[Released] ATLAS - Next Gen Terrain Editor - essential tool for creating beautiful worlds

Sounds micro-transaction-y if you ask me

 

Bravo a nice step

Do you have plans on extending inport/export options of splines, like Transform positions to CSV?

 

We figured building a mesh from the splines would suffice knowing there are enough mesh > obj exporters out there, although if you can convince us csv options would be worth it we might add that ^^

 

Is there any plan to support Unity's new Spline Package?

 

Hey, thanks for getting back.
Certainly a really strong start supporting splines from the get go.

Most of our particular ideas in passing have been our exploring our point reference/point cloud data.
GIS (satellite geographic data).

Being able to in and out this ref data may have some good procedural uses or additional parameters we could build onto through our HOUDINI or Substance pipelines.

Hope that helps.

 

Good news everyone,


There are no words to describe our excitement after seeing this today. It's awesome to know that Atlas is one step closer to going live. Since we believe that this is a tool that many of us are looking for we wanted to share this news with you guys first. We also want to thank everyone for all the support that we received so far and can't wait to see how you'll be using Atlas in your projects!

 

so…the release date？ can‘t wait

 

hmm took a quick look around but didn't find anything, you got a link? ^^

 

hmmm, can def see the appeal, we will look into it for sure but it wont be included right away when the tool releases.

It is possible to write our own script that inserts points into Atlas's splines and wed appreciate it if you guys contact us when the tool is released to get a better grip on the flow your talking about so we can get this feature developed and tested ^^

 

No trouble at all, we'll reach out in due time with any feedback points we find, thanks for getting back.
All the best for your launch.


EDIT- Unity's Spline system is currently in PR 1.0.0 you can grab it from
com.unity.splines in the package manager. I highly recommend checking it out.
The Unity Developers Gabriel and Karl are super passionate about it.

 

Nice, Thanks for the update. and congrats on getting the store ready to publish.

 

Cool thanks ^^,

We are considering getting along with this, maybe a unity package included with the asset that provides a script you guys can attach next to the spline container would work?
We personally don't like dependencies so def also going keep our current spline solution.

 

Ah that's good news.
I can also agree with you there too.
Publishing self-contained Packages for 3rd party support is generally ok for publishing as well.
easy to control on the dev side and fine for users.
The last thing you want to do is force anything really.

Your general ideas tending ontop of pre-existing systems as well allows all the more forward-thinking when it comes to supporting, it should hopefully alleviate some pressure for you guys as well so you can focus more on the product and UI/UX.

Looking forward to the release

 

I would say yes to this.

 

Hi guys, we've been hard at work getting the features and documentation ready. Its time to show off what exactly Atlas is and what it can mean for your projects

read it all on our website​

​

 

On March 16, 2022, we will release our terrain editor on Unity's asset store.
We have setup events on facebook and linkedin to serve as reminders so you guys don't miss out on the release discount.

FACEBOOK EVENT
LINKEDIN EVENT

DOCUMENTATION​

 

I typically don't buy from asset developers I don't know anymore, but you have something I think here, that is totally my work flow, and I have yet to see anyone come to my work flow , other than the other tool I said before, but he don't update it anymore, so I plan to buy this. and give you my support, I been a long time GAIA supporter as well, so I hope you do great things with this.. and stay with it. Please don't be like the many of others that just ditch it if sales don't go well right off the bat. I will recommend it, if I like it as I have other assets. Many people do buy tools I recommend, so I hope this one to be as good as it looks. Thanks for the update..

People ask for my help and ask me all the time what are some good assets, so I hope that this one ends up being one, please stay with it and I hope you listen to bug reports and feed back. This is one tool, that I will give it my support, since I have yet to see a tool like this, in Unity, I seen out but not in Unity, that will be what I been wanting for years.. So, lets hope that you stick with it and aren't just looking to make a fast $$. I'm going against my better judgement and giving this support since other asset devs, have ditched other tools like this in the past.




I look forward to using it. soon. But, sorry for my concerns. I been and others been burned to many times.


I recommend once you get released and everything settled, to look into other assets you can work with such as Micro Splats, InfiniGrass, VSP, and others. This is what makes alot of other developers happy and wanting to buy such tools.

 

Well for the most part it depends. I truly believe they will stick with this because they are long-time unity users and probably have lots of features in their minds to improve this asset. As far as I know one of the team is working outside this asset which makes it more unrealistic to be for the sake of fast money. I'm assuming that they created this asset for themselves first and they probably realized that this is a next-generation terrain editor which must be shared but not free ofc.

But on the other hand, there might be a chance that they drop it. Which is the reason why I don't like dependencies at all. Let this asset be self-independent otherwise it will be harder to use it in case they drop it. I rather see other assets features integrated into Atlas which would take Atlas to a much higher level.

I'm planning to use Gaia for procedural terrain and then modify areas of interest where it's needed with Atlas. Then Gena and Prefab World Builder for the placement. Prefab World Builder is a pretty new asset but I see lots of potential in it which is why I bought it. Once I bought it, I found out he was the best publisher ever. Whatever you ask for he makes it in a couple of days which is insane.

 

Glad to hear you are willing to give us the benefit of the doubt

We have used the assets you mentioned throughout development and they are compatible (except for vsp), but will definitely keep our eyes open.

VSP seems to update your terrain on changes.
Atlas makes a new terrain "a preview volume" when you enter edit mode and applies on your terrain when exiting edit mode, so it's less invasive and allows other tools to not worry about terrain changes made in real time by atlas.

workflow would be something like:
1) Atlas: Go in editor mode
2) do your thing
3) exit edit mode
4) VSP: move a node so it updates
(untested)

Compatibility has been a high priority from the start, we too want to use Atlas in combination with other Assets so it's been built with this in mind.

Thanks for your support, hope you'll like it ^^

 

I been here using Unity since the early days of Unity 2-3, and seen alot of stuff come and go, time will tell what happens, but alot of these assets don't make alot of $$ so the developers leave, which I don't blame and why I personally refuse to sell from the asset store but I for one, support hard working asset developers, and hope to see this one stick around for years to come, and prosper.

I been a supporter of ones like Gaia, Terrain Composer since there release of them, and hope to be for Atlas as well. But, my concerns are valid, since it happens so much from the asset store. What concerned me, is the lack of posts from the developers since they been here for so long, that they have not been engaged, until now. So I plan to support them, and give them a chance. I just hope we don't see what alot of us have in the past. but enough of that, lets see how release goes and wish them, well and I do plan to support them, mainly due to there work flow is so much like I been wanting for a long time , only have I seen this outside of Unity, so its good to see something like it in Unity. Non destructive work flow is a must in making maps.

Looking forward to the release of Atlas myself, and plan to grab it first day it releases.

Lets give them a chance and support. It something Unity has really needed for awhile. Competition is also a good thing it helps push others, to do great things.

 

Yes sir, going to give you folks a chance for sure, something I been rarely doing, I think you have something here for sure. Its just how the community reacts, and how you guys react , support ATLAS with bug fixes, feed back and so on which will define Atlas's future. I hope Atlas has a long future, you guys for sure have something with that work flow, for me its a must non destructive!!

 

It's 16/3 now, there still no package bruh

 

Working on it...
We have some trouble with the asset store, looks like we are going to have to delay the launch.
From what we can tell it should be resolved within 2-4 days.
Package will drop as soon as it's resolved.

 

Good news everyone!
​

As of now Atlas is available @ a -50% launch discount for 7 days \o/

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/terrain/atlas-terrain-editor-207568

We are at standby to help you guys with any issues.
For direct help we recommend Discord​

 

Hi everyone!

Today is the last day to get Atlas at a -50% launch discount

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/terrain/atlas-terrain-editor-207568

For questions and feedback comment below or join us on Discord​

 

Hello,

First of all I want to say that what a great tool and thanks a lot for creating it!

However, I have one problem with it. When using large stamps, they create noticable steps to the terrain as there is not enough data in the height map to create smooth transition (see the pic). Could this be solved in Atlas Terrain by having an option in the stamp to have the difference interpolated, while still preserving the details and deeper slopes? I would really appreciate it if you could add this feature. Or let me know if there is an easier workaround.

Edit: Maybe adding a support for normal map would be easier way to create smooth terrain and still preserve the details?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi mattikal, this looks more like the height values are 8bit, instead of the pixels being stretched too far horizontally.
Try exporting a 16bit image and make sure it has a 16bit format assigned in unity as well.

This is what horizontal stretching looks like, even though the texture interpolates using bilinear interpolation.



Hope this helps ^^

 

Thanks for the fast reply!

After investigating more I still have the issue. So I have one 2048x2048 base stamp for the whole terrain exported from Gaea. Terrain size in Unity is 512 units (if that matters). If I export it as 16bit raw, and then import to Unity Terrain directly I get a smooth result (see the pic). If I create 16 bit grayscale png/psd/tiff from it and create a full terrain stamp and apply it, I still get the previous result. I assume the correct Unity import format is Single Channel Red, but let me know if I'm wrong. I'm using Unity 2021.2.11f1.

Thanks!

 

Alright, we have replicated your steps.

Here is the terrain in Gaea.


And here is the texture and result in unity.


The texture is exported in Gaea as tiff. (no other settings changed)
In unity its set to R 16 bit format.
The project is in linear color space. (maybe this has something to do with it, not sure ^^)
The stamp asset has just the heightmap assigned nothing else.

ooh! It could be your main mask being 8 bit, this would also result in terracing.
So if you have a texture assigned in the "Mask" slot on your stamp asset, make sure that texture is also 16 bit ^^

 

Awesome, thanks so much for the help!

My problem was that I assumed Single Channel Texture type in Unity would be 16 bit automatically if the source was also 16 bit. I could see from your screenshot that you need to explicitly specify it. Height maps are still new to me, so an amateur mistake. Thanks again!

 

Glad we could help man.

Can't wait to see what you are making!

 

Wow I am loving Atlas.. ty for this great tool!! I'm still a noob to a lot of Unity but Atlas is exactly what we have needed for good terrain work. Non-destruct FTW!! It just makes sense.

Haven't tried it yet and apologies if this is covered somewhere already.. everything I've been doing has been stand alone. Any chance we can use Atlas on pre-existing terrain? I have an already Gaia world that could really use some finer control through Atlas.

TY again!!

 

Glad to hear!

You can export your current unity terrain's heightmap and splatmap textures and assign those to an Atlas stamp asset and use that as your first base stamp.

We haven't added a utility function to export these from a unity terrain yet but you aren't the only one needing this so itl be included soon.

For now you can probably find a code snipped that can do this, exporting height and splatmaps from unity terrains is fairly trivial.

After doing a quick search it looks like unities terrain toolkit package already has these options \o/
https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.terrain-tools@4.0/manual/toolbox-export-heightmaps.html
https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.terrain-tools@4.0/manual/toolbox-export-splatmaps.html

 

You are awesome tyvm!!!

 

Atlas' first update is out! ​

We have focused on pressing issues and needs that need attention asap, here are the changes.
​

Fixes:

• splatmaps were not completely normalized, resulting in nan propagation and dark spots on the terrain.
• stamps created culling artifacts when placed too high.
• missing shader issue for the stamp asset inspector drawer when importing package for the first time.

Added features:

• warning message when the project is in the gamma color space on the preview volume component.
• feature where preview volume takes over the material of your assigned source terrain.
• double outer resolution for the "Eight" and "Sixteenth" preview resolution settings.
• performance options by letting the user choose the way that the preview volume updates its internal terrains (update visuals only, update visuals and collision and update fully)

We hope you like it, let us know if you feel like we forgot something or if there's a change that you're seeing problems with.

 

hi! thanks for making this available.

probably a stupid question, but how should be the terrain/stamps colored, the terrain layers assigned?
and is there a possibility to export the terrain(s) out?

(using the version before the update and U2020.3.31f)

 

Hi bobadi, there is a file included in the "Atlas Terrain Editor/TerrainLayers/TerrainLayers_order.txt" folder which describes the order they are meant to assign, but you can of course use your own configuration.

The recommended order for using the provided base stamps is: Grass1,Grass2,Soil1,Soil2,Rock1,Rock2,Sand,Snow
The last 2 are less important than the first 6 of them.

You can export terrain textures, if you select your terrain with the "AtlasUnityTerrainRenderer.cs" component in view, you will see checkboxes that you can toggle to export textures.



Turn on the ones you want to export and press [render]

For multiple terrains just select them all at once and do the same process.

 

hm, I changed all terrains to this but still no color



and in the stamp the splat layers are a different order (?)


I noticed this warning too, but don't when it appeared
DivideByZeroException: Attempted to divide by zero.
UnityEditor.TerrainInspector.GetAspectRect (System.Int32 elementCount, System.Int32 approxSize, System.Int32 extraLineHeight, System.Int32& xCount) (at <9f01bdfe2db54f738bae09d12d90e1b8>:0)
UnityEditor.TerrainInspector.AspectSelectionGridImageAndText (System.Int32 selected, UnityEngine.GUIContent[] textures, System.Int32 approxSize, UnityEngine.GUIContent emptyString, System.Boolean& doubleClick) (at <9f01bdfe2db54f738bae09d12d90e1b8>:0)
UnityEditor.TerrainLayerUtility.ShowTerrainLayersSelectionHelper (UnityEngine.Terrain terrain, System.Int32 activeTerrainLayer) (at <9f01bdfe2db54f738bae09d12d90e1b8>:0)
UnityEditor.Experimental.TerrainAPI.PaintTextureTool.OnInspectorGUI (UnityEngine.Terrain terrain, UnityEditor.Experimental.TerrainAPI.IOnInspectorGUI editContext) (at <9f01bdfe2db54f738bae09d12d90e1b8>:0)
UnityEditor.TerrainInspector.ShowPaint () (at <9f01bdfe2db54f738bae09d12d90e1b8>:0)
UnityEditor.TerrainInspector.OnInspectorGUI () (at <9f01bdfe2db54f738bae09d12d90e1b8>:0)
UnityEditor.UIElements.InspectorElement+<>c__DisplayClass59_0.<CreateIMGUIInspectorFromEditor>b__0 () (at <d4fb0f5bc2524ac39bb755624e6a18e7>:0)
UnityEditor.UIElements.Tooltip:SetTooltip(Single, Single)

 

okay started again and now there it is
but should have add Atlas Preview Volume after all multi-terrain is created, right? for the stamp to work across terrains

one finding: Atlas Preview Volume shouldn't be deleted

maybe stamps could be applied differently than clicking render on each terrain?
a bit tedious with multi-terrain.

otherwise works pretty well.

 

It doesn't matter when you create the preview volume, you should assign a "source terrain", so the preview volume can copy settings from it like the terrain layers.

The preview volume can be deleted and re-created any time too ^^ simply doesn't matter.




You should not have to click [render] on each terrain to render the stamps, that sounds like slavery! D:

Simply go in and out of edit mode using this button. it will automatically render all the terrains that have the AtlasUnityTerrainRenderer.cs component assigned.

 

Sorry I thought you meant the terrain layer order, not the splat layer order of the stamps...

They are explained in depth in the documentation, but in short you can look at each of those elements as a layer in photoshop that builds your final splat map texture for that stamp.

Those errors seem related to the unity terrain tools package? not sure but im not seeing any Atlas related errors there.

 

Atlas is fantastic asset. Really like it but I'd say the ability to easily ingest an already existing terrain and its textures is an essential addition. If it could also deal with existing details, trees then it would be the perfect tool to combine with any other terrain tool. Being able to create/modify a terrain in atlas or another tool and keep swapping between them whilst maintaining changes would be the ultimate solution and make atlas indispensable and must buy for all devs using terrains.

One other thing is having a pdf of the docs included on import or as a download. I have other assets where the docs were online only and now the webpages have gone the tools are a faff to use.

Thanks

 

Thanks man! the feature of ingesting existing terrains is planned for the update after the next one.
It wont be able to also extract the vegetation data though, not seeing a way to do that.

The docs should be included in the package as a local html file under Atlas Terrain Editor/Documentation.

If you need the terrain to stamp conversion stat, we can help you get a base utility going that should serve you until the update hits the shelves ^^

 

Dang, I only just found out about this asset. I'm kicking myself for missing the introductory 50% off. Looks great, though, and looks like a great workflow.

 

Well thanks Steven! ^^

 

Sounds good. Can wait for the updated release as not doing graphics at the moment only code and logic. Great asset and looking forward to see it grow.

 

Another Atlas update is ready to hit the shelves! We also want to thank you all for the amazing reviews and feedback.
Here's what's new:
​

Fixes

• [Fixed] issue where terrain layers that share the same name weren’t selectable.
• [Fixed] issue where closed splines didn’t close properly.
• [Fixed] issue where the spline mesh setting called "maxDistanceBetweenPoints" gave errors when smaller or equal to 0.
• [Fixed] issue where the spline mesh setting called "width segments" gave errors when set to smaller than 4.
• [Fixed] issue where the spline setting called "width" gave unwanted results when set to a negative number.
• [Fixed] issue where the preview volume spammed errors when GI is enabled.
• [Fixed] issue where dropping spline to floor would not repaint the scene view.
• [Fixed] issue where gizmo icons would re-install whenever the project recompiles.

Features

• [Added] event that triggers whenever the terrain re-renders which can be hooked up to other tools.
• [Added] scale references to give you a sense of scale on your terrain; choose between Human, Tree, Bush, House.
• [Added] a performance boost option on the preview volume named "terrain update mode" choose between HeightAndLOD, Height, None.
• [Added] an indication when writing to an unassigned terrain layer.
• [Added] warning where a texture lower than 16bit is assigned when 16bit is expected.
• [Added] actions on the preview volume to subscribe to when we enter or stop editing.

Changes

• Reduced overall gizmo drawing for a cleaner experience.
• The high resolution square now takes into account terrain height and positions itself better.
• Spline to mesh now updates the mesh instead of creating a new gameobject each time.
• Spline to mesh now updates live as you alter the export settings.
• Spline to mesh has a quick acces button for removing the mesh.
• Exporting textures or editing masks does no longer create a new folder in your main Assets folder.
• Rewrote the SplineUtils class featuring easier to use API.
• Changed some icon names to follow the conventional naming.

 

Hello,

I am new to Unity and I've just bought the Atlas Terrain Editor.

For some reason I can't see the stamps in the scene window. It only appears as a big transparent box.

Please guide me on this.

Thank you,

Dalmar

 

Welcome Dalmar o/

Here is a playlist containing a couple of really short tutorials (1 minute on average).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-AR2wTCJmSulp8dmGUbGxOOnX7AVjaBJ

i think you need the first and second one.

 

Hello,

I'm still having the same problems.

I only bought the add on last week is it possible to get a refund?