World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

Hi PrimusThe3rd,

There will be new videos. The first video, hopefully available by the end of next week, is a general introduction covering the basics, creating a new road network object, explaining the toolbar in the Inspector, create new roads, the various ways of creating intersections and how side objects can be added. In depth feature specific videos will follow after that.

V3.2 itself is mainly about side object updates. One side object that can be used to generate foir example lampposts and guard rails on both sides of the road instead of separate side objects for both sides like in v3.1. And auto generated side objects based on rules. How this is used in a scene is covered in this first new video.

If you have any other specific requests for video tutorials, let me know. But as mentioned, new videos will be made now v3.2 is about to be released on the Asset Store.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks. Looking forward to watch them all.
In fact once there was a topic about creating a thickness to a road. Below is your answer... but still would rather watch this "how to" video tutorial ...than to follow these lines.
------
"1) in v3.1 default roads are flat, but you can import your own road shapes through the Custom Connection System based on your own models, https://easyroads3d.com/tutorials/custom_crossings.php. That can be a road section with thickness but also a crossing with thickness. Connected roads will inherit the same shape.

2) If no crossings are involved then this can be done quickly using the Shape type of side object. The road shape with thickness is defined in the Shape Editor window. In General Settings > Road Types a new road type can be created marked as "Is Side Object" with this specific road type switched on. That way no default road will be created, instead the the road with thickness will be created. With this setup it is easy to quickly create new roads of this type.

In your image the terrain is flat, so I it looks like the above will already work. But additionally it is also possible to adjust the terrain by using another shape type of side object marked as a Terrain Deformation object. That way the terrain can be adjusted in the same way as for "standard" roads. Something similar is done to create the river bed in the demo package."

 

Roads with thickness can be done with built-in road types in v3.3. V3.3 is already worked on for quite some time and this specific feature is fairly stable. In fact the new demo scene will already use the v3.3 beta for the v3.3 Flex Connector option which makes creating intersections involving different road types a lot easier.

With this in mind I would skip option 2) in that older conversation. The first option, road shapes based on connections assigned to imported models is still very relevant and will always remain relevant. This system makes it possible to use your own crossing models or or other connection types within the system. Attached roads will inherit the connection shape. So if that connection shape is a shape with thickness, the attached roads will have the same shape with thickness. New video tutorials covering this system will be made as well.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,

I know I mentioned this a while ago but, did you found some time fixing this problem yet?:
https://imgur.com/RJ9PFln

Simply because it´s a bridge "Terrain Deformation" is disabled. However, when you have´nt done already, just add a checkbox for bridge sideobjects or so to: flatten and match the terrain above the road but not adjust the terrain under the road.

A other way you could implement this is to have a dropdown named "Terrain Deformation Type" below the "Terrain Deformation" Checkbox. "Default" would be the normal behavior and "Only Flatten" would be the behavior as described, for example.

Thank´s

 

Hi Marcell,

This is not done yet. Unfortunately simply adding a checkbox will not fix it Implementing the behaviour that you want is not done 123. It is on the list.

Meanwhile, the hard part when it comes to roads is to match the terrain with the road. That is what the tool does. Indeed this part is skipped for sections with a bridge. It is luckily not so hard to adjust the terrain a little bit manually when the terrain is actually partially above the road in these bridge sections.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,

If this question is already asked, forgive me.

I'd like to put tons of trees on road side. So, I set the General Settings in the Side Object Manager.
Source Object is set with "Main Trees" as prefab. Then, I update active scene instances.
Hum, yes, it would be good. but... I don't want to put trees as instance but as prefab.
If I can change source code, I write below,

Code (CSharp):

1. var obj = PrefabUtility.InstantiatePrefab(prefab) as GameObject;

If there are a solution of this, could you tell me it?

Thanks,

 

Hi warapuri,

Which version are you using? In the new v3.2 the link with the prefab should be preserved. Indeed PrefabUtility.InstantiatePrefab() will be used.

But since this is a tree, if this tree is also added as a terrain tree prototype, it can be selected from the Terrain Vegetation list in the Side Object Manager. In Build mode the generated trees will be added to the terrain object.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Nice!
I've used version v3.1.9f5, so I'll update to v3.2.

Thanks a lot!

 

I have just bought Real World Terrain and I am using the EasyRoads3D integration.

The meshes are being generated on the terrain, but the markers are floating about 100metres above the terrain. The roads generate on the terrain.

I have never seen this when using easyroads3d to create roads from scratch.

Is there a setting somewhere that adjusts the marker height. I can't work out how this is happening.

This may be a "Real Worlds Terrain" question, but I thought I would post here. Is there a way to get the markers to appear at ground level?

 

Hi Zaddo,

Real World Terrain does include the option to generate roads through the EasyRoads3D scripting API. Is that what you are using? In that case I think this is more a question for the RWT publisher. The scripting API works in a way that roads are created based on Vector3 array representing the marker control points. These are the same control points that appear in the scene when using Shift + Click when defining the road shapes manually. So it seems something is not right with the height (Y) value of the marker control points that are passed in the array.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks Raoul. I expected that would be the case.

 

I found a bug (?) in EasyRoads when trying to add river object. Terrain deformation applied only on first marker.
Using ER last version (v3.2.0f1) + river materials from demo project and Unity 2018.4.27f1 personal.
Also, have some random errors while adding markers - ArgumentOutOfRangeException.

 

Hi AlexSokolov,

Did you create this River Preset or is this the preset from the demo package?

I am asking because the river preset in the demo package is based on two side objects, one for the riverbed (like in your video) and one for the river surface. Do you get the same error when you create a new object marked as "side object" and with the riverbed manually activated for that new object? But I will check if the error can be recreated with this river preset in general and also what I see in the video.

Regarding terrain deformation, the terrain in the video is flat. Is this a standard terrain with the height at the same level as the terrains Y position? In that case, terrain height data is stored withing the 0..1 range in the terrain object. The final terrain height is then calculated based on the terrain Height value in the terrain settings. This 0..1 range makes it impossible to add negative values. It is impossible to adjust the terrain to the riverbed shape with this terrain setup. Did you try this an area where the terrain is higher?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Yes, i'm created river preset by myself. This error completely random, it not happens before i start record this video (i repeat the same operations as before)

Terrain height was set to 100 (terrain - paint terrain - set height - flatten). At the end of the video you can see that terrain height was actualy adjusted after 'build' as intended - but only near first river marker.

 

I just did a very quick test using the latest v3.2.0f1.
1) New Scene and new terrain (default settings flattened at height 10)
2) New Side Object > Shape Type > Created a quick shape like in your video, 6 units wide
3) Marked the side object as a "Terrain Deformation" object after selecting "Terrain" as the category for this side object (this will show the "Terrain Deformation" option in v3.2)
4) Created a new object in the scene marked as Side Object, added some markers resulting in a curved shape and activated the new riverbed side object.

This is the result in Build Mode:



Does the provided example in the demo package work well? If so, can you compare settings?

Otherwise, can you send the scene so we can look at both the side object and the object in the scene on our end?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

River terrain deformation works fine in ER3 demo asset. But there is not the last version (button 'copy' in shape editor missing, etc.)
In the last ER3 version bug always persits - deformation applies only on the first road marker.

Sample scene with terrain and river attached.

 

Hi Alex,

I did the following:

1) Created a new project in Unity 2020.03.f1
2) Imported EasyRoads3D v3.2.0f1
3) Opened the scene
4) Because only the scene file is included I also created a new terrain. It appears that the original terrain in the scene was flattened at 3

The river object mesh in the scene initially looked flat. I moved a marker, the shape instantly updated. Terrain deformation is correct but the river depth is only 0.5 and not so noticeable on a screenshot so I changed the shape and made the depth 1.5. That is all I did. This is the result in Build Mode:



I did a test with a new river object which also worked well.

If you follow the same steps as above does this still fail for you.

I see you use Unity 2018.4.27f1 and v3.2.0f1. Have you tried this with a newer version of Unity or the previous v3.1.9 in Unity 2018.4.27f1?

What do you mean with button 'copy' missing and also "etc"?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,
I am using the add-on pack in URP. The shaders are for SRP eg: "NatureManufacture Shaders/Standard metalic Cross Road Material Parallax". Is there a URP shader I can use for the connections?

 

Hi Zaddo,

URP and HDRP packages are available in /Assets/NatureManufacture/HD Roads/SRP Support/

Have you tried that?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks for the quick response.
Wow They work great !!

 

Apollo's Dream II is now live!
A ton of work went into this one, I hope everyone will enjoy it.
Creating beauty with Unity for a Virtual Experience with an original soundtrack is a lot of fun and I hope it shows in the video.

EasyRoads 3D helps create a wonderful environment for this old west experience. I used it for pathways in and out of the ghost town. I'm not sure how well it shows up due to the fog and plants, but ER3D is a great asset for any type of road.

Thank you @raoul for your support to all of your customers! You give the support that all other developers try to reach!
Please keep up the great work!

 

Hi, I am having some trouble with Vegetation Studio Pro. The Vegetation mask line is only working on the first road and after some time, it stops working on the first road as well. I tried to reset all roads, refreshed, deleted both VSP and Road Network gameobjects and recreated them, but still no luck. Is there some way I can fix this issue?

I am using:
Easy Roads v3.2.0f1
VSP 1.3.4
Unity 2020.3.2f1

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi appenius,

There was an issue with no Vegetation Studio controls appearing after for example opening a new scene. But this should be resolved in v3.2.0f1.

In what way does this not work for new roads? Are the Vegetation Studio controls still displayed in "General Settings > Terrain Management"? If so, is Vegetation Studio active on the selected road? Is the Vegetation Studio component visible in the Inspector of the specific road after selecting it in the hierarchy?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Yes, in general settings the VSP section is there and it is checked active on all roads.
VSP component is only on the first road i created, but it is not updating when i move markers or do anything with the road.

 

Does restarting Unity fix this? I am asking because this did fix the previous known problem.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Restarting unity fixed the issue, I feel stupid for not trying it sooner. Thank you very much.
One another thing, when I try to remove Road Type from Manage Project Road Types window, it always says "InvalidOperationException: Destroying the root game GameObject of a prefab is not permitted."
And there are like 8 road types with no names and they always reimport with my created road type.
Thanks

 

That is good to know but it seems this is somehow related to the previous VS error. But that would also mean that the VS controls are not displayed anymore in "General Settings > Terrain Management". So altogether I am still not sure if this is actually related to the previous sistuation. I will do some tests.

The error when removing road types from the project is known. It happens in newer Unity versions. It is fixed in the next update. Thank you for reporting this.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,
I want to use a side object so I can lift the road a bit to stop the terrain bleeding through. I am having difficulty making the side object match the road edge. I set the side object to clamp to the road geometry, but it doesn't match the road very well. I did a short video on what is happening.

Is their a way to make the side object match the road more carefully?
Thanks,
Tony

 

Hi Zaddo,

I cannot see anything wrong with the settings but neither can I recreate this. And at the start of the video the side object is aligned with the road.

What does this look like in Edit Mode? Does this happen on all road objects? Is there any way you can isolate the issue? Does this also happen when "Clamp to Road Geometry" is off?

And how do you want to use this to deal with situations like z-fighting? Is Terrain Deformation switched off for the road object? Or do you use an higher "Raise" value?

I see the HD Roads package is used. This package include for example Dust strip side objects. Do these side objects follow the road?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,

I found a strange bug.
See the video.

When the last control point moved, the road network change to "Closed Track".
I don't want to close a track.

This version is v3.2.0f1
Unity version is 2021.1.1f1

 

Hi warapuri,

What is visible in the video is that somehow the road marker snaps to the other end of the road, the road is deselected instantly, this is visible in the Inspector. This deselection is strange. So, more is going on here which unfortunately cannot be explained by watching a video.

v3 exists for quite some time. We work with it hours every day, we have never seen this happen, neither has this ever been reported. So with the current info it is hard to give feedback or "fix" the problem.

Codewise, a track can only turn into "Closed" track in the Scene View window when moving the two end markers near each other.

Although I cannot see how that is related, I do not see a terrain in the scene. Is that correct? In any case, after a quick test without a terrain in the scene, I can still not reproduce this.

Can you consistently recreate this, also on new roads? And if so, just as a test, can you also recreate this in a new project with only EasyRoads3D imported?

Or would it be possible to email us this project so we can see what happens?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,
I copied the Dust strips. i.e. Changed to use a side object type of Procedural Mesh Object. This worked great Thanks!!

To answer some of your questions. Yes it was happening in edit mode, with/without "Clamp to Road Geometry" on.
I am using this to deal with z-fighting and with terrain deformation turned on. I raise the terrain 0.1 and this fixes almost all the z-fighting issues.

 

Thank you for quick reply.

Perhaps terrain is always needed in a scene?
I don't have to add terrain in my game.

I tried to make from new project with only EasyRoad3D imported. (See attached video.)
I wonder my selected point is different from selected control point in a Road Network.

I prepared archive with the project files. (But just EasyRoad3D imported scene)
May I send you it to your address?

 

Hi Zaddo,

So this is working now the way you were looking for? Did you compare the side object setup?

I thought perhaps it was related to the side object being setup to snap to the terrain which can result in what is visible in your video, certainly in Edit Mode. But that option was not active in your video.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi warapuri,

The tool is optimized to work with the Unity terrain object. It does also work without a terrain object but that is not what we do and we fully test. That is why I mentioned the terrain. But as I also wrote in my previous post, I did a quick test without a terrain object and did not see the markers snapping together.

More strange things in your new video. At 0.10 a new road object is created. The Inspector shows the marker alignment options. These alignment options should only appear when two markers are selected with markers in between them and certainly not after just adding a new road object. Which version are you using? This is visible in the most right EasyRoads3D toolbar tab.

Yes, please, if you could email this project with only EasyRoads3D imported, that would be very much appreciated. The email is in the Readme file in the EasyRoads3D folder.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

@warapuri,

Thank you for sending the project. This is indeed related to no terrain being present in the scene.

When moving and end marker towards the other end marker, the other end marker will lit up when within snapping range. In this situation the track will be closed after releasing the mouse button.

In the below screenshot it is visible that the other marker is lit up, even when the selected marker is not within snapping range. It doesn't always happen, but this is why the markers snap together in your video. It must be related to raycast issues. I will look into this.



In any case this will not happen when a terrain object is in the scene, but I guess you want to create roads with no terrain?

The other selection issue in your second video is also related to no terrain being in the scene. Again a raycast issue. It will not happen when an object, for example the road itself is at the mouse position. I will look into that as well.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Raoul,

That makes sense.
No raycasting point causes illegal point selecting.

Yes, I want to make only road. (When player go course out, it's game over.)

Perhaps, should I put dummy terrain?

 

Hi warapuri,

Yes, for now you can drop a dummy terrain in the scene well below where you want to create the road so it doesn't interfere. That will work.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi, Raoul! I'm having this issue with Biome Mask Areas.
Whenever the road has some curves, I'm getting this node crossings. Hasr to fix, as on some updates on the road, those are recalculated (and repositioned on this crossed configuration).

Any way to fix this? Unity 2019.4.22 ER 3.2



Tried decreassing Distance. but still having issues

Eduardo

 

Hi Eduardo,

I can recreate this on stronger curves. It is strange, I will check tomorrow but I can only assume that these nodes are generated based on the same principle as the road shape itself, the spline points. That is also how side objects are generated along the track.

Somehow Vegetation Studio may change the node order when sharper angles are involved, this order is represented by the white line.

I will check this tomorrow, but the code for this is in /Assets/EasyRoads3D/scripts/ERVegetationStudio.cs, UpdateBiomeArea(). If you do coding and you want to look already into this, you could check that. It generates the final VS nodes based on left and right spline position and the Biome Mask settings.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks! I'll also check the script. I thought these nodes where generated by Easy Roads. NOw I understand you just send the spline.
In case I find a bug, I'll report to VS developer.

Eduardo

 

EasyRoads3D passes data to Vegetation Studio, then Vegetation Studio will attach the specific component to the road object and generates the Biome Mask (in this case).

I will look into this today and see if we can refine the data in a way that Vegetation Studio will use the correct node order, also in these sharper / longer bends.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

How is the auto generation for side meshes supposed to work? There seems to be an unacceptable amount of bugs which render them completely useless...

Whenever I change the auto generation settings in the side object settings (for bridges in this instance) and I update the active scene instances, the bridge side objects all disappear, sometimes they re-appear at random when moving a marker and sometimes I have to delete the road object entirely and try again.

Also, how does the road object sample its height distance to the terrain??? The bridge side meshes despawn at seemingly random heights near the terrain.

If this is not a bug with my installation or my project but a bug within the easyroads3d update, auto generated side meshes are unusable at this state.

 

This screenshot demonstrates the weird arbitrary difference in height sampling, the bridge side meshes should spawn ass soon as the road is 5 m above ground. so why do the side meshes spawn lower on 1 side and higher on the other?



And this is just another weird bug: the max height is set to like 50000 but the bridge refuses to spawn at a certain height.


And please, what is this

 

Hello nicolasbluj,

Auto generated side objects is v3.2 which was only officially released last week. So for sure there will be some fine tuning in the next version updates.

That said when it comes to this, auto generated side objects, there is some logic involved and then the question is, what should this logic be?

In your first images I see roads fully raised above the terrain. Indeed in the current version that will not generate a bridge section when an auto generated bridge is active. How often does a road start above the terrain?

If the first marker is moved towards the terrain height, then a bridge should appear as soon as the height difference is larger the the set threshold distance. Have you tried that? Does that indeed generated the bridge?

But I will make a note to look into this as indeed there can be some rare occassions where a road does indeed start above the terrain. But does this behaviour make auto generated side objects unusable?

Regarding the second post, is the same bridge actually also active for the specific marker sections in the screenshot? If so, then a simple deactivate / activate for the side object in the main Side Object settings will fix this.

Since you made the comment that there are a number of unacceptbale bugs that makes the render useless, can you point out one by one what these bugs are so we know what to address? Or is all this already covered by my response?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

In the very first image the road was right above the terrain nearing both ends. The bridge should have spawned, especially after deleting and refreshing the side meshes multiple times.

I also showed that my other side meshes (which were spawned independently and were not added to the bridge side mesh which is also an option) disappeared when adjusting the auto generation parameters. I always have "continue barriers and props" checked as this is the appropriate and correct logic for the result I want to achieve.

As for a list of unacceptable bugs, I will be doing more testing tomorrow at work as I attempt to make easyroads3d work for my use case, a list of these bugs/inconsistencies with clearer screenshots and indications will follow shortly.

Thanks for the reply.

 

Hi nicolasbluj,

Before posting yesterday I double checked.

1. Added a new road with all markers higher above the terrain, then activated a bridge. The bridge did not appear, this is the situation I mentioned in my previous post
2. Added a new road with all markers at the terrain height, activated the bridge and lifted the road in the middle (a scenario for situations where a road for example crosses a motorway). The bridge did appear
3. Added a road with the first and last marker near the terrain and middle markers higher above the terrain and then activated the bridge (Situations like the two motorway examples in the new demo scene). The bridge did appear.

Which of the scenarios (2 or 3) matches the situation in your first image and can you consistently recreate that with different roads? Can the issue be isolated to a specific road marker setup? You can always send us the project / scene by email so we can look at it.

Each side object is generated independently from each other so changes to auto generation parameters will not affect these other side objects, certainly when they are not added to the bridge side object.

How are these other side objects generated? Are they auto generated or activated per marker? If they are activated per marker, then are these side objects indeed still marked as active on these markers?

Ok, thank you, I will wait for more info.

Raoul

 

Raoul, new question. I'm trying iTS (Intelligent Traffic System - https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/its-intelligent-traffic-system-23564). They request latest Easy Roads latest alpha version.
I have ER serial. Hence, I downloaded EasyRoads3D.v3.3.0a1
I assume this is the latest alpha. Am I right? Seems to be one year old ... Is there a new one I'm missing?

Thanks again!
Eduardo

 

Hi Eduardo,

We have been busy releasing v3.2 updates over the past weeks and preparing a new tutorial. The v3.3 alpha on the website is indeed older. It will be updated soon with a new beta version.

In fact the demo package, available on the Asset Store and free if you have a Pro license, was also updated and this package actually uses the new v3.3 beta. So you could import this package as well if you want to try the latest version. It is a larger package with additional assets so perhaps you first want to try this in a new project.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thank you! Already tested the new demo last weekend. Great job! In fact we migrated to 3.2 on our main branch code.
Just waiting the alpha (on a test branch) so as to test integration with iTS.

Best regards,
Eduardo