Terrain Composer2 a next generation GPU powered terrain tool.

TC2 uses 16 bit raw grey scale images, you can read about it here. Yes you can make your own like in WorldMachine (there the format extension is called R16).
http://www.terraincomposer.com/terraincomposer2-documentation/#stamps

I remade TC2 from scratch and the layer/mask system is different and it's not compatible with TC1.

Can you show a screenshot of your 4 textures that you tile 2 x 2? Yes normally you use a colormap for this, RTP supports this. A colormap is 1 image that is stretched over the entire terrain.

Nathaniel

 

Doldersum (the creator) doesn't seem to want to reply to my emails, so I thought I would try the forums instead.

Hello! I have a little problem that maybe you can answer me. I'm developing a openworld game and I need to have a ocean. I also need to generate a navmesh for only the land part of the terrain, which means that I probably have to create two seperate terrain areas (which I think is not supported yet right?)
The water is always under 200 y, so maybe there is a way to generate navmesh for over 200 y or something?


Do you know a good way to solve this?


I also have another question. Terraincomposer currently only supports 8 terrain textures, but why is that? You can assign more textures if you manually go into the unity terrain tools. I'm converting my terrain to a mesh after I've created my terrain, so it doesn't matter if more than 8 textures drag down performance (since I'm not going to render the terrain textures anyway). Is there a way to force-add more than 8 textures?

 

Hi Nathaniel,

Ok maybe ill upgrade and give it a go at porting it over to TC2, to be honest there isn't a "lot" of code for runtime routines, i'm loading in height map, textures and a splat map for trees and objects.

As for the colormap, so this is essentially what I'm doing in TC however, instead of stretching over 1 texture I am stretching over 4 which align up, hence i use a splatmap which is basically 2x2 grid RGBA. These 4 textures are aerial imagery, I do it this way as it means i can have higher resolution or 4x 2048px images instead of 1x 4096px.

So i guess the issue is with RTP is the colormap is a single texture.

Any way around this that you might know?

Thanks

 

That is huge. There's a recent asset I picked up called MegaSplat that uses the texture array feature in the same way to support up the 256 textures per terrain or mesh. So far it looks really great. I guess it shouldn't be surprising that RTP is going that direction too. It's a fantastic way to eliminate visual tiling.

 

Mac also happens to be the official corporate standard workstation for many of the Unity developers, according to what one of their engineers told me at Unite LA, November 2016.

 

Hi, Nathaniel. I will be glad to do that. I just saw your post today.

It may be a few days before I can do this, because I'm having some hardware issues at the moment.

As an aside, thanks to the several other folks who have jumped into the Mac test process! I don't feel so alone now.

 

What you can do with navmesh is select the objects you want to have it on. You could use more terrains and disable the terrains that only use water.

I limited it to 8 splat textures because its better for performance of the Unity terrain shader. Each 4 splat textures need another render pass in terrain shader. When RTPv4 comes out I will TC2 compatible with it to have like 70 splat textures with the cost of only 4-8.

Yes would be great if we can get it to work...

Nathaniel

 

Hi Nathaniel,

Quick question about painting textures. Does the plugin allow for painting textures using the default unity terrain tools? All painting/sculpting data I add to the terrain seems to get lost when the scene is reopened. Is this by design or am I missing any steps?

Thanks a lot

 

Hello,

Here is the update for Unity5.5, a patch for the collision node, also fixed that objects will be placed on correct terrain height.

Nathaniel

 

Not when the TC2 splat output layer is selected, as that will cause it to regenerate and overwrite the splats on startup.
I am developing a tool to overcome this problem and more, will post when I have more information to show

 

Thanks for the quick reply! How would I go forward with this when multiple terrain areas are not supported? And how would I make the terrains "merge together" (there should be somewhat of a slope between the bottom of the sea and the mainland like in real life, it doesn't just go directly down)

Any thoughts are appreciated

UPDATE: I found a better way of solving my problem. I created a cube that filled the entire area of where I didn't want my AI to walk on and set it to the "Not walkable" navigation layer. The AI will now ignore going into the water.

 

TC2 is not working for me.

I use Unity 5.5.0f3 and your published fixes don't work for me.

 

Hello Nathaniel,

OSX 10.11.6 with Intel Iris Pro 1536MB (Model: Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)
Unity 5.6.0.b3

Steps to reproduce:
1. New Project + TC2 Asset
2. Checked "Metal Support" under Player Settings
3. Clicked on Power of Nature -> TerrainComposer2
4. Clicked on "Create Terrain"

Console Output:
133x "Metal: Compute shader has 1024 threads in a threadgroup which is more than the supported max of 512 in this device"

I then tried to get rid of this error by changing this line:
TC_Compute.cs (~ line 18)
[NonSerialized] public float threads = 1024; // changed to 512 and reimported assets

Output:
No Console Errors !!!
No breakpoints are triggered in OnGUI() in TC_NodeWindow.cs MonoDevelop to evaluate your suggestions from here.
NodeWindow still stays black (but String-Messages are displayed)

 

Ah, thanks for the heads up! I'll keep an eye out for the tool when you're finished.

 

Thanks Nathaniel,

Can you just upload the patch to current project without having to delete terrain etc?

I dont know if anyone could be so kind as to share any river stamps they have made . Mine always seem to have sharp drop and not sure how to get an nice small depth. Driving me mad.....

 

Like vampir26 above says, it doesn't seem to be working.

Unfortunately I purchased this today and have been struggling some hours to get any of the tutorial and examples to work. Finally navigated to here and appears I have this same issue where it does not work at all and I am on unity 5.5.0f3 also.

I have added the patch and seems no difference.

 

There should be a raw file (height map) in the first node not a perlin. Import the stamps package and add one of the example stamps (like a mountain for instance) in the first slot.

I have 5.5f03 and it is working.

 

Yes, you would need Mega Splats Asset though. Which works with TC2 right now....I use Mega Splats for Mobile, and I can use as many as I like.. I believe Mega Splats you have over 200.Right now... So I SUGGEST to get that asset, and looks great on desktop and mobile.... But it does support all plat forms which is awesome.

 

Do you have World Composer and there are some other programs, I use World Machine, to make mine,.. Plus you can use Photoshop and other programs to easily make them....Another way you can use Moutain stamps and flip them, which is what I do sometimes, depends on the look.. But sorry cant share mine, its for my own game and clients. Not able to share. But river ones should be really easy to make, do you have a pic maybe of what your trying to make?? I can give you a better hint on how if so...

 

Confused here..... not sure what your are saying other than silly hash tags fail comments, which I really don't understand, or cant help you with....

Alls I got out of what you said, was, your saying its full of bugs, and the doc is old.... and how he needs to slow down...

No, I disgree with you 100%, his UI should be easier to understand..

If not, post a screen of what you did so far so we can see what your doing wrong.... The video you posted, if you followed Step by Step is near the same, there are more things added, but the first part where you add the noise is there.. YOU have more choices now...Then you can add a node. or a layer..depending on what you want to do... If you want to scale, or move anything stamp wise, you use the Unity scale, rotate move tool, while clicking on the actually node you are on..Also in the inspector of that node you are clicking you can adjust things there, or add stamps etc...You need to download the stamps as the DOCS says so.... The docs are near spot on, and NOT dated... There are some changes, but like I said, not enough for many of us....So if anything we would like to see more updates..Yes I agree there are some bugs, but alot have been fixed, so make sure its been updated.. to the newest version of the store.


Suggetion, click File, Open and use one of the pre-made map already there...Make sure its set to Auto to generate the terrain. I would use the pre - mades to get a feel for how things are done and what nodes to use, if for some reason that Tut is confusing, it shouldn't be at all, but if it is....there is not much to the UI to be honest at all..You are adding nodes, masks, layers, mainly...Not much t

PS: I have many new users use this on my team, with out any issues, TC1 was a hassle...TC2 is a god send... So either you have a bug or are missing steps .....

Uninstall incase its a bug, if you aren't able to add nodes...and re-download it is another suggestion. If you know for 100% fact you followed that Tutorial..

 

Multiple terrains are supported...Can select how many terrains you want with the tiles X and tiles Y slider in the TerrainArea GameObject.

You can just import the patch for Unity5.5 and it should be fine, don't have to delete anything. If you get a compute shader error, you need to restart Unity for Unity to recompile the shader.

It works fine for me here, try to restart Unity, it's because Unity didn't recompile the compute shader. If that doesn't help let me know...

I'm not sure if you got something working or not. If the patch is not working and you get errors in the console you need to restart Unity, I submitted it to the Asset Store but takes a few days for it to be accepted. The docs and video are up to date, only I added new features, fixed bugs and added a new noise library, but nothing serious changed in the GUI that I would need to redo the video/docs because functionality is removed/changed.

So I'm surprised with what you mention, and I understand when someone gets frustrated when something doesn't work at all. But if it were really the case that the entire tool is broken and doesn't work like described in the manual, then why so many good reviews for TC2? So probably an issue on your side that it's not working correctly, does the terrain stay flat? Or do you get some output?...Think is best if we chat on skype to see what the issue is, my account is Nathaniel.Doldersum. If you prefer you can instead show a screenshot here with TC2 window open and Unity console (control-shift-c).

Nathaniel

 

I understand, thanks for the reply.

I'm trying to get a congo river style river running through the terrain. With gentle slope down for npcs to get to the river.

You're right, it should be quite easy - maybe i just need to revisit it. I have tried flipping the mountains but i will give it another try.

 

Hello
I recently purchased this asset and it's currently not needed for my current game. Is it possible to get a refund? It would greatly appreciated.

-Thank you.

 

Do you plan on layouting all rivers yourself? Then you could start off by making a riverbed in Photoshop or a different tool with a linear slope, I mean perfectly linear - maybe with a simple curve tool (would be great to have that built-in into the shapes). Then it is easy to adjust it through curves in TC2, just specify the profile... That should make iterating over the profile and also the layout way easier, only need to change at one place

EDIT:
I attached an example including a test riverbed image (curve made with gimp) and a setup using expand and distortion nodes to create a riverbed you can dynamically change border profile, width and distortion of
It does not work as good as it sounds though, example image is bad (for good results you need a curve with a perfect linear falloff, best made directly in TC2 nodes... I couldn't manage to make a good one in Gimp).
Because of the usage of the expand node you can only adjust the immediate fixed-width border profile, the floor stays constant when width is increased...
Also it's a hassle to copy that setup over to splat to change them accordingly, we have to wait for portals in a future release. Would be a perfect spot to use them, simply adjusting river shape at one point and having it used and updated in all layers would be great

Here's a list of parameters and where to adjust them:
River shape: ImageNode/Image (curve with linear falloff)
River border profile: ImageNode/Curve
River width: ExpandNode/Iterations
River variety: DistortionNode/Radius+Lacunarity+Persistence (can't scale node down to make perlin scale unfortunately)

Hope it helps as a starting point. Maybe there is a way to make the curve shape adjustable directly in unity by using a curve asset, making it generate a mesh around the curve which is captured by the collision node?

 

Hello

Thank you for answer, Nathaniel.

Nothing was working for me. Of course I tried to restart Unity.

I found out, that TC2 work on new projects, but not in my existing project.

After I tried a lot, I found a solution:
In Player Settings->Other Settings->Graphics API for Windows, Add DirectX 11 and remove all other entrys (DX9 in my case). Now, TC2 is working.

Thank you

 

Andy do you have a screen shot, of what your trying to do?? of an example, that would be helpful

 

if it was doing that, then it was staying flat, just need to make sure you are using Edit, graphics, and No emulation, Android is the same way, we need to be in DX11 mode... Also keep in mind, it WILL switch out if DX11 mode....Its NOT a TC2 issue.....Its a Unity issue.... I have complained to Unity about this for the past 4 years and gotten worse in the past 1 year....So keep that in mind if you notice at the top it saying D11 in DX9 if something is not working, you will need to switch to back to DX11.. I wrote my own script to force it back to DX11 since Unity has not shown that they care about fixing this any time soon...So keep that in mind. Best of Luck .

 

Great way to do it, also great way to start out as you can easily extend on it, very close to how I do stuff like this if I cant use the Stamps I have to do what I want.

 

Nath he may mean, the support possible so you can make changes per terrain, like Pin and UnPin each one for there Unique changes, kinda like Map Magic, I could be wrong, he may mean what your asking...Which yup, TC1 and TC2 has had this a long, which is one main thing I like about TC2 IS THAT Nath support Multi Terrains, something many tools don't or didn't.....I make all my games nearly with Multi Terrain.

 

Thanks, that's really helpful.

I will give that a try tomorrow.

 

http://tktagencies.weebly.com/uploads/4/3/5/7/43577777/6216422_orig.jpg
this is a nice curve example.

Seneral has given me a great starting point and i did have a bit of success with shapes earlier.

 

yup that was what I was looking for , when I first asked that way I could of make you a tut in PHOTOSHOP with a curve , but looks like Seneral helped you, which is great glad it worked out...

You can make many kinds of shapes , with Photoshop, and remember you can use Stamps to make certain shapes for body of water as well, Rivers etc.

 

Hi Nathaniel,

I sent you a mail a few days ago, but perhaps it was deleted some reasons, so I decided ask you here.

My problem is about "Object Placement".

In the Demo reel, there are invisible capsule for terrain adapts.
But in the Example scene, white capsules are visible by default.

And try invisible them by edit prefab caused terrain adapts error.
--No error code would appear but capsule collisions would simply ignored by node if turn off mesh render.

How can I use invisible models to adapt terrains for objects?
Did I have missed some important?

Sorry for my English skill. It will to be a reason for misunderstanding, but I had try my best.

Best,
Ryuichi

 

The system doesn't check for collisions, but for the mesh renderers it seems, so the mesh renderers of the terrain deformer objects need to be visible. In Unity at the top right corner you'll find a button labeled "Layers". Use that to make the deformer objects invisible in the editor (it will be project-wide). Put them on a new layer if they aren't already and disable that layer in the editor and on your cameras, so they aren't rendered ingame. You can also turn off the colliders on those objects if there are any.

 

Hi No0B25

Thank you for response!

Oh, that's must be why I can't.
I wondered "Why collisions disabled?" but it was not correct, because TC2 is not using collisions to search adapts area!
Yes, I was narrow-minded, and I forgot about layer system of Unity, too.

Then, to use Object Placement as advertised, I have to create some new layers to control them. I see.
Yes, it is the "ABC's" for using Unity, but It was completely out of my mind.

Thank you again, No0B25.

Best,
Ryuichi

 

Hi Nathaniel,

I emailed you a few days ago. I guess you are busy.

Mainly questions about how well TC2 handles large 50x50 km terrains.

Additional question:
I've been using TC1.96.
Now I want to try TC2, with RTP v3.3
Should I upgrade to TC2 or just continue with TC1+RTP v3.3?
My timeline is tight. so I would like to have a feel if TC2 is stable for production.

thanks,
jon

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate taking the time.

Edit:- Fixed issue with jaggies it was a problem with my curve settings. Thanks guys!

 

Question. A few months back you were planning on adding some noise-generating algorithms to TC2. Has that been done yet, or is it planned for the future? Terraincomposer.com says it's planned for the "next updates" but I didn't know if that was up to date or not.

 

some where added...

 

Thanks. I'm unsure though if all of it's in. I want to wait until all of them are in before getting started.

 

your choice?? but makes no sense.. if you don't know...You dont use them all anyways...lol.... There are plenty there now...So more than likely from my understanding, and I been a tester since day 1....

Erosion is the only other that is being added... Far as Noise I believe they are all in, unless there are some I never heard about..

 

I intend to use them all. Most recently I was using three at various strengths to produce some nice looking terrains.

I need to be able to generate hundreds of realistic-looking terrains from a single seed, so I imagine that more (and more nuanced of course) noise mixing will help with that.

 

best of luck , I been developing terrains for over a decade for AAA and indie, there are plenty to do that and then some now.... but as I said I believe all of them are in now..unless I missed about one or two more that I never heard of ... But the ones that are there now, and the new ones, and are more than enough to get any thing you want done.. So I guess that is why I'm confused... But your choice what you do. its your time and tool

Best of luck either way..

PS : IF you are talking about Nath adding new noise , nodes, those ones been added.. again no idea of any other, unless I missed something. so someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But they are new ones, and the update , if that is what you where referring to. Think there is 3 new ones, maybe 4, dont have it open right now. So my point is , check them out .

 

It was the noise nodes. Thanks.

 

Is there a posting or web page describing the state of Mac support? This thread is 107 pages long, and I can't find anything on the Roadmap web page.

 

whats new in .18?

 

I literally just installed TC2 yesterday and now I see an update today. @eagle555 Can you confirm that the update is only for the 5.5/5.6 fixes and that no other features are included?

 

Unity is adding Metal support, beginning in 5.6, the next update. So TC2 is going to wait for that, rather than roll their own Mac support.

 

Reading WorldComposer thread I find someone complaining about "mandatory" TC2+RTP integration. This is true? I'm planning to use TC2 + an alternative product, hope TC2 will not force me using RTP.

 

I just started using TC2 and I created my first one in a project that has no RTP in it and everything worked fine. So from my own experience I would say that the complaints are invalid. At least in the current version.