Terrain Composer2 a next generation GPU powered terrain tool.

Sorry, maybe I didn't explained it well. The prefabs are in a Resources folder and they are loading just fine. But when I try to set their parent to TC_Generate.instance.area2D.terrainLayer.layerGroups[0].groupResult I got an error, because the layerGroups array is filled with nulls.

Here's my code:
var heightMapGroup = TC_Generate.instance.area2D.terrainLayer.layerGroups[0];
int mountainsCount = Random.Range(5, 10);
for (int i = 0; i < mountainsCount; i++)
{
var mountain = Instantiate(Resources.Load<GameObject>("TerrainLayers/Mountain" + Random.Range(1, 4)));
mountain.transform.SetParent(heightMapGroup.groupResult.transform, false);
mountain.transform.localPosition = new Vector3(Random.Range(-130f, 130f), 0f, Random.Range(-130f, 130f));
mountain.transform.localScale = new Vector3(Random.Range(0.8f, 1f), Random.Range(0.6f, 1f), Random.Range(0.8f, 1f));
mountain.transform.localRotation = Quaternion.Euler(new Vector3(0f, Random.Range(0f, 360f), 0f));
mountain.transform.SetAsFirstSibling();
}

As I said the code works when playing in the editor, but fails when I run the windows executable.

 

Splatmap generated with TC2 will automatically work with RTP as RTP uses the splatmaps that are used for Unity terrain.

TC2 works already with RTPv3, only you have to set RTPv3 up manually like Tom shows in his RTP tutorial video's. The next TC2 version will have RTPv3 integrated like TC1 has and some added functionality like generating the height/normal texture for tesselation feature.

Nathaniel

 

Just a few little issues I've noticed;

1. Transparent textures for grass are showing up like a mess.



The texture details (straight from import from the package);


If it's a texture setting issue, i'll let the asset author know so it can work out of the box.

2. After deleting all grass layers (so i could start from scratch), grass was still present on the map, I needed to go to TC2 settings and hit update there to apply it. Also I can disable grass layers and they update in the scene but never the last remaining grass layer (ie at least one layer will display)

EDIT: I think it may be a case or calling reset on the grass when all are disabled, not sure.

3. Wind settings for grass do not appear to affect anything, when i run the game all appears default basically (a lot of wind and bend and stretch) yet i have turned all values right down. So I changed something and now i have zero wind effect regardless of what i change.

A suggestion for the Groups is that when you disable them they auto collapse for neatness, just a thought, The enable and expand icons are so small when zoomed out, i think the main title could use a right click menu to have the option to expand/collapse as well)

 

What is required to import a successful RAW heightmap?

I understand it needs to be in a folder called RawFiles and it will create a preview thumbnail, but i need to know the export requirements for Photoshop.

The defaults seems to create a rubbish image. Help on this would be great.



Thanks.

 

Thanks for explaining. Ah yes the references are not serialized, because Unity doesn't support serializing beyond 7 levels. Although for monobehaviours it might still work with references beyond 7 levels. I will test this if it can be serialized.

But what you need to do now is TC_Generate.instance.area2D.terrainLayer.GetItems(false)
Execute your code and do again TC_Generate.instance.area2D.terrainLayer.GetItems(false) to refresh the references with the nodes you added.

In the next version I will have the option in the Settings GameObject to unhide the TerrainLayer so it can be used directly.

Nathaniel

 

1). I use Unity's buildin EditorGUI.DrawPreviewTexture to draw the textures. When using GUI.DrawTexture it has more issues, but in this case it might work. Can you send me 1 of the grass textures that has this issue?

2). Yes when a main LayerGroup is empty it just does nothing and it doesn't reset the grass. Think it is better to leave it this way for security, if someone does manual painting and clicks the 'Grass' button by mistake the grass would reset. Now you have to do it in TerrainArea GameObject -> Reset -> Grass.

3). This is a matter of Unity terrain wind settings, you can change it TerrainArea GameObject -> Settings tab.

Thanks for the suggestions. For auto collapse I'm not sure as when you want to enable it again you don't see whats in there. So some people might prefer it, some not. I will make it a choose able option in the Settings GameObject. Good idea to make a right click menu for enable and expand/collapse button, will add this. There will also be 'Edit' to directly change the name on the node.

The resolution needs to be square. In photoshop the image mode needs to be set to 'GreyScale' and '16 bit'. Then you need to save as Raw with byte order to 'IBM PC'.

Nathaniel

 

You have to make sure that custom material in TerrainArea -> Settings (for each terrain tile) is made by RTP, it will have the name of the terrain. If its all the same material then you get this issue. In the next version I will have RTP more integrated.

Nathaniel

 

Pretty please can making it work on Mac, with CPU rendering, be prioritized ahead of improving how it works with an external package? The Windows folks have a good workaround for RTP, but we Mac users have nothing at all.

 

Thanks! Now I'm able to add the prefabs programatically to the layer groups without any errors, but the terrain doesn't regenerate automatically. Is there a way to force it to refresh itself?
"TC_Generate.instance.autoGenerate = true" seems to work only when playing in the editor, but not in the build.

 

Congratulations on reclaiming the top spot for sales over your competitors products.

 

I'll post this for the third time. I posted this twice in the forum update, but didn't get much help. Waited days to find out we're back to the old forum.

I keep getting errors when I try to place grass. Any nodes or masks I place just throw errors.



You requested my nodes, so here they are.



Would really like to get this working without errors, or just working period.

 

I hope I didn't miss too much with all that forum-jumping here.

I did run into the GUI-Path problem again, this time I made a screenshot of the whole setting (which isn't much).

What I have done:
I completely deleted all old terrains, deleted old scene, deleted also the TC2 Area in hierarchy, deleted even the Terrain Composer with settings in hierarchy, waited until it said I need to make an area first, to be on the safe side I then clicked on "new" in TC2 window.
I put the settings for this new area in, made an island, put the basic water in, put the standard FPS controller in and everything was fine.
Until I clicked on play...

This is what I got when playing, running around on the simple terrain, where nothing else is in yet (note that it even throws warnings for the tree and grass paths and such).
OH and I am still using the Asset store version of TC2 which should still be beta 6 I believe? Together with the stamps you (Nathaniel) provided us with the beta 5 package.

I believe it has to do with some settings that weren't deleted correctly, as I see that the old grass textures are still in the area settings in inspector, and also the splatmaps, but there are no trees in and it also gives warnings for the "button_tree"... I don't know.

I hope you can find out what the hell I am doing wrong here. (I think this is something on my end because I'm obviously the only one who get's these warnings all the time. ^^)

 

Yes sure I u

Yes sure I understand. I wanted to respond to your thread on the new forum and suddenly it was read-only. By the way I'm not sure if you read that I moved from Norway to Austria, so I wasn't able to reply as quick as I wanted to. I got our new house almost ready and working fulltime again. I'm working on an update with all the fixes and want to include this one as well. Also the update has new features and improvements.

I think I found the issue and made a patch for it:


Nathaniel

 

Hi Nathaniel,
I need your help.

How can I control the level of the angle to put my trees?
For example: if the slope mountain is less than 40 degrees, then plant trees.

Thanks in advance.

 

Yes I understand, I work on a new update with fixes and am pretty far. I just started working fulltime again today. Finishing implementing RTP is like 1 hour work. When start working fulltime on the Mac version it will keep me busy for 2 weeks. So before I start on that I want to have all issues encountered so far fixed and implement the features that I can do in 1-2 days. So if the window version runs without issues its easier to port my code to DX9 shaders (that I will first try), otherwise I have to fix errors in both windows and mac version which takes more time.

No it doesn't for that you need to call TC.AutoGenerate();
I have that implemented at many places so it updates whenever a change is made.

Thanks for the congrats , have you been using TC2 already? Wonder what you think of it.

I made a patch for this. It's not a serious error, actually just a warning that the icons that are used in TerrainArea buttons cannot be loaded because TC2 at that moment doesn't know which folder it is installed, it refreshes but still throws the warning for 1 frame.

I will try to get the new update out tomorrow with all the fixes/improvements and fixes. This is what I got so far:

TerrainComposer2 beta 7

Features:

Spawn Objects with 'Link to Prefab' option.
Node groups within node groups.
Flip scale buttons on the nodes: Node Group, Layer and Layer Group.

Improvements:

For missing middle mouse button, scrolling TC2 window can be done the same way as Unity's Scene window with Alt + Control + Left MouseButton + Drag.
For missing middle mouse button, zooming can be done with choosable keys. Default is '-' and '+' keys and it can be changed in Settings GameObject.
CPU Code optimizations
GPU Compute shader performance optimizations
Spawned objects are parented to terrain


Fixes:

Height/Angle/Convexity node multi terrain edge seam fix.
Collision node multi terrain fix.
Read heightmap directly from terrain.
rtHeight remade from terrainData after clicking reset 'Height' button in TerrainArea.
Apply to terrain/terrainArea added to splat tab in TerrainArea GameObject.
Preview textures for multi terrains.
TerrainArea terrain tiles buttons y was flipped.
Y was flipped on importing stamps.
Load stamps in webplayer mode.
Scene files don't include any TC2 texture data which would make Scenes files big.



Nathaniel

 

You can control it with the global curve. Click the active toggle to enable it. You can use the min max slider for fast control, but for precise control you can use the curve. The angle is horizontal and output is vertical. So horizontal 0 is 0 degrees and horizontal 1 is 90 degrees. 40 degrees = (1 / 90) * 40 = 0.44.

Since you want to spawn below 40 degrees at 0 you want output to be 1 and at like 0.45 output to be 0. So you need to invert the curve by clicking the 'i' button. Then click the curve and drag the curve keys like in my screenshot.

Nathaniel

 

Just a thought but maybe add labels to the graph axis so it's more obvious which is which for those moments when it becomes a blur

Edit - just Angle(or Slope may be more accurate) and Output.

 

Thanks Nathaniel for the reply. I have checked and the custom material under TerrainArea-> Settings is called Terrain_x0_y0 material
It is an RTP material but each terrain has the same material. I created a series of new materials and assigned them by hand to each terrain. It's is working fine now.
Thanks

 

If i have read correctly, with TC2 you can create a map with nodes and heightmaps, then modify with unity or other tools,(i am interested mainly in the erosion brush) and save as a prefab so i can load late on the map as a base layer and continue working with Tc2 and nodes, and so on...

1) ---- When i try to save as a prefab(from file in menu bar) and i get this error:



Any idea?

2) ---- And, i have hided the Menu Bar,how can i show it again?

thanks Nathaniel

Out from TC2:
**************
3) ---- I have seen in the prerelease trailer video some houses within the first minute.Did you do them or are part of a pack?in this case, can you tell me which pack is it and if have interiors?

Thanks again, i am enjoyng TC2 and learning every day, layering terrains as photoshop layers is the idea from this century!!

 

Hi,

How can I import heightmaps from World Marchine to TC2 ?

With TC1, rename the .r16 files to .raw worked, but now it doesn't.
I tried to set the heigtmap output format to .raw in WM but it doesn't work.

I think it would be a good idea to explain the workflow with World Machine and add it to your How to do FAQ.

Or, you can make people very very very happy by making a nice erosion node, so we can make all the work in TC.

Thanks for your great asset.

 

I already explain it in the Stamps chapter, but I added it to FAQ as well:
http://www.terraincomposer.com/terraincomposer2-documentation/#frequently-asked-questions

There's not much to explain . Just need to rename R16 to Raw, drag and drop the file into a RawFiles folder. TC2 will automatically create a preview image in the folder before. This you can drag and drop on a node, like you do with the stamps, which are actually imported R16 files from WM.

I'm glad you like TC2

1). You need to save within your Unity project folder. Probably you try to save it outside of the project. The file saves the entire TC2 project also the color/splat/tree/grass/object nodes. Since each node/layer/layergroup etc is an actual GameObject with children you can just drag and drop them in a project folder to create a prefab out of it. I explain in the documentation in Presets chapter:
http://www.terraincomposer.com/terraincomposer2-documentation/#presets

But this is not what you are looking for. So after generating your preset stamp you need to disable 'Height' output button so TC2 won't overwrite the terrain heightmap if you paint with erosion brush. After manual painting you need to export the terrain as a Raw file (if you click on the actual Unity terrain in the Hierarchy window, in settings there's the option to 'Export Raw...'. This file can be used as a stamp, and should be saved in a RawFiles folder:
http://www.terraincomposer.com/terraincomposer2-documentation/#stamps

2). Right click in the empty area where the Heigth/Splat, etc output buttons are will also show the menu, there you can unhide it:
http://www.terraincomposer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/TC2_QuickGUIGuide.jpg

3). I used MK4 Afganistan Pack. Yes I think they had inside polys. I'm not doing any modelling by the way. The only model I ever made was this one

Nathaniel

 

Yes that would be great. Only it is the build in Unity curve window, so won't be able to add labels as far as I know.

Nathaniel

 

I understand, and thanks for the reply. Your logic makes perfect sense. Please forgive me if I'm eagerly awaiting my chance to use TC2.

By the way, it appears there is a way to do compute shaders in Apple's Metal graphics stack, and Unity's team say they will support that in a few months. The CPU render is still going to be useful for people with older systems, so I encourage you to go ahead with it while Unity Tech work on the in-editor support for Metal.

 

Understand.

Would be a suprise if Unity have not accounted for wanting to label axis. It's something they hammered into us right back in secondary school.

 

Thanks.Nice model.

Where did you get the MK4 Afganistan Pack? i havent´t found in Unity´s asset store or turbosquid either.

 

Is anyone else crashing upon trying to use the Collision mask?

I'm trying to prevent my trees from spawning in my water trigger.

 

I have erosion planned, will work on it after finishing the Mac version.

Ah yes sorry it's called Middle East Enviroment
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/11905

I never had a crash with collision node and wonder why this would happen. Can you tell in detail at what moment it crashes? Are you using multi terrain tiles? I doesn't work correctly on multi terrain tiles, but still shouldn't crash. It is already fixed in beta 7 which I will release soon.

Nathaniel

 

Hello! I just bought your asset today and I was following the video in the documentation on how to setup a terrain, but even though the node was made and Height was enabled, nothing changed. So I opened the first demo scene and everything on the terrain is black. I've downloaded the StampPack and it still happens. I've tried the asset in the Assets/ directory as well as the Assets/Resources directory and everything is still black.

Any idea why this is happening? Here is a screenshot: http://screencast.com/t/MR2ZW7IXBh
Additionally, these errors show in the console, and the number of them continues to increase even though the game isn't running. http://screencast.com/t/SGbz0b5sb

I've tried re-importing twice now with no luck. I'm using Unity 5.3.5f1 Personal.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: I also wanted to add, on the demo scenes the Seed value is constantly changing by itself...

 

this can be a pain with multi tile terrains. any chance you could add support for something like 'export node result as raw'?

 

I'm getting these odd lines on the mountain thingy I made. They only appear at a certain height and above. Don't know if it's RTP or TC2.

Alos, when manually editing the terrain with the Unity brushes, is there a way to not wipe it when changing the heightmap resolution? Or is that just not an option. Want to make some manualy changes so I lower the resolution to make it less taxing, but when I up the resolution it wipes all my work.

 

Are you running it on Mac?

Yes I will make that it's possible to export multi terrain as 1 raw file.

Nathaniel

 

What terrain size did you use and what heightmap resolution?

Yes I noticed this too yesterday when I was testing a very small terrain size, which make the resolution per meter higher. Now I tested why this happens and it seems that it is a limitation in Unity terrain and probably has to do with shader precision, so no bug in TC2 or RTP. I made a heightmap with TC2, put it very high and exported it to Raw in Unity terrain settings. Then in photoshop I applied the maximum amount of gaussian blur, so heightmap becomes a gradient and is ultra smooth. Reimporting it in Unity terrain settings still gives the steps. So this must be an issue with that at higher height the heightmap is less accurate.

I used terrain size 128, 3000, 128 (x, y, z) and heightmap resolution 513 (see image). It happens when terrain size xz and y values are very different, the more different the more stepped. 3000, 3000, 3000 or 128, 128, 128 works fine.



As for not loosing the manual painting, I explain in the post above:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/te...ered-terrain-tool.151365/page-90#post-2709796

I can make something for it but it's a little tricky if you think about it. Someone paints manually on an outputted heightmap from TC2, now when regenerating we want TC2 know what is painted on top. The only way to do this is by comparing the old heightmap from TC2 with the new manual painted one and capture the difference. Then use this difference as a stamp and add this stamp in the end.

Nathaniel

 

Hello!
Can't apply heightmap (raw from semple) at any node. After drag & drop it turns black. What am I doing wrong?
https://gyazo.com/7c36a8b8b085634fbb7621d3f2338598
https://gyazo.com/d1b70a67939803237e745ff71b9488f5

 

Probably you are in webplayer build mode. I have a fix for that.

Nathaniel

 

TC.AutoGenerate() doesn't seem to work when run in the built executable. I also tried to call directly TC_Generate.instance.Generate(true) - it did genarate the terrain, but did not include the layers I added from prefabs.

 

After you add the layers did you call GetItems(); on the TerrainLayer? Then they should be included.

Nathaniel

 

Yes, I call TC_Generate.instance.area2D.terrainLayer.GetItems(false) before and after I add the layers. If I loop through the children of TC_Generate.instance.area2D.terrainLayer.layerGroups[0].groupResult, I see they are in there, but when i generate the terrain, they are not showing.
In the editor everything works fine.

 

No, I'm using Windows.

EDIT: I found this was working on a new project. So I created a new project, ported my files and scene over. Opened the scene and bam it's now working. Not sure why it was broken, I had been using SkyMaster Ultimate before so maybe that somehow broke it. I'll find out once I import SkyMaster Ultimate and start working with it eventually.

 

UI improvement suggestion (humble suggestion)

Could be possible to add an "auto focus" shortcut for each output?
For example: if I press the combination CTRL + "H" button, then FOCUS (auto center) to the "Height" (or any other) output.



Please, if my English it's not clear, let me know.
Best regards to all TC2 fans/supporters.

 

Maybe you have a third party terrain shader in your project? If you create a new Terrain with the Unity menu in a new Scene does it also get black when assigning splat textures?

Not exactly sure what you mean. Can you explain in more detail? If you do a regular left click it will enable the output (button will turn green) and if 'Auto' button is green it will automatically regenerate when making a change in the nodes in TC2 window or inspector.

Nathaniel

 

I may be wrong but I read it as something similar to pressing f key in unity editor where it zooms to the selected game object. So in this case zoom to the relevant node/node group via shortcuts. May have misunderstood though..

 

Ah yes probably. That is a good idea and will add it in next update.

Oki I will test it here now...

Nathaniel

 

Anyone have any tips on making a good terrain? I see the trailer for the project and you have large mountain ranges with fairly flat ground around them with a lake in the middle. How? I want an island surrounded by water, but I don't see a way to make good edges so the water will move onto the shore some, or how to lower the ground in that specific area to make a place for the water.

Really just very challenging to use so far...

 

Hi,

If you want a nice slow slope to the water you can use the gradient shape mask and adjust the slope by enabling the global curves and adjusting. Re lowering the ground it is a matter of lowering the terrain to the correct sea level required or depending on the water you use raising the sea level to the terrain.

 

Hey Nathaniel, thanks for your time.


UI improvement suggestion

if a user do a "CTRL + LMB click on H/S/C/T/G/O button", then the corresponding "output" graph (Height/Splat/Color/etc) will move automatically to the center of screen.
An auto-focus short-cut.

With this short cut, will be more easy (for lazy people like me) to reach/go to any "output" graph.
Currently, the way to go to an "output" graph is moving the entire window content with the middle mouse button.

PD: please, say that you understand... otherwise I'll write in Na'vi language

 

@Nathaniel:
thank you for an amazing terrain tool. Just what I needed.

Here are a couple of images of my first test (after a couple of hours learning and trying).

• TerrainComposer2 (default grass & textures + 2 ST trees)
  
• SEGI
• SSAO Pro
  
• Super Sampling SSAA
• Amplify Color
• Vignetter And Chromatic Aberration

 

Very nice, natural-looking landforms. The colors are a bit more saturated than natural, but given the post-processing tools you listed, I'm assuming that was an artistic choice.

 

I apologize for screwing up in my original post and not properly explaining the problem. The heightmap itself isn't having the "terraced" look, it's just the splatmap that is having issues. The terrain is smooth and looks fine all the way to the top; however, the lines are simply the grass and rock textures not conforming properly.

I'm experimenting with large maps and terrain tiles. This one is HUGE at 4096x10000x4096. I wanted a gigantic mountain in it so it's very high. The terrain tiles are 8x8. The heightmap worked out fine with no problems, it's just the splat that has issues at a certain height and above. Maybe it's just too high?

I'm going to experiment with the filters to see if it will cause the same issue if I isolate a circle at max height.

As for the painting terrain issue, I will use the raw file as a stamp in the future. That will save a lot of headache so thank you very much good sir!

 

What? I didn't have any problem watching the tutorial. But, I guess, I do have a rather large monitor.

Anyways, I wanted to know something. Does Terrain composer 2 and Shader sandwich(or its shaders) play well together? If not, It would be really cool to have an official integration. Shader Sandwich is a great tool. For those who don't know, Shader sandwich is an plugin for shader creation, similar to shader forge, but generally geared to artists and designers. I definitely recommend it to people who (like me) can't get their heads around Shader forge (or regular shader programing ).

The cool things is that Terrain Composer 2 and Shader Sandwich have a very similar workflow so I'm sure a lot of people who use Terrain Composer 2 would get used to it really fast. Also, there's some pretty cool features coming soon (like per vertex and per pixel ao to simulate Ambient occlusion directly in the shaders at low overhead , it would be pretty cool to use this stuff in the terrains.)

Anyways, cheers for such great plugins! And hope to hear from you sometime soon.

 

I hear you! I bought Shader Sandwich myself because I needed to make a custom unlit shader for one of my projects. Shader Forge seems to be a fine tool, but it was overkill for me. SS got the job done very nicely, and when my "edge case" shader had me confused, SS's developer was very helpful.

To answer your question, I can't personally run TC2 yet because I'm on a Mac, but I would expect Shader Sandwich to work fine with TC2. The outputs of Shader Sandwich are just standard ".shader" asset files, so they should not have any compatibility issues. I have read online some issues with SS and deferred rendering, but I personally have not encountered any issues there. TC2 probably won't have direct support specifically for SS the way Nathaniel says he's doing for Relief Terrain Pack (another awesome tool, btw), but neither does TC2 restrict what shaders you're allowed to use.

I'm also using Tomasz Stobierski's "Uber" replacement for the Unity Standard Shader, and would expect the terrain-focused shaders from the Uber package to also work with TC2, again without Nathaniel's specific automated integration.