[Released] Deformable Surface

There is no way in Unity to save the render texture, or extract the data in a saveable format. Getpixel does not work on the RFloat texture format, and so the floats cannot be extracted from it.

 

https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Graphics.CopyTexture.html
"
Some platforms might not have functionality of all sorts of texture copying (e.g. copy from a render texture into a regular texture). See CopyTextureSupport, and useSystemInfo.copyTextureSupport to check.
"

 

Hi, just being curious are you looking at deforming terrain(s)?

 

Not doing anything at the moment, still interested on how to efficiently deform a terrain at runtime

 

Efficiently is the keyword That might depend on various factors like if surface normals are to be deformed as well I suppose, maybe just a strong height map/tessalation will work.

 

After upgrading to Unity 18.1.1, there is a build error with your shader:
Shader error in 'Deformable Surface/Deformable Surface Standard': syntax error: unexpected token '*' at line 496 (on d3d11)

Are you still mantaining this plugin?

 

It doesn't have anything to do with that. There is no way, with any graphics API, to copy an RFloat texture from the GPU to the CPU in Unity.

 

Clicking 'Open Asset Store' image merely opens image-viewer of site and shows the button in an overlay...

 

Hello
I bought your asset.

I have the problem that when i import it to existing and also at new project unity crashes

Unity 2017.1.1f

So i cant use it
What can i do tryed also at other unity version. not work.


Also want ask how big can the surface be made without performance to slow ?

and can it be used also at other meshes then the created one , or at a terrain mesh or a circle ? for example ?



Regards

 

Hi. I have no issues with importing this asset in Unity 2017.1.1f. Can you send me crash report?

In general, it depends on height map texture resolution and tesselation quality. Use profiler to check how does it affect performance.

No, you cannot attach it to any other mesh. But there is a button that allows you to align the surface plane with terrain.

 

I

Should we talk here or with PM ?

Also i tred now different Unity 2017 versions but not work .

Thats it i get no crash report i checked also the TMP folders where it should be unity crashes without the Report etc window and in TMP no Crash Log files

What could i do ?



And when we get it to wrok how is there a limit your assets set how big a surface can be and can it have also other shapes then a recentangle ? or can it be tilled ? or so


Have you screenshots how you udsed it or others used it ?

Want use it for snow mountains like for example RDR2 - Red Dead Redemption 2


Regards

 

I can not help you without any information about your crash. It could be anything.

Check out #2 video on Asset Store page

 

Yes but what could i to when there is nothign as said :

Thats it i get no crash report i checked also the TMP folders where it should be unity crashes without the Report etc window and in TMP no Crash Log files

What could i do ?

Yes i saw that no more video how big it can be then when it work and so on ? And from other customers in games etc ?

 

?

Its now over 9 days ago that i bought and cant use it

 

Missing the example of the vehicle. Actually I bought the tool for a car game and I can not make the wheel marks the same as in the pictures.

Can help me, please?

 

Surface deforms by any objects with renderer component and layer that included in Collision mask. It is the only conditions. Check the code of Surface Physics Sphere component if you want to know how to get a feedback from deformation.

Car example is not included because I think it is not necessary to also include the piece of standard assets in package.

 

It is not necessary to include those assets. Just indicate that you have to download them. Put images of actions that the tool can get without adding them ...

In any case, thanks for your help. I will continue investigating.

 

Does this work with Unity 2018?

 

I saw this asset on the sale and am interested in getting it. I would also like to know if this is compatible with Unity 2018

 

Hi. Yes, tested on Unity 2018.1 and 2018.3. Works as expected.

 

Decided to make some improvements for the next update. The first thing is that I successfully replaced the triangle tessellation with quad. Mesh looks way more smooth in this case.

 

Finally managed how to combine texture maps needed for processing deformation into one ARGB32 format. This is the major performance improvement for the next update. Though it should have be done long ago.

 

Major update!

> v2.0
New:
* Access to save/load the state of deformation
* New additional shader: Standard Cutout
* Quad patch tesselation
* Heightmap import
* New parameters: Normal Intensity, Max Height
* Custom shaders are now allowed
* All texture maps combined into one ARGB32 format
* Linear color space support
* Unity 2018.3 support
* Overall performance improvement

Fixes:
* Incorrect base mesh normals
* Deformation smoothing is not affected at top height
* Odd deformation and smoothing at top-right edges of base map
* Performance issue in painting mode
* Surface double-rendering issue caused by depth camera
* Various minor fixes

​

 

@V0odo0 Is there snow recovery over time?

 

This update looks very good, !!! I'm glad. I hope that it has more improvements in smaller spaces of time ... The asset seemed quite stopped from its exit.

What was the compatibility with asset like RTP or Megasplat ???

regards

 

No, but it will be easy to implement. In TODO list for future update.

It is possible, but sadly to say but it would be hard to add support for such big assets. But it does not mean that deformable surface will not work with those assets. Just need a little set up.

 

Hi, what are the limits of this? Is it always same fixed size of plane or scalable? How big it can get? When it gets bigger, details fade away? (since it uses render camera i suppose)

 

Hi.

Yes, it uses render camera. Surface can be scaled with no limits. Heightmap resolution can be set up to 4k which is enough to cover the large area.

 

What my concern is, when it gets bigger small details like feet fade away or degrade with even in 4k maps, especially with bigger terrains (i'm not even talking about 4k performance per frame).

so i'm curious can you make it virtual grid type of infinite system? render camera jumps next center of tile if you move away and always will be underneath of player tile. and no need for 4k etc big maps since virtual grids are scalable in smaller sizes as you wish.

and other benefit of this system each tile can save its own splatmap and can fade away with time if user wishes. or constantly remember deformations even if you leave kilometers behind with no extra performance (with distant tessellation check). it would be epic and instant buy for me

 

Was thinking about it but decided to leave it as is for now since it is far different technique. At the moment what you described may be achieved by creating a multiple instances of the surface and turn deformation update (camera rendering) on/off for particular instance based on the distance from it. Each surface instance will still have it's own heightmap texture.

 

Hey, so i gather from this that it's similar to unitys terrain system,
what's the situation with 2019 unity alpha version, does this support it?
and i'm wondering if navmesh ai pathing works with this at all?

 

Hello , in example scene terrain becomes invisible after i hit play button. Tried it with unity 2018.2.1 and 2017.4.3 same results. Any suggestions ?

 

Yes, it is compatible with Unity 2019. You could build navmesh using the collider as a source instead of renderer. It is possible with Nav Mesh Components:

https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/NavMeshComponents

Have you tried it in empty project? Make sure that you graphics card support DX11 and Compute Shaders. If nothing helps, please PM me with a detailed description about your problem and screenshots.

 

Will this asset work on iOS or Android?

 

No, it requires DX11.

 

Hey voodoo, love this shader and will be using it in my projects.. i noticed you mentioned recovery time will be added in future updates, which will be an awesome an crucial aspect to my project have you an ETA? it's not needed asap, i'm just curious is all

 

Hello, does this support LWRP/HDRP/SRP?

 

I've just submitted new version with this feature. Should be available within a week.

No at the moment. Waiting for SRP official release.

 

oh that's great news!
I have one more question, I get these horizontal lines, is there a way i can lessen the effect or a way to remove them?

 

Such shadow bias caused by deprecated shadow transfer macro in shader. Already fixed in coming update.

 

You're on top of it!
you deserve an updated review, i'll do that for you

 

Hi does this work in unity 2017?

 

Yes

 

i am interested in purchasing this product but does it do footprints for animals and can i use it for creating light footprints that don't go deep into the ground?

 

Hi. Footprints might be any shape based on your mesh / skinned mesh. You can adjust max depth for deformable surface.

 

Hi, I have a problem .... I need a little help..I don't realize what the problem is..

 

Hi.

This asset was tested on Unity 2019.2 and it should work fine. Could you please send me your PC hardware configuration and ProjectSettings folder? Thanks.

 

I sent you a message.Thanks

 

Hi, I'm very interested in this, but wondering how well suited it is for a large open-world environment. I have an 8x8 set of terrain tiles (each almost 1000x1000m), so I would switch to meshes for the winter season in order to use this....but does this support (with reasonable performance) multiple meshes like that? (Though I'd only have 9 meshes loaded around the player at any given time.) How well does it handle the seams, if characters go back and forth between two meshes? Any other issues I haven't thought of?

Also, any chance of some kind of texture mixing and/or anti-tiling tricks to create a more naturalistic snowscape?

thanks
Dave

 

There is no problem with seams, but it is important to note that each instance of the surface has it's own heightmap, deformation render texture created in runtime and ortho camera rendering to this texture. So the performance directly depends on number of instances and heightmap resolution.

Overall it is not well suited for such large areas you described. It is also a reason why there is no any anti-tilings. But here is some performance tricks:

• Set a separate layer for objects that should deform the surface
• Turn on/off the rendering process for particular surface when the player is far away
• Lower the heightmap resolution, but get lower quality as well

The surface deformation technique is similar to Batman: Arkham Origins. Take a look to understand how it fits to your needs