New update for 4.10 and 4.11 will be submitted today. It will include overhauled wind/impulse animation system (more versatile & optimized) and some other new features & improvements - I’ll post the update notes soon.
Hi Slavq
Great update, thank you for the great support on your product. Really awesome! 
New update is already available! Release notes:
This update is mostly about improving existing features & adding 4.11 compatibility.
- New, more optimized & versatile internal wind & impulse system
- Possibility to freely rotate any tree with natural trunk bending [or as a whole rigid actor] even during auto-aligning, while maintaining all dynamic features & correct wind/impulse direction
- Improved auto surface aligning with new parameter for adjusting lean rate relative to surface steepness
- Possibility to switch between spline branches (more variation, different look) and mesh branches (static meshes with different variations, less drawcalls)
- New parameter for controlling how strong fruits are attached to branches (fruit fall probability control)
- Improved impulse particle (falling leaves, etc.) spawn location
- Added examples of new possible tree rotation techniques & dynamic wind strength/speed change
- Bug fixes & fine tuning for some blueprints
New surface align + rotation preview:
[QUOTE=Telimaktar;509499]
Hi Slavq
Great update, thank you for the great support on your product. Really awesome!
[/QUOTE]
Thank you!
Currently using this in UE4 4.10
When I make changes to a tree then click lock, it regenerates as lock is clicked and messes up all the changes I just made.
Am I missing something or is this a bug?
[QUOTE=Kielbasa;521058]
Currently using this in UE4 4.10
When I make changes to a tree then click lock, it regenerates as lock is clicked and messes up all the changes I just made.
Am I missing something or is this a bug?
[/QUOTE]
I’ve just checked this and it works without problems on my end, on both 4.10 and 4.11. Does this happen with all 3 ‘lock’ checkboxes (trunk, branches, fruits)? Maybe you have an unlocked trunk, but trying to lock branches? In this case, it might appear as it changes, because main trunk still renegerates and attaches locked branches to it, even if branches are locked correctly. Try to lock the trunk first and see if the problems persists.
I am getting a script core error at this function Screenshot - bc13e443db32a60b03d68549990a624d - Gyazo when I open the BigUpdateFeatures map (happens at this time Screenshot - 03b686b15ab2fbdb15b47cab7db33e51 - Gyazo).
I am using 4.12 preview, and I know it isn’t supported yet, I just wanted to let you know. I haven’t tried any of the other maps yet, I’ll edit this post by then.
EDIT: Every map except ForestDemo fails to load with the ScriptCore.cpp error.
EDIT 2: It happens in ForestDemo when I play it, so I’m guessing it’s something like the tree/plant blueprint that’s causing it.
[QUOTE=Wrekk;521948]
I am getting a script core error at this function Screenshot - bc13e443db32a60b03d68549990a624d - Gyazo when I open the BigUpdateFeatures map (happens at this time Screenshot - 03b686b15ab2fbdb15b47cab7db33e51 - Gyazo).
I am using 4.12 preview, and I know it isn’t supported yet, I just wanted to let you know.
[/QUOTE]
It seems like 4.12 is still in its very early preview stage… Probably that’s why it throws these core errors. I’ll check this on my end soon, just need to download 4.12 Preview… I hope that it won’t occur with final 4.12 build, but I’ll keep that in mind and prepare for this possibility before official 4.12 is out. Thank you!
Can this system also create pine and firn trees? If so, could you post a screenshot of that?
[QUOTE=black cat;522231]
Can this system also create pine and firn trees? If so, could you post a screenshot of that?
[/QUOTE]
The system can create any tree-type structures with any assets you can import (bark textures, leaf plane meshes, etc.) + it has many default textures & leaf planes (also pine & fir leaves)
We have a long weekend now (national holiday) and I’m outside of my main workstation till 04.05, but I’ve quickly made these on my laptop: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
This is with default presets. You can always add more branches, change their scale/angle/grow height/etc. to make it more uniform/more/less dense, etc. to your liking.
Your kit is great! I will definitely buy this for my next project
Keep up the good work!
[QUOTE=hamsterPL;522390]
Your kit is great! I will definitely buy this for my next project
Keep up the good work!
[/QUOTE]
Thank you! ^^
A new update has been submitted today. This one is mostly about improving and ‘stabilizing’ existing features:
- Automatic billboard system overhaul - more performant, less bug-prone
- New default tree presets
- Blueprint logic improvements & cleanup
- Improved ImpulseSource spawning mechanic: All properties are now exposed in SpawnActor node (+ with possibility to fire an impulse immediately after spawning)
- A new example is available in ‘BigUpdateFeatures’ level:
‘ExampleBomb’ actor that you can fire by pressing Q - it will apply impulse upon exploding to demonstrate how to dynamically use the ImpulseSource actor.
[QUOTE=Slavq;526588]
A new update has been submitted today. This one is mostly about improving and ‘stabilizing’ existing features:
- Automatic billboard system overhaul - more performant, less bug-prone
- New default tree presets
- Blueprint logic improvements & cleanup
- Improved ImpulseSource spawning mechanic: All properties are now exposed in SpawnActor node (+ with possibility to fire an impulse immediately after spawning)
- A new example is available in ‘BigUpdateFeatures’ level:
‘ExampleBomb’ actor that you can fire by pressing Q - it will apply impulse upon exploding to demonstrate how to dynamically use the ImpulseSource actor.
[/QUOTE]
Any chance it works in 4.12?
[QUOTE=Wrekk;526863]
Any chance it works in 4.12?
[/QUOTE]
It will work for sure when 4.12 will come out, but for now I haven’t tested it for 4.12, since this UE version is still in early preview state. So it might work after migrating from 4.11, but I can’t guarantee that until the official 4.12 is out.
[QUOTE=Slavq;526588]
A new update has been submitted today. This one is mostly about improving and ‘stabilizing’ existing features:
- Automatic billboard system overhaul - more performant, less bug-prone
- New default tree presets
- Blueprint logic improvements & cleanup
- Improved ImpulseSource spawning mechanic: All properties are now exposed in SpawnActor node (+ with possibility to fire an impulse immediately after spawning)
- A new example is available in ‘BigUpdateFeatures’ level:
‘ExampleBomb’ actor that you can fire by pressing Q - it will apply impulse upon exploding to demonstrate how to dynamically use the ImpulseSource actor.
[/QUOTE]
The update is live!
[QUOTE=Slavq;533065]
The update is live!
[/QUOTE]
Hi Slavq, this is a pretty cool looking tool that I am thinking of getting.
I was wondering how exactly does this affect the game size and frame rate when adding it to a game project? I see your demo looks good with the example but was curious to know more about the impact of it on a project build.
I’m pretty new to this stuff and it looks like it would be a huge help from what I am seeing so far.
[QUOTE=Deygus;533563]
Hi Slavq, this is a pretty cool looking tool that I am thinking of getting.
I was wondering how exactly does this affect the game size and frame rate when adding it to a game project? I see your demo looks good with the example but was curious to know more about the impact of it on a project build.
I’m pretty new to this stuff and it looks like it would be a huge help from what I am seeing so far.
[/QUOTE]
Hey, thanks!
Unpacked size of the package is around ~220 MB, and majority of the space is taken by texture target assets used by automatic billboards system. So it depends what you use in your project - when packaging, UE ignores unused assets, if I’m not mistaken.
Regarding frame rate - dynamic trees will always have more performance cost than a regular static meshes, but I’ve optimized this tool as much as I could (I also use this tool in my own game). You can see some example FPS numbers on the first page of this thread.
It always depends on how many trees/plants are visible at your screen, how dense they are placed… - it’s hard to give an exact answer to ‘FPS hit’ Distant trees can automatically turn into billboards (as can be seen in the second video) at desired distance, which is a huge optimization for any sort of forests. When using trees in more top-down oriented games, the main performance factor is an overdraw coming from leaves - this is optimized by individually-cut meshes for all default leaf planes. Then there are optimizations for all the interactive stuff (wind, force reaction, etc.), culling and other things that should make this usable in most of games without big FPS hit.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
When do you think it’ll be updated for 4.12?
[QUOTE=Wrekk;545761]
When do you think it’ll be updated for 4.12?
[/QUOTE]
4.12 introduced many bugs that prevent me from updating it to 4.12 - I’ve reproduced and reported all of them.
This one is already fixed, this one is not, but it’s not that severe, and THIS is the one that needs to be fixed, because it destroys part of tree generation system.
So all we can do is wait for the UE-31890 to be fixed, as I can’t figure out any workaround for now…
Ah, alright. Hope they get them fixed ASAP!