[WIP Asset Store] Fantasy Adventure Environment - Stylized environment pack

I'll make sure to try it on all my machines then

 

Counting the days until I can buy your package!! not really interested in the art assets (great job there in any case) but in all the technology that you build around it! It's really impressive what you've done so far, and I'm sure it's gonna be an essential piece of my project!

Cheers!

 

Have to put a bit of a damper on this package. Since it was brought to my attention that the SpeedTree EULA does not allow for redistribution of the trees created using the modeler. Which I confirmed with SpeedTree. I never imagined this was the case, since this is usually not the case for software (eg. Photoshop, Maya). It's like giving a carpenter nails and a hammer, but only allowing him to build a house for himself.

I've already tried out some things with the Unity tree creator, which seems viable to create trunks and branches. After which I will take the mesh and modify it further in a DCC.

So all in all, I'm going to power through this process, trying to make the new trees looks as close to the originals. But this will delay the package release by some time, unfortunately

 

I'm sorry to hear that man. It seem like every time you get a leg-up, some technicality gets you back down. But we, the fans, are right here with you and will wait patiently for you to get it all figured out.

 

I've been fiddling around with the Tree Creator the past few days, and managed to lay down a somewhat painless workflow (definitely not painless). I went ahead and recreated the Birch_B asset first, since I found it to be the least appealing to begin with. The Tree Creator insists on optimizing the materials by creating a texture atlas, so I have to undo the UV changes it makes, alongside of some touch ups in 3DSMax. It's a rather destructive workflow, but fortunately I can use the SpeedTree meshes as a reference, so I don't have to experiment a lot.

Some of the features SpeedTree offers I had to do without. Fortunately, it seems like the shaders carry most of the visual weight, so the mesh wasn't that important to begin with!

LODs, from left to right:


Rather than using automatic reduction for the LODs I saw the possibility to use a simplified branch mesh for each LOD. Which makes the tree retain its silhouette entirely, so LOD transitions are barely noticeable now. This actually brought the polycount for the LODs way down as well. So I suppose something good came out of it

 

S what's teh workflow?
1. designing the tree with tree creator (from a speed tree template?)
2. export to modeling soft to remove bad ideas from unity
3. LOD in modeling soft + touching up
4. ???
5. profit?

 

This is looking absolutely incredible. Now that you can't use Speed Tree for resale and have to rework everything, what is the ETA for this coming out on the Asset Store? I would be willing to pay good money for something this gorgeous. You should be really proud of what you have created here.

 

Step 2 takes a little longer than I'd like to admit. It seems like selecting the right things is about 90% of what 3D modeling is about

Thank you, I appreciate it! It's difficult to say, but before the end of august should be obtainable with what I have on my plate at the moment. I have to recreate the rest of the trees in the same manner, write the documentation and create the video and screenshots for the store page.

I've also made an assessment and decided to price the package at $40. I've summarized the package contents here: http://staggart.xyz/unity/fantasy-adventure-environment/

There's bound to be more content that could be added, so I'm open to feedback and suggestions after it's been released.

 

Awesome! I look forward to following your updates! I can hardly wait until August! One last question, will the water shader that you released on the Asset store be included or should I purchase it separately? I love the style and would be happy to pay for it separately but I don't see why I should buy a duplicate if it will be included in this package.

 

It will be included, but in a limited form. Textures can't be changed and most parameters are hardcoded and no Shader Forge nodes are included. It would also not be updated alongside of the full version. Makes me sound like such a downer hehe. But consider it a "lite" version.

 

That seems fair. I think I will end up buying it just because it looks so darn good, and it's hard to pass up on the customization. I'm going to assume that if the full version is purchased then it will integrate well with this package and be easy to replace the "lite" version. I really like your art style and the time you put into these assets is reflected very well in the quality. Keep up the great work my friend!

 

Gifycat: https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/TenderDecentDipper

Successfully recreated the fluffy trees (I supposed that's what they're called). They look a little different from how they were before, but I suppose you can say that about any tree you see outside. They all look the same, but different at the same time.

A lot of attention was devoted to making sure they look attractive from all four sides. I hate having a favorite variant and end up using just that one

Polycount and subsequent LODs:
Tree_A: 2497, 1871, 930
Tree_B: 1912, 1472, 752
Tree_C: 2321, 1737, 956

I also added a gradient feature to the "Tree Branch" shader, which allows you to tint the tree from the bottom to the top, either by darkening or brightening. The trees in the screenshot have a light gradient, which makes them look lit from the bottom.

 

Absolutely gorgeous. Keep it up man!

 

Spruce trees are finished now too. Also improved the branch texture with more negative space, which makes it look like less of a solid mass and casts nicer shadows. You can still play with the alpha clipping value in the shader to find a balance you like.

Subsequently, the LODs, like for the birch trees, have been improved, no noticeable change in silhouette. Since I also swap out the branches with lower-poly variant.

Polycount and subsequent LODs:
Spruce_A: 1240, 920, 320
Spruce_B: 1100, 720, 256
Spruce_C: 1076, 708, 248



Todo:

• Polish spruce section of the demo scene
• Recreate collider meshes for trees
• Create showcase video and store page materials (not going to rush this!)
• Write documentation (will be available online at staggart.xyz)
  • Overview of assets, and their uses
  • Shader parameter overview
  • Substance material guide
  • Performance guidelines
  • Using the vegetation shaders with custom meshes

Will include a scene with all the asset (and LODs) lined up, so it's easy to make adjustments to prefabs in a central place.


As well as a scene with world-building tricks on how to best utilize the rock assets:

 

I have a few questions.

1. Can I use any tree mesh and apply your shaders or I have to use only your assets?
2. I wonder how I can do the desert and snow regions instead of the foilage.

You finally got me to make a post on Unity after years of lurking.

 

1. It's possible, but in order for it to look and animate properly Ambient Occlusion must be baked into the vertex colors. The stiffness of the trees, for it's global wind motion, is baked into the vertex color alpha channel, for which I used a proprietary tool. So aside from that, you can use other tree assets.

2. Currently the Substance materials for the branches and bark have a slider for adding snow. It's pretty rudimentary, but I left it in for now. So you could create a material instance for snowy trees and make a prefab from it.

Should this package prove to be viable, I could expand the shaders with snow capabilities.



With the cliffs/rocks, you can use the CliffAppearance script on an object to set the colors of all the rock materials assigned in the inspector. So it's possible to create arid-looking rocks easily.

Though, I'm not sure these vegetation assets are suited for a desert environment, since they are pretty lush, whereas a desert is usually mostly barren.



The documentation will cover all of these things as well

Congrats on your first post!

 

Wow, things are really coming together! I'm excited to see such fast progress from you! I have a quick question about the terrains. The way I understand it is that you have created your own customizable shader for the grass/rocks of the terrain. Will this be compatible with other world building tools (example: World Creator Pro)? How easily will I be able to integrate your shaders with these other tools? I am really looking forward to the August release!

P.S. I also popped my posting cherry on this thread too

 

I'm using the standard Unity terrain shader in the demo scene. The textures, however, are sourced from Substance materials, which are customizable in real time. But will have to be exported to textures files in order to use them on the terrain (boo!).

The pigment/height map, used in the foliage shader, is generated from the first 4 textures (that's the limitation) on the terrain, so it's independent from the terrain shader used.

Since the assets are mere prefabs, it should be not problem to use third party tools for world-building. You can add the tree/vegetation prefabs to the terrain tree tab and place them like that (looks terrible though, all the same size and rotation). I used EasyScatter from the asset store to paint the prefabs onto the terrain.

 

Hmm.. I wonder if I can integrate it with Gaia, like how Polyworld does. Thanks for information.

Yeah, desert wouldn't contain those trees, but I think you would need to add a sand shader which will fill everything with sand like how a snow shader would. I hope you do these both once it becomes viable.

Thanks.

 

Submitted the package! And thus created a new thread: https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/s...ure-environment-a-stylized-asset-pack.486102/

You can find the showcase video and documentation there

It usually takes about 2-3 weeks before a new asset is approved. If it gets approved!

 

can this work with vegetation studios?

 

Yes, since the shaders support GPU instancing you can make use of Vegetation Studio and see a huge performance boost. After next update I'm going to include a VS package, which has all the assets pre-configured.

On another note, this thread is old After the package was released in August, a new thread was created here: https://forum.unity.com/threads/486102

 

This is just amazing! WOW!