VOLUME GRASS - Unlimited Density

It took a couple hours, but I figured out how to make it work again.

Just replace this line:

Code (cginc):

1. sceneDepth = 1.0 / ( (_VGZBufferParamA * tex2Dproj(_GrassDepthTex,UNITY_PROJ_COORD(IN.screenPos)).r) + _VGZBufferParamB );

With this:

Code (cginc):

1. sceneDepth = LinearEyeDepth(tex2Dproj(_GrassDepthTex, UNITY_PROJ_COORD(IN.screenPos)).r);

From what I understood from a quick search, the original code is supposed to improve the curve/distribution of the depth-buffer's z-values, so it works better for close grass blades.

However, after making the change above, I compared before and after screenshots, and it doesn't seem to be any worse. Did Unity perhaps implement better depth-buffer distribution themselves?

Spoiler: Before

Spoiler: After

I know that in the changelog here [https://unity3d.com/unity/whats-new/unity-5.5.0], they do mention: "Graphics: Improve shadows precision for large game worlds. Use reverse-float depth buffer for improved depth buffer precision on modern GPUs. Particularly improves directional light shadowing for large view distances.". However, that seems different than what your "custom LinearEyeDepth() parametrization" code does.

Anyway, I'm certainly not a shader/rendering-pipeline expert, so the above is just a guess. But the fix does seem to restore at least the main functionality of the plugin, until an official patch is made.

 

I've just submitted version from U5.5.0p3. Should be available within a few days. Above fix would work if depth catching camera would have exactly the same distances (which is not the case - by default I set it to 40). So - it works "at first glance", but it's better to use my formula. The only issue is that in U5.5 we've got reversed floating point depth buffer. We need to check it with #if defined(UNITY_REVERSED_Z) and use 1-tex fetch.

ATB, Tom

 

Just before Unity forum problems that happened April 30th I had here user request about performance of VG.

To answer missing question - I've just installed U5.6 on my laptop with 960m nVidia GPU and have around 170fps in fullscreen MSAAx2 - both meadow and soccer scene. We need to remember that VolueGrass is pixel intensive shader, so we ndefinitely need to reduce number of passes needed to solve this object - in forward with many pixel lights object needs to be redrawn multiple times which affects performance.

Tom

 

Hi. A got the errors

Trying to create a material from string - this is no longer supported.
UnityEngine.Material:.ctor(String)

Shader error in 'Grass Shader ALT': 'vert': output parameter 'o' not completely initialized at line 813 (on d3d11)

 

Unity version agains VG version please.

Tom

 

5.5.3 f1 what the vg version?

 

Volume Grass version of course

 

Is the mobile version included in this? or still in the making?

 

It's supposed to work with GLES3 mobile hardware, but it's rather GPU intensive solution.What's the main strength is that it completely releases CPU from drawing ton of grass patches.

 

Did this ever seen any upgrades to procedural generation in runtime over the years?

 

Hi, I'll use VG instead of terrane, in the places where I have a meadow. but, the size of the world is very large, I need several VG objects on the same meadow. At the junctions between the objects there are unpleasant artifacts (yellow line). is there any way to fix it?
Thanks for the great tool)
and have not changed the plans well the future for you, in part VG?

 

Grass objects are mapped in world space so seams should be no problem as far as you provide exactly the same normals and tangents at stitched edges.

The fact is that GPUs get powerful and we don't need to rely on old DX9 architecture (Unity dropped this platform as well). VG technique is fine, but I more and more think about providing users with mesh based solutions rather than trying to master VG which is in the end billboard like solution. We don't need to pay any price for the number of billboards rendered so it's CPU free, but the look is constrained to the idea principle. Take a look at the solutions I made for our D.R.O.N.E. project:

It's solution basing on DX11 architecture and works pretty effective together with physical interactions, wind, explosion blows, burnt grass. If at some point I will release grass similar, it will be rather done this way. Problem is I can't focus on new UAS products. Anyway - I'll always keep in mind what my users gave me buying my products. So VG users will be surely eligible to get discounts on new releases when they come (like I did for example with RSP to UBER upgrade path for $1).

Tom

 

I love VG. But it appears it is no longer compatible as it throws errors on importing the package into Unity 5.6.3p1. Please consider me as a beta tester for whatever comes next. I will need it for my current project.

 

I'll take a look importing VG into the Unity version you mention.

Tom

 

Installed up-to-date VG in U5.6.3p1 and it doesn't seem to throw any errors. All example scenes work fine.

 

It looks like it must be a conflict with my existing project. Thanks for confirming it is supposed to be working. I will start a clean project and import it and compare that with my project and see if I can find the conflict.

------

I have narrowed it down. If I start a new project and import BuildR2 I get no errors. If I then import VolumeGrass, I get errors.

Code (CSharp):

1. Assets/VolumeGrass/_Scripts/VolumeGrass.cs(585,16): error CS1729: The type `Poly2Tri.PolygonPoint' does not contain a constructor that takes `3' arguments
2.  
3. Assets/VolumeGrass/_Scripts/VolumeGrass.cs(599,27): error CS1729: The type `Poly2Tri.TriangulationPoint' does not contain a constructor that takes `3' arguments
4.  
5. Assets/VolumeGrass/_Scripts/VolumeGrass.cs(611,40): error CS1061: Type `Poly2Tri.TriangulationPoint' does not contain a definition for `index' and no extension method `index' of type `Poly2Tri.TriangulationPoint' could be found. Are you missing an assembly reference?
6.  

It seems both assets use PolygonPoint.

-------

It looks like both assets use poly2tri

 

Hello Tom, your package looks amazing, I need to make it for a soccer field grass, but it needs to work in VR in a pc with 1080 so I'm just wondering if you had any issues with VR like the terrain grass has in unity. The grass in terrain rotates with the vr headset and looks really weird. If your package works fine with vr headset, i'm buing it.

Thanks

 

It works, but will have problems with cutting silhouettes where grass intersects ball and other objects. If you can live with it - should be fine.

Tom

 

Package approved. Downloaded it in U2018.3 fresh project to check if right package is given Unity side. Seems everything works.

Tom

EDIT I misplaced this post - should be posted on RTP thread. Sorry.

 

need more function SetupForRendering script.
'GrassDepthCamera' need to Same fov

 

I don't understand exactly the problem. Could you describe it?

 

If the camera created as a child is not the same as the parent Fov, it will not work properly.

 

Yes, you're right. We need to make sure rendering camera and aux "child" camera (used to grab depth for intersecting objects) parameters match (i.e. FOV).

 

Is it possible to add Volume Grass to a mesh at runtime? I have a material picker and would like to add your shader and add some materials to the library. I currently click to change materials. Is this system smart enough to adapt to new meshes at runtime?

 

Yes, it is possible. You simply need to follow what happens script side in my system when you apply volume grass (it extrude mesh and mark sidewalls with vertex colors). I'ts relatively easty to spot and follow. Might be some scripts are marked as editor only, but it doesn't hurt to change then all for runtime usage.

 

Does the grass in this asset exert a force on whatever rigidbody is moving through it? In other words, if I had a vehicle driving from a solid surface onto the grass, would the grass be able to slow down the vehicle so the vehicle acted like it was actually driving on grass?

 

Not by itself. You need to detect when car is over grass and apply drag force then. Determining car vs grass collisionshouldn't be that much hard - simply make mesh collider that is of grass shape (you can even use grass mesh for this) and treat it as trigger for collisions.

Tom

 

Is this URP compatible or are there any plans for that? Cheers.

 

No plans for URP by now.

 

Hello,

I'm seeing some issues when building for WebGL, simply put the grass does not display when testing in the browser. From what i've read, i'm pretty sure this is supposed to support this platform, so i'm not sure what the issue is.

Do i need to apply a specific setting for WebGL?

Any assistance on this would be greatly appreciated! ^_^

 

Can you give me exact Unity and VG versions used so I can reproduce it on my side?
However if WebGL is GLES2 constrained it could be problematic to use it on this platform at all.

Tom

 

I'm using Unity 2018.3.6, in the player settings i attempted builds with Auto Graphics API on, WebGL 2.0 and WebGL 1.0 but all builds don't show the grass.

Yes it seems GLES3 is grayed out, do i need to grab that through android studio before it can be used?

Here's a few images showing my current settings

Spoiler: Images

 

Oh my bad, i'm using VG 1.5d

 

So it's been a while, still looking for a proper response to my inquiry. Please do look over my recent posts and let me know.

Thanks.

 

By default WebGL is ES2.0 equivalent, so it won't work for WebGL 1.0.

You need to remove WebGL 1.0 API in the Player settings, open the Other Settings panel, disable the Automatic Graphics API setting and set it to 2.0 which covers an ES3 spec (DX11 ish).



Note: I don't own this asset or anything so obviously I can't test it for you. Seems this is logically the issue though.

This asset is nowhere near fast enough for ES2 devices so you would want ES3.0+ regardless for this (WebGL 2.0).

 

So, opened my VG project under 2018.3.8f1. Installed WebGL support and built example meadow scene. It works for me as WebGL2.0 is preferred API in player settings (auto api has only WebGL2.0 so that I hadn't change anything).

Tom

 

I already did this and showed that in my previous post (spoiler content)

So i spent some time today and installed 2018.3.8, upgraded the project, made a build and.... still no grass

Spoiler

I did however make a new project (unity 2018.3.6) and import volume grass, made a build and it actually does show. SO it's either something with my scene or settings

UPDATE:
Alright I fixed it, seems it was the grass layer and static settings.

 

Hi, just come across this plugin and im curious if it can be used to create very short grass, like on a golf course.

 

Yes, that's basically the most obvious VG usecase (soccer field example scene is included in the package).