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Mesh Terrain Editor, a mesh-based terrain creator, converter and editor

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by zwcloud, Apr 10, 2016.

  1. scwe

    scwe

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    May 13, 2013
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    11
    I'm using Speed Trees and also Speedtree Grass The version of Unity is 5.3.0f3
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2017
    zwcloud likes this.
  2. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Posts:
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    Progress:
    tree_export.jpg

    Are you using MTE Free or Pro?
    If you are using MTE Free, I'll send you the new package via forum conversation.

    If you are using MTE Pro, please send me your invoice number to my email zwcloud@hotmail.com. (NEVER post your invoice number here or anywher publicly! It is used for activating.)
     
  3. scwe

    scwe

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    Hi again I'm using the free version at the moment. I really need it for the Speedtree grass more than anything else. With regards to the Speed trees I can just highlight them all and drag them into the newly created mesh terrain. The Speedtree grass is placed onto the Unity terrain via the paint facility in Unity but it doesn't transfer over when the new mesh is created. This means if we want to use a mesh terrain all the Speedtree grass objects have to be placed by hand onto the terrain which is way to time consuming and a complete pain to do. Thank you for your update it is very much appreciated
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2017
  4. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    OK, I will try to implement it in this month.:) But I think I should tell you in advance that the grass-related functions, including exporting/converting and painting, will only be fully available in MTE Pro as planned. And sure MTE Free will have a limited version of grass-related functions.
     
    mgrugl likes this.
  5. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Hi, @zmaxz and @jbooth

    I'm trying to integrate MTE with MegaSplat meshes. Do you have any ideas how should MTE handle the definition of height?

    For example, currently, MTE use local +Y as the height growing direction for all its tools. But in the example scene of MegaSplat, the mesh is rotated as (-90, 0, 0). So the height growing direction is local +Z.

    I'm thinking of providing an option to let the user determine the actual height growing direction. Do you have any suggestion?
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2017
    zmaxz and Flurgle like this.
  6. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    I have reproduced the problem and will fix it in the next release. Thanks for feedback!

    UPDATE
    Fixed. If you want the fixed version without waiting for the release, please send me an email with your invoice number in case you are using MTE Pro.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2017
  7. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Progress for z-Up (height growing direction is local +Z) meshes:
    z_up.jpg
    @jbooth I will also implement the texture painter for MegaSplat later. Could I use the icon of MegaSplat " site_icon.png " in MTE like in the above picture? Or are there any proper resources I can make use of?
     
  8. jbooth

    jbooth

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    I can send you a high res/layered version if you'd like, just PM me your email. What does it paint? Did you hook into the IVertexPainterCustomBrush so it displays the MegaSplat UI for painting? Or something else?
     
  9. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Thanks, I appreciate that! My email is zwcloud@hotmail.com.

    I think I will follow the instruction in Integration with other vertex painters or procedural geometry part and make a stand-alone editor for terrain-like meshes using MegaSplat shader. It's just impossible for a external dll of MTE to use a type, such as `IVertexPainterCustomBrush`, outside the assembly, since MTE is not released in the form of code files.

    I have tried to understand how the custom brushes work but it seems a little complex. The part that I got stuck is
    . What's the meaning of Vertex Weights? The vertex colors used in MegaSplat seems to follow some kind of rule but I failed to figure out that. I'll appreciate it if you could give me some hints. But this is the next step of the integration. Firstly I'll make MTE's height tools work with MegaSplat meshes.

    Thanks again for your help!
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2017
  10. scwe

    scwe

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    Hi do you have an update on when the version to transfer the Speedgrass over when converting to a mesh will be released? Thanks
     
  11. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    After some research, I think it is impossible to extract the *speed grass* from the original terrain created by Unity3D. But I will try to imitate it. That's not an easy work so I'm not sure when will it be finished.

    The tree exporting function is ready and will be included in the coming release.
     
  12. scwe

    scwe

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    Hi I'm sure it is possible as Terrain to Mesh can do it. The reason I'm not using Terrain to Mesh is it leaves some strange faded join lines between the meshes after they have been created. It's nothing to do with the Speed Grass and Speed Trees I don't know what's causing the faded join lines. Thank you for your hard work I hope you can implement the Speed Grass.
     
    zwcloud likes this.
  13. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Thanks for the information. I'll have a look at Terrain to Mesh to find out how it works with Speed Grass.
     
  14. Zythus

    Zythus

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    Jun 28, 2014
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    30
    Can't wait for a version with even better quallity conversion :D Anyway loving this asset <3
     
    zwcloud likes this.
  15. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Progress:

    1. Fixed an issue when smoothing height on a asset-based mesh-terrain. (It took me two weeks to figure out why and how to solve it. :oops:)
    2. Refactoring code, improving editor resource loading and doing all kinds of impovement work to to fix common bugs caused by lack of experience in early development of MTE.
    3. Start SpeedGrass integration. (failed to find out how to achieve this)
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2017
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  16. scwe

    scwe

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    Sounds great thank you :)
     
  17. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    @scwe
    I bought Terrain To Mesh to confirm whether it supports exporting *speed grass*. But unfortunately, no.

    The author of T2M also said
    in this post.

    So... I'm sorry but MTE will not export *speed grass*. But, as what I have said before, I will try to imitate it in future versions.
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2017
    Zythus likes this.
  18. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Progress:
    1. improved MTE creator: splat-textures can be assigned in the creator window
    2. fixing texture painter for z-up meshes.
    3. fixing Unity3D 5.0, 5.3, 5.4 compatibility: some new APIs in Unity3D 5.5 are used to improve editing performance
    4. implemented a uv modifier to normalize the uv of existing mesh so that it can be edited with MTE.
     
    Zythus and Flurgle like this.
  19. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    For the time being, I think it's not a good idea to support z-up meshes in MTE. That introduces too many problems that are hard to solve for height tools and texture painter. I thought that were easy to solve but it isn't. I'm really exhausted after solving part of those problems and decide not to support z-up meshes. Z-up meshes may be supported in future version of MTE but not now.

    I'm sorry for the delay of the new version. It's my fault.

    Update:
    A z-up to y-up mesh converter will be added instead.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2017
    Zythus and zmaxz like this.
  20. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Progress:

    Better GUI for Unity3D Pro and support irregular mesh-terrain.


    There are some more. I will post them after MTE is uploaded to asset store. I'm writing the documentation.
     
    Flurgle, Zythus and zmaxz like this.
  21. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    MTE 2.8.2 submitted to Asset Store, waiting for their approval.

    ChangeLog:

    # Creator
    * Support *.asset mesh file.
    * Splat-textures can be assigned in the creator window now.​
    # Converter
    * Support *.asset mesh file.
    * Add tree-export feature to TerrainConverter.​
    # Editor
    * Support *.asset mesh file.
    * Texture Painter:
    - Fix texture painter: paint black pixels when using a very small BrushSize.
    - Fix issue: when the mesh has rotation, the paint location is wrong.​
    * Settings:
    - Add an option *Show Point Normal*: show normals of modifying vertexes?
    - Add an option *Mesh Smoothing Angle*: the smooth angle when calculating normals of mesh vertices when creating or saving mesh-terrains.
    - Add an option *Language* to change language directly.
    - Open debug mode to users.​
    * Tools
    - Move history viewer, mesh statistics viewer, base-map baker and mesh-to-terrain converter to Menu/Windows/MTE/Tools/
    - Add a mesh saver.
    - Add a mesh pivot adjuster.
    - Add a mesh uv adjuster.
    - Add a z-up to y-up mesh converter.​
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2017
    Flurgle likes this.
  22. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    new videos:

     
  23. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    MTE v2.8.2 published.
     
  24. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Mar 15, 2016
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    377
    Progress:
    Writing Legacy Specular, Standard shaders for MTE mesh-terrains.

    standard.gif
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2017
  25. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    MTE v2.9 published

    ChangeLog:

    # General
    * Support Unity 5.6.
    * Add Specular and Standard terrain shaders
     
  26. Kikokaks

    Kikokaks

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    4
    Hello zwcloud. I cant download free version from the website. Could you send me a free version (64-bit) on my email? bashirov_n.r@mail.ru Very thanks.
     
  27. Kikokaks

    Kikokaks

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    Or somebody else, coul anybody send me a free version (64-bit) on email? Very thanks.
     
  28. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    What version of Unity are you using?
     
  29. Kikokaks

    Kikokaks

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    Hello zwcloud! My unity version is 5.5.3_f1.
     
  30. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Hello, I have just sent you an email with MTE Free for Unity5.5.x, please check.
     
  31. Kikokaks

    Kikokaks

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    Thank you very much for free version of MTE. I'll trying this.
     
    zwcloud likes this.
  32. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Progress:
    1. Adding flowing map to MTE: such as flowing lava and water. Related editing functions will also be added.
    2. Confirmed that substance generated textures can be used in MTE shaders. Just found a little bug about the importer settings. This bug will be fixed in the next version.
    substance.gif

    BTW, MTE Free now can be downloaded from mediafire directly. See https://zwcloud.net/#project/mte, in the Download tab.

    And new Free vs Pro page.
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2017
  33. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Progress:

    Grass Painter (not finished yet):
    painting_grass.gif

    If you have any suggestion about the grass painter, please post your ideas here.

    Basic functions: adding, removing grasses (randomly inside a circle). Updating positions of grasses when changing the height of mesh-terrains.

    some aspects:
    1. grass data: organization, dynamic generation and run-time/editing-time matters
    2. appearance: waving, color tint
    3. interaction: cutting and bending
    4. performance: batch, instancing and level of detail?
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
  34. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Just got a feedback from a user of MTE Pro: cannot activate. I have checked the activation server and found that something went wrong when requesting invoice data from Unity. I will fix this soon. I'm sorry. :oops:

    UPDATE:
    I have fixed the issue. It was caused by a unexpected change of Unity Publisher API: The field price_usd_vat was renamed to price_exvat.
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2017
  35. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Progress:
    grass.jpg
    → waving grass preview (big gif) ←

    1. Basic functions: adding, removing grasses (randomly inside a circle).
    2. mangage grass data: organization, dynamic generation and run-time/editing-time matters (I'm still thinking how to integrate runtime generating to editing-time. It's a bit tricky.)
    (2017-7-1)Done.​
    3. appearance: waving
    4. performance: batch (Unity batches drawcalls automatically.)
    (2017-6-30)The performance on mobile phone is bad: 200+ grasses in view result in about 10 FPS. I'm working on it.
    (2017-7-2)After using static batching, FPS increases to about 30.​


    This implementation is basically based on GPU Gems Chapter 7. Rendering Countless Blades of Waving Grass.
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2017
  36. omerselman

    omerselman

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    hi @zwcloud, can you tell me more about the performance on mobile platforms. Is that a big game changer for very large terrains?
     
  37. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Hi @omerselman , I think, for very large terrains, it's better to use built-in terrain instead of the mesh-terrain provided by MTE.

    From the point of view of performance, MTE is designed to
    1. decrease the resource size of terrain data
    2. decrease the number of drawcalls of a terrain
    3. increase the load speed of a terrain
    for small and medium-sized terrains.

    But, for VERY large terrains, it's a bad idea to use a big mesh or tiled meshes. Because a very large terrain contains too many vertices. Without LOD, all triangles in sight will be rendered and that harms performance badly.
     
  38. omerselman

    omerselman

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  39. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    In the next release of MTE, support for Unity 5.0.x, 5.1.x, 5.2.x and 5.3.x will be dropped.
     
  40. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Last edited: Jul 9, 2017
  41. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    MTE v3.0b submitted to Asset Store, waiting for their approval.

    editor_tools.png
     
  42. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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  43. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    MTE v3.0b published on Unity asset store.

    Change Log:

    # Editor
    * (New) Grass Painter
    * (New) Flow Painter
    * Mesh Toolbox
    - Fix: point size is too small.​
    * Settings:
    - Add an option to toggle main tool buttons: you can hide tools that won't be used.
    - Remove auto refresh filter because it hurts performance badly when the hierarchy changes quickly.​
    # General
    * Add hotkey for MTE Editor: Ctrl+T
    * Merge MTE Pro and Free package.
    * Optimize UI.​
     
  44. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    The activation server is down because of AWS hardware fault.

    I'm fixing it.
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2017
  45. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience!:oops:
     
  46. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Just received a feedback that MTE doesn't work on Unity 5.5.

    Actually it does work on Unity 5.5.2+(tested). If you are using Unity 5.5, please update your Unity to 5.5.2+, then MTE should works well.
     
  47. MD_Reptile

    MD_Reptile

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    This asset (MTE free) doesn't seem to work for me in Unity 5.6.3p1 64 bit. Gives error about not finding default resources even after following the instructions to move the files out, then restart unity. Too bad, seems useful!
     
  48. zwcloud

    zwcloud

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    Hi, thanks for the feed back. Can you post a screenshot or the error log?

    It works on Unity 5.6.0f3. I'm downloading Unity 5.6.3f1 now.
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2017
  49. MD_Reptile

    MD_Reptile

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    Sorry, I haven't got the asset in the project I was testing it in anymore, so can't get a screenshot for you.

    I think I followed the instructions correctly, moving the folders that were inside the MTE directory into the root (assets) of the project, and then the plugin complained it couldn't find either of those folders after restarting unity, and when I went to open the "convert" option in the MTE menu, it only showed a blank window, and spammed the editor with more error messages, I can't recall what those said.

    Also note I'm using the patch 1 release rather than f1 or f3.

    EDIT: I'll retry downloading and installing the asset, I'll grab a screen or two, hold on.
     
  50. MD_Reptile

    MD_Reptile

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    Ok - I think I should have tried using the asset without reading the documentation :)

    After redownloading and just immediately using the MTE menu it seems to work now, sorry for the confustion! I'd suggest strongly pointing out the "You can just start using MTE without any installation" part of the ReadMe :p otherwise people like me will find a way to screw things up :D