246 replies to this topic

[NoPutt]

You're probably right Rob, but I have no idea

how to correct it. I think it has something to 

do with the Billboard, as I was using a 2d prefab

such as Tara for scale, and it's dark now too.

These trees came from the Asset Store and

I do think designed with the Tree Creator. 

I'll keep reading and tinkering and hopefully

a light will come on, and once again I'll feel

like an idiot for not knowing and posting another

retarded question.

[Kablammo11]

I think I did read something about Speedtree trees being generally darker (or more contrasty) and behaving not the same as Unity trees the other day. I'm too lazy to go searching for that bit again, but this might well be a systemic phenomenon you can't do anything about.

I do not know about speedtree, but you most certainly can quickly export the Unity tree textures into Photoshop and adjust its colours to match those of Speedtree specimens.

Another possible solution would be to decide on one tree pedigree, Unity or Speedtree, and not cross-polinate between the two different breeds.

[shimonko]

It sounds like PG might be changing the lighting system so I wouldn't spend too much time tweaking brightnesses at this stage. 

[NoPutt]

Thanks for the input K, I just put the Lighter Speedtree

in the pic as an example. I do not care to design my

own trees at this time which is why I used the Asset Store.

We all have seen these very trees in acceptable light, so it

must be just a matter of finding the switch or switches to

illuminate them properly. Speedtree is Unity5, The package

I imported is from 4.*, but it has been stated in numerous post

that they worked great, which is why I imported them. 

That's good to know Shimonko, but I'd like to be able to

see what I'm planting at the moment. I'm sure it will work out

at some point.

[shimonko]

I'm not on my Unity machine so might have the nomenclature wrong, but in addition to directional lighting there is also base lighting - did you try increasing that?

[NoPutt]

I have not tried Base Lighting as I can't find it..hehe

All I see is Component Light which is ,point, spotlight, directional and area.

And under the Window tab there is Lighting which is where the Skybox is added

and there must be an oven there, as some sort of Baking happens there also.

I am using Directional and I (ass)ume the Skybox is producing some ambient light.

Jim has this package and hopefully will have a solution if I haven't pestered him

too much from earlier post.

[shimonko]

The Base lighting (and occlusion amounts) are in the Tree Soft Occlusion Leaves & Bark shaders that should be used for both imported mesh trees and tree creator trees.

Unity's ones are in the Nature material category but PG also did their own versions (PG's ones didn't work straight off for me since Unity 5 - haven't looked why not yet.)

So click on your tree and then double click on their materials in the properties (tree creator you'll have to first highlight the branch or leaf nodes in the diagram) If the material is set to the shaders mentioned above you'll see some lighting toys to play with.

[IanK]

Please can anyone recommend suitable Unity fairway, green, etc. texture assets? I can't find anything anywhere near as good as the ones I see on the forum.

Ian

[Kablammo11]

Try this one for the fairway, at around tile-size 10. You might have to fiddle with the colours a bit. If you copy it and make different versions with brightness/contrast and hue/saturation you can create textures for tees and green as well.

I could provide you with original CF default textures, but would probably breach my NDA if I did.

 

 

But please understand that in Unity, and without CF, every texture that will later be dealt with in CF will come across as a bit flat and washed-out, because in CF each texture will contain an added shader for the close-up view and look considerably better.

So this is by no means a durable solution, more of a stop-gap.

 

Another great source is Google Images, btw. Just type in lawn, grass, short grass, deep grass, dirt, sand and add the two words "texture" and "seamless"

[IanK]

Thank you Kablammo.

Ian

[NoPutt]

Ok, so I clicked on a tree and I see the diagram.

I clicked on the trunk node, but I see no Properties/materials.

Unity5 doesn't have a Tree Creator unless you're speaking of

Speedtree which has no nature category I can find.

I can see Kittens losing their limbs as I type.

[NoPutt]

I do see that the grasses and shrubs from this package

use the nature soft shader, but I can't find where to check

the trees.

You must wonder how this brain generates enough

power for me to even form words.

[Kablammo11]

Strategic self-deprecation will only get you so far, Neil. It's perfectly understandable to not "get" techie stuff right away. Those more educated in Unity (not me) constantly struggle to comprehend the deep sense of cumulative aggravation this instills in amateurs like us, let alone sympathise with us when the constant onslaught of tiny, undeserved irritations starts to fray our tempers or when the never ending wear and tear induces self-violence, makes us shake our fists, swear loudly, strangle kittens or pitch frogs. 

 

Not sure if this is the source of your woes, but every tree object (see the little arrow on the right of its icon?) can be double-click opened to reveal its insides: Geometry file, different texture types, material, possibly billboards etc for you to tamper with.

What's really annoying with trees is that the texture is not the same as the material (which contains layers of textures and can be set to many different presets). The material you need to fine-tune should be inside a folder called materials. Clicking on the tree icon in the inspector won't help you, you first need to open up its innards and open these in the inspector to get to the menu you seek.

 

Sorry if you knew all of this basic stuff already. I'm with you, pal. For me, a tree is a tree and Unity, Maya, Bender, Speedtree and all those others can keep all their inner workings to themselves, plant their tree just like that and add understandable settings in one succinct submenu. But no, they are clearly of heinous character and hate normal people, so they're playing hide and seek with us.

[NoPutt]

I think I have it if 2 directional lights are possible.

If I used just 1 the trees and terrain looked fine

in one section but dark in another. I put in another light

and fiddled with the intensity and bounce and all look

ok all over. Not sure if 2 lights hurts or helps performance

or anything else, but I can now see the flora and fauna.

And Thanks to all for leading me into this one of probably many solutions.

 

[IanD]

Hmmmm not sure.. does PG use it's own lighting..?

[NoPutt]

It sounds like PG might be changing the lighting system so I wouldn't spend too much time tweaking brightnesses at this stage. 

According to the quote they will. All I know is that I could not see my trees in Unity and now I can.

I'm quite sure this will not be an issue down the road, but for me at this time it was.

Good to see you Ian, should I post the pic of you and those vintage clubs I've had for over a decade?

[IanK]

An honest and genuine question. Apart from learning how to use Unity is there much point in adding textures, trees etc. to your course layout? I have been doing this and quite enjoying it but the smallest brush that you can use is still massively large for creating fine detail. As far I can make out, most, if not all of the actual hole creation is done within CF with Unity being used just to create basic terrain and course layout. Whilst adding textures and trees in Unity at this stage might look nice does it have any real purpose?

[RobC]

All of your terrain creating and manipulating is done in Unity. CF only lays out the holes over the terrain you have built

so yes you need to master unity . Course Forge is a minor part of the design process but tells PG about the course..Tee positions, Greens, Boundaries, Hazards etc

[IanK]

All of your terrain creating and manipulating is done in Unity. CF only lays out the holes over the terrain you have built
so yes you need to master unity . Course Forge is a minor part of the design process but tells PG about the course..Tee positions, Greens, Boundaries, Hazards etc

Thanks Rob, it's pretty much as I thought. I've watched a few videos about CF and bunkers, fine landscaping, adding fairway, green, bunker shapes, texturing and adding hole detail all seem to be done within CF. Is there any point in me adding trees and textures in Unity because this is all handled in CF.

[NoPutt]

CF is basically an App for Unity. All planting is done with Unity, CF

I read, will come with some trees and other course necessities but

will work in conjunction with Unity. CF will also come with textures for  Fairways,

Greens, Bunkers, Teeboxes etc., these hover  like cellophane over

the Unity terrain with a very slight downward bend on the outer Rough edge

to give the appearance of lining up with Unity terrain. The outer edge of the CF Rough

or Deep Rough will look better if the Unity terrain that's showing closely matches that Rough

or Deep Rough. Unity and CF work together for the common good.

I had a tough time visualizing and asked the same question earlier in this

topic. There are just a few Unity tools needed to design a golf course, but 

delving deeper into the abyss of Unity will bring it to a masterful life.