Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

[Released] Vertex Tools Pro – Heightbased PBR Material Blending, Flowmapping and Mesh Deform

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by PitHeimes, Feb 12, 2016.

  1. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey,

    sorry for the delayed response. We were quite busy with getting our next update ready.
    Since now, shaders have been tested on MAC and Windows, and a quick test on iOS.
    PS4 will be tested by @hippocoder this week :) We will keep you updated with the results.

    And by the way: Our 1.0.2 update was just released yesterday. :)
     
  2. recon0303

    recon0303

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2014
    Posts:
    1,634
    so as of right now it does not. Thanks.
     
  3. Tiny-Tree

    Tiny-Tree

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2012
    Posts:
    1,314
    Just tested quick build of demo scene 2 texture spec shader work perfectly deployed on ipad


    however 3 texture shader have some artifact, not sure if i can fix this by tweaking a bit the values.

     
  4. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey,

    thanks for testing :)
    We are aware of the 3 Texture Blend Artifacts on iOS.

    This is something that only happened on iOS devices so far. We are in the process of fixing it. 2 Texture Blend as you stated is working and behaving like it should :)
     
  5. bigd

    bigd

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
    40
    A few questions, if you don't mind.

    Do you have to do anything special to use your own textures to work with VTP? I'm interested in painting a special moss texture over rocks and be able to have VTP use the height information to go between the rock cracks.

    Is there an easy way to export or save the vertex colors? For example, if I need to make a mesh change and need to reimport the mesh into Unity, will I have to repaint everything?

    How do they do over UV seams? Is there a visible seam?
     
  6. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey @bigd, sorry for the late response. Here some answers to your questions:

    If you have your own PBR maps, they should work just fine. However you need to pack certain maps into one single file (heightmap, AO-map, smoothness-map and emission-map into one single file and albedo and metallic in another single file). But we provide a tool (which is part of the VTP-package) to do those conversions for you.

    Yes, you would have to repaint everything, unfortunately. However, export to baked mesh is planned.

    I'm not sure if I get this question right. UV-seams should not have to do anything with the vertex painting itself, but will depend on how you unwrap your UVs and how your textures look. If you have visible UV seams in your textures, they will of course also appear when those textures are painted on the mesh.
     
  7. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey there,

    quite busy these days but of course always working on VTP.

    Update 1.0.3 will be released soon.

    + Added feature to bake painted vertex colors to the mesh (Save the mesh as an asset)
    + Added feature to revert the mesh back to its original state (Before any painting was done)

    + Bug fix regarding window layout
    + Improved shader performance in terms of flow
     
    wolfen231 and Teila like this.
  8. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Forgot to mention:
    Anyone looking for quick information or help, feel free to contact us any time via live chat at vertextools.pro
     
  9. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Some more progress.

    Version 1.0.4 is now available as a beta

    + Added feature to animate vertex colors with our custom Vertex Color Animation


    And a reminder: Every customer of VTP of course has access to the beta. Feel free to contact us via pm, email or at vertextools.pro
     
  10. davidkrings

    davidkrings

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2016
    Posts:
    12
    Hey guys, I'm fiddling around with VTP for some time now and I just wanted to thank you for this awesome support and updates!

    I'm downloading the newest beta as I write, can you explain in more detail how exactly the Vertex Color Animator works? I'm eager to try it out later.

    Thanks again guys!
     
  11. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Sure, it is basically your normal keyframe animation. You can paint the mesh, save that certain state of the vertex colors as a keyframe, go to a different place in the timeline and paint the mesh in another way and add that as another keyframe. You then have a few playback options like length of the animation, loop, ping pong etc. You can also have multiple keyframes.
    There are currently a few things to improve in terms of user experience and also a few minor bugs but the core functionality is there. So please go ahead, test it and give us feedback! :)
    And also don't hesitate to ask again, if anything should be unclear.

    We also made a gif today that shows, how you could use the animator:
     
    davidkrings and wolfen231 like this.
  12. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Some more visuals of the actual painting process.



    If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
     
  13. bigd

    bigd

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
    40
    A snapped a picture of some terrain I painted using VTP for a project I'm working on called The Colony.

    Here's to bright future of features and improvements!

     
    wolfen231 likes this.
  14. wolfen231

    wolfen231

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2014
    Posts:
    402
    I like it. =)
     
  15. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Version 1.0.4 was submitted to the AssetStore yesterday.

    + added Vertex Color Animator
    + added ability to bake painted meshes
    + added ability to revert meshes to their original state

    - minor bugfixes and performance improvements
     
    Teila likes this.
  16. Unreal-Vision

    Unreal-Vision

    Joined:
    May 6, 2013
    Posts:
    58
    Hi Pit,

    Your asset seems very interesting and usefull.
    As Nvyve and other studios, we use alloy for our desktop and console games.
    Seems that Alloy is very famous in unity community.
    Why don't develop your shader based on Alloy Framework?

    Would be an amazing implementation for a lot of people.
    Wait also for other people that give feedback on this feature :)
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2016
    Teila likes this.
  17. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey Unreal Vision,

    this is a planned thing but we are currently quite busy getting VTP onto terrains.
    After that, we will get in contact with the genius Alloy guys to see what we can do. :)

    Best,
    Peter
     
    Deleted User and Teila like this.
  18. Unreal-Vision

    Unreal-Vision

    Joined:
    May 6, 2013
    Posts:
    58
    Thanks for info.
    Since we have a release for the end of May and you asset is a big part of the project (it is a big cave with a lot of vertex color rock and dirt), you think we have enough time to wait your updates or need to exclude this chance?

    Thanks,
     
  19. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Uh, I guess that will not work out until end of may. Terrain support is a huge step for us. I'm sorry :(

    Nevertheless: The Alloy shader do work with our tool. It's just that our shaders are not based on the alloy lighting framework.
     
  20. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Bringing Tesselation and Heightbased Blending together to create some lovely looks. Stay tuned for future updates.

     
  21. pez

    pez

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2013
    Posts:
    52
    Hi,

    Thinking about getting this asset to use, but just wanted to check if it's supported on the Unity 5.4 beta first?!

    Thanks,
     
  22. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    We did not entirely finished testing. But no errors or warnings occured so far. Painting and shaders worked. I will keep you updated if you want to :)
     
  23. pez

    pez

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2013
    Posts:
    52
    Thanks for the quick response :)
    Just purchasing it now.

    One other question I have about the shader... our sand at the moment has a high tiling scale on the metallic map (so it's a small texture but tiles far more than the albedo etc. to make it look more grainy). My concern is that your shader combines the metallic with the emission & height maps, so I'm guessing we wouldn't be able to set that high tiling factor on the metallic without it effecting the height map etc as well?!
    Is there a way to separate out the metallic map to have it's own tiling parameters do you know?!

    Thanks again,
     
  24. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Thanks a lot :)


    Just contact us in skype. We will set some shader up for you, which fixes that specific problem of use. If it works out for you, it will of course also be included in the next update. :)
     
  25. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Another quick tease of our upcoming Tesselation Update.

     
    punk, lazygunn and wolfen231 like this.
  26. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    Last edited by a moderator: May 6, 2016
    chiapet1021 likes this.
  27. Unreal-Vision

    Unreal-Vision

    Joined:
    May 6, 2013
    Posts:
    58
  28. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    @Unreal Vision
    Sadly, no. That involves preprocessing and baking data into a map. There's no way we can "inject" that.
     
  29. Unreal-Vision

    Unreal-Vision

    Joined:
    May 6, 2013
    Posts:
    58
    About packing it is clear, but if packed map was ok, shader apply specularAA? The limitation is injection or packer map, or together? :)
     
  30. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    @Unreal Vision
    If you wish to discuss it more, then please post in the Alloy thread.
     
  31. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Teila and Deleted User like this.
  32. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Some more insight on the Tesselation Blend Shader in our upcoming update.


    (High Res Version)
     
    Deleted User likes this.
  33. pez

    pez

    Joined:
    Jul 6, 2013
    Posts:
    52
    Very quick test for the custom shader VTP made for us!
    We can scale the metallic/smoothness map to create the shiny grain look (whilst keeping them all combined)
    Then I've also been playing around with the flow mapping based off mesh data to have a subtle movement down the dunes (amplified a bit for the gif)

    Looking forward to refining some of the other textures & getting a sweet blend between them all!

    Will post more screens when I've done some more work :D
    sandtest2.jpg sandtest4.png sandtest3.png
    HIGH RES GIF
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2016
  34. lazygunn

    lazygunn

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2011
    Posts:
    2,749
  35. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    We are already onto that but progress is still in 'Research'. We want to make sure, that everything meets our quality standards and therefore it sometimes takes a bit longer. But Translucency is definitly something we want to have for VTP in the future. Especially for any ice-blending.
     
  36. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
  37. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Vertex Tools Pro v1.0.5b1 is available as a beta (Flow Painting)

    As always, feel free to contact us via pm or at vertextools.pro with your invoice id if you want to try it :)

     
    punk and SunnySunshine like this.
  38. SunnySunshine

    SunnySunshine

    Joined:
    May 18, 2009
    Posts:
    974
    I keep getting this error after Unity is done baking.

    b78574cd37e8b7ca1cd2fa1cb658c065.png

    Code (CSharp):
    1. Shader error in 'VTP/Specular/3 Texture Blend (Advanced)': maximum ps_4_0 sampler register index (16) exceeded at line 164 (on d3d11)
    2.  
    3. Compiling Fragment program with DIRECTIONAL SHADOWS_SCREEN LIGHTMAP_ON DIRLIGHTMAP_COMBINED DYNAMICLIGHTMAP_ON
    4. Platform defines: UNITY_ENABLE_REFLECTION_BUFFERS UNITY_PBS_USE_BRDF1 UNITY_SPECCUBE_BOX_PROJECTION UNITY_SPECCUBE_BLENDING
    5.  
     
  39. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Oh, never thought of that. Specular needs more Sampler Register.

    We would suggest using Metallic Workflow or the Specular 2Tex Blend.

    We will take a look tonight at the Specular 3Tex Blend and check what we can do about that. :) Thanks for the patience
     
  40. Dreaming-Earthling

    Dreaming-Earthling

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2014
    Posts:
    6
    Hi, is it possible to export/bake the painted results (albedo, normal, etc) into single texture (png) files? Thanks
     
  41. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey there,

    No that is currently not possible. :(
    The benefit of vertex painitng is using the same material on multiple different looking objects, hence improve performance and visuals.

    Nevertheless we will take a look how long it would take to implement that feature. We will keep you updated :)
     
  42. Dreaming-Earthling

    Dreaming-Earthling

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2014
    Posts:
    6
    Thank you for the quick reply! That would be a great feature (at least for our projects:))

    We work on mobiles, and in some situations using splatmaps drags the performance down (unity terrain). It would be nice to be able to paint a mesh in the editor using VTP and later exporting the painted results into single textures which used in the final build.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2016
  43. SunnySunshine

    SunnySunshine

    Joined:
    May 18, 2009
    Posts:
    974
    To keep the quality you would have to bake 1 huge texture to cover everything. The benefit of using vertex painting is that you can use high quality tiling textures, while removing the appearance of repetition.
     
  44. zenGarden

    zenGarden

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2013
    Posts:
    4,538
    Is there some video showcasing that is integrated in the tool ?
    How textures adapt if we would extrude vertices ? without a triplanar shaders , textures UV deformations would be obvious.
     
  45. Unreal-Vision

    Unreal-Vision

    Joined:
    May 6, 2013
    Posts:
    58
    Hi Pit,
    - could be possible use different uv set for each channel? This could help to remove uv seams when we unwrap :)
    - how we can reproduce wet shader? You use metallic or couldb possibile use additional wet map/shader (for example replacing emessive in combine map).
    - please release a roughness version instead of smoothness :p We use alloy and everything is roughness. Just a (1 - smoothness) helps artists life :p. Together with roughness, in the future could be helpful have the same channel packer of alloy.
    RGB(Albedo)-A(Height, alloy use just for opacity)
    R(Metalness)-G(AO)-B(emissive or custom map, alloy use for f0 specularity)-A(roughness).

    Thanks :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2016
  46. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey there,

    Technically yes. Though there could of course be some trouble since UV2 and UV3 is used internally from Unity for Lightmapping and GI. But if you respect some things when uv-mapping it should be no problem. We will check how long it would take us to integrate it.

    Could you give me some more details what excactly you want? What we do when it comes to wet things: Red Channel the dry material. Green Channel the Wet Material. And then we just blend between those two with the Vertex Color Animator or dynamically ingame with our runtime API. (on particle (raindrop) collision).

    Definitly true. Will add an "alloy" shader. Hopefully soon :)
     
  47. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Hey zenGarden,

    You are of course right, with the UV deformations. It's basically just to create some sort of diversity.
    TriPlanar shader is technically speaking ready for release. But we are currently still not fully satisfied with the performance. So more optimizations have to be done on that, before we get that into beta.

     
    zenGarden likes this.
  48. zenGarden

    zenGarden

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2013
    Posts:
    4,538
    Good.
    I don't like the circle tool deformation , it is not enought transparent to see what you are really doing under the brush.
    Can alpha be adjusted ?
     
  49. Twoonebe

    Twoonebe

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2013
    Posts:
    174
    Hello

    Vertex is comatibel with RTP ? make Prefer beautiful flying island as terrain but so far has with moderate success
    maybe an idea how I can make it even better ?

    is tesselation possible or how can i get better result ?
     

    Attached Files:

    • test.jpg
      test.jpg
      File size:
      317.1 KB
      Views:
      830
  50. PitHeimes

    PitHeimes

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2015
    Posts:
    322
    Could you please explain a bit more detailed what excactly you mean? :) VTP currently isn't ready for terrain yet. Though we are still working on that.

    Tesselation shaders are available in our beta. (Just send us your invoice id, and we will get in touch :) )

    As far as I can tell, you are not using heightbased-blending currently. So that is definitly a feature that VTP offers, that really improves visual quality. Can you also explain a bit more detailed, what excactly you mean with "better results"? :)