[uTerrains] Ultimate Terrains - Voxel terrain engine

Just added Voronoi Node

https://github.com/lancewrath/uTerrainsNodePack

 

I have a question, if i wanted to run this on a headless mode server can i do the following.

A.) run it without graphics?
B.) generate (at the very least) colliders around tagged game objects?

Main reason for this is if i am running a server and i'm not using Navmesh i need the server to at least handle ground collision for enemies around where players might be on the terrain. What's a good way i can accomplish this. I plan on using just a fixed size terrain, not infinite.

 

The integration with the other terrain plugins, which is great by the way

I am making a city building like game, and I want the player to be able to edit terrain during run-time.
I want the player to be able to add, subtract, flatten at a specified height, and smooth a slope, sow they don't get those exaggerated cliff like angles that look unnatural. I am certain I can do the first 3 things with this plugin, but I want to know if there is a way to do a smoothing of a slope, so the terrain is more flat, flat enough to place a building on(that has a foundation to accommodate a certain degree of slope)?

I am a programmer so I am fully capable of writing code where necessary, I just need to know it's possible before I can purchase this plugin, as I am on a tight budget with this being my first game.

Also, I was gonna be making my game in Unreal, but was very disappointed at the selection of terrain tools in the engine and terrain plugins offered. This plugin, combined with Relief Terrain Pack, and Terrain Composer2 are what sold me on switching to Unity, so be proud of yourself, you did a good thing here

 

You can implement custom operations which modifies the data anyway you want, how easy it would be to do so is another thing and depends on your skill in the domain. I'm not sure (I'm just a user which did not use this much ) If any default functionality which smoothes things exist.

The values of each voxel are numbers in -1,1 range and the surface is decided based on their change, above 0 is above surface and below it is below surface. Changing these floats would help you achieve your goal in a custom operation. docs had an example.

To smooth thing you usually need to bring values closer to each other, for example if you have -1,-1,1,-1,-1 , if you make it -1,-0.5,0.5,1 then you'll have a smoother surface.
Fflattening is much easier. after you find where it should be, the values above is should be set to 0 if they are connected to the surface.

 

Yes, this was what I was thinking about last night before going to bed.
Basically I think I can accomplish it if I got the player's cursor being a circle that's 10m wide, I would have a bunch of little invisible cursors that are, idk, half a meter wide in there, and each one would do an add or subtract based on the slope I calculate from the terrain height found at the borders of the players circle.

All of the terrain manipulation would be directly from the top down, so no need to account for angles of the players cursor.

 

I'm also curious to know if anyone else has ever used this plugin for run-time terrain editing in a top down city building, or even an RTS game?

 

Usually problems of voxel engines are in fast moving/huge amount of data streaming scenarios and not relatively slow city building types of games.
Also you can have big voxel sizes and still have them look good.
Also regarding your cursor position, depending on your usecases/train types, you might need to deal with angles of the terrain but not the cursor angle but generally a smoothing function is only concerned with making the deltas between points happen smoother so can be generalized

 

Does anyone know if this will be suitable for a VR game? I have to be able to maintain 90 fps, so the rendering can't be top intensive.

 

I am building a planet, I am wondering, can I get grass and trees to spawn around the planet? Or am I going to have to implement my own spawning.

 

Any news on the flat shader ?

 

Which character controller is everyone using with uTerrains? I'm trying to get the RPG Character Mecanim Animation Pack to work and it just falls through. I have the uTerrains chunk layer set the same as the RPG walkable layer. It stops sometimes but 95% of the time doesn't.

It also complains a lot about "MeshCollider does not have an implementation for ClosestPointOnSurface; GameObject.Name='ChunkCollider'"

Anyone have any pointers on getting this to work? Thanks.

 

The simplified version of the solution is to attach RPG Character Mecanim Animation Pack's BSPTree component to uTerrain's ChunkCollider (in code when it's created) and I changed the Awake (in BSPTree) to Init and call it during ChunkCollider's SetMesh. There is a very noticeable performance hit to loading and I had to mess with when the character is enabled in the game. Can't have the character before the terrain! I've not tried to optimize it any or put it through any extensive testing but it does work: the RPG character can successfully walk on the uTerrain.

 

Hi,

My project is a space game. I have several spherical planets which I can generate quads as a large concave terrain and manipulate their vertices according to a height map in .bytes format. There is atmosphere and the sun is moving. Is it possible for me to adapt this asset for my project or is it designed for classical plane shaped terrains?

 

Can I use the water prefab from the Standard Assets in terrains created with uterrain? Also, I plan on creating a planet with uterrain. would I be able to implement gravity on a spherical terrain?

 

Hi,
If a person purchases ultimate terrains, does it include the digger asset?
thx.

 

I imagine the Digger asset is a limited version of UTerrains, so you don't need Digger if you have this.

 

Digger is for unitys terrain, so it's quite faster to work with i would imagine, wouldint call it more limited when the functions are so different, ie- you can paint directly in the editor (way more fast) in unitys terrain, so to each their own.

 

You can also paint in editor with Uterrains, you just cant do runtime painting in Digger, so it seems limited.

 

Statements about the visible distance differ: on the forum it is indicated that visible part of the terrain is 8192x8192 meters, and on the page of the Asset Store- 65536 x 65536 meters. Values differ 8 times. Which of them is true? And what is the visibility distance really applicable in the finished game, without lags?

 

Hi.
I have a question that I want to ask before deciding to buy this tool.

1: Can shaders use CTS? Or do I need to buy another shader package?

2: The terrain is deformed and collapsed by the bombardment and the explosion like the Battlefield 4 or the subsequent series released by the PC and the game console machine.
Is it possible to achieve such an effect with this tool?

Please answer the above two questions to consider before purchasing.

As a supplement, I am currently using GAIA and CTS for the main.
However, because it is not a voxel-based tool, we understand the difference of the nature.

 

Unity just sent me an alert that this asset was updated, any release notes, changelogs etc? what's new?

 

Hi there, if you ask your question on discord https://discord.gg/tzrBuyY than you get repplies much faster than here

Discord link is also in asset description under Support link.

 

Hello,

Is there a way to disable dynamic loading / saving when using a finite terrain?

I am loading terrain from a json file, with the terrain.OperationsManager.AddBeforeLoad(op) function. this is working well the first time round, however; if I re-load the scene and load a different terrain, the new terrain is loaded over the top of the old terrain. I guess this is happening because of dynamic loading.

I have tried calling terrain.Params.LoadDynamically = false; but this hasn't fixed the issue.

Thanks for your help.

 

hello! Is this faster than unitys terrain? I have allready made a terrain, can I somehow use my existing terrain with this asset? also, does cts work with it ? and possible to split and stream?

 

You should be able to disable it from Global Settings tab.

It's very different, and no it doesn't work with CTS.
If you want to keep your terrain but be able to dig in it, you should better go for Digger or Digger PRO (for realtime support)

 

Hi Amandin-E,

Thank you for your Amazing Asset, I just wanted to ask a quick question.
- Is there any way to change the way LOD system works, in my case, I have to generate just the highest LOD level like this:
Generating the main HighPoly chunks and from there, Generating The most lowpoly LOD level possible.

 

Hi,

I'm troubleshooting a problem with chunk collision and a character controller. Is it possible to turn on the chunks in the scene asset list? I'd like to be able to inspect the chunk involved.

Thanks.

 

Hi, I am thinking of buying Digger (no support contact info found so contacting you here)...

But I have a question, I have a unity terrain using VSPro and CTS. Unity 2019, latest.

Here is the issue.

I have a navmesh baked but will be re-baking it again later as I add more game objects. (I read digger requires a mesh surface)... If I dig tunnels then rebake the navemsh will that remove the tunnels I dig?

Many thanks

 

we can see new shader in action ? on lit hdrp

 

Hi,

Is it possible to use this asset to make a "minecraft like" game, where you need to dig to find different ores, from coal to gold, passing by gold or even diamonds? Is there a limit of different "cubes" this asset can support?

My idea is to make a world where you need to mine resources, that will allow you to make machines to process those resources, that will allow you to create other machines that will mine for you, and develop automation while at the same time allows players to build houses, buildings and so on.. Kinda like modded minecraft.

 

I'm interested in finding a tool to create a mine/tunnel system. I need to have both vertical shafts and sloping tunnels. There doesn't need to be any connection to an exterior terrain. Would you recommend Digger for this kind of layout?

 

I have used digger and it can do what you seem to want. The problem I had with it was that after you create the tunnels/bridges/overhangs etc, whilst using the CTS Shader. you arent able to paint the tunnels inside. They take on the texture that was occupying that space previously. So if you start digging tunnels on a grass texture then the tunnels interior will be grass.

This may have changed but not sure as I havent used it for a while as I am upgrading to HDRP and other projects going on.

Each tunnel or ovehrhang uses an object after creation that I believe uses LOD system to make creating lots of tunnels inexpensive.

The reason I removed it and decided to return to it later was that after I created an overhang and a cave... if you then change the textures or reapply the CTS Shader to redo splat maps, the tunnel/ovehrang objects are just dark/black and dont seem to retexture.

I believe the author did contact POrocedural Worlds about integrating CTS (the author did adapt cts to work alongside it but never shared any files with me or procedural worlds)....
That was how I left it probably 3 months back. There have been digger updates but I havent played with it or even checked what updates or changes have been applied.

Regarding CTS, I believe that only when you use CTS you arent able to paint cave.overhang objects but you may be able to if you are using the unity texture system.

You could ask the developer about some of these issues before buying.

That said you/I will probably need to take a look at it, see what its limitations actually are after updaes and then work around them, which is what I intend to do. Regarding the redoing splatmaps and so on so the objects created through digger do not go black.

The only thing I didnt really like about it was that the overhangs were cylindrical in shape and various size cylindrical brushes had to be used to shape an overhang but it did do it.

 

Does this work with MegaSplat? It would be nice to use more textures than 6.

 

So.... idk ive debated this asset for so long. Now its on sale. Does the terrain system work with 2 simultaneous cameras? Like is the lod system based on a player component?

 

Hello, does anyone know if Microsplat works with this voxel terrain system?

 

Hi, this asset looks amazing.
Can this asset create/edit low poly terrains? I would like for the vertices on the terrain to NOT be uniform like the standard terrain system or polyworlds. What I mean is I want the vertices to have like Delaunay Triangulation vertices.
Here is an example:





As you can see the vertices are not uniformly spaces and gives it a more natural look for low poly aesthetic.
Is this possible with Ultimate Terrains? This will determine if I buy the asset.

With the help of this article https://straypixels.net/delaunay-triangulation-terrain/ I was able to generate this terrain as a mesh but the only way to edit it now is to use Polybrush, which is very limiting.

 

hi i just wanna ask, can it make a planet? not just flat terrains? thanks!

 

You can make whatever shape you want, the only limitation actually related to the asset, is that the built-in prefab spawner will only spawn in one direction, so your planet will only have things spawned on less than half of the area. But you can of course make your own spawner system

 

Does anyone have an example of a planet, I'm curious what it would look like with this asset.

 

Hello,

I'm trying to make a similar 3D digging mechanic like this one:

But, instead of the vertical terrain digging, I will be digging in a horizontal direction. ie: I'll have a piece of terrain ( a simple cube/rectangle 3D), on top of a platform, that I could dig through using a collider placed on a car (or whatever object).

I'm looking for the easiest solution.

I'm wondering if your asset is the solution? can I actually achieve this using it?

Kind regards,

 

it's all about how you generate and extract data.. keep this in mind.
Such concept could be achieved using texture height map..

the first step is building a script that generate mesh using texture height map as source input.. so white color = 1f, black color = 0f.. so when you generate mesh.. you move vertices in Y axis by the amount located at the texture map.. just read color value then estimate how much vertex is high in the scene.. so black = flat

then next step is create a script updating the texture map it self.. so when your car/object move dig surface.. it updates that location in texture map with black color like a GPS that knows your location.. then at the end of your frame.. rebuild mesh using the script from first step..

so any object moving on terrain which can update texture map.. it will be possible to have multiple objects digging mesh at same time as all of them update the texture map. This is the same concept used on games that updates terrain with wheel leaving trails on ground and such..(but the effect on shaders not mesh it self)

in nutshell:
objects writes on texture map> texture map updated > mesh script uses texture to builds new mesh

you can find scripts online might help you on each one.. then you can build it on your own!

things to be aware of:
1- avoid update meshes like 60 times per second.. try to make it update on more delayed intervals for performance.. and only if any changes happened on texture map.

2- texture size/mesh size.. how big you plan your terrain to be and texture size that corresponds to that mesh size is something you might want to think about.. when things are big.. they impact performance if you are updating it in real time..

 

hy there,

i'm using space graphic toolkit to generate and populate several systems at scale.
i'm not satisfied with the terain gneneration of planets (witch does not use unity terrain but meshes)
Ultimate Terrains - Voxel Terrain Engine would replace this feature if it intended for LODed multi tiles planet sized spherical terrain.

so is it possible to use Ultimate Terrains - Voxel Terrain Engine for this purpose ?

 

Is this asset compatible with custom displacement shaders?

 

This Asset seams as dead as many other full on voxel terrain solutions...Super sad...
Lack of developer support & not updated since years...Demo not even working...
Was hoping this could be a good solution for a project of mine, this and Voxeland were on my list, both seem abandoned by their devs...

 

I'm curious to demo digger pro, the support for creating floating islands was mentioned as a possibility. Is this something natively possible or will it need additional modules, coding, etc so that the underside of a floating island is also properly generated?

 

Does this work in VR?