[RELEASED] 3D Scifi Kit Vol 4 official topic!

Absolutely nothing, I knew there is no optimization at all so I gave a try in order to get how playable it can be as it is.
Of course, it is definitely not smooth to make a game with this but still playable at low FPS to move around. It gets laggy when looking at many meshes in the camera frustum view indeed.

 

In this case, i think that possible to get some good FPS with texture reduction (diffuse map can be 2048), lightmapping and a correct occlusion culling

 

Indeed, I reduced the 8k textures down to 2k applying -75% reduction for main, rocks, and other non psd files (can't edit psd )
Using Mesh Combine Studio 2 asset, I let the tool simply combine all static meshes to increase performance, it could be playable now but not smooth enough for me (around 17-20FPS without lighting or culling optim) but I can move freely in the bigger hangar bay as shown below

 

It's a really good news!

 

IDK if I'm misunderstanding, but wouldn't a person normally change the functional resolution of all textures with a few clicks in the Unity editor?

 

You are right, but the files are still heavy to manage in 8k. I lowered them manually to work more efficiently with the editor as it uses less memory that way. Also Quest2 won't be able to support a so high definition so there is no need to keep that quality level for this specific use in the platform is not high-end.
If needed I just have to reimport the asset to bring back the 8k texture
It is like working with Unity's SNAPS assets (or any low poly that can be easily replaced or substituted), you build quickly your scenes then you swap with the high-def content once done.

 

In vol. 4 will I find some sort of capital ship bridge (Star Trek) ?

 

When i'll make some spaceship it's sure i'll make one For the moment i don't plan something about it
because i prefer to not make the vol3 errors i made (running everywhere without plan). But yes!
it's very possible to make one! All depending the spaceship size

For the ships I will also do things gradually (concerning the sizes), because making ships the size of the
StarTrek one takes a lot of time...

PS: If you have the vol3 there is something that can help you (the prometheus interior)

 

I have versione 3. Can I use version 3 and version 4 in a project, or they collide ?
PS: I have version 1.13 do I have to download 1.15 ?

 

In term of pure building, yes they can collide (units are different), but it is always possible to get some props! (and resize them a bit to fit), the texture stylish is a bit more simple with the 3 but i tryed to make them with a relative similar look.



Here is a screen of the "ship bridge" i talked: you can use this part if you need to make a cut scene.



But if you want join the vol 4 interior kit => To the ship bridge (it's a bit more complicated because you need to fill by differents methods) but it is still possible to fill the hole using elements that you resize. But once the door of volume 4 is integrated you can use the interior kit of 4 and continue inside the ship (it will only work for THIS ship)



I don't know if i'm clear?

PS: It's always good to get the latest version....

 

If you want edit PSD, if my memory is good, this software can do it : https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

 

Oh yeah thank you! I didn't remember GIMP could open PSD files too. It works fine.
So the computer screen images can be edited now using same font "conthrax-sb"

 

About the font : https://www.dafont.com/fr/conthrax.font

 

Take a look here for beginners and pro (i learned some tips here) :
https://jaredamlin.medium.com/understanding-frustum-and-occlusion-culling-in-unity3d-9b15cc2b078a

Another good tip :
https://sharpcoderblog.com/blog/unity-3d-slow-motion-effect-script

 

TNX A LOT fot support ! You are SUPER !

 

Also interresting Can be integrated to my kit 3 or 4 as flight model!

https://github.com/brihernandez/MouseFlight

AND

https://github.com/brihernandez/AceArcadeMissiles
https://github.com/brihernandez/ArcadeSpaceFlightExample
https://github.com/brihernandez/FreelancerFlightExample
https://github.com/brihernandez/FloatingCockpit

 

LOL I'm an idiot... I can't find "the prometheus interior"

 

Inside the directory :



In the search case : search "Infinity"

 

The station interior is almost finish.

I need to create some technical props and i think to release it soon!

You can create now some store into the stations I reworked a bit the KitManager to
include a stop motion effect (slow motion) cool with explosions

 

Hello everyone!

Don't worry, at the moment I'm not giving any news on the kit because I've had a somewhat exceptional situation... Indeed, sales on the Unity store have been falling for months (due to different factors) and it is difficult for me to stay the course financially.

So I had to urgently open a store on the Unreal Store (And I start converting urgently, a lot of my assets), so that the sales could compensate for the losses I made on Unity, that's why you haven't had any news for a while.

But the release is ready I will release it as soon as my situation stabilizes! Don't panic I'm still alive But there I had to react quickly...

Stay connected

 

I've said this to you a lot over the years and I'll say it again, you should start setting an update cutoff and then move on to a new release. As much as I love your updates, I'd happily pay for them as new packs just to keep you going. You have no idea how many of your packs I've bought that I know I won't use, just as a way to pay you more for all your free updates haha. I have so many showroom packs and no showrooms in my game, just because I love supporting asset providers that support me.

I've suggested your packs to so many of my friends and they'll purchase them and all echo the same statement after buying them: "How is this person able to provide so much for so cheap?" My answer is always, "I'm not sure." I don't speak for everyone here, obviously, but I'd easily pay 100-200 USD for your packs. For example, with the publisher Protofactor, as soon as I see their initial price offering, I'm happy to spend150+ USD on their packs because I know they'll continuously update the packs for months.

Just thought I'd share my 2 cents. Keep up the amazing work.

 

Messages like yours are always appreciated! Defining a price is always very complicated! Let me explain:

- In the case of my showrooms, it's complicated, because people often don't understand the relationship between the number of pieces I provide in the kit => And the price...

I tried a long time ago to set a price of $30 for small showrooms and people didn't understand the relationship between the price and the number of meshes. If you knew the number of emails I received on the subject:

"Hey! I don't understand why I would pay 30$ for a kit that contains 17 meshes? When such publishers make a pack with 150 meshes for $50?"

I tried many times to explain to them that the kit was a modular set, which allows them to create many constructions with a reduced number of parts... But 80% of people have the feeling of having been stolen.

I've been a publisher since 2013, and over time I've tried all kinds of prices $5 => $50 for showrooms, and when the products are too cheap, like for example $5 for a showroom => People don't trust! They say to themselves:

"If it's so cheap => It must be crap..."

And on the other hand, if you do the $50 showroom, people say to themselves:

"What!? $50 for 15 pieces of 3D kit? This publisher is a thief..."

It's very complicated to define a price for online sales... Over time I learned to act on the volume => And not by unit.

 

I understand this completely as I've had this conversation with quite a few artist that I know, that publish on the store. I think my history in the software development industry has educated me on the cost of professional-grade art, so I know how much it would cost exclusively. I've never been one to discount the value of something due to lack of exclusivity either, as many of my friends and associates do. I just love to see publishers get a fair wage for their work, regardless of exclusivity.

So yea, I completely understand why this is such a complicated thing for marketplace publishers. I just hope the market starts to realize the value of its work, collectively. Then, maybe we could see the price of things rise and more publishers earn enough to comfortably thrive.

 

On the publisher forum, there is currently a lively debate on the subject Because like me, many publishers are currently having difficulties with their sales since few months...

This does not only impact me!

Publishers blame Unity for having too many sales, and they think the result is people waiting for sales and not buying products while waiting for discounts. Maybe that has an impact? ! But personally, I think it doesn't matter much.

I prefer to have my small community of customers who, like you, make an effort to support my work (I would like to thank you all for that...)

The conclusion is that the current state of the world is not obvious. There are many parameters that are responsible for this... Economic/Political etc... As you may know I live in France and the economic situation in my country is really a disaster... Prices have exploded in all the domains ! Food / Care / Electricity / Taxes, it gets really complicated.

and there is also an important parameter, the stupid politicians who lead us have found nothing better than to want to make Russia bend in a conflict that does not concern us. And as a result, they deprive publishers of a source of revenue with Russia.

 

Yea I believe all these many things play a huge factor in it all. I do know that many of my friends will wait for a sale that they know is coming; I've had friends wait 3-4 months for a sale while avoiding purchases. I can also confirm that quite a few of my friends that would normally spend reasonably on the store have told me that they've been a bit withdrawn due to the economic state of the world. Most of them are unsure about how their finances will be in the near-future.

I do feel, however, like prices drive the market. When gasoline jumped from 2 USD per gallon to 7 USD per gallon here where I stay, we had no choice but to buy it. We could look around and find some for 5-6 USD per gallon, but ultimately the market governed the cost. Not suggestion everyone on the store should start to do outrageous spikes in prices, but I'd understand people collectively raising prices to kind of a set a "market baseline".

I've just seen so many providers whose content I love, leave the store saying that it just wasn't feasible anymore. I definitely want to keep you all around as long as we can have you.

 

Don't worry, I won't neglect the Unity store... I'd be crazy to do that It's just that I have to act, precisely to stay in the store as long as possible!

The problem is that if it were possible to bring people together around an idea to solve a problem, there would be no problem in this world! But it's impossible, let me explain...

I was also a small publisher when I started, and it's true that when you start this activity, you lower your prices to attract customers... Because it's important to have reviews! What allows more sales...

A product without review => Is a product which does not inspire confidence. Although the product is good! This is why every publisher must find tips for selling...

 

Basic question on optimization -- is there a difference between dragging a prefab onto the scene many times vs dragging it one time and duplicating it? I usually drag one item (like a wall section) and duplicate it in the scene (like to make 8 sections), adjust them, then select all to move them all at once. I don't think this would make a difference, but heck I don't know much.
Also glad to see you expanding to Unreal !

 

If my memory is good, they are gpu instance (if referenced to one meshe for parent), if anybody can confirm?! And if they are instance, it's quick to draw

 

If I'm understanding correctly, your answer is more advanced than what he is asking. GPU instancing, if activated in the shader, is potentially faster than rendering individuals with separate draw calls, however batching is basically the same thing, except it's automatic, and you can only do one or the other (instancing or batching). If he's new, and it sounds like he is, it's probably best to stick with the editor's static and dynamic batching for now, and only implement GPU instancing later if it seems like the thing to do.

No difference in what you are doing, as they are ultimately from the same prefab, and should all inherit changes to that prefab if you make them. (And that's something you can test.) It's a little different if you break the prefab connection, but it doesn't sound like you are doing that (which is a choice to do so, an option in a context window when you select an instantiated prefab in the hierarchy and right click).

Performance optimization can be complicated and tricky, but clicking the boxes for static batching and dynamic batching is easy, and everybody starting out should make themselves aware of these options and how they affect performance. The check boxes are in Project Settings > Player > Other Settings > Rendering. IIRC, In the old, old days - almost a decade ago - developers using a free Unity editor (free personal instead of paid-for pro) didn't have access to static batching, and that came somewhere in Unity 5, when free users finally got access to a lot of features formerly restricted to paid users, like linear color space and so on. Independent control over GPU instancing came a little later, made accessible for those who wanted specific control over batching.

If I have anything above wrong, somebody please correct me. I just woke up and I haven't had coffee yet. I might be in a different reality.

 

Hi No i talked about the standard unity 3d display in the scene :

1 FBX In the project => Unity create a ghost/meta file with the object ID => If you drop 6 times the FBX in the scene, for Unity, it's a 3D instance ! Because it is relative to the same object ID. It is the same for prefabs : If the prefab is dropped 6 times Unity detect that a instance of the FBX ID.

All of this was explained a looonnngggg time ago! When Unity was 2.0 if my memory is good.

 

Hey Guys

The cat is still alive

As I said in a previous message, Unity sales had been declining since several months, I had no choice to open a new store on the Unreal Engine to compensate the losses.

Which was done during the summer holidays, it took a lot of work, but it's good! given that my main activity is to be a publisher, I had to react quickly to avoid being in difficulty...

But nice surprise! I have just uploaded a new version of the Kit to please you for the start of the school year!

I revised quite a few systems such as the shooting and explosion system, I also added new FX for Fire and a new map to show you how to create interiors for the space station!

I hope you like this update I still have to work on converting my products to Unreal (Lumen is a pure piece of code... I need to admit that Unreal 5.x is very cool, can't wait to convert my scifi 4 on this engine )

I hope you are well, and that your health is good (that's the most important thing)

If you want to take a look: Content by Creepy+Cat - UE Marketplace (unrealengine.com)

 

Creepy-Cat, since you have a poll asking what people want, I thought I'd chime-in with my idea. I've always wanted something like one of your Sci-Fi kits except all the pieces are rusted-out, dirty and damaged.

That way someone could build a scifi post-apocalyptic scavenger environment (like Jakuu from Star Wars) or a big, creepy derelict that's drifting through space (like Event Horizon or the "space jockey" scene from Alien).

Though, I imagine that making some really atmospheric wreckage would involve a lot more complexity then the shiny, new pieces that you usually make.

 

You have to understand that a science fiction kit is a terribly long and hard thing to make, especially in the case of damaged parts! When I make a kit I try to do a little bit of everything, to allow the people to build something quickly. This is why there is always something missing!

For the dirty side of textures, I have always explained that you can use the present textures, which are ID maps, which you can use and modify according to your desires, in substance painter or designer style software that use ID maps. Example Quixel Suite/Substance Painter/Zbrush etc

Example:

At 4 min:

You also have to understand that for a price around $30/40 it is impossible to provide the complete contents of a game like starfield! Which includes normal pieces and the damaged version of the pieces...

But this kit is not yet finished, it is only the beginnings I plan to add some broken pieces and i'm thinking to a system to add dirt also. But i have so many things left to do on this kit, that for the moment, the damaged versions of the parts are secondary for me now.

I have to do the space ships now, and secretly I must admit that I was impatiently waiting for the release of the Starfield game!

I was not disappointed! Because this one gave me lots of new ideas regarding the design of future ships. In fact, I had been looking for a long time to create a modular system, which would allow people to build their own ships. It’s done with Starfield!

I'm going to take inspiration from the way how Starfield builds some spaceships and I'm going to try to make a system identical in design.

 

Dirt and grime is something that can be added with shaders and decals, if I'm not mistaken. You don't necessarily have to do it on the source textures.

Example of a shader: Rust, Dust and Layers Shader Pack | VFX Shaders | Unity Asset Store

 

Yes you right! It's just that i add the possibility to a product team to arrange a bit the kit for they needs. Thanks for the link!

Note: Did you try it on the kit? (The shader)

 

I haven't tried it, but it follows the general rules of such art. You create wear at the edges and you add smudges. That's all most artists do.

Obviously it would not give the right kind of effect for everything, as different substances break apart in different ways, but it should be appropriate for metal surfaces at least.

You can also do dirt by a method like AO. You just turn up the AO a bit, and make the faked shadow color something more like a brown or whatever to make it look like dirt has accumulated in corners and cracks.

Decals are best for adding stains, as you want them used in a unique, non-repeating way.

 

If you have a specific set of things to check, you might ask the developer of that shader for an evaluation copy to see if it's something you could recommend to users of your assets.

 

It's a very good idea! I'll contact him!