116 replies to this topic

[DPRoberts]

A method for getting 3D grass in your JNPG course project.

 

Necessary 3rd party assets

OBJ Exporter (free) - https://assetstore.u...-exporter-22250

 

Stix Games - Direct X 11 Grass Shader ($20) - https://assetstore.u...ss-shader-36335

 

Blender version 2.8 (I mention 2.78 in video but I have an older version of the add on below that isn't available so get 2.8 and it works with the add on) -  https://www.blender.org/2-8/

 

Texel Density Checker (blender add on) - https://gumroad.com/l/CEIOR - put your "fair price" in as 0 if you want it for free

 

I had to piece one of the videos together. Hopefully, it'll all come across ok and make sense. If you hear me mention "retopologizing" meshes, I actually don't show how to do that. I decided it was better to not do that at this time. The method presented here will be the least time consuming with predictable results.

 

You do not have to use Blender to get decent looking grass. If you would like to have more than "Simple" grass with the shader though, you will have to unwrap your meshes. If you decide to try Blender, I promise it is not that painful. That is specifically addressed in video 6.

 

I am providing 9 grass textures and 3 RGBA maps. Some have black and white and color versions. Experiment, you will get different results with each. My favorites are running the "grassblade_PSD" if I am NOT using the texture atlas. If you choose to use a texture atlas, I like "grassblades_5_3cut_BW_PSD"

 

The RGBA maps are only used for the grasses beyond "Simple". You can use them to plant densities of different grass types. I only have 3 channels assigned so they will work best with the "3 texture" grass type.

 

Grass Texture Files - https://mega.nz/#!IL...S2HPqykTNXbTIKI

[DPRoberts]

3DG Tutorial -  Part 1 -  First Steps

 

3DG Tutorial - Part 2 - Importing Grass Shader and OBJ Exporter

[DPRoberts]

3DG Tutorial - Part 3 - Altering the Shader CG file

This video was a cut from a different, longer video. It picks up at an odd place but I want you to change a shader file so when you get to placing grass, it will sit in the mesh correctly. You can do this later when you set up your materials.


3DG Tutorial - Part 4 - Initial setup and Splining the Course

[DPRoberts]

3DG Tutorial - Part 5 - Exporting Spline Meshes

You may be better off doing one hole at a time versus multiple spline exports at once as shown in this video. The disadvantage of doing all splines together is if you have to make corrections, it may be hard for you to remember which splines all go together.



3DG Tutorial - Part 6 - Blender UV Unwrap for multi texture grass (get Blender 2.8, not the 2.78c as I say in the video)

[DPRoberts]

3DG Tutorial - Part 7 - Simple Grass Material Setup

 

3DG Tutorial - Part 8 - Advanced Grass Material Setup

[DPRoberts]

Ok, my friends, all videos are up and you are free to comment. Hopefully, this works out for most of you. Yes, you will make mistakes. Yes, most are fixable. Even if you miss on picking up a spline when creating the OBJ files, you can always redo the process and overwrite the old one. 

 

Sorry the microphone was set a bit low. You'll have to turn up your volume a bit. 

[Birdie]

Oh man, unbelievable how much work you put in here!!! Will be a must have for sure!!!

[DPRoberts]

My final settings on Orchard Valley 3DG for 

 

Outer Rough and Rough (actually used the same material on both)

 

Semi Rough

[DPRoberts]

Oh man, unbelievable how much work you put in here!!! Will be a must have for sure!!!

 

Haha, I'm a bit tired and ready to take a break from the grass. But, you did remind me that you, BIRDIE, require the massive congratulations on braving your $20 and getting this all to happen.

 

For those not privy to other threads, it was BIRDIE and his Manila Southwoods experimenting that first brought about these wonderful blades of grass to JNPG.

[Skunky]

thank you dp,just amazing stuff,3d grass for dummies.yahoo!

[DPRoberts]

Realized that I never specifically mentioned how you actually create that first material in your project. This may be useful to watch before video 7.

 

3DG Tutorial - Adding a Grass Material in the Project Panel

[jt83]

Hey mate, I think videos 3, 4 and 5 were posted under the wrong titles...one can figure it out, it just confused me for a moment.

[DPRoberts]

Hey mate, I think videos 3, 4 and 5 were posted under the wrong titles...one can figure it out, it just confused me for a moment.

Video 3 was a cut out of something on retopologizing meshes. So, you join that one at an odd place. That's really the issue. I should've just remade that video.

The titles are correct. Or at least, I think they show what they say.

I added a paragraph before video 3, hopefully that'll keep the confusion down. Thanks

[alannala]

Thank you DP. Very much appreciated. Good timing as I have just got my new graphics card and managed to set up some basics in regards to three separate ones for green fringe, semi rough and rough. Fantastic as experts like you continue to push the boundaries which keeps people coming back for more irrespective of the future direction of course forge and perfect golf. 

[DPRoberts]

Appreciate the kind words.

You may find the green fringe to be a challenge. The shader really isn't designed for really short grass. But, if you discover some good looking solutions, please return and post your findings.

[JCat04]

Somebody needs to send you a commission check DP... this is awesome!

[clubcaptain]

With my speakers on max volume I can't hear sufficently well to be able to follow the tutorials.

[DPRoberts]

With my speakers on max volume I can't hear sufficently well to be able to follow the tutorials.

Sorry about that. Try headphones. Make sure your Windows sound is set to 100 percent. If you can't get it to work, PM me.

[DPRoberts]

With my speakers on max volume I can't hear sufficently well to be able to follow the tutorials.

You can try running in VLC as well.

https://bhagat.blog/...ow-to-fix-that/

I was so bummed when I listened to them. It was because I usually make videos on my laptop and these I did on my PC and have a crappy mic.

Short of me spending several hours to fix the issue, I would prefer you try the above solutions as they take less than 15 minutes to try.

[johnmeyer]

 

Found this helped greatly
 

Basically turn on Loudness Equalization on your speaker settings in windows and will boost the volume