World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

I saw for brief moment that Nature Manafacture submit post with nice additions to Easy Roads. Do you know pricing? It looks awesome. Also I have small idea but don't know if this will be possible in Unity. In new world of tanks they have that kind of dirt roads which uses surrounding textures but have own normal maps which results invery detailed deep wheel marks. Do you think Raoul it will be possible sometime? Sorry for small screens but I couldn't find better ones.

 

Yes, he was a little bit over enthusiastic . It will be announced soon together with new v3.1 features. The material package does take advantage of these new options as well. I am not sure yet regarding prices, it hasn't been discussed yet.

The images are indeed small, but with the correct material setup I think that must be possible.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I've just breached a new level of frustration. What am I doing wrong I just don't understand. here is the whole process:
1. I want to create railroad.
2. Made 3D model with two rails and separate woodbeam 3D models (for details).
3.I add a new road type, name it Railway
4. In Custom Editor Prefeab Window I add that model, click Building Connection Prefab, add two connections and have to click New Road Type (it wont recognize existing one). Click apply.
5. Click on Add New Road/Object and then Add New Object (Selected road type).
6. Mesh deformed. I wand to update that particular mesh or change it (use some other), don't know where to start, it is a bit, how to say, unclear.

For example, I make a custom model A, import it to project. What do I do with it to make asset B which can be used in roads - and how to connect those two. That's the point which is totally unclear to me.

My questions are:
1. Should I make a custom mesh and store it somewhere so it can be read automatically? Or do I need to adjust it manually?
2. For railroad is there a way to have that mesh together (say, two railings with 5 woodbeams under it) or woodbeams have to go as details?


Apart from that the rest is pretty much clear (road options, adding new materials etc.).

Thank you in advance.

Alex

 

Hi Alex,

Because of this order it seems the new road type was created in General Settings > Road Types.

The Road Type dropdown in the the Custom Prefab Editor window shows available road types based on the shape of the current connection. This shape will not be known if it was created in General Settings > Road Types. So the new road type will not be selectable.

The video posted in my previous reply includes the steps for creating a new road type for custom road shapes based on the currently selected connection. The video shows that after doing this, this "road type" will also be available in General Settings, but this time with the correct shape info.

Did you have a look at the setup of the railroad example in the demo package?

For the two rails, vertices at the start and end of the rails are selected in the Custom Prefab Editor window. The shape of the rails will match and snap to these connections assuming it looks similar as the railroad crossing in the demo package. Two side objects are used, one for the woodbeams and an additional side object for the ground surface. These two side objects are activated for the new railroad in Road Types > General Settings. New instances of this road type will automatically include the woodbeams and ground surface.

If no railroad crossings are involved you can use your model to create the new railway road type only. This works in a similar way.

Can you show images of your model? or send it to us so we can look at it and provide further feedback.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

It's alive!!!

Thank you for your post, you've cleared my mind completely. The problem was that I had wrong assumption - I thought that there is some custom mesh that I use for the road, stored somewhere - what I needed was to create a crossing and then link my road to it. It generates road mesh FROM it (which is kinda cool as we avoid having both road mesh, like two railings AND crossing meshes as separate assets), links geometry directly. Basically, I've placed markers for a new road, added crossing (one I've made before), deleted crossing, closed the track and voilla!

To add more to it I've found ER Road Network and other prefabs in Resources folder thus allowing me to manually (outside of the road network on the map) adjust settings, add roads etc.



Everything works like a charm, thank you again!

Next step is figuring out LODs, dynamic crossings etc. If something comes out I will feel free to contact again.
(definitely money well spent!)

 

Yea, I've just been walking around with the blur tool

But when I tried to build now, I got this message:

Shader error in 'EasyRoads3D/Terrain/ER Terrain Mesh Tesselation': maximum ps_5_0 sampler register index (16) exceeded at line 147 (on d3d11)

Compiling Fragment program with UNITY_PASS_FORWARDADD POINT_COOKIE SHADOWS_CUBE
Platform defines: UNITY_ENABLE_REFLECTION_BUFFERS UNITY_USE_DITHER_MASK_FOR_ALPHABLENDED_SHADOWS UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF1 UNITY_SPECCUBE_BOX_PROJECTION UNITY_SPECCUBE_BLENDING UNITY_ENABLE_DETAIL_NORMALMAP SHADER_API_DESKTOP UNITY_LIGHT_PROBE_PROXY_VOLUME UNITY_LIGHTMAP_RGBM_ENCODING

 

Hi aleksejfongrozni,

There are different ways to use the Custom Prefab system.

The power of it is in the fact that you can generate your own infrastructures with connections between them, like railways in your case. These connections are the mesh models that you import. Vertices are selected and indeed "roads" pulled out of these connections inherit the same shape. Additonally a new road type can be created so new instances of that type can be added directly to the scene.

If you do not need connections between instances then this custom prefab can be removed from the system and you will only use the newly created road type. In this case the mesh is only used to generate the road type shape.

So the mesh itself is not used for the "road". If you ever want to do something like that, then you can look at the procedural side object type, the full mesh will repeat along the track but it will be more complicated to connect them to other objects.

I am not entirely sure what you want to do with the road network prefabs in the project Resources folder. Please be careful with editing the main road network prefab and log files manually

Anyway, glad to hear you for that working!

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi SveinEven,

These shader errors have been brought up fairly often on recent pages. It is related to two more complex shaders used for terrain meshes in an older version of the demo package.

https://forum.unity.com/threads/eas...g-new-road-system.229327/page-94#post-3456102

Which version of the demo package are you using? Can you check the Build Target of these shaders in your project and change it to 5.0 if these are indeed older shaders. Otherwise please let me know. Or you can simply remove the shaders if you do not use them

Thanks,
Raoul

 

My bad, I did not search good enough. If I can just delete it, then that might be the easiest fix. Thanks!

 

No problem, I just mentioned it to show there is an history of this so you can compare your situation. That is why I asked to let me know if the fix in these posts doesn't work for you.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I want to share my experiences in Easy way :
Will be updated with more videos about side objects:
Started from zero without sample file and prefabs

 

Hello aliyeredon2,

Thank you for sharing your experiences!

I saw you were having some difficulties at some points, here is feedback on that.

At 10.25 you to try to connect one road to another road by movin gthe marker to that road. Please try this with the v3.1 beta which supports this. No need to split roads etc. You added an I Connector. These are intended to connect two roads only.

At 12.45 Terrain Splatmap options, you will see the effect of this when switching to Build Mode

Side object movie.

In general, side objects are what they are called “side objects”. For this particular side object, a railroad, it is good first work out how you want to use this. If you want to include railroad crossings and switches etc, you probably want to do this using the Custom Prefab window so they fully integrate with the crossings/connection system. See the post by aleksejfongrozni above. The railroad example in the demo package also uses this approach.

Also you created separate side objects for all the individual elements. This is good for pratcising and getting familiar with all this. When creating the full railway as a side object it will be easier to try doing this with a single procedural side object including both rails and the railroad sleepers, one side object. Or at least one side object for both rails. That will be easier to set up and for sure the rails and sleepers will perfectly align.

16.40 When assigning a source prefab to a side object, the mesh data and materials are extracted. If you make changes to this source prefab (scaling changes and adding materials in a later stage), please reassign the source prefab to refresh this mesh data. That is what you actually did at 30.07, but I thought I mention this just to confirm.

A small thing, I would recommend to remove the start and end caps of the rails. Alternatively you can create the prefab with 3 sections, a start section, middle section and end section. These staert / middle and end sections can then be defined in the same window at 14.30 simply by snapping the blue handles to the edges between these sections.

34:00 You can try the Cam Fly Over option here.

Thanks again!
Raoul

 

Thank you.

Where can i find this version ? i have downloaded latest version from asset store

Fixed in third video (i forgot to enable Update Splate in build tab section

Side object movie.

Currently i'm not familiar with crossing. I will learn it soon

I will cover this in the future videos

Thank you

 

The betas are part of the asset store import as a separate unitypackage in the EasyRoads3D root directory. Alternatively the beta onlty package can be donwloaded from our website.

The current beta supports connecting the first and last marker of a road to another road or with the road itself. This week an update will be available that will support this feature for any marker.

In my previous post I suggested to remove the start / end caps from the rail meshes. This by itself is not required for procedural side objects. However, if you start experimenting using similar shapes with the custom prefab/crossing system, this will not work. The system will work just fine on a mesh without these caps, the exact shape will be extracted automatically and "roads" and roads attached to these connections will inherit the same shape.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thank you

where can i start learning Crossing roads ?

 

Do you mean crossings in general or the custom prefab system I mentioned?

Because EasyRoads3D includes two crossing systems that can be used together in a road network.

Dynamic built-in crossings. Currently supported are X and T crossings and roundabouts. These crossings can be edited inside the system. More crossing types like flexible Y crossings will follow.

There is also the custom crossings / connections. This is the system I mentioned. You can import your own crossing / connection models in the system.

Together with the v3.1 release a new narrated introduction video will follow which will cover all this. Meanwhile there is the manual. In the first sections the recommended workflow is discussed, setting up road types and your project specific crossings based on your road types. In the Quick Start section of the manual you will see links to various provisional videos both for the built-in crossings, custom crossings (customized road network videos) and Scene workflow. All this is also covered in the manual:

Let me know if you have any specific questions related to this.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I finally had time to work through this process, I did not know your asset had the ability to have Parent/Child meshes for the Side Objects. VERY cool. Thank you Thank you Thank you

This should work great.... except, I have one small problem: Each building as a series of quads that act as the window color (the texture has some windows that are transparent) and based on music events those colors are affected.

So, each building has a script that does this work. However, buildings that are part of your side objects are not being affected. The material for the Windows is having it's color changed, I can see it in the Inspector. However the windows themselves are not changing color. Buildings that are within the scene do change color, just not the buildings that are part of the Side Object. Any ideas?

 

Spoiler: Tutorials for Race Track Creation

 

Hi aliyeredon2,

Good to see that you generally get what you are looking for after trying different settings Here is some feedback, just in case…

Video, the Fence is aligned according the terrain normal, that is usually not what you want for a fence, you can see that at 9.25 where you wondered what happened with the fence near the hill. You did actually set the alignmentto “none” in the other video for the lamp post side object.

Also, instead of creating a completely new prefab for the right fence, you can duplicate the fence side object and check “Mirror Horizontally” in the Mesh Editor window

X Position values are entered relative to the center of the road. Usually for side objects like fences you want to set the set positions relative to the road edge. That way they will automatically adjust to different road widths.

Video 4

At 4.20 and onward you created a new scene objects for, for example, the tire side object only. This side object has an X Position by default. This X Position can be set per object in the default side object settings for that scene object. Press the “Tire Set” fold out at 4.16 and set X Position to 0.This will make it easier to create the shape.

Video 5

Here too the X Position is set relative to the center of the road. Especially for this type of side objects you probably want to set this position relative to the edge of the road. That way terackline side object will also auto adjust to possible marker road width changes.

11.14 The end prefab, looking at the shape, this specific prefab will work well on the other side of the road, the inner side. For this side you will need a mirrored version and probably 90 degree rotated.

[EDIT] there is actually a utility that will create all 4 start / end prefabs for both sides. http://unityterraintools.com/tutorials/race_track.php#curbs

Thanks,
Raoul

 

There was a time when I couldn't see this window (it never changed from "build..." window). No I have opposite problem. when I click "back to Edit Mode" it won't change and bug appears. Not sure if I should send it to Lennart:

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
AwesomeTechnologies.VegetationStudio.VegetationStudioManager.RefreshTerrainHeightMap (Bounds bounds, Boolean useBounds) (at Assets/AwesomeTechnologies/VegetationStudio/Common/VegetationStudioManager.cs:335)
AwesomeTechnologies.VegetationStudio.VegetationStudioManager.RefreshTerrainHeightMap () (at Assets/AwesomeTechnologies/VegetationStudio/Common/VegetationStudioManager.cs:317)
ERVegetationStudio.UpdateHeightmap (Bounds bounds) (at Assets/EasyRoads3D/Scripts/ERVegetationStudio.cs:64)
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)
Rethrow as TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:232)
System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Object[] parameters) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MethodBase.cs:115)
EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularBase.OODQQCCDQD (Boolean restoreTerrain)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OCODQODCOO.OnInspectorGUI ()
UnityEditor.InspectorWindow.DrawEditor (UnityEditor.Editor[] editors, Int32 editorIndex, Boolean rebuildOptimizedGUIBlock, System.Boolean& showImportedObjectBarNext, UnityEngine.Rect& importedObjectBarRect) (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/Inspector/InspectorWindow.cs:1245)
UnityEngine.GUIUtilityrocessEvent(Int32, IntPtr)

 

Hi JamesWjRose,

When creating a new Mesh type of side object, "Combine" near the bottom will be checked by default.

First thoughts is that this perhaps is interefering. Is that the case? Depending on the script and whether the final prefabs still use the same materials, this combine can be temporarily switched of in the Inspector after selecting the parent side object in the hierarchy.

But based on what you wrote it sounds as if it is better to completely switch off "Combine" in the main Side Object manager.

Or is it already switched off and is this related to something else?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello Suavomirro,

It looks similar to the VegetationStudio message you posted before. I cannot tell if it is the related to the same. I will ask Lennart.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

It's unfortunate because I can't move my road pins anymore.;/

 

I will have a look when I get to the office.

Did you start the vegetation system before doing this?

Lennart

 

The process to switch back to Edit Mode broke. It seemsrelated to that, the system things it is still in Build Mode, in that state markers cannot move.

Can you try the following: deactivate Vegetation Studio, Build and switch back to Edit mode again?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

The problem is I have Vegetation Studio deactivated all time when doing roads because scene is relatively large and otherwise it would be too much for memory to handle.

 

Do you mean vegetation Studio itself or the "Active" checkbox in General Settings > Terrain Management > Vegetation Studio ?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Studio itself. Checkbox is selected.

 

This will be sorted out one way or another, meanwhile please uncheck "active" in General Settings > Terrain Management > Vegetation Studio if Vegetation Studio is deactivated.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

So I disabled it, did what I needed in edit mode and then without escaping it (because it changes terrain which I needed) I switched to another piece of road and activated Vegetation studio and it works for now that way.

 

You RULE! That was the correct answer.

You have done so much for me, tell me what I can do for you?

 

Hi raoul!

One quick question: is it possible to make a pool of segments of roads, and connect each one with another (or at least fake the connection) during run time?

By faking the connection, I mean, to put one road segment next to the other so you can't tell the difference at simple glance. I assume that this option is possible but maybe not desirable or what parameters should I take care of.

Any tips for doing any of the above two options?

 

Perhaps post or email some screenshots, would be interesting to see how you are using this with the buildings and scripts etc.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi 40detectives,

It seems you will have several road objects created in Scene View available at runtime. Perhaps hidden? Then at runtime you want to connect a selection of these roads objects?

This can be done through the scripting API by joining the roads if they are of the same road type. The below will connect road1 and road 2 and return the new road

ERRoadNetwork.ConnectRoads(ERRoad road1, int markerIndex1, ERRoad road2, int markerIndex2)

Or you can connect the road object through and I Connector.

road1.InsertIConnector(int markerIndex, string connectionName, out ERConnection connection)
road2.AttachToEnd(connection, 1) or road2.AttachToStart(connection, 1)

markerIndex can be any marker but in this case it will be either the first or last.

Both will result in a smooth road shape at the connections.

Let me know if you meant something else.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I should have a example to share within a week, likely less.

 

Hi again,
That's one possibility. Do you know if I can do it with prefabs of the different Road Objects (or Road Networks) too?

 

Can you give more info of how you want this to work?

Roads are part of the road network in the scene, i a standard situation they are not stored as individual Unity prefabs in the project folder. The examples in my previous post can be used on any of the road objects in the scene.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ok thanks, I'm just starting to use it, so I didn't realise. I'll try your previous post examples. It should be enough for my needs.
Thank you for the quick responses.

 

If it is better for your specific project when roads are stored as prefabs in the project folder, you can experiment with this. Roads that are not connected to crossings can be moved between road networks. So storing them first in the assets folder may work as well. But we have never used the system that way.

For smoothly connecting the roads at runtime like in your initial post, it is recommended to use the scripting API should be used in a way as suggested.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello! Is the roads mesh based? if so do they blend with terrain? In using cts, gaia and vegetation studio.

 

Hello mattis89,

Yes, this is mesh based. Blending with the terrain is material related, the roads can blend with the terrain. The demo package includes various examples of that.

The v3.1 betas include support for Vegetation Studio and the tool works fine with Gaia.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

V3.1 beta 3 is available on our website

- Road snapping and auto inserting matching crossings does now work for any marker, not only the first or last marker.

- Default Start / End offset options for side objects have been added in the Side Object Manager.

- A new decal system has been added that can be used to blend roads of a different road type with crossings or/and add decals like stop markings.

Decal prefabs can be added to Road Types by dropping the prefab in the "Add Decal Object" slot



When more decal prefabs are available, a decal will be selected randomly. Decals can always be changend manually in the main road settings



Here are some examples of this new system being used in an upcoming material and ready-to-use prefabs package by the NatureManufacture team.




Please let us know if you are experiencing any issues with the new beta.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

These are some really great features, @raoul! I am also excited to heard about the upcoming material pack.

 

okay, so that means I could make tiny walkable forest dirt paths with this tool?

 

Yes, dirt paths too

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi! Long time ago we annouced that NatureManufacture will co-op with EasyRoads3D team.

The result is:
- 25 road materials: asphalt, cobble, concrete, ground roads in many variants;
- all roads are connecting with any varants without cut lines, out of the box;
- library of road decals;
- library of side objects like road dust, decals, pavments;
- 165 crossroads prefabs : X,Y,T roundabout X, roundabout Y with sidewalks and without;
- everything in HQ;
- 4 shaders (2 with parallax and 2 without);
- more advanced decal shader (AO support);
- everything in compressed maps (low gpu and memory usage);
- LW SRP support;
- HD SRP support;
- Unity 2017 and 2018 support;
- new options in Easy Road which was result of our designers co-work;
- destructed roads have destruction intensivity on sliders;
- dirty road have amount of dirt on sliders;

Everything will be available onEasyRoad3D publisher side.

Just take a look at screens:

 

Awesome Content Pack!

With all that content, I'm almost embarrassed to ask....railroads (styles, junction parts, connectors)?

 

Hi MrG,

As it looks now this pack is road material prefab related, but for sure more will follow also for railroads.This will work in a similar way as the railroad example in the demo package and will include switches etc.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Raoul did you played Cities:Skylines? It's game on Unity and (with some mods like ability to move road pins) it gives players plenty of choices. Maybe you will find some inspirations there. Personally I love this game and Easy Roads have some similarities.