr, System.Int32 element) (at <61109697cd6541c7951da6e74775ac3c>:0)"

When I only use one Side-Object from the list (e.g. "Line Dotted Middle") it works. But if I tick 2 (e.g. aditionally "Line Left") it gives the Error-Message above. The error appears both with a script generated road and handmade.- What could be the solution?

My aim is I want to make a road with a plain road with separated Lines as objects and roads.

Thanks in Advance!

 

Hi econt,

I just double checked in the EasyRoads3D project itself, auto activating multiple side objects for a road type appears to work fine.

From the side object examples in your post it seems the involved assets are from the HD Roads package so I checked this package too. For road type "NM_Asphalt_No_Lines" I activated the side objects "Line Dotted Middle", "Line Left" and "Line Right". The road and side objects are created without issues, also when only two side objects are activated.

Which version are you using? Does this happen only when activating the side object for the road types or also when activating them for existing roads? Is this side object specific or does it happen for all side objects?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,

I use the version Pro v.3.1.9f5 + HD

The error occurs when I use the selfmade roadtype with multiple (more than 1 sideobject) ticked on and then make a road from it.

I found a way that it works now without problems. - I create the road (all Sideojects of) with the scritpt and then make the Sideobjects SetActive in the second step. - So you can considere issue as closed. -

Thanks for your help!

 

Hi econt,

Glad to hear you got it to work.

If it turns out you still need further help with this, then please provide the full steps to recreate the problem with side objects already activated on road types.

Thanks,
Raoul.

 

I was just making fun of my own inability to model anything that looks remotely decent in Unity. That's in spite of having no trouble whatsoever doing that in traditional CAD software.

 

Ah ok , hopefully the new bridge options in v3.2.x will be helpful then. The already available options for the Shape type of side object to add caps, close the shape at the start / end can also be useful here for the bridge deck component. No modelling required. Examples of all this will follow.

 

@raoul @colin_young Can you share any progress you made on integrating EasyRoads3D with mapbox/Google? In general wondering what's the general approach. I'm starting to think how to do this on a game that navigates a map in realtime. Google Maps provides Segments but they come unordered. How would you build a road network based on these segments?

I was wondering if I can derive markers from the shapes and batch create road networks

 

Hi reflejo,

On this page I mentioned that we can look into this for a built-in solution but that will be v3.3 alpha or beta. So at this point I am afraid I do not really have the knowledge to help with this.

But this could already be done using the scripting API. What is the nature of these segments? Are these segments always connected to some type of crossing at the start / end? That would match the EasyRoads3D workflow. Otherwise I guess it is a matter of finding matches by comparing segment start / end positions.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I basically gave up on trying to use Mapbox as a source for my roads, but I will likely use it to source other data that I display. The advantage of Mapbox over Google is that they offer the ability to create your own datasets that you can access in Unity, although I'll need to review the latest offering from Google. I have a fixed area I am simulating, so it was easier to use KML from OpenStreetMaps for the data source, which also neatly avoided licensing issues with Mapbox (you can't persist or see the roads at edit time). I did have code working that took the data from Mapbox and generated road segments, but the issue was there are no intersections generated.

Since I was dealing with static geography, I did make an attempt to manually create my own data layer with the intersections. If you go down that route, you will quickly find connecting roads to intersections is a non-trivial exercise. First there is finding which road to connect to which connection (you can solve that by manually adding additional data in Mapbox), but even with that it isn't a simple matter of connecting the right road to the right connection on the right intersection. The KML import also does not create intersections, so I ended up creating those by hand (208 of them). The second issue I found was 90% of the intersections worked out fine, but a fair number of them created major issues by causing the roads they were connected to to deviate from the actual layout (angle of the intersection, offsets on "straight-through" roads, etc.). If you aren't concerned with fidelity to reality, that may not be an issue for you.

 

Hi raoul,

I have a api quesstion:
There must be a center sampling point where the marker is located?
So is the following code reasonable?

Code (CSharp):

1. Vector3[] positions = Road.GetSplinePointsCenter();
2. for(int i=0;i<positions.Length;i++){
3.   if(positions[i]==Road.GetMarkerPosition(1)){
4.  
5.   }
6. }
7.  

Thanks,
Zhang

 

Hi Zhang,

Yes, that should work if you want to find a match in the spline points for the specific marker. Is that not the case?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

All the code nerds here pushing that black magic....

meanwhile i have a peasant question!

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/props/exterior/highways-built-in-176164

if i were to grab this asset....could i get these to work with Roads as custom roads? The bridge/overpasses are pretty slick and im thinking i can integrate both easy roads system with something like this...(which i presume is a snap based method?)

I have about 200ish Km of road to deal with right now and im working on ways to streamline the process and get the details im looking for.

 

Hi Eagle1Xray,

Snapping works by matching road shapes. Whether that works with these meshes I cannot tell, I would have to see the prefabs, especially for overpasses, the part where roads will connect.

But there is also something like snap connector which can be created in General Settings > Road Types. These are prefabs that can be added as childs to other prefabs. Roads of that type can snap to these snap connectors although that does not necessarily mean they will perfectly snap to the prefab itself when the road connects at an angle.

Built-in motorways on off ramps will be available in v3.3

Thanks,
Raoul

 

What is your projected 3.3 roadmap? Im not talking about any pressure. just curious to see if i can work around that and wait for this functionality before i start putting in work on something that as USUAL you end up making easy!

all in all this is great news.

Maybe i bite the bullet buy the prefab above and work with you via email to see what we can figure out?

 

Everything was working.
So without me knowing why "bugs" started to appear:

1) When I move the mouse cursor with the right button, the cursor changes to an "eye" type. It is only possible to return by pressing 'Esc'.
Moving the mouse cursor with the central button, the cursor changes to a "hand". It is only possible to return by pressing Esc.
It was difficult to work like this.

2) The side objects were left with the strange "Marker Side Object Settings" option. Watch video.

It is possible that everything is related.

 

The focus at the moment is on releasing v3.2 and also new tutorials so v3.3 will not be available any time soon. It is available in alphas, the missing parts are sidewalk support for the new Flex Connector and these motorway on / off ramps must be completed. The prototype for that is close to fully functional, some new triangulation routines were required which is done meanwhile. It is all flexible and adjustable based on new v3.3 road type options. This is an older image:



You can certainly send some prefabs so we can see how these prefabs can be integrated in the scene.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi NorbertoSanders,

What exactly happens at 0.39? Suddenly the guardrails disappear. It seems you selected the dropdown but nothing changed in the Inspector.

Movinbg the mouse with the right button does change the cursor into an eye, that is Unity behaviour. What do you mean with return by pressing 'Esc'? Does the cursor till show the "eye" after releasing the mouse button? In that case, do you see repeating error messages in the console?

Is this related to my question above? You do several things of which the situation at 0.39 is strange. But I am not sure what happens en what you want to do?

Which version do you use?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I select the stretch of highway that I want to disable the guardrail.
I try to disable the "Active" box in "MarkerSideObjectSettings", but it doesn't deselect, but the entire highway guardrail disappears.

I have another highway in the same scene that worked well, with the same road. But suddenly everything stopped working.

When I click on this box to disable only a section of the guarrail appears:
NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OQOCDQQCOQ.OQDOCCQCQC (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularRoad road) (at <48aa79f2b6234886b02856dc8a877461>: 0)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OQOCDQQCOQ.UpdateSideObjectsInScene (EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase scr) (at <48aa79f2b6234886b02856dc8a877461>: 0)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OQCQQCODOO.OCQCQQQCQC (System.Boolean & roadUpdate, UnityEngine.Event cEvent) (at <48aa79f2b6234886b02856dc8a877461>: 0)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OQCQQCODOO.OnInspectorGUI () (at <48aa79f2b6234886b02856dc8a877461>: 0)
UnityEditor.UIElements.InspectorElement + <> c__DisplayClass55_0. <CreateIMGUIInspectorFromEditor> b__0 () (at <90d4bcb003fb405fb09241aed2f178aa>: 0)
UnityEngine.GUIUtility: ProcessEvent (Int32, IntPtr)

 

When exactly does this error appear? is it road or side object related? What happens when you create bew a road and activate these side objects? Does that work welll?

If you want you can send us the project / scene by email so we can look at it.

What about my question regarding the version that you are using? Is it the latest v3.1.9f6?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

uhhhhh THAT LOOKS AMAZING! I need me some of that!

Ill grab this asset pack and will email you soon.

 

v3.1.9f4

 

I will send project / scene by email.

What is your email???

 

Regarding v3.1.9.f4, it is recommended to always use the latest version, so you may try that as well.There are no known issues with side objects in v3.1.9f4 but v3.2 is all about new side object features and both the v3.1.x and the v3.2 beta packages are build from the same project. v3.1.9f5 is the current public version.

The email is in the _Readme file in the EasyRoads3D root directory.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I created another scene and everything works. Version v3.1.9.f4.
I remembered that the problem started right after removing some trees that were getting in the way.

 

I cannot see how removing trees affects side objects on a road. But it appears related to a situation in that specific scene. Have you tried creating a new road in that scene, does that work well with these specific side objects?

Also, since this involves left and right guardrail side objects, in v3.2 one side object can be used for both sides of the road. This is activated by toggling on "Dual Sided" in the Side Object Manager. You could duplicate the project, import the beta and see how that works.

Otherwise I will be happy to look into and fix the issue in the current scene.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello, Raoul!

I'm using your tool for about 3-5 months already and this is really awesome. There is simply no alternatives for building roads.

I wanted to clarify one thing: do I understand it right that Terrain Overlay Rock not able to work right with multi terrain setup? Beacuse there is only one control texture in Terrain Overlay Rock material

 

Hello pokruchin,

Glad to hear you like the tool!

Terrain Rock Overlay is an example in the demo package how terrain detail meshes can be generated with side objects. These are more examples using EasyRoads3D features, it is not that it is an integrated feature working in every setup.

This particular side object is based on the Shape type, it uses uv4 and vertex colors on shape nodes to blend the rock part next to the road with the terrain using terrain textures and the terrains splatmap.

The last part is the tricky bit in a multi terrain setup. These detail meshes should not cross terrain tiles and indeed seperate materials are needed per terrain tile.

The simplest solution would be to use only one terrain texture on this material so no terrain splatmap is required and the same material can be used across all terrain tiles. Otherwise it is a matter of duplicating the material, update the splatmap texture and assign this material to those Terrain Overlay Rock side objects on that terrain. That should work assuming that all terrain tiles have the same Terrain Layers setup.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thank you for the reply! That's what I thought

BTW today I was adding bridges ("Bridge Simple" side object) to my roads and I faced a strange behavior (you can see it on screenshots). I'm using 3.1.9f5. And you can see this issue also in demo project. Is there a way to fix it Raoul? As I can remember there were no such issues with bridges in older ER versions. Thanks.

 

3.1.9f5 is the current EasyRoads3D Prop version.

The bridge is part of the additional demo package.

This issue was known in previous versions of the demo package but should be fixed in the current version.

The cause of the issue is wrong start / end offsets for the source prefab. If you select this side object in the Side Object Manager and then press the "Open Mesh Editor Window" you will see these blue surfaces representing the Start and End sections of the bridge. These surfaces are draggable and should snap to the associated edges between vertices that are part of both the start / end sections and the repeated mid section.

This is what it should look like:



Ignore the orange bit here, the image is copied from the bridge tutorial on our website. But you can compare these blue surfaces, are they exactly on the edge like in the above image?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello, Raoul! It's been a while, hope you're doing great during this difficult time.

I've a question, my road is generated in runtime (not edited on editor) and I want some part of the road to be narrower or wider. For example from certain marker to another marker the road would have given width (like shown on the picture). Is it possible to do that through script?

 

Hello nmbileg,

All good here, thank you. Hope that is the same for you.

The shape in your image with such abrupt width changes is not possible on a single road object.

But you could split this road in 3 road objects based on two road types with different widths and connect the road sections using an I Connector. This can be done through the scripting API at runtime with the ERRoad class.

public ERRoad InsertIConnector(int markerIndex, string connectionName, out ERConnection connection)

So in this case it is recommended to insert the I Connector at the end of the first section / road object, attach the second narrow road object to connection index 1 of connection. Then repeat the same steps at the end of the second section.

Perhaps it is an idea to test this first manually in the Unity editor to quickly see what this will look like.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

hello, I have created some roads but after building the game I now cannot add any roads, I went back to edit mode and can choose the road type but it does not add any road. can you please help me?

 

Hi Abdulmajeed01,

Creating new roads or editing existing roads should work just fine after switching back to Edit Mode.

What exactly happens? You select the road type then press "Add New Object" and then Shift + Click in the scene to add the road markers. Which of these steps works different then before? Do you see error messages in the console?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul
When I hold shift + click in the scene nothing happen. Thank you

 

I am sorry, the problem not happened after building the terrain but I think it happened after building the game ( I am not sure). I built the terrain many times and was able to add and edit roads. Sorry again.
Do you have any idea about this problem?

 

I was just writing a reply when your last post arrived, I was asking what the history of the project was whether you switch to Build Mode, and then back to Edit Mode almost immediately afterwards or did you do other things in between?

Because there is a known issue where Shift + Click selects the terrain instead of adding markers. It is related to Unity Events not being triggered and there for the terrain is selected, standard Unity behaviour when you click on an object. It is mentioned on the Troubleshooting page in the manual.

The second situation described below.

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

Shift + Click to add road markers does not work, instead the terrain is selected

The free version does not support multiple terrain tiles in a scene. If this is the case then adding markers will fail when adding them on the terrain that is currently not referenced by Terrain.activeTerrain.

Another known situation in recent Unity versions is a, usually customized, Unity editor layout that have become corrupted not capturing keyboard or mouse button events in OnSceneView(). Instead the clicked object is selected, the terrain in this case. One way to verify this is to duplicate the project and reset the Unity editor layout back to one of the presets through the main menu > Window > Layouts. Afterwards the editor can be customized again to the preferred layout, this usually works well. But if the problem returns and can be recreated, then please contact us. We have discussed this with the Unity QA Team, they have seen this situation and they will be very interested to hear how this issue can be recreated.

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

Does resetting the editor layout indeed fix the problem?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thank you so much, yes I reset the layout and it fixed the problem.
Thanks

 

Raoul, i have shot an email to Info@easyroads in regards to my highway assets question.

thanks for your support of this excellent tool!

 

Unfortunately this didn't help...

Also I played with different values and I didn't find suitable ones

Update: I turned off property "Bridge object" for side object "Bridge Simple", updated instances. After that I turned this property back and updated instances again and the issue almost gone. But as you can see there are very small empty pixels in the generated mesh:

 

Hi Pokruchin,

Can you compare your image with mine, the offset values are the same but it looks different. The model is rotated 180 degrees on the Y-axis. But the offset values are the same. It looks like the new model is used on your end with the old offset values.

Did you zoom in (scrollwheel) and did the surfaces snap to the edge when moving it?

Based on your screenshot with the same bridge scale for the source prefab in the project folder, 0.0251, the current Start offset should be 0.4595058, the end offset 0.4592874. These are the settings of the current bridge example in the demo package.

The beta package does include the same bridge model. Do you have this package imported, it is located in /Assets/EasyRoads3D/Beta Release/? The settings are the same.





The auto generated bridge in the v3.2 demo scene based on height differences between the road and the terrain.

[Edit] You updated your post meanwhile I will double check that. The mid section is repeated and vertices should snap together. This is something that required work in version 3.2, perhaps it is related because both packages are generated from the same project.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I have noticed such "white dots-pixels" all over the place in a tunnel, as well.
Best regards,
Primoz

 

Hi Primoz,

Tunnels is v3.2, what you describe is the same situation as explained on the previous page. The mid sections are repeated, in the current beta these sections do not yet snap together, these white dot pixels can be visible especially in stronger bends. This is fixed in the next update.

It is related to the new option in v3.2 to setup your prefabs based on child objects using child names based on naming conventions, the source mesh is extracted in a different way. The concrete tunnel is an example of this. In the current beta vertices between these child meshes are not matched yet, neither between the start and end for mid sections, so there is no vertex snapping yet.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I double checked the trick with "Bridge Object" property in a fresh project and yes - it works this way now Thank you for support!