115 replies to this topic

[Birdie]

I also added a lot more 3d grass stuff with high fade values around a lake and some rivers which was for sure not wealthy for fps, especially in addition to my LOD0 "adventure".
I could gain back quite some fps by resizing a lot of the speedtree atlases in use, for example the leaf ones from trees and their corresponding normal textures. I even resized some from 2048px to 256px. My course size also went from about 500mb to 450mb through this action and I didn't notice a big difference in the visuals. For sure the closer to the ground/player textures I keep at a higher reso.
Maybe worth a try if you are using speedtrees.

[DPRoberts]

Nice look...I am struggling with it framerate wise with that much grass...

Rob, it's actually less here than you see on your Spanish Bay. I'm only rendering out 20 meters.

I'm working on a random project but will see if I can redo Scioto and submit something within next week or so that uses this style. Because it blends so much better, I think you can have it fade out by 20m and the believability is still present.

I'll try and post some shots in better lighting. I was messing around with too many things at the same time.

[DPRoberts]

DP, the shot is a little dark to clearly see it on my phone here at work. But can't wait to see it on my monitor tonight. Probably another groundshaker!
And time for an in-depth-striptease...

This could definitely be the final piece to the 3DG puzzle. Not that you need anything to make your course look better.

I'll post a few more thoughts after work today. It's really not magic on what I'm doing. It's getting something to work correctly that I couldn't get working earlier.

Unfortunately, it does mean a little Blender work. But, not painful and so worth it!

[Birdie]

Unfortunately, it does mean a little Blender work. But, not painful and so worth it!

Interesting. No clue how you did it. I was guessing you changed some shader code.

[DPRoberts]

Interesting. No clue how you did it. I was guessing you changed some shader code.

That's how I wanted to achieve it but the way Stix has written the coloring/texturing of the grass is too bizarre for me to solve. It's bounced over 3 different files and I'm not bright enough to solve with zero coding background. But, I tried for a week. Ultimately, I'd like to do it this way...(I have a simulation of it using Shader Forge and can mimic the CF terrain overlay using world space position but yet to translate this back into the Stix code)

For now, the undereducated man's approach is actually just unwrapping from a projected view in Blender and scaling to the same overhead image you use in Unity for the terrain overlay method. Then, using Simple grass, Value based density and using the overhead in the Color (RGB) slot. If your image doesn't show grass, you have to add an alpha channel, colored white. This then shows all grass at full height settings. Could also be a black and white for varying heights, I believe, but I've not experimented (black=no height, white=full height in height settings).

I'll post a bit more later but figure you can get started if you wanted to experiment.

[Birdie]

That's how I wanted to achieve it but the way Stix has written the coloring/texturing of the grass is too bizarre for me to solve. It's bounced over 3 different files and I'm not bright enough to solve with zero coding background. But, I tried for a week. Ultimately, I'd like to do it this way...(I have a simulation of it using Shader Forge and can mimic the CF terrain overlay using world space position but yet to translate this back into the Stix code)

For now, the undereducated man's approach is actually just unwrapping from a projected view in Blender and scaling to the same overhead image you use in Unity for the terrain overlay method. Then, using Simple grass, Value based density and using the overhead in the Color (RGB) slot. If your image doesn't show grass, you have to add an alpha channel, colored white. This then shows all grass at full height settings. Could also be a black and white for varying heights, I believe, but I've not experimented (black=no height, white=full height in height settings).

I'll post a bit more later but figure you can get started if you wanted to experiment.

Thanks for this written preview, DP.
I think I better wait until you have something for the crowd. UV editing is something I only did in the most basic ways so far. And as I have a nice planting flow atm I better keep this running a bit...

[DPRoberts]

Still trying to make do with our lowly PG1. Loving the blending that is occuring with the overlay providing grass blade colors. Experimenting with rake line normals as well. 

 

Both are in game screenshots

[Buck]

Looking really nice DP!

[Birdie]

Absolutely great stuff!

[DPRoberts]

 

[NoPutt]

I'm Flabbergasted, that is some fabulous fescue.

[Birdie]

He is one step ahead of PG2...

[Skunky]

i think you have figured out the grass problem DP.Best ive seen.

[M Rose]

I've got to figure this out before I become obsolete!

[Abe]

@DPRoberts

 

You really are an asset to this community.  Without your explanations and videos the other designers might find course design too routine. By offering this kind of help you are giving them new challenges, which ambitious people love to have in their lives.

Kudos!

 

Five Star Rating

[DPRoberts]

Trying to cheer y'all up that are wishing for something you can't have. PG1 is still where it's at...

(unretouched photos from game...no bloom, just the way I've got the lighting and HDRi working)

 

 

[KenR]

Nice! 

[Buck]

Nice indeed

[slouis]

It appears that you have adopted Skunky's inclusion of a pano to add depth and immersion.  Looks good.

[DPRoberts]

It appears that you have adopted Skunky's inclusion of a pano to add depth and immersion. Looks good.

Definitely. You need to find just the right combo to match your peripheral terrain. The background stuff can get too large as well. But, once you do, it feels pretty real.

I also took DZ73 advice and lowered it to 8 bit. You can't perceive a difference and saves on file size.