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ProBuilder+Polybrush vs Unity terrain - what's the difference?

Discussion in 'World Building' started by GazingUp, Jan 1, 2020.

  1. GazingUp

    GazingUp

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    Jun 16, 2015
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    271
    Hello,
    Can somebody please help explain what the difference between the unity terrain system and the combo from probuilder+polybrush is exactly?
    I really like the pro combo because we can easily paint low poly terrains on the scene versus the more convoluted method of first creating a high poly terrain using Unity Terrain, exporting the object to blender, converting it into a low poly model, then re-importing it to Unity as a mesh. I lose the terrain benefits anyway!
    So please help me understand why Unity's got these two ways of doing the same thing?? With the rise of low poly style, I don't understand why Unity terrain is such a pain to work with, but it seems the pro tools have got it handled.
    Am I ok to completely just use the pro combo for my terrains? I really don't want to export and import meshes.
    Is there a performance catch? Because I can easily just create the various LOD for smaller objects and just add occlusion culling to the static meshes right?
     
    GazingUp, Jan 1, 2020
    #1
    luixodev likes this.

  2. gabrielw_unity

    gabrielw_unity

    Unity Technologies

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    Feb 19, 2018
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    Hi! I'm no expert on the differences, but it really comes down to "it's a mesh" or "it's a terrain system". If you use ProBuilder (or blender, or max, or maya, etc) plus Polybrush, that's simply a mesh. A much simpler asset ... generally. On the other hand, if you use Unity Terrain, there's a lot more complexity ... but you also get a lot more features, it automatic LOD, texture painting, etc.
     
    gabrielw_unity, Jan 4, 2020
    #2

  3. GazingUp

    GazingUp

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    Thank you for the response. I thought of LOD and texture painting, but couldn't LOD easily be handled once all the prototype assets were made and set on probuilder in blender and re-imported anyway? Also for texture painting, doesn't Polybrush take care of that as well?
     
    GazingUp, Jan 4, 2020
    #3

  4. gabrielw_unity

    gabrielw_unity

    Unity Technologies

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    Yup, you could certainly get the same results ... however you'll have to manually build + implement them yourself (model each LOD, set up the LODs, create custom shaders for layering textures with Polybrush, etc).

    Personally, I prefer the mesh route for smaller scenes, or non-desktop applications. I like to be in control of everything, and using a mesh allows this. For very large scenes though, Terrain would probably be much better for performance.
     
    gabrielw_unity, Jan 6, 2020
    #4
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  5. GazingUp

    GazingUp

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    Interesting. How would you suggest to do low-poly (triangulated faces - flat shaded )open world terrain then? Unity terrain cannot do low poly since it is a height map system - at least not with the inbuilt terrain system. I did think about first creating the heightmap and then using low poly meshes all over that terrain - but is this performant?
     
    GazingUp, Jan 6, 2020
    #5
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  6. jmbarker

    jmbarker

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    I used Blender to create a mesh with my desired dimensions and mesh density, and then imported it into Unity as a .fbx file/mesh. At first I accidentally miscalculated my mesh density and it wasn’t so “low poly” lol
     
    jmbarker, Aug 5, 2021
    #6