116 replies to this topic

[DPRoberts]

If you have issues, I can try and Skype screen share with you if needed.

[jspirate]

Grrrr, maybe it was the Apply Experimental Transform check box???  While you were typing I tried it a 3rd time and it worked.  I feel like I did it the same what each time, but maybe I didn't  :boggle:

Another question and then I am going to stop asking so many questions lol

Should I be concerned when all tris are not highlighted in blender?

[DPRoberts]

Grrrr, maybe it was the Apply Experimental Transform check box??? While you were typing I tried it a 3rd time and it worked. I feel like I did it the same what each time, but maybe I didn't :boggle:
Another question and then I am going to stop asking so many questions lol
Should I be concerned when all tris are not highlighted in blender?

No worries on questions. Helps others that may pass through here as well.

You are good there on the selection. The "active" face will always be that way. You know it's selected because its edges are still orange. If you are worried, hit "A" to deselect all and then "A" again to reselect all.

[jspirate]

So… I am trying to understand the 3DG magic a little better. Please help me connect the dots if you can…

Questions:

Course forge splines are basically meshes with a material applied (and physics, but that is not my confusion ATM)?

Adding another mesh to add 3DG is basically making a 2nd identical mesh (except that each uses a different material)?

The shader contains LOD settings that control draw distance and thus provide some level of performance control?

Does Unity still see and draw the 2nd mesh when the 3DG blades aren’t rendered due to the LOD settings chosen in the shader/material?

Sorry… I am sure I butchered some terminology, but is my thought flow above anywhere near accurate? Maybe I don’t know what I don’t know and I am therefor too clueless to ask coherent questions lol

[Birdie]

You can define a LOD for the grass blade's mesh itself in the grass shader, so not for the surface mesh(copied spline mesh...). And also the LOD distance controls only the blade's mesh detail at a distance.

[jspirate]

You can define a LOD for the grass blade's mesh itself in the grass shader, so not for the surface mesh(copied spline mesh...). And also the LOD distance controls only the blade's mesh detail at a distance.

Thanks for the response. Is the surface mesh also getting drawn? I am guessing its not?

[Birdie]

Thanks for the response. Is the surface mesh also getting drawn? I am guessing its not?

Good question...
I really don't know how this all works under the hood.
On my course I retopologized some of the duplicated meshes in Instant Meshes to get a more even looking and higher resolution field of faces, for example on a rough which surrounds six holes. Then I knife cutted this very complex mesh in Blender in maybe hundred smaller meshes and imported it as an object group back to Unity. I don't know if it's better to do so and I can't prove it but I just have the feeling Unity handles these smaller meshes better than one very big one.
So it somehow feels the meshes are still getting drawn or are in calculation somehow. But as I said I can't prove this.

[Stingreye]

JSPirate, I think you will be surprised at the performance with the 3dgrass. Unless you go crazy with density, on modern 3d cards, it really doesn’t affect FPS as much as poorly optimized LOD’s on densely planted speedtrees or overplanted billboard grass. This is much more efficient than that it seems. Probably the direct x 11 thing.

[jspirate]

The single hole that I did didn’t see any FPS losses. I just like to have some sense of what is going on in the background.

[jspirate]

Just for kicks, I tried a new blade of grass and it causes some flashing.  I made it by duplicating a mat that was working fine and then I replaced the blade with the one I an messing around with.  I like the new one, but I am getting flashing that appears to occur because a few blades flash the background on/in the blade of grass itself.

 

It does it with dynamic sky on or off. 

 

I appreciate any thoughts/ideas anyone might have.  Here is a pic to help show whats happening:

 

[DPRoberts]

Are you using a texture atlas?
Can you also snip your settings around the top 1/3 of the shader.

I want to see what boxes you do and don't have checked and what shader variant you are using.

[jspirate]

Are you using a texture atlas?
Can you also snip your settings around the top 1/3 of the shader.

I want to see what boxes you do and don't have checked and what shader variant you are using.

 

Its not an atlas. 

 

[DPRoberts]

Hmm, I guess show me the rest of the material setup.

You have that darker blade not showing the texture correctly. I also see minimal color variety happening. Do you really want to use 3 texture variant? At least from the 1 image, it seems like you might do better with less in this case.

Lastly, since you are using 3 textures and in texture density mode, I'm assuming you're using an RGBA map as well?

[jspirate]

Hmm, I guess show me the rest of the material setup.

You have that darker blade not showing the texture correctly. I also see minimal color variety happening. Do you really want to use 3 texture variant? At least from the 1 image, it seems like you might do better with less in this case.

Lastly, since you are using 3 textures and in texture density mode, I'm assuming you're using an RGBA map as well?

Yeah, I really haven't messed with color at all.  I just loaded it to see what I had and I found that I had flashing lol

 

Yes, I am using the RGBA map that you provided.

[DPRoberts]

One of your textures must not be set up correctly. Could you share them so I could load them and see what's happening?

I usually use PSDs with an alpha layer for transparency.

Or, at least show me the lower section snip of your material.

[jspirate]

One of your textures must not be set up correctly. Could you share them so I could load them and see what's happening?

I usually use PSDs with an alpha layer for transparency.

Or, at least show me the lower section snip of your material.

 

I just noticed that the tiling for grass blades was set to 2 X 2, so I changed that and I am rendering. 

 

Here is the pic for the rest of the mat:

[Justin9926]

Did you change the script to lower the mesh .15?  Because your picture looks like you have Dynamic Sky on

[jspirate]

Did you change the script to lower the mesh .15?  Because your picture looks like you have Dynamic Sky on

 

I did.  I assume you only have to do that once right? After its changed, that script is what gets used whenever you run the stix grass shader regardless of what mat you use?

 

Also, changing the tiling didn't help...

[jspirate]

Its odd because as you move the camera, the effect takes place on different blades of grass.  It seems to be happening on less than 15% of the blades.  Could it be z-fighting or something similar?  It flashes sort of like that.

 

Maybe I should try dropping max density back and spacing the grass out some more to see what happens...

[DPRoberts]

Just trying to figure out that one blade that has textures stretched on it.

Is it assigned to a certain texture slot? Make all of one bright green, one bright magenta and one bright blue.

Although, it seems like you're using the same texture for all 3... Set the texture to "Clamp" maybe in the inspector instead of repeat