GAIA - AAA terrain generator, procedural texturing, planting and scene creation

Bingo! Many thanks

 

No problem. Glad I could help.

 

Anyone else having problems using Gaia with build settings set to TVOS? When I try to stamp a terrain with my build settings set to TVOS, the unity editor freezes up and becomes completely unresponsive. I need to force quit. If my project is set to desktop (either windows or mac) it works just fine. It's 100% repeatedable using just an empty project and Gaia.

 

This almost sounds like a Unity bug, like the one that caused errors when importing packages with it set to WebGL a while back. Is it only the actual stamping/spawning that chokes, or does it not like the finished terrain either? I don't have an explanation for why, but I can suggest a possible workaround: Create your terrain with it set to Desktop PC, and then set it back to TVOS when you're done. Gaia just makes a standard Unity Terrain, so as long as the TVOS platform can handle the resolution and detail settings you've used, it should still be usable.

 

It's being slowed down because I parent them - and every add causes the entire tree of objects to recalculate their entire layout - this gets a bit crazy with tree and game object spawning.

A quick and dirty work around is to just select something other than unity while this is happening - unity wont be forced to draw the updates - and will do it all in one hit when you re-select it.

I am looking at a better solution for this in the next release.

 

Hmm.. i had no issues when i was trying Gaia for a Samsung TV project. I will take a look - as commented above, this tends to be related to obscure exclusions of some of the .net framework.

A workaround that is non ideal but works - is to do all your Gaia work on a desktop target, and then switch back to the tv target when done. This will cause a slow and painful asset rejig - but unless you are constantly redoing your terrain this should be largely one off.

 

I'll play around with this a little bit this week as well. I wasn't getting Gaia thread updates and missed out on these last week..

 

I had my build target set to Apple TVOS so perhaps it's unique to that environment? Yup, the workaround you suggest does work. It's just not an idea solution as you noted.

 

Great idea! I would definitely consider that.

 

I know, i know
I already created like 5 videos but deleted them all because of my bad english
But tutorial video is coming this days, promised

 

Hehe - don't worry about the english - I am more interested in the settings and what they do. I was initially very conscious of stumbles in my tutorial videos and nothing ever was good enough. In the end I decided to just put them out - and when I made an error - just corrected it

 

Yes please

 

Hey guys,

I'm wondering what your suggestions would be for assets to go alongside Gaia? I'm looking for the following:
- Shader Effects pack (Bloom, etc)
- Volumetric clouds & sky solution?
- Vegetation, Rocks, Terrain Models pack
- Realistic Grass pack?

I have a budget of $100 so I'm not sure if all this is feasible? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

$100 is not a lot as you will soon see
RTP oder Distingo for the terrain shader
volumetric fog and clouds (forgot the real asset name)
the turbopasceulr (or something like that XD) for the grass/vegetation stuff, if you buy one bundle you get the other one cheaper

and then there is much more
speedtree if you want (pretty expensive and there are currently problems with them
apart from a rather big performance hit if you dont target really high end pcs)

unistorm for the weather (there are atleast 2 other products but i have unitstorm ^^)

scion if you want a non-terrain shader pack or alloy (this alone is more than 100$ or UBER)

then there are vegetation managers like infinigrass....


if money is a concern you should definitely nail your use case down first
there is simply too much stuff to buy


if you go for RTP or UBER you get the other one cheaper
and i am happy with both



last but not least aquas for the water/effects if you need waterstuff


AAAAAAANDDDDD of course all stuff from cobus
the medieval exterior is superb ^^

 

Agree with Arganth. $100 wont go far so. Also good recommendations there as well.

Recommend use unity's own cinematic image effects. They are in beta but are really nice and free. If they have managed to nail the performance then you won't need anything else for bloom. The ambient occlusion looks really nice.

Realistic grass - turboscalpuers are great and well supported. There are others. It's mainly down to what you like the look of and style.

vegetation, rocks etc - can get free ones on the store to test. All dependent on your project though really.

Volumetric clouds - Sky Master ultimate is on sale at the moment and has them now as well and will be updated to do more from what I heard . It's a big pack with lot's of features. nasos is always adding features that can get lost in the very comprehensive packs he produces. Great developer. Customer service up there with Adam and Cobus(3dforge).
.

 

Man, my wallet's telling me no... but my mind's telling me to sell a kidney and go for it.

 

other people have kidneys too

but if Sky Master ultimate is on sale
take a good look at it

nasos is really good at supporting his stuff (infinigrass is also by him)

 

Thanks for your advice. Will probably look at using Unity's built in image effects. I also saw people mentioning SE NAtural Bloom & Dirty Lens. But I saw there were some negative reviews recently so not sure.

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/17324

 

i have SE and it works but if i would buy stuff now
get their stuff:
they also have watermarked trials for all their products
(downloaded some of them just yesterday to compare them to the new beta image effects)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/search/page=1/sortby=popularity/query=publisher:707

 

I have a little question, how can i paint my ways/path in the direction would i wan't ?
for example here in the video how it is possible to do this art of way/path

 

HAHA, thanks for the compliments

 

There are some amazing FREE assets as well:

* Unity Cinematic Image Effects - I have used this a bunch and largely don't even bother with other postfx now
* True Volumetric Lights (Open Source) - Its expensive perf wise - but the effect is beautiful!
* CG Tutes Free HDRI Skies - Really beautiful HDRI skyboxes
* Kode 80 Volumetric clouds - Pretty amazing volumetric clouds

And these are brilliant and a bargain at the price the authors are charging
* AQUAS - High performance, pretty and cheap @ $25
* Distingo - Sorts out terrain tiling and makes your terrains pop - a steal @ $15
* HQ Photographic Textures Grass Pack Vol 1 - brilliant value @ $10

So that gets you PostFX, beautiful lighting, beautiful skies, pretty water, plus great terrain and awesome grasses.

3DForge Village Exteriors Kit is also massive value and when you consider how much is included and what you can do with it.

I can't go past SpeedTree for trees - and their Desktop Tree Pack is top notch but expensive - if you keep an eye out on their own store you will see some amazing deals from time to time.

 

Here are some inexpensive alternative suggestions:

uSky
PA Particle Field - Great GPU accelerated effects including rain, snow, clouds, and more
GPFX - Fast bloom and gaussian blur effects
ats Colormap Ultra Terrain Shader

 

I think $100 goes a long way if you are prepared to be a little creative in your approach

 

Suspect you will need to use some form of decal system to do this - its not so trivial and unity terrain can't do anything that nice.

 

thanks adam for the information but you said it so easy but it's not easy

 

Nope not easy - i wonder if EasyRoads 3D would do this for you ? There is a free version here you could try.

 

Hi all. I just started using Gaia today and I am absolutely blown away! After the first half hour of reading the quickstart guide and the full guide I had a decent looking terrain with water and villages! I know, not much!

One thing though the quickstart guide mentioned how to fix the speedtree errors I got upon importing the asset but I don't have a speedtree folder inside the Gaia folder. Any ideas as to where it might be? I selected all upon importing the asset. Everything else is there except for the Speedtree folder.

Thanks!

 

If you don't un-select them then they will be somewhere under the Standard Assets folder.

 

I get asked about assets so much that I decided to create a categorised mega list of free assets - this list includes a bunch of Free & High Quality assets and as I come across more I will add them to this list.

I have used a good percentage of either these assets - or other assets bu the same author - and they will drive your $100 so much further!

If anyone thinks I have missed something then please let me know and I will add it.

 

Great list, but why is GAIA on the list? Is it free now?

 

He said "... & High Quality ...".. Probably should change that to "High quality free and low cost ..", Adam...

I think there are a few of them on the list that aren't free but are low cost. Good catch @magique..

 

I did see that he said that, but on the actual page it only says "Free Unity Assets Mega List" and "This page contains a categorised megalist of quality free tools and models to start your Unity game with." and it is categorized as "Best Free Unity Assets - Categorised Mega List" so anyone who just goes to the page will think GAIA is free. He should definitely change the actual blog to be labeled properly and to make sure the Free items are separated or clearly identified from the pay ones.

 

Ohhhh.. I see what you mean.. DOH! I thought there were other lower priced assets in the list too but on quick glance, I think those may all be free, except Gaia..

 

Hmm I take your point. Personally i thought it was a bit funny. Maybe I have been sitting in front of my computer for too long

That's an interesting nuance as well. Was thinking of also doing another page with good assets that go nicely with Gaia as people ask about them in this forum all the time. Maybe today if I get some time.

 

That's exactly what I was talking about but out of my bufget right now
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/64132

 

I am actually going to be exploring using this with Gaia - i suspect they will probably make really good sister products.

 

All i can say is wooo my goodness me yes Please

Also will you be adding Stiching terrains together in Gaia?

Thanks

 

Yes.

Ok... so there are over 130 free and quality assets there... the AQUAS Lite version is $5, so i flagged that, and I made GAIA an addendum to the end of the page and requested that people take a look, which isn't that much of an ask given the value of the list.

http://www.procedural-worlds.com/blog/best-free-unity-assets-categorised-mega-list/

But the page really is what it says it is - and I was really surprised at how much was in there!!

 

@AdamGoodrich Here is another free asset to add to your page:

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/fr...ers-realistic-weather-for-time-of-day.310180/

 

Awesome - done. I was speaking to the author of that the other day - something very nice is coming soon from him!!

 

Yes, I know. I spoke with him a while back about it too and was going to help him test. I was wondering if he was still working on it.

 

This looks pretty neat, but I'm wondering. Is this seed based? I'm interested in using it for a networked game, and unless the terrain can be replicated without a ton of effort, I can't really use it.

Also, is this usable at runtime? I'd be using it to create a new terrain at the start of a new networked game. So players have new terrain to play on each time.

 

It is seed based, and you can generate at run time, but you need to write code to do that as the approach I have taken has been oriented more towards the editor.

I would not really recommend taking that approach unless you are a good coder.

 

Sorry if this was explained somewhere else - but does GAIA use a custom material like Unity's default terrain? I'd like to know what texture maps I'd be able to use with it before purchasing it. And what about Substance support?

Thanks,
TAP

 

Gaia does not come with any shaders or other non standard Unity features by design. My development goal was to work with what Unity provides in order to maximise compatibility with other assets and to not limit your choice of other assets.

As far as I am aware, Unity terrain does not support substance materials, but maybe you can find some other shaders that do offer this support.

 

So GAIA terrain uses the default Unity terrain material? Or would I be able to use the Standard shader with GAIA?

 

It uses the default unity terrain material, which uses the standard shader.

You can optionally change it to use another material if you want. For example Gaia will happily work with other terrain shaders such as RTP and Distingo.

 

Gaia is a tool that simplifies the workflow needed to create standard Unity terrains. All it does is provide preset stamps to create terrain features, and some preset rules used to place textures, grass, trees, and other objects onto the terrain. You can modify these rules, or create your own rules, and save them as resource files that can be used on other terrains. You can even save the steps you used to create your terrain in a session file, that can be shared or reused to create an identical terrain later. But the end result is always just a standard Unity terrain. If you delete Gaia from the scene afterwards, and then compare the terrain to one created manually, the only difference you'd see would be that the Gaia terrain would most likely look better.

So if you have any questions about whether Gaia supports this or that, all you need to know is whether standard Unity terrains support those things. If they do, Gaia supports them. But it doesn't add any new core features to the Unity terrain engine itself. For that, you'll need either another third party solution, or wait for Unity to update the terrain engine to include them.

 

Your response was much more eloquent than mine