3D Rocky Hills Environment Pack - Development Thread

That's right, and I looked a bit at other vegetation shaders and I think the best way to to it is in another UV set or with a detail mask. I might use vertex position Y.

Anyway here is a first look at The Toby Foliage Engine. Work is still in progress, especially the tree wind but it's good enough to showcase. I wanted to do a quick comparison with the Vegetation Engine, both in wind and shading. (Note this is in Built-in deferred)

This shader is made to work by default with any model, vertex painting might not be needed but is optional. The wind even works with the model setup for the Vegetation engine despite intending a different setup so the shader does everything automatically. Still, if the wind looks a bit wonky and branches in the video seem to disconnect that's why. There is no vertex green in those models which I actually needed for my shader to work properly but I'm thinking of doing that automatically in the shader as well.

Performance stats will come later.

 

Just realized the "gentil" typo in my vid, curse my Latin habits! Anyway here are some HQ screenshots of the nice gradient shading.







And I suppose people are waiting for a performance comparisson. Here is a quick snapshot, comparing with TVE deferred shader, it's mostly the same however, this is not a fair comparison as I have everything set to ON and this is not a good scene for performance tests. With only one wind phase on, the performance is much greater at least 5 to 20 fps more and I have yet to optimize anything or tap into the full potential of the shader yet. I believe I can save up to 30fps more by making some changes.



I will come back with proper performance tests after I finished the shaders.

 

Here are more amazing screenshots of the beautiful TTFE shading.

 

The RHEF_CaveTop prefab is missing but I got it from the Light package.

 

The official benchmark map is in the works! (When finished it will be available as a build)
I have too many distractions this month to be able to focus on finishing the shader so I'm having some fun in the meantime.

 

Working on the wind global controllers, 90% done!

 

Given the situation with Unity right now I want to announce that after careful consideration I'll finish this asset and continue making assets for Unity while also working with the Unreal engine moving forward!

See you in the next update!

 

I hear a lot about Godot these days. You know ?

 

I think Godot has potential but I'm afraid it doesn't attract me because of the lack of features and other issues I have with it. It doesn't seem to be ready for AAA 3D development yet. I remember waiting 10min to import a 4k texture plus it compiled twice. I have no idea if this has been resolved yet but it was the main issue that turned me off. That being said I see it getting as big as Unity at some point. Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?

 

no because this is the first time I've heard of it. I read this in the forums following the Unity problems

 

I actually tried it before, back in 2017 because I wasn't happy with Unity. At first, I was impressed but then I started to notice all the shortcomings and issues I had personally with it so I never looked back at it but if you aren't very pretentious you might actually find it fits your needs, give it a try.

 

I don't code, I mainly use Playmaker on Unity. so for me it's Unity + Playmaker or Unreal, but given my age, I don't want to start a new engine.

 

I feel the same, for me it's also Unity or Unreal but given that I'm selling assets I might just try the ones that have an open store.

 

you sell assets, but do you also make games?

 

I was considering it but I don't think I could do it on my own. I collaborated with someone on a game once but that's about it so I'm just sticking to selling assets for now.

 

In the meantime, I made a bundle for those who are interested!

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/the-chunky-modular-bundle-266111

 

Behold, The Toby Foliage Engine! Quick Renders in Unity.

 

Behold, The Toby Foliage Engine! Quick Renders in Unity 2.

 

Improved the shading a tiny bit, now the mobile grass has specular.




And tested with GI probes.

 

Second look at The Toby Foliage Engine. Work is still in progress (Note this is in Built-in deferred). A quick look at shading, seasons, and wind.

 

Just finished all the trees, it was a real pain because I made them by hand hence I took so long.

 

Looks good.

 

Letting you all know I am working on the map and it is going well.

 

I use the Asset GPU Instancer but half of the trees are invisible as are the rocks

 

Do you mean the GPU instancing checkbox on the material? Do you have any errors, that's strange? (same Unity version?)

 

I use the Asset GPU Instancer:
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/utilities/gpu-instancer-117566
Most trees and all rocks remain invisible. Except for example BeechTreeOldSummer

I don't have any error message

 

on a test scene it works, but not on my big project. I keep looking...

 

That's strange, at the moment I don't have a clue, looks like something is wrong with the scene or something else. Worth investigating further...