S. Krezel - Dynamic Tree & Plant Generator

Distribution Product Discussion
61

Any updates? :slight_smile:

62

[QUOTE=Wrekk;560294]
Any updates? :slight_smile:
[/QUOTE]

They still didnā€™t fix this bug, but I have a workaround on mind - unfortunately, I canā€™t implement this workaround because of another bug. Yes. Here it is. The good news is that it appears to be fixed for 4.13 - so there is a hope that Dynamic Tree & Plant Generator will work again on 4.13ā€¦

63

[QUOTE=Slavq;560303]
They still didnā€™t fix this bug, but I have a workaround on mind - unfortunately, I canā€™t implement this workaround because of another bug. Yes. Here it is. The good news is that it appears to be fixed for 4.13 - so there is a hope that Dynamic Tree & Plant Generator will work again on 4.13ā€¦
[/QUOTE]

Ah, well 4.13 is right around the corner, right? So thatā€™s good news atleast. :slight_smile:

64

[QUOTE=Wrekk;560320]
Ah, well 4.13 is right around the corner, right? So thatā€™s good news atleast. :slight_smile:
[/QUOTE]

I hope so :slight_smile:

65

Hey,

I really love your work, but I have two questions before buying it.

1.)
Am I able to color the leaves in a color I like? For example blue?

2.)
Fruit drop can (I guess so) be turned off?

3.)
I need a lumberjack system for my game. Any ideas on that?
My idea was a tree stub model after lumberjacking a tree.

So:

  1. A player clicks a tree
  2. Animation and progressbar starts
  3. Tree is falling (or disappearing) - tree stubs still stays
  4. Player gets logs

So do you have an idea to implement it on your Generator, because I guess those generated trees donā€™t have a ā€œrealā€ mesh. Or maybe itā€™s a feature you could integrate?

Cheers

66

[QUOTE=KAISERslin;561149]
Hey,

I really love your work, but I have two questions before buying it.

1.)
Am I able to color the leaves in a color I like? For example blue?

2.)
Fruit drop can (I guess so) be turned off?

3.)
I need a lumberjack system for my game. Any ideas on that?
My idea was a tree stub model after lumberjacking a tree.

So:

  1. A player clicks a tree
  2. Animation and progressbar starts
  3. Tree is falling (or disappearing) - tree stubs still stays
  4. Player gets logs

So do you have an idea to implement it on your Generator, because I guess those generated trees donā€™t have a ā€œrealā€ mesh. Or maybe itā€™s a feature you could integrate?

Cheers
[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Letā€™s seeā€¦
1.) Yes, you can use any material you want for leaves. You can also place e.g. kittens instead of leaf meshes, to itā€™s fully customizable :slight_smile: Also, included default leaf material has an exposed ā€˜Tintā€™ parameter that you can alter to colorize your leaves.
2.) Yes, there is a ā€˜Strong Fruitsā€™ switch that prevents them from falling, no matter how strong the force is. You can also set fruit attachment strength to a value from 0.0-1.0 and it will influence their fall chance.
3.) I have a plan of implementing something like this into this tool in the next bigger update: Chopping down & breaking generated trees - but for now I still must wait for UE bug fixes first, to be able to make it compatible with new versions. I will post updates in this thread when Iā€™ll have any.

PS. Please note that UE 4.12 is still not working properly with this tool due to UE bugs listed in this thread and in my comment on marketplace page. I hope I will be able to finally make it compatible with 4.13. For now it works with UE 4.11.

67

I downgraded my project to 4.11 a few days ago, because of too many unexplainable bugs for me.
For me - Itā€™s still experimental.

So do you have Skype? I really would like to add you.

Cheers

68

[QUOTE=KAISERslin;561211]
I downgraded my project to 4.11 a few days ago, because of too many unexplainable bugs for me.
For me - Itā€™s still experimental.

So do you have Skype? I really would like to add you.

Cheers
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, letā€™s hope the upcoming 4.13 will be more stable.
Iā€™ve replied on PM.

69

Iā€™ve tried editing some of the ā€˜trunkā€™ and ā€˜branchesā€™ variables on the blueprints, but they donā€™t do anything. The only thing that seems to change is using the trunk end and start scales. How can I get them to work?

Iā€™m using vanilla 4.11.

70

[QUOTE=jmalaska;561910]
Iā€™ve tried editing some of the ā€˜trunkā€™ and ā€˜branchesā€™ variables on the blueprints, but they donā€™t do anything. The only thing that seems to change is using the trunk end and start scales. How can I get them to work?

Iā€™m using vanilla 4.11.
[/QUOTE]

Probably your tree is locked - please check if the ā€˜Lock Trunkā€™ or ā€˜Lock Branchesā€™ variables are checked.

71

[QUOTE=Slavq;561911]
Probably your tree is locked - please check if the ā€˜Lock Trunkā€™ or ā€˜Lock Branchesā€™ variables are checked.
[/QUOTE]

Ah, thank you! Iā€™m also having trouble finding the growth attribute. I can see the function though. Where can I adjust that?

72

[QUOTE=jmalaska;561941]
Ah, thank you! Iā€™m also having trouble finding the growth attribute. I can see the function though. Where can I adjust that?
[/QUOTE]

You can set tree height via ā€˜Tree Heightā€™ variable under ā€˜Trunkā€™ section. If you mean automatic growth stages that are calculated for every tree, you can see an example how to switch between them in the ā€˜BigUpdateFeaturesā€™ level. The example blueprint code that controls growth stages is in the level blueprint.

PS. Make sure to check the included ā€˜TestArenaā€™ and then ā€˜BigUpdateFeaturesā€™ levels, you can find some feature explanations there with working examples.

73

[QUOTE=Slavq;561944]
You can set tree height via ā€˜Tree Heightā€™ variable under ā€˜Trunkā€™ section. If you mean automatic growth stages that are calculated for every tree, you can see an example how to switch between them in the ā€˜BigUpdateFeaturesā€™ level. The example blueprint code that controls growth stages is in the level blueprint.

PS. Make sure to check the included ā€˜TestArenaā€™ and then ā€˜BigUpdateFeaturesā€™ levels, you can find some feature explanations there with working examples.
[/QUOTE]

Thank you! Looking good. And thanks for the quick reply. Iā€™m happy with my purchase so far. Iā€™ve been using it for a little while, and I have some feedback I was hoping could be addressed in the near future:

  • How can I get more natural looking trees? Iā€™ve been messing a lot with the settings and Iā€™ve been having trouble getting a more natural tree look. The main branch extends to the top, however in the current trees, the truck stops at the top of the tree without splitting apart. Here are a few of the trees Iā€™m trying to recreate. http://www.lostrivers.ca/img/points/treeform4.gif I was planning on making my own leaves, but Iā€™m just trying to get the trunk and branches looking right.
  • Could we get more realistic growth stages? It looks like the leaves scale as a group, though trees grow early with only a few leaves in the sapling stage. This is the holy grail and would need to be simplified, but itā€™s a nice target :slight_smile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rCeJwirWPY I think the big thing with the leaves is trying to keep them a consistent size rather than scaling. Maybe with flipbook growth?
  • Billboards from growth stages donā€™t update properly: I think this is just a bug. In the test map, I move away from the growth trees so they become billboards. Then I hit the 1-5 buttons for them to grow, but the billboards look weird. http://imgur.com/rZpO1YZ
  • Trunks are separated during growing stages? Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Thank you for making this tool! Looking forward to future releases.

74

[QUOTE=jmalaska;565916]
Thank you! Looking good. And thanks for the quick reply. Iā€™m happy with my purchase so far. Iā€™ve been using it for a little while, and I have some feedback I was hoping could be addressed in the near future:

  • How can I get more natural looking trees? Iā€™ve been messing a lot with the settings and Iā€™ve been having trouble getting a more natural tree look. The main branch extends to the top, however in the current trees, the truck stops at the top of the tree without splitting apart. Here are a few of the trees Iā€™m trying to recreate. http://www.lostrivers.ca/img/points/treeform4.gif I was planning on making my own leaves, but Iā€™m just trying to get the trunk and branches looking right.
  • Could we get more realistic growth stages? It looks like the leaves scale as a group, though trees grow early with only a few leaves in the sapling stage. This is the holy grail and would need to be simplified, but itā€™s a nice target :slight_smile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rCeJwirWPY I think the big thing with the leaves is trying to keep them a consistent size rather than scaling. Maybe with flipbook growth?
  • Billboards from growth stages donā€™t update properly: I think this is just a bug. In the test map, I move away from the growth trees so they become billboards. Then I hit the 1-5 buttons for them to grow, but the billboards look weird. http://imgur.com/rZpO1YZ
  • Trunks are separated during growing stages? Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Thank you for making this tool! Looking forward to future releases.
[/QUOTE]

Iā€™m very happy that youā€™re happy! :slight_smile:

For now, the trunk doesnā€™t split, Iā€™ve made this tool to make more stylized trees for my game (it wasnā€™t aimed for realistic results), but I plan on making an overhaul of this tool for 4.13-4.14. It will include more realistic tree structure (more possibilities, like trunk/branch splitting), new material-based animation system (GPU, more performant) and more features & improvements that should be announced hopefully within a couple of months.
Yes, the growth stages system is simplified, it works for more distant/top-down scenarios, but wonā€™t look realistic from close distance. Iā€™ll see what I can do to improve it, leaves are a planes with opacity-masked texture containing bunch of leaves, so indeed a flipbook may be a solution for creating a custom leaf growth animationā€¦

Iā€™m on vacation right now, outside of my main workstation (I only have my crappy laptop here that barely can handle an empty UE editor :slight_smile: ) so I canā€™t check it directly, but it looks like a bug indeed. The separated trunk bug probably originates from one of UE skeletal mesh bugs (the bugs that stopped me from updating this tool for 4.12).

For incorrect billboard for growth stages, did I understand correctly, you change the growth stages when the trees are in billboard mode? Iā€™ll try to reproduce it on my end.

Iā€™ll see how I can improve these features and fix the bugs when Iā€™m back.

Thank you!

75

@Slavq, Hi, I happen to test your AnimBP_BUG project today in 4.13 (build from master branch, latest commit), it seems itā€™s working just fine now. Thought you might want to know:)

btw, great work!

76

[QUOTE=Nate;568538]
@Slavq, Hi, I happen to test your AnimBP_BUG project today in 4.13 (build from master branch, latest commit), it seems itā€™s working just fine now. Thought you might want to know:)

btw, great work!
[/QUOTE]

Thatā€™s great to know, thank you! :slight_smile:

77

[QUOTE=Slavq;568674]
Thatā€™s great to know, thank you! :slight_smile:
[/QUOTE]

You are welcomed!

If anyone interested, I backported the fix of UE-31890 from master branch to 4.12.5 here.

78

[QUOTE=Slavq;565993]
Iā€™m very happy that youā€™re happy! :slight_smile:

For now, the trunk doesnā€™t split, Iā€™ve made this tool to make more stylized trees for my game (it wasnā€™t aimed for realistic results), but I plan on making an overhaul of this tool for 4.13-4.14. It will include more realistic tree structure (more possibilities, like trunk/branch splitting), new material-based animation system (GPU, more performant) and more features & improvements that should be announced hopefully within a couple of months.
Yes, the growth stages system is simplified, it works for more distant/top-down scenarios, but wonā€™t look realistic from close distance. Iā€™ll see what I can do to improve it, leaves are a planes with opacity-masked texture containing bunch of leaves, so indeed a flipbook may be a solution for creating a custom leaf growth animationā€¦

Iā€™m on vacation right now, outside of my main workstation (I only have my crappy laptop here that barely can handle an empty UE editor :slight_smile: ) so I canā€™t check it directly, but it looks like a bug indeed. The separated trunk bug probably originates from one of UE skeletal mesh bugs (the bugs that stopped me from updating this tool for 4.12).

For incorrect billboard for growth stages, did I understand correctly, you change the growth stages when the trees are in billboard mode? Iā€™ll try to reproduce it on my end.

Iā€™ll see how I can improve these features and fix the bugs when Iā€™m back.

Thank you!
[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Slavq! Looking forward to future updates. Keep up the good work!

79

[QUOTE=Nate;569477]
You are welcomed!

If anyone interested, I backported the fix of UE-31890 from master branch to 4.12.5 here.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks, it works now. :slight_smile:

EDIT: Neeeevermind. Placing a plant works, but everything else crashes it still :confused:

80

Donā€™t know how I missed this when it first came out. Looks great!
Separately, I do like to stay on the latest UE version, so Iā€™ll look out for when it all works together again and pick it up at that point.