Alright, so I just finished the newest additions to the Perfect Tile System 1.2.2 for UE 4.13:
- Anisotropic Rendering! You can now enable anisotropic rendering on metallic tiles! Just turn the feature on under the Features settings, and you will gain access to Anisotropy X and Y, which appear in the Roughness category. The anisotropic effect is achieved through temporal dithering (the same technique used in UE4’s experimental content examples), so the clarity of the image resolves over time. This method benefits higher resolution displays and rougher surfaces in the 0.25-0.35 roughness range. It is fully compatible with UE4’s reflections and physically based rendering, but at extreme settings (anisotropy greater than 0.6, roughness less than 0.25, and not enough screen time to resolve the effect) can result in artifacts. This effect is best seen in a viewport or in game, NOT in the material previewer.
- General optimizations to tiling. Some materials with features unchanged will run at 1-3 less instructions in this update.
- Some presets have been updated (mostly color improvements)
- Seeding techniques have been compiled into a general seeding function that can be used anywhere. The function includes linear and asine distributions using both the procedural and texture lookup methods.
You should see the new update ready to download in about a week. In the meantime, continue to have fun making your own tiles!
Oh, and for those of you testing out this system out in VR, I highly recommend using parallax mapping or parallax occlusion to give your materials some real depth that the normal map alone won’t be able to provide. Take a look at the Advanced Bricks and Sharp presets to see how brickwork and tile can benefit from different forms of parallax mapping. Happy creating!