S. Krezel - Dynamic Tree & Plant Generator

Distribution Product Discussion
106

4.13 update is not available yet, I’ve sent the update to Epic yesterday morning, but no response yet - so maybe they’ll process it after the weekend. However, I have a new video ready (+ update notes):

A new video with new & updated features is available:

4.13 Update notes:

  • Tree chopping! All generated trees can be chopped down at desired trunk location. Additional effects:
    * Chopped trees will fall down with physics simulation
    * Leaf shake effect will play upon ground impact
    * Fruits can fall down after ground impact
    * Any attached lianas will follow chopped tree parts, retaining their physics simulation
    * Chopped tree parts are spawned as a special blueprint that can be picked up by clicking on it - an example is available in the Documentation_Chopping level
    * You can specify chopped trunk texture for every bark material (9 default textures included)

  • Massive animation (GPU) & drawcall performance improvement

  • Improved tree generation logic: Much faster, optimized & flexible

  • Tidy up of internal blueprint logic & project folder structure

  • New parameters for tweaking tree & plant generation rules

  • Possibility to generate sub-trunks with individual parameters (new ‘Sub-Trunks’ parameter section) (You can also use it as a branches for sub-branches)

  • Possibility to assign ‘ground’ texture - it will blend between bark & ground texture on stump bottom, resulting in smoother tree <-> ground transition.

  • Possibility to assign custom curves for tree wind/impulse animation (this way you can change the look of trunk/branch animation and customize it to your liking)

  • Hand-crafted FORMS: Now you can create custom ‘FORMS’ that can be used in tree generation for both trunks & branches. Advantages:
    * OPTIMIZATION: Uses merged static mesh instead of many spline mesh sections, which is a few times better for performance (drawcalls)
    * It retains all the dynamic features, because BranchForm class saves any necessary info, like original spline point locations
    * Hand-crafted shapes: When creating a FORM you add spline points by hand, which allows for 100% control over every spline point & tangents
    * You can specify what branch forms a tree should use for generation by adding them into a list, individually for every tree preset!

  • Stump -> terrain aligning now works also with unlocked trees

  • Improved default stump look & fixed stump texture seams & tiling

  • Possibility to use custom stump models

  • Possibility to turn ON/OFF random Z rotation

  • Improved default look & fixed texture tiling in default bark material

  • New thumbnails for default tree presets

  • Wind & impulse animation now matches direction also on branches!

  • New leaf shake effect for force reaction

  • New leaf wind parameters: Current wind strength affects leaves with desired ‘leaf sensitivity’

  • Enhanced leaf wind animation

  • Improved shockwave speed effect

  • Improved default leaf material look

  • Improved branch distribution & spline generation logic (better visual results)

  • Better fruit generation logic with new parameters like fruit size variation (Also, fruits are now spawned as more optimized instanced static meshes while retaining all the dynamic behaviors!)

  • Possibility to set animation FPS (Frames Per Second) value for every tree

  • Automatic animation FPS optimization: The closer to camera, the more animation FPS. (Distance variable is exposed to allow you to tweak the strength of this optimization effect)

  • New, advanced automatic GodRay (Lightshaft) effect with easily tweakable material

    • Set your own godray color or let it update with current DirectionalLight color!
    • Possibility to update godray direction & color at runtime, based on current DirectionalLight

  • Added new ‘Sub-Trunks’, ‘Animation’, ‘Fruits’ & ‘Godrays’ parameter sections for better organization

  • Improved automatic billboard system: Much faster (optimization) and better looking (e.g. smoother transitions with dithering)

  • New: Animated billboards! Even distant billboard trees will perform basic wind animation, with customizable ‘Billboard Wind Strength’ parameter.

  • Improved plant animation (also moved to GPU), default look + possibility to color any plant element

  • More plant generation parameters, ability to ‘LOCK’ a plant & improved default look

  • Hand edit for plants: You can edit & fine-tune your generated plants by hand, using in-editor spline points!

  • New & improved documentation levels

  • Bug fixes and more…

**- OLD USERS (Pre 4.13) - PLEASE READ! **
If you’ve used the tool for 4.10/4.11, your saved/locked trees/plants might not be compatible with 4.13 version. This is because the tool was almost completely re-written for 4.13, to fix all the bugs that destroyed it in 4.12. Sorry about the issue, but I can’t do anything about it - re-writing and improving this tool was the only chance to bring it back to life.
Please backup your project before moving the system into 4.13 and please be aware that this is almost like a new tool now, since everything is improved in 4.13, and many blueprints needed a big overhaul or even re-creation from scratch.

— I hope you’ll like it :slight_smile: Now we’re waiting for Epic to process the update submission. Stay tuned!