25 replies to this topic

[DPRoberts]

I will be posting videos for the DPR House Builder Asset Package to this thread. Please post all new comments to this page. You may view the old page information at http://www.perfectpa...ilding-package/

 

Download of the DPR House Builder Asset Beta is available at https://www.dropbox....itypackage?dl=0

 

N.B.

At the end of the old thread, you may also wish to offer condolences to one of our members, Joe Habiger.

[J.H.Buchanan]

DP and others like him that give so much to the community enable the Perfect Golf experience to have levels of depth that cannot even be imagined. 

[bortimus]

Wow.  Just played around with this for a bit.  This is an incredibly well put together package and allows for a ton of flexibility.  Very well done DPRoberts.  

[DPRoberts]

The tutorials will really turn the light bulb on for how robust this will be.

I want a good month to hammer out any block needs and texture additions for the generator. With the ground work being in place, any add in is under 5 minutes for me.

Will need to hear back on FPS as well and verify I've actually done a good thing here.

Now, in the end it's just houses and there's probably a limit on need for uniqueness but the capability is there should you need it.

It started as a favor last Friday to Matthew Rose and beautifying Pebble because I felt it deserved a special touch. In the end, I just couldn't help overdoing it.

[NoPutt]

You've done a miraculous thing DP, no designer

should hurt for structures anymore. The package

imported smoothly and changing out textures is

a snap. As a test, I planted 20 stacked structures

around my new heavily planted course and noticed no

change in FPS and only a small hit in tris. Your structures

virtually take up no more space than a 2-plane tree.

[Dazmaniac]

Going by what Neal has posted above, that sounds very promising for resort course recreations, which are renowned for having a multitude of properties lining each hole.

[M Rose]

I've put a bunch of these into Pebble and they've elevated the whole thing.... most of the time I'm pretty meh when it comes to the importance of buildings, but this is one of those courses where I think it really adds to the atmosphere.

 

Tremendous work, as usual.

[mebby]

I've put a bunch of these into Pebble and they've elevated the whole thing.... most of the time I'm pretty meh when it comes to the importance of buildings, but this is one of those courses where I think it really adds to the atmosphere.

 

Tremendous work, as usual.

So... you done yet?  

[DPRoberts]

Good to hear FPS impact may be minimal. One note on that regard, all my materials are created with the Legacy Shader "Bumped Diffuse". You may elect to change to "Diffuse" only if you want to remove the normal map. I did not go into game and A/B with and without normal map.

 

I am posting a few tutorials. I kind of skipped over the basics on the block building and import of the package and jumped to the good stuff. I will go back on the basics but wanted to draw you in by showing you where you can go with this. Sorta bring out the dessert cart before dinner.

 

I have already noticed a fair bit to clean up on the texturegenerator.psd and will continue to do so.

 

One thing I did not really address in the video is whether or not to save changes when you close the "texturegenerator.psd". If you have only altered colors and the visibility of certain layers and used it to export a unique texture, you probably do not want to save. That will always take you back to the default state of the "texturegenerator" as it has been gifted to you. If you start adding patterns, new windows, new trims, new walls, etc, then it would be best to save it.

 

Tutorial #1 - Basics of the "texturegenerator.psd", creating a texture, normal map, importing into Unity and creating a material

 

Tutorial #2 - Creating a pattern from a seamless texture for use in the "texturegenerator.psd" for a truly custom texture creation

[M Rose]

So... you done yet?  

 

Sadly, no. I'm very close, though. I'm really tired of it. I've had a few more FPS issues come up with the new houses, so I've tempered that back a little bit and tried to change some of the LOD settings on the trees. I think it's better now but I'm not really 100% sure. Going to test it some more tomorrow and see where things are at.

[DPRoberts]

Sadly, no. I'm very close, though. I'm really tired of it. I've had a few more FPS issues come up with the new houses, so I've tempered that back a little bit and tried to change some of the LOD settings on the trees. I think it's better now but I'm not really 100% sure. Going to test it some more tomorrow and see where things are at.

Before deleting too many houses, try dropping the normal maps if you haven't done so already. You can do that by choosing any material used for the houses and changing the shader to "Legacy Shader>Diffuse". You will need to do this for each material in the Scene. After doing so, it will automatically apply to all your houses in the Scene. This cuts your material size in half and may do the trick.

[DPRoberts]

Matthew,

I have discovered another issue that is probably more impactful than a normal map change. I am hoping I can get a little input from K11 or Mike on this one or someone with some object/mesh creation know how.

 

Each mesh in the scene will create a shadow caster if turned "On". The problem with the blocks is if 74 blocks make a Villa, you will have 74 shadow casters. If I create the Villa in Blender and import as a single mesh, you will have 1 shadow caster. I want you guys to build in Unity so I am recommending turning shadow casters off for now. The video below shows the problem and the temporary work around until input from more intelligent sources.

 

[M Rose]

Thanks, I'll have a look at this. If I'm happy with the results, I'll release it tonight.

[M Rose]

I believe this did the trick. It's running much better today. I made some LOD adjustments to the trees as well, but I don't think that had as significant an effect as this did.

[DPRoberts]

Last video for a few days. Just wanted to show you some improvements to the "texturegenerator.psd". This package will ultimately cater to those that want it all to be drag and drop in Unity and those that want it to be customizable. I didn't mention in the video but I will be making all the themes much more robust and categorizing those in Unity. You are not required to ever open Photoshop to get good results.

 

I am looking for Material ideas from other parts of the world as well. I live in Kentucky, USA in suburbia. Pictures are helpful if you have an idea.

 

[NoPutt]

I'm awestruck, and to think I spent weeks learning

Blender and all I'll need it for is Ballwashers.

Thanks a ton for sharing The Generator DP, 

we can now turn Times Square into a golf course.

[DPRoberts]

Now that's not fair to your tee markers.

Come to think of it, you were the one who started this madness. Innocently asking for help on texturing in AC3D. You knew this might happen to me.

My layers library is probably feeling quite neglected.

[highfade]

Matthew,

I have discovered another issue that is probably more impactful than a normal map change. I am hoping I can get a little input from K11 or Mike on this one or someone with some object/mesh creation know how.

 

Each mesh in the scene will create a shadow caster if turned "On". The problem with the blocks is if 74 blocks make a Villa, you will have 74 shadow casters. If I create the Villa in Blender and import as a single mesh, you will have 1 shadow caster. I want you guys to build in Unity so I am recommending turning shadow casters off for now. The video below shows the problem and the temporary work around until input from more intelligent sources.

 

 

DPR, thanks so much for this, tried it and it works great.

 

Concerning the shadows, there is a free asset called "Drawcall minimizer" which I've used in the past for my fences. What it does, once you've build your house with the blocks is combine all the meshes together as just a few meshes.

 

You'll then have  just the shadow for the new object.  One needs to make sure you're done with the house as you can't take it apart again.  You can then delete the old house with all the blocks in.

[DPRoberts]

That would work. I'll check it out. Thanks.

My workaround in addition to gifting the blocks (which by the way in version 2 are better, stronger, faster) is going to be providing prebuilt houses that I assemble in Blender.

First gift up is the suburb pack, 10-15 prebuilt homes with 20+ themes. You wouldn't have to use Photoshop or build in Unity if you didn't want.

I'll post a pic on version 2 blocks later today after work.

Honestly, there will be a law of diminishing returns at some point but you'll have options and it's easy to gift something custom if someone needs it.

[johnmeyer]

Used this for the first time today properly,  and must say its fantastic.

 

Im sure v2 will be even better although the initial package was more than ample to build a semi decent East Lake clubhouse, even as a total beginner with both the package and photoshop.

 

Superb job