[RELEASED] GPU Instancer

Yeah hopefully this gets fixed, mainly brought this for the Terrain and Trees rendering options it provides as I was satisfied with mesh combine for just game objects. But this seems more powerful if they can fix the issues for the Terrain.

 

Thanks, I tried going to each tree prefab getting spawned by the Unity tree painter and then turned LOD Cross fade to off in the option, still when GPUI doesn't render the trees.

 

Any plans for a MapMagic 2 integration?

 

Hi there,

This node will be added in the next update.

 

Thank you for the feedback.
We inspected this issue and found the latest SRP versions indeed cause the objects not to be rendered with LOD crossfade. We will investigate this further, but we will disable the LOD cross fade option for SRP in the next update untill a solution will be implemented.

 

Hi there,

Gaia has recently received another update, which we still haven't tested with GPUI. We will do this test and make any necessary changes on our side, if there are any. But your case might be unrelated to this; if you wish to speed up the process, you can email us a sample project showing the issue so we can investigate it directly.

 

Thank you for the videos.

At first look it looks like a material reference issue, but I can't be sure without checking it. If you can't find the culprit, you can email us a sample so we can investigate it.

 

Hi there,

it looks like the issue is that the auto-converted shader puts the line

#include "Assets/GPUInstancer/Shaders/Include/GPUInstancerInclude.cginc"

below the usage of gpuiTransformationMatrix

GPUI normally puts this at the end of the shader because Unity keeps changing their usage of their internal includes. You can simply move it to before the usage in the generated shader file to solve the issue.

As for 2, your usage seems to be proper. However, an alternative and easier way would be to use 2 prefabs with Auto. Add/Remove Instances enabled on them (where the API calls will be made automatically when you enable/disable the GameObjects).

 

You can contact us with detailed information with this guideline and we can help you identify the issues.

 

Yes, this is a work in progress which will be available in a later update.

 

We try GPU Instancer with Meadow Environment Dynamic Nature,
1. Crate Project Unity3D 2019.3.11f1 ( DX11) - Windowx x64 - HDRP ( 7.3.1 )
2. Import "CPU Instancer"
3. Install GPUI_Foliage_HDRP_Support
4. Import "Meadow Environment Dynamic Nature"
5. Create New Scene
6. Paint Tree "prefab_Baked_05_Poplar"
7. Add "GPUI Tree Manager " to scene, It detects tree and terrain look no problem,
8. Run scene , ad get exception




After :
1- Try Re-Install "GPU Instancer"
2- Set Another Tree comes from CPUInstancer ( TreePineLP_003 )
3- Add this Trees on the scene (30000) - these are fbx not prefab
4- Set GPU Instancer
5- Play
6- It works

After :
2- Test with Tree comes from Meadow Environment Dynamic Nature ( 05_Poplar_skan.fbx)
3- Add this Trees on the scene (30000) - these are fbx, not prefab
4- Set GPU Instancer
5- Play
6- These is no error , but we can not see any treee,
7- Now Import GPUI extras at
GPUInstancer > Extras > GPUI_Foliage_HDRP_Support
GPUInstancer > Extras > GPUI_ShaderGraph_v4.x_Node
GPUInstancer > Extras > GPUI_SpeedTree8_Support
8- Test again, but noting changed. There is no tree at the runtime,

After :
1. Unset Terrain
2. Delete Data ( New Terrain_18570)
3. Add Tree again ( 05_Poplar_skan.fbx )
4. no error but no tree

At the final ,

• System not work Meadow Environment Dynamic Nature
• We can not use Meadow Environment Dynamic Nature Tree prefabs
• We can add Meadow Environment Dynamic Nature Tree fbx, there is no exception but there is no tree also.

I will try more and more with trace code. Please reply to me if you support Meadow Environment Dynamic Nature its important to us.

 

When we un-check LOD Cross Fade Checkbox, It works with fbx




Prefab versions still throw an exception

 

I'm using built-in and my cross-fade was already unchecked, but trees are still invisible. I'm seeing the same thing in the trees example scene that comes with GPU Instancer. Using 2019.3.9.

 

@LouskRad
hi,
seems that GPUI needs to be reworked ...
i tested it with URP on Android "Device Simulator Package" and nothing happened !! :]

for now everything are working great on editor and PC standalone build [URP].

 

yes same issue. When you add direct FBX and un-check LOD Cross Fade Checkbox, It works. But if you use tree prefab its not working.

 

Can this be used with Sectr? and will they be effective in pairs? I am using GAIA.

 

@LouskRad Is it normal for billboards to appear obstructing the camera view using GPU instancer with HDRP 7.3.1? Billboards are what comes at SpeedTree8
I think I remember that GPUi did not handle billboards in HDRP or something like that. Is this why this problem I say happens, or should it not happen to me?
If it shouldn't happen to me, how do I fix it?
I leave video:

Cheers

 

There is no support i think.

 

SECTR uses its own culling system, and as far as I remember it does this by turning on and off mesh renderers. This would be incompatible with GPUI.

 

We will take a look at the latest HDRP and SpeedTree 8. If you are using the SpeedTree 8 model in any special way, please let us know.

The instance on camera problem is in general because the shader is not setup properly for GPUI though.

 

For everyone that have been facing the disappearing trees issue with the Tree Manager in HDRP, the latest update (v1.4.1) that was live today should fix this issue.

This update also introduces some additional bug fixes, so if you are having any issues, please make sure you update your GPUI from the asset store first. If that still doesn't help, please send us an email with the details of your issue using this guideline.

 

GPU Instancer components really slow down the editor to a crawl in HDRP

 

Hi!

I was truing to add effect of crowd instanced animated objects being drawn with solid alpha color when they are blocked by depth test. Like in RTS games when unit is behind building. I added this pass to Standard_GPUICA.shader, and it works but only for GPUI instanced objects. If I have a building with standart shader I cant see my unit behind it but I see ghost if it's blocked by object that is using GPU prefab instancing. What am I missing?

Pass
{
Name "OUTLINE"
Tags { "LightMode" = "Deferred" }
Cull Off
ZWrite Off
ZTest Always

Blend One OneMinusDstColor // Soft Additive

CGPROGRAM

#include "UnityCG.cginc"
#include "Include/GPUICrowdInclude.cginc"
#pragma multi_compile _ GPUI_CA_BINDPOSEOFFSET
#pragma target 3.0

#pragma multi_compile_fwdbase
#pragma multi_compile_fog
#pragma multi_compile_instancing
#pragma instancing_options procedural:setupGPUI
// Uncomment the following line to enable dithering LOD crossfade. Note: there are more in the file to uncomment for other passes.
#pragma multi_compile _ LOD_FADE_CROSSFADE

#pragma vertex vertBaseGPUI
#pragma fragment frag

fixed4 frag (appdata_full v) : SV_Target
{
return float4(0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.1);
}

#include "UnityStandardCore.cginc"
#include "Include/GPUICrowdStandardInclude.cginc"

ENDCG
}

 

Having a weird issue. I'm using unistorm and mTree trees. When GPU Instancer is enabled and I look up into the sky when near trees I see this.


When disabling GPU Instancer it goes away. Using Unity 2019.3 and GPU-I 1.4

Thanks

 

Hello, @LouskRad , I have some problems with using GPU Instancer. When i painted whatever 2d and 3d grass the result like this. The grass is too bright in the faraway distance, and the grass shoadow is too dark. But in the GPU Instancer DEMO DetailInstancingDemo there is no problem. Did I make any wrong with settings? My setting: camera rendering path: Deferred, Light Mode: Mixed. grass shadow is open.

 

when playing a game displaying animated fans in my stadium I get this error. thoughts?

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
GPUInstancer.CrowdAnimations.GPUICrowdAnimatorRandomizer.RandomizeAnimations () (at Assets/GPUInstancer-CrowdAnimations/Scripts/GPUICrowdAnimatorRandomizer.cs:56)
GPUInstancer.CrowdAnimations.GPUICrowdAnimatorRandomizer+<RandomizeCrowdAnimators>d__7.MoveNext () (at Assets/GPUInstancer-CrowdAnimations/Scripts/GPUICrowdAnimatorRandomizer.cs:35)
UnityEngine.SetupCoroutine.InvokeMoveNext (System.Collections.IEnumerator enumerator, System.IntPtr returnValueAddress) (at <d815b7efac424eeb8e053965cccb1f98>:0)
UnityEngine.MonoBehaviour:StartCoroutine(IEnumerator)
GPUInstancer.CrowdAnimations.GPUICrowdAnimatorRandomizer:OnEnable() (at Assets/GPUInstancer-CrowdAnimations/Scripts/GPUICrowdAnimatorRandomizer.cs:20)

 

It's straight forward: "NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object"

Make sure you are using CrowdAnimator on your fans and not Makanim one, also you can put a breakpoint and see what is null exactly. This library goes with all source codes witch is very handy

 

Is it possible to use decals with GPUI and if so is there a suggested way to do so?

 

Hi, are you planning on implementing Native Collections API? At the moment most of our scene/geometry is created/updated within JOBs using Native containers which we then need to convert to managed just to be able to send to GPUInstancerAPI.UpdateVisibilityBufferWithMatrix4x4Array

Which obviously just slows down the code unnecessarily. So having Initialize buffer and Update buffer using NativeArray would be really helpful.

 

If you email us saved profiler data, we can take a look at the issue you are facing. Please make sure you also say which Unity version that data belongs to.

 

This might be caused by the lack of sorting order when using GPU instancing, but if you email us a sample project showing this we can investigate the issue.

 

Hi there,

looks like a shader issue. Please take a look at this wiki article.

 

Hi there,

Please look at this wiki F.A.Q for the cause/solution.

 

If you mean by a decal system a simple quad mesh with a cutout material on it, you can register as any other prototype to a prefab manager. Other that that, however, we have not tried out any decal solutions with GPUI that I can recommend.

 

Hi there,

Thank you for the feedback. We will look into providing API support for NativeArrays in a future update.

 

GPUI works great on URP [with static and dynamic batching] with very large terrains with tons of trees and details grasses and tons of prefabs but eat too much of memory [RAM]!! is it possible to compressing it??

 

Thanks, looking forward to it, at the moment I went with grabbing the compute buffer with GPUInstancerAPI.GetTransformDataBuffer and just feeding the NativeArray through SetData directly but I would definitely welcome a more robust solution.

 

It would be compatible if you use SECTR for short distance objects loading them into view as full versions of a building with interiors. you could then use GPUI for distance based objects which would be for gameObjects (less detailed versions) of a building, but would require a modification to SECTR loader.

 

Hey
We use Voxeland, for our meshes and I was trying to instance the mesh terrain, however, after setting up the prefab prototype with the GPUInstancerPrefabManager I experience a frame drop, I come to the conclusion that's just because GPU Instancing makes no sense when just having one object and having to compute 3000 individual prototypes is not the purpose so I have 2 questions

Does it make sense to instance these chunks maybe every mesh with a different variant, and how can I do this?
But what makes definitely sense is to cull this chunk meshes, so is there a way to use the culling feature without having to compute the other instancing logic?

EDIT: Already solved it with a simple but not that accurate culling system

 

Sounds crazy, but this is TOO good for my project, resulting in it being incredibly GPU-bound. Any ideas to avoid this, such as having the ability to transfer specific features to CPU?

 

Hi,
I want to modify the detail density during runtime, how can I do this ?
Also, is there a way to know, what detail there is under the player feet ?
(I want to make a sound whenever the player run across some grass)
Thanks

 

Does anybody know what would cause instanced objects to be shiny in build, but look fine in editor play mode? Using regular unity HDRP shader.

 

Hi @LouskRad I noticed my unity Lens Flares don't show in game when this GPUI Occlusion Generator script is active. When I disable this script, my Lens Flares appear. I assume this GPUI script is necessary, is there any way to get Lens Flares to show up while this script is active? I'm on Unity 2018.3.8, standard pipeline, GPUI v1.4.0

 

@LouskRad I currently have an issue where adding a prototype to the prefab manager crashes my unity client.
Happens everytime.

 

thanks bub, that worked. I also deleted the crowd manager for good measure since I went with a different system for scattering. baked the animations via crowd animator and no more errors. much appreciated. let's see how this performance holds up as I add fans now. wish me luck.

 

now i have another problem i go to put in my fan lod into prototypes and i only get one despite the fact I have a couple thousand in the scene. fan instance count: shows 1 and shows up in red. even if i bake the animations via crowd animator. where as i have around 2100 in the scene using megascatter.

DISREGARD: figured it out. found out that you can't use from the scene itself but rather from your asset folder where the object in question is located. derp. these are little lessons to be learned.

 

Hi there,

if the scale of your project is starting to cause memory management issues, it could be a good idea to switch to using a no game object workflow so that you don't have GameObjects cluttering memory.

 

GPUI features all work on the GPU, so transferring as such would not be possible. However, you could eliminate some of its GPU usage by removing prototypes with relatively lower instance counts from the manager.

 

Changing detail density in terms of adding more detail instances would require a re-initialization of the manager, however, you could change detail meshes (for example by increasing the quad counts, or using another bunch mesh all together) without breaking instancing. You can take a look at the DetailDemoSceneController.cs for an example usage.

As for knowing if there is detail in a given location, GPUI does not remove terrain details but only disables their rendering. That is, you can write your own solution based on the data from the Unity terrain.

 

Hi there,

Thank you for the feedback; it looks like there is an issue with Unity when you use the depth texture in a blit shader. You can, however, use the alternative method by changing to it from the GPU Instancer Preferences and use the Compute Shader technique instead:



This would not cause any performance loss, and should fix the issue with lens flares.