Terrain Composer2 a next generation GPU powered terrain tool.

Hello Ebolinux,

The 'Start Window' is for easy example terrain creation. You will have to load them manually and use the generate button instead. So TC Menu -> File -> Load, then in the folder -> TerrainComposer Example -> Projects.

Nathaniel

 

I did program this for TerrainComposer2. For TC 1.x it works, but you have to create the terrain manually and add it manually to the TC terrain list.

Nathaniel

 

is it called terrain shader? and where would I find it? at the moment I only have Terrain Composer World Composer and Relief Terrain Pack 3, would it be something from one of those?

 

Then it might be that it is because RTP isn't setuped. Have you setup RTP Lod manager in the hierarchy? and the RTP terrain script? RTP need to be setup first:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/5664

At the bottom (Tom changed it to the top and might be there soon) of the description, there's a RTP setup turorial video Tom made and also the documentation.

Nathaniel

 

Not sure if you have any plans to do this, but...have you or are you thinking about voxel modeling?

There are all these different terrain modeling assets, either they have slight difference do them, some have more features...it's hard to pick them (makes it worse when they don't list all the features or show them off)

 

I feel really stupid right now but I have been using TerrainComposer for the past few days and I have always had this on there (Sorry I stole image from another post but it was exactly what I needed.) Today when I opened up unity it had me redownload from the asset store and now everything in the red box is missing. At first I thought it was just an update and you removed them but I seen no patch notes or atleast the time I spent looking I did not find any. And I am not sure if I deleted something on accident. I was wondering if that had been removed from the program or not.

 

I *think* the help menu should have a "download examples" option if you update to a new version.

 

Hi, I found the item to be fixed in TerrainComposer x RTP. In terrain >> Splat Textures> enabling RTP >> Normalmap (enabling in RTP) >> after select any format in Auto Search is not automatically filling the format in Name String. This filling works perfectly on Colormap. I just want to help. Sorry for my english.

 

I have downloaded the examples package and those options are still missing

 

Not to double post but I solved my issue i had the example window turned off for somereason

 

A combination of Unity terrain and meshes like cave meshes and overhangs) would be better and this is possible with RTPv3. The issue with voxel is, that it uses a mesh collider, which is very slow and takes much performance. Because of this, voxel terrain is not suited for large terrains...

Nathaniel

 

The example window can be enabled/disabed in TC Menu -> Help -> Example Window...Also it can be disabled by clicking the 'X' button in the top right of the example window.

Nathaniel

 

This should work fine, but global normal maps should be enabled in RTP Lod manager in the Hierarchy. Do you have this enabled?

Nathaniel

 

But I don't see it being much an issue if it's muliti-threaded, right?

I was looking at TerraVol for my voxel engine, but they already told me that the terrain generation isn't nearly as well thought out as the Terrain Composer

Unless I can easily work the two assets together...I would personally want to sculpt the cave holes, not use per-made cave mesh

 

Multi-threading wouldn't help, as it's the physics collider that makes it slow, which is on the CPU.

Nathaniel

 

CPU is the processor , correct?

Would it even matter is I do have an 8-core processor? Ir would that not even effect the performance?

 

Each core handles its own thread, like a stream of processing, and to take advantage of multiple cores you need tasks that can be sensibly split and processed concurrently, 8 cores doesnt mean the computer processes one thread eight times faster, it means it can process 8 threads concurrently (Simplifying it a bit maybe)

I have no idea wether it could or would make sense for this task to be multithreaded, but it currently isnt, so like most of the processing unity does (it has some limitations regarding multithreading) its all done on one core. So no, it doesn't help, as far as i'm aware there's little that can be done about this performance problem currently, and there is little meaning in the context you are comparing voxel landscapes to terrain composer's application to edit and organise unity's existing terrain system

The unity documentation can explain how unity terrain is implemented and you'll probably see how this relates to terrain composer, voxel landscapes are an entirely different paradigm in terms of landscape generation

 

Yes, as lazygunn explains it doesn't make a difference how many cores you have with Unity. Unity is running on 1 thread, and it's only possible to run .Net function and classes on Multi-Thread, as Unity isn't multi-threaded. So multi-threading and rendering terrain are not related.

Nathaniel

 

oh...

maybe...I can flop a voxel made terrain on top of a terrain made with Terrain Composer

 

Yes, I enabled it. In the two windows (colormap | normalmap). In both windows there is a search button to select the default sequence file. After selecting this sequence is automatically filled the selected sequence ("_x% x_y% y" for example) in the "Name String" field. In the Colormap window works fine but does not work well in normalmap window. Colormap window in the "Name String", filling with the standard field is automatic ("_x% x_y% y", "%% n_C x_R% y" or "n% _"). Normalmap window in the "Name String" field remains intact.Sorry for my english.

 

Thanks for the help! Got it figured out!

 

I checked it, and yes you are right. Thanks for telling, I will fix this in the next version. For now you have to enter the search string manually in normal map auto search.

Nathaniel

 

Thanks, I have the same problem...
And also, I just cannot import tile maps generated with WorldMachine, they are all in the wrong place and I've to put them back one by one ...
Could you check? I'm going crazy

Thanks

 

You have to enable flip y axis in settings in the raw heightmap filter.

Nathaniel

 

Yes, of course I have done hundreds of tests...
The issue is not the orientation (the 1x1 terrain work fine) but the position of the tiles of all maps ( color, normal splat ) do not mach with the heightfiled position.
If you can check a simple map 2x2 tiles in WorldMachine and, maybe if it works you could post a screenshot of the outputs in WM...
I would be really grateful...
Bye the way I bought and use TC 1.350 (last) and RTP 3.0

Thanks,
Paolo

 

Can you send me a screenshot of how it looks to my e-mail Nathaniel_Doldersum@Hotmail.com?

Nathaniel

 

Hi Nathaniel

I'm trying to look at your Island Example jot to build / learn something similar. However I'm getting a lot of error messages from unity as soon as I hit "start"
Which is quite annoying. I did get another example to work, but it's the splitting up of zones ext that i really wanted to have a look at.

Instructions followed precisely, 4*4 terrain, lowest res. Created islands / zones then,
Error messages as follow:

1.
NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
terraincomposer_save.load_raw_heightmaps () (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Scripts/terraincomposer_save.js:10923)
terraincomposer_save.generate_begin () (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Scripts/terraincomposer_save.js:2270)
TerrainComposer.generate_startup () (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Editor/TerrainComposer.js:4067)
TerrainComposer.create_example (System.String path, Boolean load_only) (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Editor/TerrainComposer.js:17522)
TerrainComposer.load_example_terrain (Boolean load_only) (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Editor/TerrainComposer.js:17615)
TerrainComposer.Paint () (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Editor/TerrainComposer.js:2182)
TerrainComposer.OnGUI () (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Editor/TerrainComposer.js:898)
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)

2.
InvalidOperationException: Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object
System.Collections.Stack.Peek () (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections/Stack.cs:321)
UnityEngine.GUILayoutUtility.EndLayoutGroup ()
UnityEditor.DockArea.EndOffsetArea ()
UnityEditor.DockArea.OnGUI ()

3.
InvalidOperationException: Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object
System.Collections.Stack.Peek () (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections/Stack.cs:321)
UnityEngine.GUILayoutUtility.EndLayoutGroup ()
UnityEngine.GUILayout.EndVertical ()
TerrainComposer.Paint () (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Editor/TerrainComposer.js:3889)
TerrainComposer.OnGUI () (at Assets/TerrainComposer/Editor/TerrainComposer.js:898)
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/monoAndRuntimeClassLibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)


I'm pretty new to all this (brand new to terrain comp) but yeah can't figure this out for the life of me!


*Added*
Also to note, I cannot access the "Main Manual" via the unity menu system, clicking on the button/link does nothing. I am struggling to get this to work as other people have suggested it works so well. I'm not complaining, but I must be doing something really wrong to have this big a difference of experience to everyone else. Although it may just be that I'm stupid. An instruction manual would be useful for me to self fault find, but i can't find it out google and as mentioned the link doesn't do anything. I really want to like this... I honestly do.
*Added*

Kind regards,
Kieran

 

Hello Kieran,

Thanks for telling. I checked it, and the heightmap folder is still on the project folder I made it in. I will fix this in the next update. As for now you need to load the heightmap manually.

Delete the <Generating> GameObject from the Hierarchy to get your TerrainComposer Window normal again.

Go to the heightmap layer and in the filter in settings, shift click `>Open` to reset the folder to your project folder. Then click `>Open`, go to the folder TerrainComposer Examples -> Island -> Heightmaps, select the Island.raw file. Now you can click the `Start` button and it should work correct.



As for the manual, it is located in the TerrainComposer folder in your project. It`s a PDF document and needs Adobe Acrobat Reader to be able to open.

Nathaniel

 

Awesome, that sorted it! Thanks Nathaniel!

Kieran

 

Hi,

Sorry if I'm missing something but I've read through the documentation and searched online and I can't find how to export terrain to a mesh in Terrain Composer (for use on mobile). If you could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated!

 

All you have to do is having not a higher heightmap resolution then 128 in TC terrain list -> Resolutions. Then go to Quick Tools -> Mesh Convert. Choose the path to save the mesh and then press the button 'Convert Terrain to Mesh'.

Nathaniel

 

Hello! Is it possible to seamlessly paint textures on the multiple terrains (tiles), generated with Composer, as I do it on the single terrain? Thanks for the reply!

 

Hi Nathaniel,

Is there any solution to fix this color distortion (attached .jpg) I'm getting when pulling the bing imagery down?

 

Hello,

Yes this is possible.

Nathaniel

 

You will have to use photoshop for this, if it is in more images you can export the area as raw and combine them to 1 big raw image for editing. It's descriped in the WorldComposer manual how to do this. I will add more satellite image sources like Google maps in the next WorldComposer version. So if this happens you can choose another imagery source also.

Nathaniel

 

I was hoping for a trick or something, but if that's what we have to do then we'll have to do it. Thanks for your answer Nathaniel!

 

Nathaniel - Does Terrain Composer integrate with the Advanced Foliage Shader? I am thinking abut getting it - not sure if there are any issues using it with the tree map generated by TC? (I also use RTP)

 

It was something that got me into a great big research drive thats occupied a chunk of february, but i learnt so many interesting and useful things that i'd recommend anyone looking at making terrain, especially with real-world data at their fingertips. A trial subscription to ArcGIS online and some time to to get through a lot of material shows you the sheer amount of imagery and data to be gathered in the field. I'm hoping i've found some good stuff to help out this and world composer a bit, i did rant at nathaniel until he must have wanted to sleep or throw his computer out of the window.

Definitely hoping for an ability to grab the images from servers that serve tiles now, the image services provided by google et al are the most understandable and straightforward of web services for geo-data, but since a big push in a standard in 2010 apparently tile services - pretty much covering the world in 256x256 pixel tiles with a standard projection, there's so much stuff i'm sure could be considered, even using unity and worldcomposer in very original, unique ways - just looking at this makes my head explode with game ideas http://leaflet-extras.github.io/leaflet-providers/preview/index.html

Not exactly a photorealistic take on things haha, but room for invention

 

TerrainComposer uses Unity terrain and AFS works on Unity terrain as well, so they work very good together.

Nathaniel

 

Tree Resolution seems to be ignored if you generate trees and grass at the same time (seems to use, in my case anyway, 1024 no matter what if I'm also generating grass).

 

Yes at the moment you need to generate trees and grass seperately. In TerrainComposer2 it will work.

Nathaniel

 

Hello Nathan, I'm having this really annoying issue. I cant paint across tiles.. It was ok a while back but now it only paints on selected tile.

I wouldn't usually ask for help for something like this, but I can't waste a day with something so small.

Sorry to ask

 

Hello,

You mean the manual terrain painting? As far as I know it only paints on a selected terrain. Sometimes the selection get stuck and restarting Unity helps in this case.

Nathaniel

 

painting across many tiles using standard unity terrain paint brush, without needing to select the other tiles..

I thought a while back I was able to do this.. maybe I was dreaming :/ are you 100% sure you cant do this?

 

As far as I know you have to select the terrain first before you can paint on it.

Nathaniel

 

Hi Nathaniel,

I'm trying to follow along with the video, TerrainComposer Procedural Demo/Tutorial part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuAFTYw4cQU#t=75. When I press generate, nothing happens - terrain doesn't get created. Position seems to work but nothing else. My settings look like they're the same as what I see in the video. Do you know what could be causing this to happen?

Thanks,

Ryan

 

Hello,

I changed the default heightmap to not generate anything, as some users were trying to import a heightmap with the default and then it got mixed with the perlin curve. You have to click the 'Curve' button -> Line -> Default perlin. If you want to normalize the filter, you need to put the second curve to normal and the line from 0 to 1.



Nathaniel

 

Thank you Nathaniel for your help.

 

What is the correct scale for the 16bit height map RAW files in meters?

How many height map units goes into 1 meter?
..or how many meters up is the max value of 65536 in the RAW height file?

(Given that you want 1:1 metric representation of the world)
(Ocean water level is apparently 0)

 

You can give 16bit raw heightmap files any scale, just as images can have any scale. The scale that you get when using it on terrain, depends on the terrain size.

Nathaniel