Unify has gone live!

Ok so I'm happy to say that Unify has gone live. Along with my first tutorial (available at the site). The site is just in its very first stage so there are probably bugs, spelling mistakes, and of corse lots of things we can improve upon. Check it out Here! and let me know how to improve it.

I also would like to add a files section that could contain audio tracks, graphics, textures, scripts, shaders, and other Unity files. So if you have any files that YOU created and are willing to freely distribute let me know. Also if you want to write tutorials that pertain to Unity, or to asset creation for unity in any software package let me know. I'm going to add a simple upload function next, along with whatever changes, and upgrades I can pull off that you guys request. Jeff

P.S. if you want to help with site maintenance let me know

 

Yah that was me, got to love forgetting you reset safari while testing the site . Jeff

 

Yes, nice site.

I checked out the new tutorial as well, nice. But one thing it lacks for me how creating an image with an alpha channel mask applies to Unity. I guess maybe I just haven't found a need for it yet so I hadn't explored it, but what purpose would you use and image like this for within Unity?

 

Semitransparent geometry....

All the alpha shaders expect textures made this way...

 

Anywhere you want a texture with parts you can see through, an example would be leaves for a tree (check out the UniTree page for some SS where this is used). Jeff

 

Very cool, I did't realize that!

 

Looks very promising. I'd definitely be interested in contributing when I get a bit of spare time again.

 

Really nice site! This is exactly what i was looking for.

Best of luck.

 

Very nice..congrats!
UniTree looks like a very interesting project indeed...

 

On the subject, here's another progress on tree building for Unitree. All experiments at this point...but this one is rendered in C4d. As it stands, by the time it gets to Unity it'll have around 5k triangles.
Boxy

 

Looks nice...

I would try with a bit more alpha on the leaves (more smallish holes), to break the very 'planar' look the leaves have...

 

yes good point, maybe the leaves could be smaller too?
Thanks
Boxy

 

Also, Have you tried doing a lower-lod?

Quite often, the low-lods will affect what you can do in the high-lods...

 

Looking very good! What package is that tree made in? Have you modeled it by hand?

Im just watching the gnomon dvd : (game) modeling a human head.. Very interesting!

 

I haven't yet. My first aim was to try and familiarise myself with modelling trees in general so I can discount the 'how to' from the equation - at the moment I'm trying to get the foliage to 'droop' more naturally than the Vue imported trees. The biggest challenge so far has been to get a foliage pattern that looks good from all angles but this one is starting to get there. I hope to achieve that less planar look simply by putting less leaves on the colour/alpha map. Its great to get a reality check from you so please do keep suggesting stuff as and when!

Thanks Robert. It is modelled by hand. I started the trunk off using ZBrush ZSpheres then brought it into Cinema 4D, though to be honest I know Cinema better so it probably would've been quicker starting from there. The basic leaf is a simple plane of 9 quads curved so that it forms a rough hemisphere. This is then duplicated twice and each of those are positioned and rotated to flank the centre plane so that the three of them together roughly form a quarter sphere shape (is there an official name for a quarter sphere!!) - this basic pattern of 3 is duplicated and placed as many times as necessary then all the leaf polys are connected to form a single object. The trunk is textured in BodyPaint.

gnomon dvd sounds good, I hope to get me some of that one day. I guess you can recommend it then

Thanks
Boxy

 

Wow It sounds like I really have to get myself a copy of bodypaint too, or hire you in as a texure artist cause that tree just looks nice

And yea the gnomon dvd is really great! Im best at head/humanoid creature modelling, so this was a great insight to what's important when it comes to game modelling (topology, workflow tricks etc)..

Nice site too, Im looking farward to that tree-plugin!
PS! maybe you could christen it "quartphere" or something, hehe.

 

Congratulations on the collaboration site. Nice to see how the unity community is unifying! I hope to come onboard soon with our VR applications.

 

hey, I'm always for hire!! Reckon I might have to get myself a gnomon Xmas pressie, that sounds top and I am very interested in character stuff

It will be great to see what other inpsiring stuff you bring!
Thanks
Boxy

 

Thanks Boxy. We are on the edge of getting the first VR assignment so I hope to be here *Very* Soon.

 

Great to hear. Let us know!

d.

 

I just noticed that the first foliage image on this page

http://unify.bluegillweb.com/unitree/index.html

... seems broken. At least neither my Safari nor my Preview.app can display it correctly.

d.

 

Verry strange, seems to work fine here, I'll try find out what it is and get it fixed. Jeff

 

I get that too Jeff. The first image is only half loaded?
Cheers
Boxy

 

The half loaded image thing can be a problem with windows apache servers. Im sure it could also be a symptom of other things (a corrupt FTP etc..) You might want to check into what tech your host is using.

 

Do me a favor and reset your safari, then quit it and start it back up agian. Then let me know if it is still that way. Thanx Jeff

 

I don't think it's a web browser issue. I downloaded the file with:

curl -O http://unify.bluegillweb.com/graphics/unitreepix/05.gif

and got the same thing. Perhaps this is just how the gif is suppose to look (three-eights is a green square) ...

-Jon

 

Must have just been a corupted upload, and I was the one who needed to reset the catch should be fixed now. Jeff

 

Hey people

Thanks to Jon and the other guys that hang out in the IRC I have created a wiki that we can start to amas scripts and wizards on. Just head over to http://unify.bluegillweb.com and grab the link.

Its still a work in progress so bear with us. I'm going to try contact some of the idev guys to see if we can get a syntax color coding system in place to help the eyes. Well enjoy, as allways coments on how to improve are welcome. Jeff