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[Released] Distingo - Terrain in Detail

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by NemoKrad, Feb 1, 2016.

  1. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Distingo is a shader package that will give you more control over your terrain textures.

    You will have dynamic access to a number of attributes for each texture used in your terrain.

    There is a near and far UV multiplier to help reduce tiling in your terrain textures. This is also controlled by a master near and far cut off giving you even more control. You can even have the terrain render the cut off values so you can see how they graduate over distance.

    The ability to increase the power of the normal maps, this can result in stronger lighting effects on your terrain textures.

    Apply occlusion maps to texture layers and also use a slider to control how much to occlude.

    Directly alter the smoothness and metallic attributes of the textures too.

    A brightness multiplier can be added to each texture channel should you want to make a given texture channel lighter.

    Grab a copy here.

    Latest Documentation: Distingo_v_1_4_4.pdf

    Overview of Distingo
     
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2017
  2. BackwoodsGaming

    BackwoodsGaming

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    Sounds awesome! Can't wait to see/hear more!
     
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  3. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Thanks Shawn67, hoping to get some pics up soon to start showing it off :)
     
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  4. jonfinlay

    jonfinlay

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    Really looking forward to that, any news on a release date?
     
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  5. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Hi jonfinlay, hoping to get the dev and some screen shots done this week, so hoping to submit to store ASAP, it's then about 10 days after submission.
     
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  6. jonfinlay

    jonfinlay

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    Hi, out of curiosity, does this replace the default Unity Terrain shader, or is it used in conjunction with it?
     
  7. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Hi jonfinlay,

    It's based on the stock shaders that ship with Unity, they are put into a material and the script then injects that material into the terrain as a custom shader. So, the short answer is it replaces them.
     
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  8. Teila

    Teila

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    I have been testing Distingo with one of my terrains. I am going to try it with others, but just keep running out of hours in the day. :)

    I used the Global map and Global Occlusion features as well as the ability to use sliders to fine tune the terrain textures. I love the way it made my terrain look.

    Some of these pictures show the Global map at a high blend strength, meaning it stands out more. Others show a more subtle appearance. I also used different colored Global maps to show how they changed the appearance of the terrain. I used a color map made from World Machine which shows erosion and flow. I plan to play around with it more in the future but wanted to get these pictures out.










     
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  9. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Here are some shots of Distingo with the new release of Gaia that's almost ready to drop.

    Configuration is simple, and the results speak for themselves! Why would you ever put up with tiling again ?

    Without Distingo...

    DistOff.jpg

    With Distingo!

    Dist On.jpg

    Grab 20160204193514 w1900h1200 x156y68z-669r251.jpg

    Note - I have already gone to a lot of trouble to reduce tiling with these textures - and Distingo takes it to another level again. When you have poorer quality textures the effect is even better again!
     
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  10. impactit

    impactit

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    I can't wait to play with Distingo it's looks (very) promising :)
     
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  11. _invalidusername

    _invalidusername

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    This looks fantastic, can't wait to try it out! If you need someone to test it on mac let me know
     
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  12. derkoi

    derkoi

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    Keeping an eye on this too. :)
     
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  13. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Adam & Teila,

    Great pics, thanks for posting them here, I think they really help to show what Distingo can do :) Awesome!

    I till have a few I's to dot and T's to cross before I submit to the store, but not long now :)
     
  14. RandAlThor

    RandAlThor

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    Can i use distingo together with the latest rtp release?
     
  15. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    This is a alternative to RTP - it has different features and a vastly different price. As you can see from the shots above - it does an amazing job.
     
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  16. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    And some window dressing :)

    Grab 20160204220203 w1900h1200 x44y97z-864r311.jpg
     
  17. TheSeawolf

    TheSeawolf

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    Is this for real, or is this some sort of magic trick? :)

    Well I'm certainly watching out for this. What about setting it up and it's ui, is this relatively simple, or will it take months to agonise over until I've ripped all my hair out?
     
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  18. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    UI is dead simple :)
     
  19. jonfinlay

    jonfinlay

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    Definitely getting this when its out, I never could understand why a simple affordable shader designed primarily for the function of eliminating tiling wasn't on the Asset Store. Are detail maps included, for example small rocks?
     
  20. TheSeawolf

    TheSeawolf

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    Thanks Adam.....I still think this is some sort of magic fairy dust sprinkled the monitor to get that sort of shader quality for $10 :)
     
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  21. Whippets

    Whippets

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    Not fairy dust. I believe the full price is $10 and your soul.
     
  22. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    I won't need your soul :p lol
     
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  23. jpeltola

    jpeltola

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    yeah i so need this as well :)
     
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  24. runningbird

    runningbird

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    purchasing this as soon as it hits the store!
     
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  25. Pequisto

    Pequisto

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    Looking forward to this. :)
     
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  26. sarum

    sarum

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    me too :)
     
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  27. jc_lvngstn

    jc_lvngstn

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    How many terrain textures does it support?
     
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  28. GameTechnix

    GameTechnix

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    Great looking terrain shader.
    Can I ask if you plan or already support height-blending and Parallax mapping?
    The height-blending in RTP is truly neat. I would love to see an option for this in your asset.

    I might just go buy it anyway for $10 :)
     
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  29. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    It supports as many textures as your terrain has, but at the moment (and I am looking to change this) due to the textures being grouped into blocks of 4, altering Distingo data for say texture 0 will also alter the data (not the textures) for texture 5 and vice versa, so at the moment, if you are rendering over 4 textures, you will want to ensure that you line up like textures (as far as UV multiplication, normal power, smoothness, metallic and brightness goes). You could get around this I guess by moving those textures into the blend map (mentioned below) and having them applied there.

    Parallax mapping I had in there, but took it out as was a barely noticeable (to me at least) effect and it took up texture registers I needed for better effects (like the occlusion maps)

    You can apply a blend texture to the whole terrain as well as an occlusion map and withe sliders adjust their effect.
     
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  30. impactit

    impactit

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    Hey

    U plan make a suport for Substances (procedural materials) ? In our projects we use only procedural materials, would be nice to have this feature :).

    Look on a little test of substances: rocks, water etc we can change in realtime. :)

     
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  31. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Hi impactit,

    Not seen those textures/materials before, but if they come with a normal/bump map and an occlusion map, then yes Distingo can use them.

    Just had a look at them, if you could get the textures out of the substance then yes, so as Distingo stands now, you can't use them. I have signed up for an account though, so will explore this as a possibility in a future version :)

    To get a similar wet effect to the image you posted in Distingo, you can alter the PBR smoothness parameter for a given texture channel, like this

    Wet sand (smoothness on the sand texture set to 1

    Dry sand (smoothness on the sand set to 0)

    *Forgive my textures they are very basic as they are the ones I am using in the asset demo.

    Smoothness is on a slider to, so you can have level's of smoothness between 0 and 1.

    There are a few sliders against the texture's.


    All these settings and more are described through tool tips and in the documentation that comes with the asset.
     
  32. impactit

    impactit

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    Hey

    Is not only wet look, its much much more :) look on this move which i record long time ago, for u i will make new one with ground :) I just asku about kind look on substances :) (easy export and nice API) :)



    Andrzej
     
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  33. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Hi Andrzej,

    Yes, I know it's more that just the smoothness, but thought I would just show that, that sort of render is possible in Distingo :)

    I am thinking in a future version I could allow substances to be passed to Distingo texture channel, it would then extract the relevant textures (and possibly settings) and use them in Distingo. Not sure I could apply a substance per splat texture (directly) without making multiple passes, and I want to make as few passes as I can really.

    Regards,

    Charles.
     
  34. impactit

    impactit

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    Hi Charles

    Like I promise, below u have move about changing ground (can be in realtime). Like I write before is not olny "shiny" things, in substance u can change all what u want :). Example small dunes on the sand u can connect with wind (change rotation and intensity) etc

    My idea on on workflow is editor/ api realtime ability to get texture from substance (ur API expose getting substance). Ofc I know limitations but still I can genrate substance in background and "swap" in realtime texture "splatmap". If u need test substances go to https://share.allegorithmic.com/libraries?by_category_id=21 there is plany of amazing grounds :). Free ofc.




    Andrzej

    PS. Common problem with substance is U can't take chanels (textures) from substance if is compresed, U need change on (no compression) RAW.
     
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  35. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Yea, Ill see what I can do in a future version. All params at moment are dynamic, so you can change them at run time from another script as they are exposed public properties/fields.

    I am definitely going to look at using substances in the future, thank you for showing them to me :)
     
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  36. Whippets

    Whippets

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    Could you avoid 2 passes for 8 textures by having a version of your shader that takes 8 textures and 2 splat maps doing only one pass?
     
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  37. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Yes you probably could do that, but I really wanted to stay as close to the original Unity architecture as I could for this version. Also, going to 8 textures would easily push me over the 16 max texture registers, I am already having to use SM4 for this due to the calcs, it has fall back the same as the Unity shaders do though.

    Good idea though, just not sure I could work that with all the other textures being pushed in.
     
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  38. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Hi to anyone following this thread :)

    I have just submitted the asset to the store, lets hope it goes through first time, so in about 10 days I hope to be letting you know it's up and ready for you guys to get.



    I hope it does all you are expecting it to :) (and if not let me know, I might be able to put it in)

    Regards,

    Charles
     
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  39. GameTechnix

    GameTechnix

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    Great work Nemo,

    I'll be picking it up as soon as its available.
     
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  40. runningbird

    runningbird

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    so starts the longest 10 day countdown lol
     
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  41. jc_lvngstn

    jc_lvngstn

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    Well, I am always downright giddy over improvements in the terrain and vegetation systems. And this looks very, very nice.

    The $10 is a huge bargain! Can't wait!
    May I suggest...posting more screenies, maybe using GAIA, in order to whet our appetites?
     
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  42. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    I took a few images for the store, the image I posted last was from a Gaia generated terrain, I am v new to Gaia, so I am not the greatest for screen grabs :S

    So, all these pics are split down the middle to show the difference between Distingo and the Unity stock terrain render.
    Distingo Right, Unity Left

    Same scene, Distingo Left, Unity Right

    Distingo Left, Unity Right

    Same Scene, Distingo Right, Unity Left


    :)
     
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  43. runningbird

    runningbird

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    ok now I really can't wait to see how my scenes will look now with this
     
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  44. Whippets

    Whippets

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    Hmm, I don't like the horrid line down the middle, that's going to affect player immersion.
     
  45. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Lol
     
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  46. PhoenixRising1

    PhoenixRising1

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    Subscribing to the thread. Another must have tool.
     
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  47. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    Hi jonfinlay, sorry fir the late reply, your post slipped under my radar :/

    What do you mean by detail maps, can you give me an example to look at?
     
  48. jonfinlay

    jonfinlay

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    No worries, I think I should have said detail textures or decals. I noticed them in Horizon[ON] https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/31861. Basically it is like an extra layer (such as rocks) which overlaps the other textures, but at a different resolution. For example patches of rough dirt over grass, or pebbles on a sandy beach. Similar to decals. Don't worry too much about this for now, but may be interesting for a future update.
     
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  49. NemoKrad

    NemoKrad

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    You could probably use the blend texture mode for this actually, but then it is a multiplicative blend over the whole terrain, I guess you want a replacement based on the texture alpha?

    If the current blend texture does not cover your needs I am sure I could add this in, in future versions :)
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2016
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  50. smada-luap

    smada-luap

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    A couple of images just to show results from an early beta. I was unsure if my ageing Radeon HD 7700 series card would cope with this as I was unsure at the time if the card supported the required shader model.

    Here's an image with just the regular Unity shader...
    Untitled-2a.jpg

    ... and here's the same but with the Distingo shader.
    Untitled-2.jpg
     
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