[Released] Tropical Forest Pack

I have no use for this pack but it's so beautiful that I need it in my life.

Great job man

 

Ha. Thanks man

 

Many thanks, good news

 

I'm using your asset and find it really nice so far! Well done.
I would like to ask how you created the Forgotten Ravine scene, more specifically how did you place the different ground cover / trees so well, did you use tool for this or manually? I'd like to expand your scene to my own but make it much larger with different cliffs / rivers / areas etc and would like to use the same object placement techniques as you have. Hope that is ok to ask.

Also, has anyone been able to get touch bending going with your objects, I would like to ask how to approach that.

Screen:

 

Hey @khos,

Great to hear! Thank you man

Yeah of course! I modeled the terrain with the Erosion Brush asset and populated it using the Landscaper tool. I did place the rocks manually to make the caves and overhangs. As you have already seen the trees are gameobjects and the ground cover is being used as terrain LOD trees. Also the ground cover on the rocks as gameobjects. It is not a great method but for default Unity it is all that could be done. We have a few great systems now changing this

The biggest limitation for extending the scene and the main reason I made smaller demo terrains is default Unity's very limited support for environments. You can only have 65K terrain trees and something like 32K LOD gameobjects. So I think my scenes, especially TFP Demo scene, are hovering close to that limit. There is hope though with extensions like Vegetation Studio, ATG, and Critias Foliage System that offer alternate and completely new methods to make larger, more performant scenes.

I have asked Lars, the developer of AFS and CTI(import and shader system for my trees) if he could look into a conversion method of my trees, plants to AFS. This would enable touch bending for the plants. So hopefully we can get something working because I want to have AFS versions for all the prefabs in an update within the next couple months.

You can actually convert them right now using AFS Foliage Tool by just overwriting the current bending and using AFS required bending. It is not great but you can get touch bending and wetness effects working.

Here are a couple small test scenes I made a while back to test touch bending using a cruder conversion method. The ground plants are using AFS shaders with touch bending enabled.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vtid1okth6l4foh/TFP1.1_TouchTest.zip?dl=0

So will let you guys know any updates on getting AFS setup support.

Nice Screenshot! Love to see scenes you guys make so keep sending. Also looks like you fewll prey to the Papaya map import bug. You can re-import the pack and just import the papaya diffuse and do not press Fix Now when Unity asked to make it a normal map. Then should look right.

Cheers!

 

Thank you very much for your reply and info. I thought I 'd removed all the papaya objects, did not want those in the scene
I might split big scenes into smaller squares and enable them as the player approaches to not hot a limit.
I've tried vegetation studio, seems incredible what it can do,, maybe now I have a better reason to use it in earnest!

 

May I ask you if you could perhaps have a look at the terrain shader tutorial?
That would really be very nice!!

 

Hey @hermie,

Yeah sorry man. I will have time this weekend to make one. It will just be the basics of setting up a tesselated terrain if that is alright. My first recording got through it pretty good except for the fact that I was sick. Will message when it is up this weekend.

 

It wouldn't matter at all if you sounded sick!! In any case, thank you very much!!!

 

Hey @hermie and other users who are using CMU v3 and want a setup tutorial. Did the best I could making a tutorial with this-

Hope it helps! Let me know if you have any questions or issues that the video did not address.

Also it is linked in the video description but for the forum viewers here is a build, with a few lighting edits, of the resulting terrain in the video- https://www.dropbox.com/s/ks6h33wbf6o0f0i/CMU_v3_Setup_Final.zip?dl=0

Also the edited 2K CMU Snow&Water Normal- https://www.dropbox.com/s/ees7lbjo3ju1szi/CMUSnowWaterDetail_Normal_2K.unitypackage?dl=0

 

thanks a lot for making this video

 

Thanks Lars, Hope it helps some users.

 

2k LUXURY !! I tell ya LUXURY ;-)

I was doing the exact same thing yesterday, as you say there are a few solutions and we are very fortunate to have them, Lightingbox CTS LAM I went with micro splat because Jason seems to always have one eye on performance and its pretty much idiot proof (which it needs to be for me)
I didn't even know about CMU till now I've got lots of forst assets I just don't know what goes with what these days. This is why these collaborations are so helpful.

I wanted to point out your Tropical pack is standing up to a lot of abuse I’ve blown up your rocks to the size of a mountains and they still looking great.

Soon as you turn on some nice water its like kicking your GPU in the nuts … sometimes mine even does a little cough. So 1k textures will have to do for me.

Yesterday as I was delicately tesselating that root on the path a bloodly crocodile leapt out of the water and scared me half to death, I must remember to disable crocs

Thanks for the vid very informative,

Roy

Sorry about the lighting (I'm trying)

 

Hi, could I ask, is this all included in your asset, or is CMU something additional?

 

Hi @nomax5,

That looks awesome man! Yeah I am a fan of both MicroSplat and CMU. Really great to have so many solutions working so amazing in Unity!

Yeah 2K is a bit high for most uses. Problem is I want 8K! Scanning and baking at 8K then realizing that is too much so lowering to 4K and then have to lower to 2K. Feels like an execution when you saw it at 8K

Hey @khos, No it is a separate extension. Here- https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/67260

The ground textures/materials are from TFP but the advanced terrain shading (Color Map Ultra v3) is separate.

 

@Baldinoboy You're my hero, really. Also, you're such a great artist.

 

May I ask you how you navigate so quickly within the scene at 13:40?
I use the mouse wheel to move forwards, but at some point I need to move my finger upwards, and the forward movement stops, while yours look as if you don't have to break.
Your movement looks like you have some special device to move forward.

 

Thanks man!

It is kind of fast there. Either a video processing bug for a second or just a responsive Shift+Forward movement.

 

Hi, I'm having a similar problem to the one previously mentioned about the diffuse map. The same issue persisted from 2017.2 to 2017.3, and no "fix" dialogue box pops up on import. It seems to be the diffuse map in the shader that has the issue. The pictures below show the issue, and the normal/diffuse map settings. There doesn't seem to be a proper diffuse map in the package.
I also get a weird shader issue with the Kapok that has particle effects. The plain Kapok tree is fine, as can be seen in the back of the image, but the particle effect version seems to have overlapping LODs or something. Any ideas?

Amazing package by the way. Major kudos.

 

Hi @BrokenVector ,

Thanks man!

The Papaya diffuser his correct but Unity sometimes changes it without the error box. I will send the texture with a different name so you can use it instead of the corrupted map. Think to fix it quick though you can switch the import from Normal map to Default and enable sRGB if it is still disabled.

The special Kapok is a GI version. The low poly version showing is setup to be used with a GI layer if you were using Enlighten or something else like SEGI. It just includes that optimized model for that. Did not make particle effects for that tree but can.

Will send the papaya diffuse using a different name in a PM shortly.

 

Hey guys,

1.2 update coming this week which adds much better support for VS with Instanced Indirect support for the plants and a bunch of optimizations. Also added compatible models for AFS and ATG! Demo for them in the works. Here are a few screenshots of the Vegetation Studio Demo with Tropical Forest Pack:

 

Oh man that's epic. So happy to see you've taken the asset in this direction. You've come along way. Cheers!

 

Thanks man! Well it helps that it is a really good time to be making environments in Unity with these amazing systems available! Never expected to have a Cysis like island in Unity within reach. I was quite ecstatic when putting this scene together

This update should be good to upload by tomorrow so hopefully if all goes well it will be submitted by this next Monday or Tuesday.

Hey since you guys are the people I am trying to reach what do you think about DoF(Depth of Field) in the demo scenes? Yay or Nay? I think it is needed for cinematic feel but also can see it taking away a bit from actually seeing the assets.

Cheers

 

I say Yay, it might give a haze/humidity effect in a tropical environment, what do you think?
Will this demo be included in the asset?

 

Hey @khos ,

Yeah I think it adds a bit of detail to the scene. Will see about getting a premium version maybe as the Post Process Stack version is broken with resolutions.

No the demo is from Vegetation Studio. Unfortunately any demo scene from the pack will have to be smaller and less detailed since it is using vanilla Unity which can not handle much. It should be easy though to quickly make the same scene as I did using a vegetation package for TFP. Not sure but think I will be able to share that so all you have to do us load the package and the terrain will populate.

 

That would be wonderful

 

That looks amazing. I cant wait to try it out with VS.

I don't suppose you manage to get a banana thrown in there? You would not believe how difficult it is to find one that matches the style and quality in this pack. I made one myself but it stands out like a sore thumb :-(

 

Just add some ageing/riping marks on the banana skin

 

Hi @AndyNeoman ,

Sorry but I did not get to finalizing a few decent bananas that would be used with the trees. Will work on it for a sooner smaller update.

Hey everyone, 1.2 Update has been submitted so will hopefully be approved early next week. Will make a detaild post when it is out. Also a few demos showing VS and AFS.

 

Great stuff, thanks for the update, Vegetation Studio compatability is a real bonus

 

Yeah VS support should help a lot so hope you guys enjoy it and show off what you make!

1.2 is up! That was one fast submission so thank you Asset Store team! It was so fast that I did not get a chance to get a nice announcement and video together. Will this weekend. Until then message me if you have any questions about the update.

Also please delete the TFP 1.1 folder before importing the new update.

Let me know what you guys think. Cheers!

 

Hey all, If you have been playing with the 1.2 update you might notice the grass looks a bit off but I have already fixed this and it will be in a 1.2.1 update this next week. It will also include a few name fixes and also hopefully a VS profile, if I can get it together right.

Also your darn bananas @AndyNeoman . Got a few scans to work good and they are not super detailed but detailed enough to fit in the scene nicely. There will be additional Fruit versions of both Banana Trees plus a few banana props. So hope they will help.

Cheers guys!

 

Absolutely Awesome work mate. I seen the alert and was hoping for this post hehe. Even better adding fruiting trees and a VS profile. Going the extra mile thanks a lot .

 

Hey guys,

Sorry but I have been quite busy this week and it does not look like it is going to letup so will most likely not get 1.2.1 up for at least a week. Will message when I have news.

Cheers

 

Hope everything is OK @Baldinoboy and you're not too swamped. Any update on the ETA?

 

Hey @AndyNeoman,

Yeah have just been a bit occupied lately so have not had a chance to do much. Can not promise a time but would like to get 1.2.1, or possibly 1.3 on how much gets done, in a couple weeks.

 

Hey guys, Just a quick update since I have been quite for almost a month. I still have been too busy to do anything of my own. Very sorry. I really want to get back to working on 1.2.1-1.3 but just not one moment to. If I do get a chance will let you know here. Cheers

 

Not sure if I'm mistaken was a Vegetation Studio profile available for this asset? I had heard talks of you providing one just to be extra nice.

 

Hi @SirTwistedStorm, I do plan on sharing a few VS Profiles for TFP. Just have not any time to finalize a few models for 1.3. I will try getting a smaller update out with them or just sharing them here is that would work.

 

Hey you do great work, I understand being busy.
also if you make more assets I would most likely buy them because I trust your dedication to making great assets.

 

Thanks! It is on my mind everyday to make more environments so looking forward to when I can again. Until then I will get a small update with the profiles this weekend. Will message when I do.

Cheers!

 

Hi,
I would like to ask if you can recommend a solution/option for the following:
I am using a script to hide objects between camera and player, the script is similar to the one found on this link https://forum.unity.com/threads/fade-object-close-to-camera.31376/ , in this script it looks for shader type "Shader.Find("Alpha/Diffuse")", of the script won't work on your assets as you have your own shader, also I do not think your shaders support transparency. I was just wondering if you can offer any ideas or suggestions on how to approach this.
What I would like to achieve is in a dense jungle scene to make the player more visible by making the trees (taken from your asset pack) transparent depending on where the camera is..
Any help would be appreciated if possible.

 

Hi khos,

I am not a programmer so not sure how to go about doing this. I will message the shader artist about this. Will let you know when I hear back from him. One thing I am can see happening though is enabling transparency on all the shaders affecting performance. Not sure how great it would look but could this method use dithering instead?

 

Many thanks for looking into this, would be cool if there is an option for controlling alpha/transparency. I have some really dense jungle areas and want to make it easier for the player to be seen via camera. If used correctly one one or two objects will be transparent any given time so fingers crossed performance should be an issue.
Dithering will be good, is that currently possible with your shader , I could not see any option for this?
Another option is to disable the renderer completely but not sure how pretty that will look.

 

Hi @khos, He got back to me and said that alpha/transparency would not work because you would lose shadows. Also lighting would not be consistent. Dithering should work though since the trees are dithering when moving to the billboard. So a dither fade should already work with the current CTI LOD shaders. Again not a programmer so not sure how to set that up with the above linked script but I am sure others in the community could be of assistance.

 

As a recent owner of your pack.. I'd like to say that your work is incredible! Please make MOAR PACKS!

 

Thank you very much @Gabriel_SG !

Sorry for the delay guys but just submitted 1.2.1. It is a small update including:
*Vegetation Studio optimized prefabs and setup profile included
*2018.1 shader fixes
*Updated some textures

This update is for both 5.6.3+ and 2018.1

The custom demo scene shaders in 2018.1 are different and in a way better. Shader Forge is no longer being actively supported so in 2018 it does not work great at all. So for some reason Shader Forge Deferred shaders were not receiving ambient light in 2018. Had to update them with forward versions, which look better but do not play with the scene as well. Sorting issues with the waterfall and pond, also the water does not receive fog. Not much that can be done but think it looks better than the older shaders. They are still placeholder shaders for the demo scene.

Anyway will let you guys know when it is up.

Cheers!

 

I just noticed the cave you have in the sample scene, cool!

 

Hope you don't mind to share some screenshots to show I am using your nice asset in my archaeology game:
Caves and thick jungle:

 

Just some feedback.. it seems like your Depth of Field setting is a little bit off (unless it is your design sorry), seems like the objects close are blurred and the objects far away are not when it should be the reverse? If that was your design intentional then just ignore me