World Building EasyRoads3D v3 - the upcoming new road system

Thanks. The email address is the same. I will do like you said with the Unity primitives for placing houses and I am glad the latest beta has all those options.

 

I sent the email and also tested the plane primitive option to flatten terrain, that works as long as these objects are within the full bounds of all other deformation objects (roads or side objects used to flatten terrain).

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I am very interested in version 3 of easyroads. The new system looks great. I would gladly buy the pro version to get access to the current work in progress. However, There is only one concern. Having used the free version of v2, I see that the road does not match the shape of the terrain very well. At times, it goes underneath it the terrain, and at other times it comes off of it such that you can see under the road. Is this something that will be fixed in version 3?

 

Hi llithios,

Pure code related the terrain should match the road shape but there are a couple of things to take into account with regard to the Unity terrain object when the flattened terrain doesn't exactly match the terrain shape in specific areas.

First, the Unity terrain object stores height values in decimals between 0 and 1, meaning it is impossible to apply negative height values. The roads must be at or above the terrains game object Y position.Also take into account the nature of spline shapes. When you place two markers (A and B) exactly on the terrain objects Y position and a third (C) raised a bit higher, the road shape (spline curve) between A and B will go slightly below the terrain objects Y position, the terrain will be rendered above the road in this area because it cannot be pushed lower. In this case, move marker B a little bit higher. Or, preferred, always flatten your terrain at for example 10 meters so you will always have space left to push the terrain downwards, certainly when you also need rivers / water.

Second, the Unity terrain object is grid based, it is impossible to add terrain points for more detail. The bigger the heightmapscale (terrain size vs heightmap resolution) the less flexible you are with road shapes. Enough terrain points must be available to adapt the terrain to the road shape changes in that area. This for example will clearly become visible in sharp bends with also significant height changes in the bend. This is likely to have wrong results when the same terrain points are used to adapt the terrain to the road height at position A and the road height at position B. You can see this when zooming in and switch the scene view to for example Texture Wire which will also show the terrain geometry.

The same can happen when roads or road segments with different heights are too close to each other. At least two terrain points must be between the two roads, one leveled to road A, the other leveled to road B. When the same point is used on both roads it is very likely the terrain will either pop through the lower road or the higher road will float above the terrain at that position.

Does this match the situations you have seen this happen? If not, can you show screenshots?

But V3 indeed does have more options then v2 to deal with this terrain heightmap "limitation", you can use side objects to generate mesh based terrain objects in specific areas where you want more detail.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

hi raoul, i have tested easy road3d, but because my terrain and model have 1:10 scale (1 unit is 10 meter), your road is too big for my project.

For road i can modify the road width, but for intersection, like roundabout and t crossing, using scale gizmo doesnt work. it get re-scaled after i click on easyroad object.

i have spent a day to get around this problem to no avail.

could you tell me how to downscale the intersection?

 

Hi victorjunaidy,

Scaling roads / crossings using the standard transform options in Unity indeed will not work.

You get access to all crossing settings by selecting the crossing in the scene and clicking the "Select Connection in Hierarchy" button in the Inspector. The "Connection Width" settings can be changed in the "Connection Settings" foldout.

In general, certainly in your situation where you use different scaling, it is recommended to create new dynamic crossings (based on the standard crossings) typical for your project / scene. This workflow is explained in the beginning of the manual. By creating new customized crossings you only have to adapt the crossings once and reuse these new crossing prefabs in your project. The below video shows this process.

Let me know if you have more questions related to this.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi raoul!
First of all thank you very much for your asset, is really useful. I am having a problem with the free version, I hope you can help me solve it.
I'm using the car model from Unity's Car Tutorial, the problem that I have is that the car is transparent when the circuit is in the same position. If I move the camera a bit, I can see the car, but if the car is in the correct position to start the race, this doesn't appear.
This happens with all 3d model cars, not just with the Unity Car Tutorial.
Any idea what might be going on? Thanks in advance!

 

hi raoul,

yes, i also have problem with custom crossing editor. the editor window crashed my unity, and every time i click on the windows, it says index is out of bound.

 

Hi elektronische,

Glad you like it! The free version is still v2 (v3 is not publicly released yet). The road object in your movie is in Edit Mode (markers and the white surfaces are visible). In Edit Mode both the road and these white surfaces use a shader that will render these objects on top of everything else which gives you a better idea of the road shape in hilly areas. This is the reason why you cannot see the car.

In General Settings you can change this material to a standard / transparent material. The car will be visible. But I am not sure if the free version has that option?

In any case, as mentioned, the road object in your video is in Edit Mode. When you click the middle mountain button in the Inspector, the object will switch to Build Mode with the final material / shader assigned. Your cars will be visible on the road.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi victorjunaidy,

It sounds like the geometry structure cannot be extracted correctly. What type of mesh did you load in the Custom Prefab Editor window? Can you show a screenshot or would you mind sending it to me so I can check this on my end and make sure it shows a proper warning when this happens?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks a lot Raoul, this works perfectly. And yes, the free version hasn't that option. I hope to buy the full version in the future.
Best regards!

 

Ok! It is better to check the results in "Build Mode" because it will show the terrain flattening according the road shape. But If you really want to see the car on the road in Edit Mode as well, you can always change the shader attached to the Edit Mode materials directly in the assets folder, /Assets/EasyRoads3D Free/Resources/

But we do have a nice v3 pre release discount regarding Pro which does give access to the v3 beta discussed in this thread

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello Raoul,

I think i got problem with roundabout intersection. It will use all of its 16 GB memory when i am editing roundabout intersection, which is to reduce radius and intersection width. And it will display inconsistent behaviour, which is the mesh will stop responding to slider input after it got below some level, hence i can not resize it using radius and width.

Thanks.

 

Sure, this is what the error looks like. You can see in the bottom left, it is custom mesh edit windows that get stuck. I can not even close that window.

Thanks.

 

Hi!

Indeed you have to be careful editing roundabouts, especially decreasing radius values. The smaller the radius, the less space is available for connections, exisiting connections may overlap. In that case the roundabout cannot be rebuild. You should see warnings in the console when this happens. The best way too do this is to remove all connections, except one if you want, adjust the radius and start adding connections. Improving this workflow is on the list.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi,

The custom editor window hanging like in your screenshot is a result of the errors you see in the console. Extracting the mesh fails therefore specific data required to draw the canvas of the Editor window is not available, therefor it is continuously throwing that error after each update.

Can you show a screenshot of the mesh you want to turn into a custom prefab or, ideally, send it to me so I can check what the problem is?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello Raoul,

The mesh i want to edit is your dynamic roundabout crossing. And, What is the limit of roundabout radius? because if i reduce the radius to 3.5 and width to 2.9, i just can add 1 more connection.

Thanks.

 

Hi,

I thought your initial two posts related to two different problems. Which window exactly is hanging? Because the Custom Prefabs window is used to import your own custom meshes and turn them into crossing / connection prefabs. Dynamic Crossing prefabs like the existing dynamic roundabouts in the third tab from the left or newly created dynamic roundabouts created from "General Settings > Crossing / Connection Prefabs" can be edited directly in the scene. It seems you are doing that now?

Those are indeed low values (3.5 for the radius and 2.9 for the width). I understand you need that because of the specific scaling in your project (1 unit is 10m). I just tested it and see some strange behaviour regarding the "position" settings. What "Road Width" for the connection do you use and what sidewalk width?

I can add 4 connection on radius 3.5, width 2.9, road (connection) width 2.5, sidewalk width 1. The respective position values (center of the connection) for each connection are for example: 4, 9, 14, 19

But indeed it does require some trial and error because position values change and connections overlap when adding a new connection. I will see if I can optimize this better when using lower values. Do you need the sidewalk option? I see it is currently capped to a minimum value of 1, which is probably too big for your scaling?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi,

Yes raoul, initially i thought i could edit the crossing prefabs editor using the custom prefabs to my demise .

I need road with width of 4, but i think i can fake the crossing using the x crossing. The crossing i want to replicate is this :

 

Hi,

That does explain the errors in the custom prefab editor window. Dynamic prefabs stored in the Resources folder do not have a mesh attached. These objects are build when instantiating them in the scene. I will add a check for that with a proper warning message instead of that window now hanging...

I think a road width of 4 is big relative to the radius and roundabout width values you are using certainly when also using the default sidewalk widths of 1.5, this will make the total width of one connection 7.

I cannot see the crossing you want to replicate.

Raoul

 

Amazing..............
One Question - it's working for all unity3d version.

 

Thank you!

It works for both Unity Free and Pro and Unity 4 / Unity 5.

Raoul

 

Hello raoul,

Yes we got around that problem by scaling up the whole scene. But we found another problem. We lightmap whole scene, and found out that the shadow does not come up properly in the road. What do you think is the problem? is it because of lightmap UV is not generated properly?

Thanks.

 

Hi Victorjunaidy,

V3 is indeed being designed/tested ideally using 1 Unity unit is 1m. In the early Unity releases this scaling was recommended, especially regarding realistic behaviour of the physics engine (I am not sure though this is still the case in the latest Unity versions?).

Just to make sure, are you generating the final road network in Build Mode using "Calculate Lightmap UVs"? This should work fine. One thing to bear in mind is that, compared to v2, the lightmap UVs are generated relative to the road because many people use multiple terrains in a scene nowadays. It does affect the quality on longer roads using a small lightmap texture size. I will also implement the v2 approach, generate lightmap UVs relative to the terrain bounds. This way you can use the terrain lightmap on all the roads. But this will not work well when having multiple terrains in a scene with roads overlapping multiple terrains.

Is your issue related to the above?

And, do you have multiple terrains in your scene? If not, then I can provide a script that will calculate the UVs relative to the terrain, so you can test that.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

It looks great raoul! When can we expect v3? I've tried v2 on Unity 5, but it doesn't work and I really need it. If I buy it, will I get access to v3 immediately?

 

Hi intermarum,

Thank you! All the main code for v3 is implemented. At the moment we are fixing bugs, issues (a new update will follow today) and are optimizing things. Also, a couple of extra crossing options for the first v3.0 release are being implemented at the moment. More will follow in v3.x anyway. So, although the release is not far away compared to when this thread started, I cannot give an exact date at this moment.

V2 does work with Unity 5. We have to update our website but the asset store download should work just fine, both the Free and the Pro version. What problems do you have, do you get error messages?

The beta is still closed so it is not part of the asset store package yet, but just send me an email or a PM when you have a Pro license. I will send you the v3 beta which will be almost immediately considering time zones and that we are located in Spain, Europe.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi Guys,

Beta 6.2 can now be downloaded, please use the same link as before.

This update includes several improvements and bug fixes related to side objects, importing OSM data, Windows Phone 8 builds and the runtime API. Please check the release notes in the manual for more details.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hi.
I downloaded new beta version.
Extract...

I think there are problems. I am following these steps. Path does not appear. Can not be built. Was locked in a previous beta version of the buttons. It opened in version. But not build. What should I do?

 

Hi erdoganuguz,

The second screenshot shows the v2 "New Road Object" window and other screenshots show v2 markers etc. Did you import the v3 beta package in a project with v2 already imported?

In that case, v3 is an entirely new road system. Please try: Top Menu > GameObject > 3D Objects > EasyRoads3D to create a new road network.

You may also want to remove the full EasyRoads3D folder from the assets folder and reimport the v3 beta package to ensure it is not conflicting with v2.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello.
I thank you for the download link. The buttons are locked. I am sending screenshots.

 

Hi erdoganuguz,

Up to the last sceenshot everything looks fine. The last screenshot shows the toolbar and the registration fields. The registration fields are visible when the beta has not been activated yet. As a result the buttons are locked.

Did you register the beta? Can you try the registration again (and restart Unity after receiving the confirmation message so the installation takes effect)?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I'm sorry very much. I did not pay attention. At the very beautiful. I wish you good work.

 

No problem! This procedure is also mentioned in the "Getting Started" section of the manual. I think it is worth it to have a look at the manual, especially the first sections . V3 is an entirely new road system, going through the manual (and also the videos in the beta email) will give an idea of what you can do with it and what the recommended workflow is so you can take full advantage of all the new features.

Please let me know if you have further questions!

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello,
I get this error when using when trying to create Fence 2 road type.
With side object general it's working.
Latest beta 6.2

Thanks
Peter

Error:
ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Argument is out of range.
Parameter name: index
System.Collections.Generic.List`1[EasyRoads3Dv3.ERMarker].get_Item (Int32 index) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections.Generic/List.cs:633)
EasyRoads3Dv3.ERMarker..ctor (Vector3 pos, EasyRoads3Dv3.ERModularRoad scr, Int32 element)
EasyRoads3Dv3Editor.OQQOQDOOCD.OnSceneGUI ()
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)
Rethrow as TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:232)
System.Reflection.MethodBase.Invoke (System.Object obj, System.Object[] parameters) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MethodBase.cs:115)
UnityEditor.SceneView.CallOnSceneGUI () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/SceneView/SceneView.cs:1971)
UnityEditor.SceneView.HandleSelectionAndOnSceneGUI () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/SceneView/SceneView.cs:1337)
UnityEditor.SceneView.OnGUI () (at C:/buildslave/unity/build/Editor/Mono/SceneView/SceneView.cs:1175)
System.Reflection.MonoMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Reflection/MonoMethod.cs:222)

 

Hi Peter,

It is hard to tell what is going wrong by only seeing an error message. When exactly do you get this error message?

Or is this related to the runtime API (you asked questions before about this). Can you show code in this case so I can replicate the problem?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ah sorry I forgoted to add repro steps...
You can simply simulate it with manual steps:
Empty project
Create road network, Import side objects. Import roads
Add New Road/Object Fence 2 type. Add New Object
Shift click on terrain.
And exception is there.

Same applies through runtime API. But it can be reproduced manually too.

Nice day
Peter

 

Hi Peter,

Yes, I was just testing this after my post. There is indeed a problem in general in the latest build with road types that have side objects assigned (like the Fence 2 object). I think it is related to changes for the new 6.2 feature where side objects are also automatically generated when pulling a road out of a crossing and that road type does have side objects assigned. This works fine.

I will fix this. For now, deactivating > activating the specific Fence side object in the side objects list will fix the problem. You can add markers afterwards and the fence is generated. For this to work in the API the problem itself needs to be fixed. I will look at this today. Please let me know if you need it ASAP, I can send a fix. A new beta update will follow anyway by the end of this week or next week.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

The above issue is fixed, anyone who needs this specific functionality, please contact me, I will prepare a patch today. It also includes a fix for bridge side objects no longer adjusting to the road with in the latest beta 6 releases.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I have sent you email. Still it's not urgent for me. But I'll happily try it.

Nice day
Peter

 

Hello,
I'm not experienced in using of EasyRoads so I'm not sure if I'm not missing something.

But when I'm creating road, smallest indent for road that I can set is 5. Isn't that too much?
I'm converting really detailed map into unity. And 5 meters indent is deforming terrain along road too wide. Is it possible to make it much smaller. For example 0.5-1m?

Regards
Peter

 

Hi Peter,

Indent values represent the distance over which the terrain will be flattened according the road shape on the left and right side of the roads. It can be tweaked per marker but indeed a minimum indent value is used to ensure that the terrain is not breaking though the road or floating above the road. The bigger the terrains heightmap resolution, the smaller the minimum indent value.

There is no way around this minimum value because the Unity terrain object is grid/heightmap based, it is impossible to add detail points. I can unlock this minimum indent value but for sure it will result in what I mentioned above, the terrain floating below the road or popping through the road in certain areas.

What are your terrain specs?

V3 does include side object options to add more detail near the road in specific areas by generating terrain meshes on top of the terrain.

The terrain in the below screenshots is a standard Unity terrain. 2000x2000, 513 heightmap resulting in a minimum indent value of about 5. A mesh is generated to add terrain detail near the road.





Let me know if you have more questions about this.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks of course that make sense that based on heightmap resolution there is a smallest possible indent.

But still something is wrong or I'm not undersdanting it.
My terrain is 800x800m (4joined terrains so in result 1600x1600m)

For faster experimenting I had heightmap resolution 1049 for one terrain.

But based on Your explanation I have taken a test. Changed heightmap resolution to 513. (on screenshot You see highlighter brush position to get heightmap pixel visual size)
Min indent 5 road width 5:


Than I have changed heightmap resolution to 2049 to make indent virtualy smaller relative to road. At least if I'm understanding it correctly...
Min indent 5 road width 5 so same as before. And here is a screenshot:


As You see heightmap resolution is much bigger but indent space is still same relative to road?

To make it clear it's EasyRoads3d beta 6.2 Unity 5
Thanks
Peter

 

Hi Peter,

In order to avoid having to set customized Indent values for every single road, the values for each marker are set/locked according the general scene Min Indent value in General Settings (3rd tab from the right) > Scene Settings.

Is this value still set to 5? You can manually change this.

Actually, I see that you can set this main scene Min Indent value to any value you want and set marker Indent values accordingly. After building the terrain, this scene Min Indent value is reset to the value based on the size and heightmap of the terrain. This needs more work, General Settings (3rd tab from the right) > Scene Settings > Min Indent is where the indent value should never be below the "critical" minimum indent value. I will add this to the list for the next beta.

Anyway, you should be able to change Min Indent values for markers this way. With the current implementation you can probably also experiment with very low 0.5 / 1m indent values and see how it affects the terrain flattening.

Please let me know when this still doesn't work for you.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello,
setting Min Indent in Scene settings has helped and it's exactly what I needed.
I will see in practice how agressive indent value is possible or what critical minimum value will be.

Sorry for bothering You, I haven't found this settings.

Thank You very much
Peter

 

Glad to hear that and thank you for bringing this up! I will make sure locking this value to the correct minimum required value will work correctly in the next beta.

Raoul

 

Hello.
How to adjust the height of the pavement?

 

Hi erdoganuguz,

You can customize a crossing by selecting it and click "Select Connection in Hierarchy" in the Inspector. The crossing options will be displayed.

The below movie shows the current options, pavements starting at 3:30.

It is recommended to prepare your project specific crossing prefabs before starting building the road network (see the first sections in the manual for the recommended workflow). The included movie shows this process. The new crossings will become available in the 3rd tab from the left or when want to attach acrossing directly to the road.

In a future build it will be possible to update all crossings in a scene that share the same prefab.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

There are at intersections. I want to do on the road. I could not see the road option.

 

At the moment a road inherits the geometry structure of the crossing it is connected to.

In this case, changing the pavement height will result in gaps at the connection with the crossing.

How exactly do you want to change the pavement height on the road? Do you want to gradually change it over x distance or do you for example want to insert crosswalk areas?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello.
I just want to raise the sidewalk. I want to increase the height. Cars come onto the pavement. I want to prevent this.