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Unity Terrain object vs using Maya or Blender for meshes

Discussion in 'World Building' started by Auticus, Feb 18, 2019.

  1. Auticus

    Auticus

    Joined:
    Jul 18, 2013
    Posts:
    99
    I am working on a top down strategy wargame. I am not needing depth in my terrain, so I think the heightmap will be ok.

    I read in a lot of places however for even action RPGs where there is no need for caves etc that people don't like using the Unity terrain and prefer to go bake something up in Blender or Maya.

    My question - or discussion point - is when do you feel it is appropriate to use the Unity terrain object or is it seen as a utility that should be avoided for the most part? Additionally - supporting documentation / discussion points on why (or why not)?
     
  2. martman100

    martman100

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2013
    Posts:
    44
    Interested in this discussion as well. I am working on an offroad racing game and I am constantly bouncing between Terrain or mesh. More flexibility in texturing with mesh but easier to do with terrain.
     
  3. CityGen3D

    CityGen3D

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2012
    Posts:
    681
    A lot of the discussions on Unity Terrains will pre-date the improvements made in 2018, which are summarized here:
    https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/10/10/2018-3-terrain-update-getting-started/

    It had been neglected over the years, and so had a bit of a bad reputation, but I'd definitely recommend it after recent improvements.
    It's much faster now and they have a team actively working on it.

    Even before the recent improvements I always felt the built-in LOD made it preferable to a mesh, but new features like auto neighbouring and multi editing mean it's definitely worth trying out if you've not used it before, or in a long while.
     
    wyattt_ and Auticus like this.
  4. snacktime

    snacktime

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2013
    Posts:
    3,356
    It all depends on what you need specifically. What's easier to create the geometry you need? If a heightmap based approach can do that, I think using Unity terrain is simpler and better suited then say Blender.

    There is no advantage to using a mesh if the mesh would just be the same geometry basically. But some do use the Unity terrain as an intermediate step to a mesh that's not just the same. For example we start with a Unity terrain and then create a delaunay triangulated mesh from that. Various low poly style terrains might use a similar flow.
     
    wyattt_ likes this.