[FREE]MicroSplat, a modular terrain shading system for Unity Terrains

I'm seeing everything display properly in unity, but this is what I get in a windows build:


what i expected to see:

 

Are you loading via code/asset bundles or something?

 

using photon for the scene load, its built into the project, not addressable, or asset bundle

PhotonNetwork.LoadLevel((string)customData[0]);

 

Try in a fresh project just loading the example scene in a build without Photon to rule out any MicroSplat issue. Once that's done, my bet is that something it needs isn't getting loaded, like the PropData object that's hooked to the MicroSplatTerrain component or something.

 

I replaced the photon load scene, with normal unity and saw the same issue in a build. I'll come back to microsplat tests later on, perf seemed great in editor though. Thanks for the help.

 

@jbooth Hi, I switched over to microsplat as terrain shader and its great but I want to ask if it´s possible to change the per texture properties at runtime with a script. Lets say I want to change the smoothness of the 3rd texture of my textures. How do I do this?

Thanks

 

There's an API on the PropData object, which you can get from the MicroSplatTerrain component. Something along the lines of:

Code (CSharp):

1. o.GetComponent<MircroSplatTerrain>().propData.SetValue(index, PerTexFloat.smoothness, value);
2.  

 

Alright,

tried that but he tells me something that I am trying to change a color and not a float...
I don´t get it. Could you write a example? something to set the 3rd texture smootness to 0.5f for example

thank you

 

Who tells you something? Did you get an error message?

 

Visual Studio when I hover over the code. ^^´ Just an exampe would be nice.

 

so would an actual error.. the function has overloads for multiple types. And the example above is the actual code- are you new to coding? Index is the texture index you want to change, and value is the smoothness value you want.

 

No I am definitely not new to coding. Yes this is what I tried but when I lets say:

Code (CSharp):

1. MyMircroSplatTerrainScriptReference.propData.SetValue(0, PerTexFloat.smoothness, 0.5f);

than "PerTexFloat" is underlined red and it says it doesn´t exist.

 

Most likely you haven't included the proper namespace..

 

2019.4 LTS, I followed the documentation and get black bands where I expected blending.

The demo scene works fine, but not this terrain. Generated with MapMagic2, anyone else seen this?

 

I have not. I take it you generated the terrain descriptor?

 

Correct. Would you like to see the project?

 

My hunch is that terrain blending is not working with custom splatmaps enabled. Sound right?

 

Adding "using JBooth.MicroSplat;" to the top of my script didn´t do the trick.

 

I wouldn't expect that to make a difference- but you could try with/without and see easily enough.

 

You can see it right in the class itself:

Code (CSharp):

1. public class MicroSplatPropData : ScriptableObject
2. {
3.    //...
4.    public enum PerTexFloat
5.    {
6.       InterpolationContrast = 1*4+1,
7.       NormalStrength = 2*4,
8.       Smoothness = 2*4+1,

 

I searched it in the script and could not found it. Then I was thinking and found out that I had a old version installed. Updating the asset solved the problem. Thank´s for you patience ^^

 

Huh almost, When I do "TerrainMat.propData.SetValue(0, MicroSplatPropData.PerTexFloat.Smoothness, 0.1f);"
I get a error: IndexOutOfRangeException: Invalid Color index(7)! no matter what int I use as index.

 

Odd, is the values array null or empty? It's a 32x32 buffer, so not having index 7 seems unlikely. Also, you'll want to call Sync on your target object (or MicroSplatObject.SyncAll()) after setting the value- this will synchronize it across multiple terrains if present, and sync it to the GPU.

 

When I check if values or values[0] is null it says no it´s not. Any other ideas?

 

What's the length of values? Should be 1024, which is much greater than 7..

 

I can confirm that the black terrain blending occurs when custom splatmaps are enabled. Disable the custom splat maps and the terrain blending renders correctly.

 

Ok, I'll look into this.

 

Ok, the simple repro is not showing the issue - everything works fine. What I suspect is happening is there's some kind of race condition between MM and the code which sets up the terrain blending. Like, the object you wish to blend is instantiated before MM sets the custom control maps, so when the data is copied it has no splat maps. If you press the sync button on the terrain, does it start blending? Also, does the MM component set the external splat maps on the MicroSplatTerrain component, or only directly on the material?

 

1. No, sync button does not change anything.

2. Not 100% sure of the question, however I am using the MM MicroSplat output node as shown in image.

 

If you look at the terrain, there should be a MicroSplatTerrain component on it, with the splat maps generated by MM on it. If they aren't there, then it's likely the MM code is setting the data directly on the material and needs to set the data on the MicroSplatTerrain component instead - because that's where it gets copied from to the blending material.

 

Bingo. You found it. All splatmap slots are empty. I'll investigate the MM code. Thanks for your help.

 

Hi will microsplat works with mesh ? Unity terrain converted to mesh. But without your mesh module. So will it work with mesh terrain? Thank you.

 

There's a module for doing mesh terrains- that's what it's for..

 

But my question is that I've already created the mesh terrain without using your module (mesh terrain) so can I still use microsplat core module with that? Because I don't have your mesh terrain module. That's why I'm asking. Thank you.

 

No, the core module works for terrains- if it worked with meshes there wouldn't have been the need to write the Mesh Terrain or Mesh Workflow modules. Note that Mesh Terrains does not include painting tools, since you are expected to be working from a terrain - where as the Mesh Workflow module works with any mesh, but does not support some features that only work with terrain like geometry.

 

Okay. I get that now. Thank you for brief explanation.

 

I had to edit MM2 MicroSplatOutput.cs and assign the textures in the ApplyData class.

 

Yes, values.Length is 1024...

 

Maybe submit that change back to MM if you could?

 

Then not sure why it would be throwing an out of bounds error with index 7..

 

Any Ideas of what I could do to "recreate" the arrays? maybe setting up the terrain and microsplat data for this terrain in general helps.

 

I mean it's there and already created. Maybe step through the code and make sure it's doing what we expect it to be doing..

 

Would deleting the material and data assets for this terrain and recreating them help? Because I used a old version of Microsplat to create them. Maybe it´s not compatible with something? If so, which assets would I have to delete?

 

Unlikely; from what you’ve said the array has data; you should be able to inspect it even and see what value is in index 7..

 

Value 7 is a yellow color. Is it possible that I send you my terrain and you take a look at it by yourself? Which files would I have to include?

 

Ok, so I just got a chance to repro this- the parameterization is wrong in one of those functions, and it ends up trying to access index 7 of a color from the values array, not of the values array itself. Doh. Sorry about that,. Try replacing those functions with these..

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. public void SetValue (int textureIndex, PerTexFloat channel, float value)
3.    {
4.       float e = ((float)channel) / 4.0f;
5.       int x = (int)e;
6.       int y = Mathf.RoundToInt((e - x) * 4);
7.       SetValue (textureIndex, x, y, value);
8.    }
9.    public void SetValue (int textureIndex, PerTexColor channel, Color value)
10.    {
11.       float e = ((float)channel) / 4.0f;
12.       int x = (int)e;
13.       SetValue (textureIndex, x, value);
14.    }
15.    public void SetValue (int textureIndex, PerTexVector2 channel, Vector2 value)
16.    {
17.       float e = ((float)channel) / 4.0f;
18.       int x = (int)e;
19.       int y = Mathf.RoundToInt ((e - x) * 4);
20.       SetValue (textureIndex, x, y, value);
21.    }
22.  

(Then remember to call Sync on your terrain, or MicroSplatObject.SyncAll() if many things are sharing the same material, after you have set all properties that you might want to set).

 

Works Thank you for this great asset.

 

Hi Jason,
I'm new to the Mega/Microsplat world but reading your comparison of the two I recently bought Megasplat (version 1.76) because I needed a mesh workflow for a project I'm doing for a local museum trying to do mini-science apps online via WebGL 2.0. I'm building on a model of comet 67p which has a texture map but at the scale of 4 km, it needs a plausible microtexturing from data which Megasplat seems to do brilliantly - UNTIL I switch platforms from Windows to WebGL in 2018.4.25f1 and it all goes "black" (it all returns fine when I switch it back, same behavior for both your example mesh and terrain workflows in Megasplat and also tested in older versions of 2018). I have OpenGL 4.6, and am set up for webGL 2.0 also just retested with the latest Nvidia drivers for my GTX1080 on MSI laptop. Setup is shown in attached images.

Researching the problem, I have seen the terrain workflow work correctly in a Microsplat LWRP example using WebGL seen on simmer.io - found here: Play Microsplat LWRP Test in your browser | SIMMER.io

I noticed on this forum, that there isn't much current Megasplat activity and that Microsplat now has a mesh workflow of its own (and it looks like a better way to splat over existing textures maybe). Also not found anything recent about WebGL issues which I take it to mean it works for most people or isn't supported and I missed that somewhere.

I'm happy to go in the Microsplat direction (I don't need 100's of splat textures), but I see that the prerequisites are pretty much the same for both tools, so I'm wondering what I'm not setting up properly to make WebGL work in Megasplat?

Also, should I be considering Microsplat going forward instead? I have other projects such as Mars HiRise data with large texture maps which can use terrain workflows or meshes.

I've snapshot some of my setup screens in case that's helpful. (attached - apologies if it's not

Thanks - the test results in Windows are already starting to be amazing! - excited to make this work if possible.

Steve Utt (Fredboy)

 

Honestly I have no idea- I haven't run either on WebGL myself. My guess would be an issue with texture arrays, but if they work in MicroSplat it's not that- another possibility is something like non-square matrix's, but you'd see a shader compile error in the build log in that case.

That said, yes, MicroSplat is basically where everything is these days- it has a ton more features, is modular, is considerably faster, and unless you need over 32 textures, it's better than MegaSplat across the board. I mostly keep MegaSplat around because there are a few projects and voxel engines that support it, so it still gets used..

 

Hi, Jason. I I just bought a HDRP version with the latest terrain blend module and triplannar module today. But when I try them together, I got this stretched blend effect.. Seems like one axis of the triplannar effect is not working on the blended module? Can you tell me how this might be caused?