[DEPRECATED] PIDI Planar Reflections 3 - Real-time reflections with LWRP+UniversalRP+Mobile support!

Great update...Reflection Blur!

 

PIDI Planar Reflections 3 is part of the Singles Day sale! If you are in China, Japan or the South East Asia region (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam) you can use the coupon code SINGLESDAY50OFF at checkout for a 50% off discount. This promotion will last until November 13 at midnight

Have a great week !

 

hey, I just dl the asset and imported to my game.
when I trying to make the reflection probe or caster to prefab, editor got instantly crash. is there any solution?

 

Hi there,

Please contact us to our support email for any support request with your invoice number, Unity version used, SRP used (if any) and any relevant details about the issue. On our end, creating prefabs out of the reflection renderers (our asset does not include any reflection probes system) and / or casters does not generate any issues whatsoever (though this workflow is not the recommended one). We just tested it on Unity 2019.4 :



We hope this helps!

 

PIDI Planar Reflections 3 is part of the BoSS sale on Unity. You can get it now with a 50% off right here

Have a great week !

 

A small patch that resolves a bug related with the Asset's gizmos and some lag present in a few user projects will be available within the next few days. We hope it will be very helpful !

 

Version 3.6.0 is now available !

Fixes and improvements :

• Fixed a bug that caused lag when gizmos were enabled
• Added a small guide to the documentation to preserve accurate clipping projections when PostFX are enabled

New :

• New shader variant for the Standard pipeline

Our update, as a side effect, also greatly improves in-editor performance for Universal RP and HDRP pipelines

We hope it will be very helpful to all of you ! Have a great weekend

 

Would like to know,
How many reflective objects before
framerate issues?
If we buy pidi 3, will pidi4 be a free upgrade? Or at least a discount?
Also, this is good for built in pipeline too?

 

Hi there,

Thanks for your interest in our product ! To answer your questions :

• Depends entirely in the complexity of your scene. Each new reflective object can cause up to a 20-45% framerate drop since it has to, basically, re-draw the scene and every object it sees.
• Major versions are usually not released as free upgrades (except for users who bought the previous version within a month of the release of the new one) but rather discounted upgrades. The discounted price reflects the amount of new features to receive, so it changes. As a reference, users of PIDI Planar Reflections 1.x receive a 25% discount when upgrading to version 3 while users of version 2.x receive a 50% discount.
• At the moment, due to the amount of missing features and constant changes in Unity's SRP pipelines (URP and HDRP) the Built-in pipeline is still the default workflow for which our tools are designed, so you can expect its best performance and functionality to be in Built-in.
  

We hope this helps !

 

Thank you very much.

 

This is the last week of the BoSS sale ! Remember that you can get PIDI Planar Reflections 3 with a 50% off until December 4

Have a great week !

 

A quick fix patch will be released early next week, fixing an error that is preventing builds for some users. If you are experiencing this issue please contact us at our support email with your invoice number and we will provide you with the fix.

Have a great weekend !

 

Patch has been released. Please make sure to download it to fix the issue mentioned in our previous post. Have a great week !

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE :

From December 18, 2020 and until January 10, 2021 we will be on vacations for the Holidays season. We will return for the week from January 10 to January 15 and resume our work with your support requests, patches and updates. We hope that all of you have a nice holidays season and that 2021 is a good year, with some much needed joy for you and your loved ones.

Happy "Hollydays", everyone !

​

 

Hi, new user here.

I have some questions about my current use case:
I have a scene for two players with split screen, so one camera for each player.
I wanted to add just one reflective floor for now, but that renders correctly for both players.
So I created two reflection renderers, the first one tracking the tag "MainCamera" and the second one tracking the tag "Camera2".
Then my idea was to add two gameobjets for the same floor, both in the same position, but configured so one renders only in the first camera and the other renders only in the second camera.

Every "floor" has a reflection caster, one casting reflections from the first reflection renderer, and the other casting reflections from the second one.
The final step was creating two new Layers: "Only Camera 1" (used for the first version of the floor) and "Only Camera 2" (used for the second version of the floor).
So the first camera renders everything except the layer "Only Camera 2", and the second camera renders everything except the layer "Only Camera 1".

My problem was that every reflection caster force its gameobject to be in the Water layer, so I went and commented line 97 in PlanarReflectionCaster.cs.
Everything works correctly after that, but I would like to know why the Water layer is forced in the reflection renderers and casters.
Also if there is another method of doing what I did.

The documentation has this paragraph: "Once you do this, a new object will appear in the middle of your scene with a basic configuration, rendering accurate real-time reflections of every layer. This reflection renderer is already adjusted to simulate a reflective floor, with an optimized 50% downscale resolution and set up to the appropriate Water layer.", but it doesn't explain why the Water layer is "appropriate"

Another issue that I have is that when creating or enabling the second reflection renderer, in the editor, I get this error: "Destroy may not be called from edit mode! Use DestroyImmediate instead.", from line 326 of PlanarReflectionRenderer.cs.

My final issue is that if I enable the "Visibility Optimizations" for any renderer, the reflection floor is not renderered at the start of the game, in the Editor and also in builds.
In the Editor I need to pause the game and maybe select the caster, and at some point, when unpausing it starts rendering correctly. But I don't have that option in builds.
For my system with two cameras, this sounds like a critical optimization to have active, because I hope every camera only does the reflection of the renderer they can "see".

But maybe I need to put the reflection renderers also in my special layers "Only Camera 1" and "Only Camera 2"? (this would mean also modifying the renderer code, to not force the Water layer).

I'm working with Unity 2019.4.16f1, URP 7.5.2, Planar Reflections asset 3.6.1.

Regards!

 

Hi there,

We ask you to please refer your support request, with all the details, your invoice / proof of purchase and all relevant screenshots / technical information to our support email that you can find in the documentation provided with the asset since we do not provide support nor technical assistance in the Unity forums, as it is not the best place to follow up on these kinds of issues.

We hope this helps !

 

The last update of the year is being prepared for next week. We hope it will be approved early in the week, before everyone's holidays

Version 3.7.0 :

Fixes and Improvements

• Brand new Universal RP rendering method which allows for multiple cameras, better performance, more stability and an easier to use interaction within Edit Mode. No changes are required to your scenes, it just works.
• Fixed some bugs related to SRP projects

 

Update 3.7.0 with much improved support for split screen and other multi-camera configurations with Universal RP is now available. It is the last update of the year, as we will be leaving for the holidays on Friday, but we hope it will be very helpful for your projects !

​

Happy Holidays, everyone !

 

PIDI Planar Reflections 3 (Lite and Standard) are available with a 50% off for the New Year sale, it is the last time in a while that it will be on discount, so take this chance to get it at this very special price !

 

We are coming back from our holidays break very soon and preparing some updates for our assets as well as improving compatibility for the new 2020.2 releases of Unity.

We also want to remind you that the sale for PIDI Planar Reflections 3 will be over soon, in only 2 days ! Get it now with a 50% off before the New Year Sale is over

 

I would like to know if there would be an easy way to add in game control to the Reflection Layer?

Artist, not coder. Basically, I currently Reflect "Everything". I would like to have a key bind to toggle between Reflect "Everything" and Reflect "Nothing" (where Nothing still reflects the sky)

 

Hi there,

You can control the layers of the reflection at runtime without issues, in the same way you would control the rendering layers of any camera component. Whether the reflection reflects the sky or not depends on your actual camera settings (your game's camera must clear to a skybox)

We hope this helps!

 

jz purchased this plugin hoping this will work with unity 2020.1.17f1....unfortunately getting errors in scripts after following the instructions to import the packages....any ideas when it will be supported or any workarounds right now to get it to work? thanks much appreciate!

 

Hi there,

Please get in touch with support through our support email (you can find it in the documentation and the tool's UI) and let them know about this issue so they can assist you. The tool currently works without issues within Unity 2020.2 (built-in) and on our end it worked with Universal RP in 2020.2 as well, however as we indicate in the description of the tool (and on the documentation as well) Universal RP and HDRP should be used from the latest LTS Unity version only (Unity 2019.4.x)




This is the asset working on Unity 2020.2, Universal RP 10.2 (NOT OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED)

Once 2020.x is marked as an LTS version we will begin to offer Universal and HDRP packages specific to Unity 2020.

 

Yes i read that but i think i read a post that someone tried it on 2020 and it worked so i was really excited to get the plugin anyways...also need to correct i tried it on 2020.1 and it didnt work... havent tried on 2020.2 will do so now. Have you tested on 2020.1.17f1 and it worked? thanks !!

 

Hi again,

Our plugin works on our end without any issues on all Unity versions up to Unity 2020.2, however Universal RP / HDRP are not officially supported in any non LTS version since in these cases there may be issues due to the frequent changes in TECH releases. Once again, we ask you to please get in touch with our support team through the support email with your invoice since they will be able to assist you better as this forum is not the best place for support requests and right now we do not know the nature nor reason for the issue you are experiencing and it may be a project specific problem or an issue with the download / installation process itself. All this needs to be looked at with our support team.

We hope this helps !

 

Version 3.7.5 is currently being prepared for a release we hope will come before the end of the week.

• Universal RP fixes across the board for post process rendering and better per-reflection shadow settings
• Shadow settings in Universal RP are matched on a per-camera basis. If a camera doesn't render shadows, neither will the reflection.
• Corresponding HDRP fixes
• Fixes on the way casters assign reflections, for a more consistent behavior both in Play and Edit mode.

 

Version 3.7.5 of PIDI Planar Reflections is now available with the following changes :

Fixes :

• Custom Post Process FX settings is working again with the integrated Post FX Volume in Universal RP and HDRP
• Fixed Post Process FX Rendering in HDRP to better match the settings of the reflected viewport

Improvements :

• Universal RP shadow settings now match the reflected viewport settings
• Universal RP performance and stability improved. Delay when moving the camera and using Blur has been improved

Notices :

• Unity 2017.x no longer supported. Minimum version required now is Unity 2018.4.x
• While the package has been tested and currently works well with Universal RP and HDRP on Unity 2020.x, the only officially supported release at this moment for Universal RP and HDRP is Unity 2019.4.x LTS.

 

Version 3.7.6 is now available with some further improvements to HDRP rendering and some bug fixes to the Planar Reflections Caster, as well as a small update to disable by default Occlusion Culling in the reflections, since Occlusion Culling in Unity does not work well with the reflection's virtual camera system ( the reflection's camera is in a different position to the real camera thus occlusion culling tends to flicker).

We hope these small fixes will be helpful !

 

I have a bunch of questions before I go shell out for this and just try it.

1) Does it work with Forward renderer?

2) I'm using Forward on the standard renderer because of reflections passing through walls further than the bounds is specified, and so am specifying on each object which probes it's allowed to use. However, will this alleviate that problem anyway and so not require me to do forward?

The blueish doorway reflection is from a door on the other side of that wall.

3) My biggest headache is reflections not lining up due to where the box projecting reflection probe is positioned. Would your reflection system resolve this?

 

Hi!
I've recently started using your asset, and here goes a couple of questions (2020.2.5f1 + HDRP 10.3):

First of all, what is this color banding that is visible all the time:

Spoiler

Except when you look at the surface at a straight angle (at this point such mirror-like reflectivity doesn't look correct at all)

Spoiler

Becase a regular planar reflection probe looks like this at roughly the same angle:

Spoiler

And how can I achieve this rough reflection that I achieve with a regular planar reflection probe?

Spoiler

In this screenshot this effect mostly comes from the material normal map. So I guess some special blending is needed in the shades.

At the current moment I use your node setup from the "simple lit" example, which looks like this inside my shader:


The output goes to the emission input and also adds to the base color (the final result goes to the base color) as in your example.

I've tried enabling the blur option and all the adjustments from the graph (like "reflection bump distortion" and etc.) but it doesn't yield anything close to the screenshot above.

I've also encountered reflection flickering (only in the play mode) and aliasing issues (which don't seem to be affected by the antialiasing option at all both in play and editor modes). I encounter all these issues + color banding + inability to create rough reflections with all the materials provided in the sample folder as well.

Thanks!

 

Hi there,

Yes our asset works on all rendering pipelines and modes, with Forward Built-in being the default one. Since it works with real reflection projections you shouldn't see any of those issues on your pictures with our tool. We hope this helps!

 

Hi there,

Please refer this support request to our support email with your invoice / proof of purchase as we do not provide technical support through the forums (it is not the best channel to track issues and send patches).

Also please remember that HDRP 7.x in Unity 2019.LTS is the only officially supported (and fully tested) HDRP version.

Furthermore, our plugin does not work by default with roughness, this has to be implemented by using the additional blur feature as implemented in some of our included shaders. The system however has less access to material properties than the integrated Unity probes and may not match 1:1 since, unlike them, it's not an integrated feature of HDRP.

Again, we ask you to please contact our support email with your proof of purchase and all the details so that we can assist you better.

Have a great weekend!

 

Ello! great asset! the effect is so nice!
Anyway, ive got a question. i cant get the reflection working on a mesh with several materials on it (even if all of them got the PIDI shader) is that a known limitation or do i miss something on the setup?

thanks!

 

Hi there,
First of all, thank you for your comment, we are glad to hear you like our asset

PIDI does support multiple materials without issues, but to verify if your setup is missing a setting or something else is causing the issue you should contact support and send them screenshots of your Reflections Caster component as well as your invoice number in order for them to assist you. We hope this helps !

 

Version 3.8.0 will be available next week with the following changes and improvements :

Improvements :

• Added fresnel effect to all PBR shaders in Universal RP
• Added fresnel effect to Lit shader in HDRP
• Improved the HDRP demo scene to use more accurate lighting values and showcase a more elaborate (and better) volume setup

New :

• Support for custom clear flags (clear to Sky or clear to Color) in all rendering pipelines
• New PBR-Like reflections sub-graph for Universal RP and HDRP to make work with reflections and ShaderGraph easier

Custom clear flags :



PBR-Like reflections subgraph




We hope it will be a great help for all your projects !

 

Hey
This looks great, but can I ask the differences between this approach and using the planar reflection probes in HDRP?
Best - F

 

Hi there,

The main advantage of our system is flexibility while the main benefit of the Planar Probe is ease of use and a deep integration with the rendering pipeline.

The integrated Planar Reflection Probe has an area of influence and you can select which objects it affects on a per-layer basis. You do not have access to the reflection pass itself nor to how it interacts with the default HDRP materials.

With our system, the reflection is rendered into a separate pass and while it does not integrate as flawlessly with HDRP as the Planar Probe (since the probe is part of the pipeline and our asset is not) you get far more control over how it is mixed over your own custom shaders (custom shaders are required but a few ready-to-use ones are provided), how to apply distortion on them, how to mix them with the surface, etc. You can also assign reflections to your models on a per-material basis rather than based on layers.

Additional optimization and resolution techniques are also available with our tool. If you are planning to use default PBR materials and planar reflections in a limited fashion and ONLY for HDRP then the Planar Probes might be enough. However, if you plan to use multiple rendering pipelines or require more granular control the reflection and how it interacts with your custom shaders you may benefit from using our asset instead.

Of course, the biggest benefit of PIDI Planar Reflections comes from rendering pipelines that offer no other planar reflection solution, such as Built-in and URP but even in HDRP there are several benefits to consider, as you can see

We hope this helps!

 

Version 3.8.0 is now available ! You can read about this update here :

• Added fresnel effect to all PBR shaders in Universal RP
• Added fresnel effect to Lit shader in HDRP
• Improved the HDRP demo scene to use more accurate lighting values and showcase a more elaborate (and better) volume setup

New :

• Support for custom clear flags (clear to Sky or clear to Color) in all rendering pipelines
• New PBR-Like reflections sub-graph for Universal RP and HDRP to make work with reflections and ShaderGraph easier

 

[SOLVED]

Hi, there!

This is a great asset but I need help.

With URP and 2 cameras (1 base camera and 1 overlay camera), reflections don't work for me...

1. Only 1 camera works fine (from the URP water demo scene)


2. Same scene with 2 cameras (1 base camera and 1 overlay camera) seems not okay
It looks only reflections without base camera vision and reflections flipped horizontally.


I have worked this for a while but had no idea...
I'd be glad if you would help me.

Thanks,

 

Hi there,

Please get in touch with our support team through our support email (available in the documentation).

Remember to include your invoice / proof of purchase, unity version used, srp version used and all information required to reproduce the issue. If you send your email tonight there's a big chance you'll get a reply and hopefully some solution before the weekend starts

We hope this helps!

EDIT :
Just for the record, on our end things seem to be working without issues :

2 cameras ( 1 base camera and 1 overlay camera rendering the yellow cubes ) :



2 cameras ( split screen ) :



Using Unity 2019.4.0 with Universal RP

 

Thank you for your quick help! ☺️

Seems the issue would be related to my dev environment.
I will get in touch with you!

Thanks,

 

Hmm... my issue was solved by creating new URP project.

It seems that upgrading my project from legacy RP to URP had broken my project...
Thank you for your help and I put 5 stars in the store

 

Thank you very much for your review, we really appreciate it a lot !

Also, we managed to reproduce the issue in one Unity version so we have managed to produce a fix so that this bug does not occur (even when upgrading to URP from Built-in). We hopefully will release this patch later today or early on Monday.

Have a great weekend and again, thanks for your review !

 

Version 3.8.2 is now available, which should fix the issue with Overlay cameras in newer releases (Unity 2020.2+). We hope it helps !

 

Hi,
Is this asset compatible wih URP 10 and Unity 2020.3 LTS ?

Thx

 

Hi there,

Yes, it has been tested with Universal RP in Unity 2019.4 LTS and 2020.3 LTS so it should work without issues. Thanks for your interest in our asset !

 

hi there,
is it possible to use the mirror as a prefab at runtime?
We need to transform, rotate and scale the mirror-prefab than at runtime with multiple mirros and reflective materials.

Is this possible?

 

Hi there,

Our tool works with a system of renderers and casters, which means that the reflection renderer is an independent object from the meshes / materials where the reflections will be displayed. Some of our users have used our reflection asset through prefabs and also through dynamically loaded additive scenes, but we recommend you to read in detail the documentation (which is available online and accessible through a link in the asset's description) so you can get a better idea of how the tool works.

We hope this helps !

 

hey thanks for your reply.
I already took a look at that, but couldn´t find any info regarding prefab usage and transforming the mirror at runtime..
If these are 2 objects and I need to use the mirror at runtime, I guess it´s not possible to put them into a Parrent-Object in order to transform (scale, rotate..) the mirror or can it be done like that or if not, what would be the approach with your asset (if it´s possible at all)?