Feedback Is the new speed tree shader not compatible with tree creator? Why not?

The new shader doesn't seem to work with the tree creator properly. Is this not the purpose of the update? Or is it only for trees directly from speedtree? I tried one of those and it seemed fine but still janky with LOD's.

Why doesn't this Native function of unity work with URP? Can't be that complicated a fix...

I guess I'll have to roll back to Lux Renders solution but man is that silly. It works perfectly fine if not for the shader being broken, and I don't understand why we're on year 3-4 of it not working in URP.

 

Hi @sacb0y,

The new SpeedTree material for URP and HDRP are only designed to work with SpeedTree native models (i.e. LOD's and Wind system are not the same). This was part of our efforts at better integration of SpeedTree 8 model into Unity 2021.2

Tree Creator is actually only not compatible with URP out of the box so I'm curious how you manage those assets in your project. Did you create the model by hand in Tree Creator or is this an asset from the Asset Store? Are you using any 3rd party tools for the Asset Store for rendering the vegetation?

Thanks, and apologies for the confusion.
Daniel

 

This one in particular was downloaded, but I have made them in the past too or just modified based on need.

Here I just changed the shader and it almost worked fine.

Realistic Tree 9 [Rainbow Tree] | 3D Trees | Unity Asset Store

This is the asset the tree is from.



(The red marks is cause of the shader change)

Changing the shader is fine as long as the tree doesn't regenerate. But it looks wrong. The shader in lux URP worked fine though but that was in older URP this time I was trying the speed tree shader.

Lux URP Essentials | VFX Shaders | Unity Asset Store

 

as @DanielTG suggested above the billboard is the only part that could be problematic in porting to 3rd party shaders as it does not have a mesh or any other accessible file format that could be easily converted from

its not to hard to unify all your vegetation assets so long as they have mesh/obj/fbx formats
I did a test on a speedtree and baked vertex color for wind and AO into alpha with just a few clicks


i looked at the speed tree models and for vertex tangents and vertex models they are not too bad, however with some improvements to calculations they can be improved just a bit


fixing/improving the speed tree vertex normal and tangents just a bit the lighting will be more visually correct for unity environment lighting



feel free to reach out to me on discord if needed, again it does not matter much who made them, speed tree or other so long as it has mesh or some accessible format it can be ported into 3rd party.

its a pity that speed tree makes it so difficult for billboards, perhaps now Unity has purchased them things could improve and they may even think about fixing the issues with excessive uv doubles and inverted normal triangles in its core system

Cheers