[Released] Distingo - Terrain in Detail

Yea, hope it goes through, or it will be another 5-10 working days

 

Asset store folks might just be really busy. 10 business days is really just an estimate. Sometimes it is quicker, sometimes longer. I know of two other assets submitted about the same time and they are still waiting as well.

 

Well I think they may have lost it, did you get them to check the spam folder

You've checked your out box right?

 

Another plugin I've been following submitted on Feb 1 and just got published to the store. So that's about 11 working days.

If the same review time applies to Distingo, then maybe it will hit the store around the 22nd-23rd?

 

Might I suggest that you have different products rather than make this one more complicated with features that many people will not need or use? One of the problems with similar extensions is that they keep adding on functionality, so when a person new to the product gets around to using it, the core feature is so complex and the documentation so large that it is no longer simple to use.

It is an easy trap to fall into, to keep adding small add-ons that a few people want. But you always have to keep in mind that the main point of your product is to reduce tiling and the more complicated you make that for people, or the more daunting your product seems, the less likely they are going to buy it.

 

I agree but also disagree in some points
If you ask me you see the oposite more often. Most user complaning about to much seperated packages and why they are not included to one full package.
I understand you to 100% that if the product is there for reducing tiling it should only do that. But if you try to sell a terain detail asset that also should be an alternative to RTP you need to offer more than that. I know, i know that Distingo is not supposed to be that - but the discussion simply started with my post after reading that someone mentioned if this would be an alternative to it and I just asked for Height Map features like some users before me. So I am totally with you not to get a big full package which is complicated and too complex, because of so many features. But Heightmap integration through POM / Tesselation is state of the art in terrain creation if you ask me. It's more or less essential if you create a game with good lookgin terrains at this time. NemoKrad posted in his first post that you can change every texture details like UV multiplier (to avoid tiling), power of normal maps, occlusion, smoothness etc. So I thought it's just fair to ask what about Height Map options?
And many developers also have shown how easy it is to create assets full of important and helpfull features whithout making the asset too chaotic or complex (GAIA for example). So it depends not on the number of features if a project gets too complex but more on the developer to combine them perfectly and easily understandable.

Just my 2 Cents. Thanks to the response of NemoKrad I know now for what Distingo is for and that's an instant buy for me if it comes out with or without Heightmap Options. So I am not wishing me an RTP clone or something like that just to clarify

Cheers
Ronny

 

@NemoKrad Do you plan to add support for holes in terrain? Perhaps this is the only thing that will prevent me to move from RTP to your tool. And snow probably.

 

If mesh terrains work, then it should be pretty straightforward to remove some tris to make holes.

 

My asset is purely working with how the terrain surface is rendered, it is not altering the terrain. Thinking about snow, but it wont be in the next update.

 

I plan to use Unity terrain, not mesh.

 

At the moment, I have written it so that it's all in one script but it uses multiple shaders/materials depending on what you are using it on. So, for example, if you put it on a mesh, it will use and only give you the options for a terrain render, put it on a Unity Terrain and it will give you the shaders and options for that.

 

I could be wrong, but RTP is not altering it too, it just makes parts marked on global colormap invisible.

 

If that's the case though, the mesh collider would still pick up that you are hitting the terrain, unless you just want holes to look at and not go down?

 

Exactly! I just need it to be transparent, that's all. A simple script will deal with collider ontriggerenter.

 

OK, something to think about

 

Thank you! Having holes and snow will easily shift your asset into the new league, easily justifying price around $50

 

@montyfi , what is the snow aspect? Is it accumulating snow on the terrain and object surfaces?

 

Right, I don't know if it is possible to do without terrain shader support.

 

Yeah. Like RTP and UBER are doing, applying snow on any surfaces. Besides both assets do also have a Rain / Wet feature. But since I own RTP and UBER those features are not so important for me.

Edit:
UBER should do it without Terrain Shader support on any Objects.

 

Me too. But you will need those if you plan to use Distingo instead

 

Like any render technique, there are more than one way to do it

 

Will you not be able to use both? I mean use Distingo for global UV Options / Smoothness, Opaque settings and using RTP for Camera Effects like Snow and Rain? In UBER Rain and Snow are camera effects...

 

RTP and Distingo both - terrain shaders, you cannot use both at the same time on the same terrain.

Interesting, I didn't know that. Stopped using it at some point, when Unity started to complain about number of shader keywords. Aren't those FX still need to change something in shader vars? Have to look again.

 

Quoting from UBER Documentation:
"Untypically dynamic snow is not shader feature handled by shader keyword variants but
separate shader. This doubles number of shaders included in the package, but also
decreases exploding amount of variants for UBER shader. Without it amount of RAM you
need in editor would be doubled as well. When you select dynamic snow feature material
inspector will replace shader with the variant that has snow feature present."

The Wettness feature reads out the texture heightmap. Rain droplets seems to be camera effect.
That's what I understand

 

Actually, by its nature it is supposed to be that. The fact is that you can only use a single terrain texturing solution for your game (on the same terrain area that is) so whatever you choose needs to be a complete solution. That doesn't mean that a complete solution has every bell and whistle that the competitor has, but everything needed for your project. The reason I say this is because that's exactly the boat I'm in. I have RTP and am looking for a lightweight alternative for my game. So, the solution needs to meet all my needs. In the case of terrain, I don't really "need" everything RTP offers, but I may end up "needing" more than what Distingo offers. In the end, what I really need is great looking, high performance terrain. If that means dropping a bell or whistle then I'll adapt my game design to get there.

 

Having that type of ´hole´ system will also lead to a lot of complaints since it is not a hole, but a window. There is already an asset on the store for $5 ( I think ) that does exactly what you mentioned and the comments are littered with complaints about it not being a hole.

There is a second asset on the store that includes the OnCollision script and again, it is a nightmare to maintain for the guy because there are all sort of shadow issues based on if you are using forward or deferred and the author seems to go back and forth between breaking it for one person to fix it for another. The caves generally look horrible because of the shadows behind it.

And finally, what is the point of keep saying ´you should add all the things that RTP does so that you can charge the same prices as RTP´.. RTP is a mess because of all the added stuff. I can not speak for other people, but the reason I am here is because this product does the one thing I am concerned about, and does it great. I really don´t want to see the author getting negative reviews for trying to implement a fake hole system, or to complicate the product so much that I can´t update Unity because I need to wait for this product to be updated first, which takes forever since there is so much included.

Keep it simple.

 

I am all for hearing about the issues people are having, it gives me other ideas for other assets that I can be creating to fill gaps (no pun intended) in peoples asset needs

If I have time to do them all and maintain my current assets, well, that's another matter

Distingo is, and will always be, about rendering terrain surfaces, in the first update I will be adding support for mesh terrains using the current calculations used in the initial release.

If I can get it working, the update after that will be adding the ability to use Substances.

I would like to add support for snow, tessellation and other things, but I don't think they will make their way into Distingo, some may, some might not. Lets get version one out there first, and see how people get on with it

 

I don´t want to call out other providers. but here are the two I mentioned

windows - https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/3004

OnCollesion https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/8277

I do not own either one because we are just making meshes for caves and working the terrain around our meshes. But if you can do what they tried to do, and do it better, that would be awesome.. but as a separate product

 

We could create an endless list of features. I personally am looking for a simple, easy to use solution that is a nice looking terrain and Distingo has me pretty excited. For "extras" like snow, tesselation, holes, etc etc etc etc....I would almost rather see variations of shaders than one that tries to do it all, and is complicated or difficult to use.

 

I had a thought. What about "Add-ons" that require the base purchase? You can add a-la-carte features that are individual "upgrades" of the base package. IOW people buy what they want/need, yet it keeps the base price low.

 

while we wait...

what is the lighting support? does it support GI? is it in forward rendering like unity's current model instead of fully deferred?

 

Becouse i read this will be something like an rtp alternative, can i make pbr terrains with it or will it come in an update?

Edit:
And can i blend from normal objects to terrain?
Can i use it in some way together with rtp?

 

I have basically taken the Unity shaders and improved them. So it will render along the same pipeline as the stock shaders, but giving you more control. The older shaders were forward only, but there are #defines for deferred so it must make some venture into that pipeline too.

 

It used the standard PBR lighting system, as does the stock Unity shaders.

You can render to reg unity terrain in the initial release, and mesh terrains in the first update.

I don't have RPT, do I don't know, but reading earlier posts, I don't think so.

You cant make terrains with Distingo, but you can improve how they are rendered.

 

Yes, I may end up creating a number of assets, sell them separately and as a blister pack or package.

 

Funny thing..I have RTP and several others. I stopped using them because of performance hits and limitations, such as the inability to have different tile sizes.

So..I rather hope you put them in separate assets because the more things get complicated, the more trouble they become. I see so many of my favorite assets just become bigger and bigger and bigger. Even though I only use what I need, the rest of it is still there, sometimes causing issues.

I love Distingo because it is sleek and fast. Don't change it. With holes, and snow, and wetness and all that jazz, it IS RTP! Why not buy that?

 

Distingo sort if does do wet with the smoothness slider

 

Maybe becouse it can be used more intiutive!? I have RTP

 

OK, I officially declare that no one is allowed to post in this forum unless it's to announce that Distingo is available on the Asset Store. lol. Just kidding. But am I the only one who sees every single post notification and thinks it might be a release announcement?

 

As soon as its up, ill post here AND change the title of the thread

 

You know what would be cool...? If it could valet my car for me

 

So ... in general terms, what are the main differences between this asset and ats Colormap Ultra (which is a relatively old plugin)? They seem similar - efficient, simple, no tiling of textures - but since I'm not heavily into terrain shading, maybe I'm missing the obvious ...?

 

Don't know, I did look at the free version, but it didn't work

 

I'm no expert in ats Colormap Ultra, but I have it and have tried it. It has more features than Distingo such as Global Colormap, Mesh Blending, Parallax and Bump Mapping, as well as terrain decals. That being said, I have still not been able to really get it all to work in several attempts. I plan to make another attempt and get some technical support. But from what I hear from the Distingo testers, it seems far easier to use Distingo and get great results. That's kind of what I'm hoping for is something I can just drop in and it works without me having to figure it out and never get anywhere.

 

wow this is taking far too long to be approved. There are a few very much needed assets that are being held back.
oh boy... it's .. just ... taking .... so .... long .... to ..... move.... forward....

 

IIRC, a few people on the GAIA thread are using it and swear by it. So ... just curious if there was a new wrinkle with Distingo or what.

 

NemoKrad, regarding the discussion regarding snow and wetness, I for one am very happy to pay for another $10 asset to keep things simple and streamlined as @Teila mentioned above.

 

Agree 100%!

Maybe do something like an extension system where Distingo can use add-on packs. That way for those of us just looking for simple, we can just buy Distingo. For those who want a snow system or a hole shader/collider, those can be extra addons we would buy to extend Distingo but it would prevent you from falling into the black hole so many developers seem to fall into of coming up with a simple system that meets the needs of the project's scope only to be complicated by addition of adding a bunch more stuff that not everyone needs, all developed without any additional income to cover the additional workload.

I think completing Distingo to your original vision still has Distingo very underpriced. Maybe doing the extra addon stuff as extensions will prove to be a way to make it a little closer to its real value by charging for the extras as addons..

 

I agree with @Shawn67 @Teila @TheSeawolf Add ons to be purchased would be nice. Actually it would be nice if every developer did that.

 

or just become J.A.R.V.I.S.