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GAIA - AAA terrain generator, procedural texturing, planting and scene creation

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by AdamGoodrich, May 21, 2015.

  1. kerrmedia

    kerrmedia

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    So, just trying this for the first time. I see Spawned-GameObjects Small Farm4, but nothing there. Do I need to import the 3D Forge external village? I thought some of these were included in this new release?

    In the Spawner Rules I see int he drop down that Instances Spawned is 0. Is that because my terrain is stamped with no Min Viable Fitness?

    I'd love to see a small village, but not able to get any added to the scene.
     
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  2. Ascensi

    Ascensi

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    @AdamGoodrich could Gaia be used on a Voxel based system like Voxeland? I realize the texturing system of Gaia may not work directly unless it had direct access to the Texture mapping. Gaia could become a leap for other Terrain systems.
     
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  3. BackwoodsGaming

    BackwoodsGaming

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    All of the sample assets are included in the Gaia install. If it spawned 0, that is because it couldn't find a place that matched the spawn criteria. For villages, you need a decent flat area. In my setup, I did adjust the slope in the fitness setting to go up to 15. I then spawns some but you may end up having to play around with the Unity terrain tool brushes to adjust the height map a bit so doors aren't covered with slopes.

    At any rate, you pretty much nailed it with your "In the spawner rules" question. :)
     
  4. ZenMicro

    ZenMicro

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    Just want to give a little update on my experience with Real Imposters... they are full bright at night, so that's a major problem, I am having an issue with a particular tree, Colliders (or is tht the billboard) is offset, so a distant vehicle appears to drive right through the tree (missing the collider by a meter or so), transistion pops etc.. i've emailed the dev and hope we can work on improving otherwise i gotta say at this stage not recommended unfortunatley, wish i grabbed AFS for $20 and tried the really real imposters he has :p with blended fade transition proper lighting and alot of other improvements in shader land and plant push/bending :(

    Hey! Sounds awesome, i checked out your sig links briefly, sounds like a complete game engine, Is it Unity centric or more generic? These are some of the things i am having to consider right now as sure i made a few unrelated scenes, and i auto load one fro my menu.. but yeah i which way to go, Packaging bundles for runtime loading instead of Unity compiling sounds interesting. Do you have any Assets on the store?
     
  5. magique

    magique

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    Sorry to hear your experience was not a good one. I'm still just playing with Real Imposters and hadn't tried it at night or with moving objects. I know there is a pop in the transitions, but it's barely noticeable and I see the same thing in AAA games. For me, AFS has always been a bright hope, but I've never been able to fully realize it yet. Something about Forst's tools just aren't that easy to set up and make work and I've never quite gotten any of his stuff to do what I need just yet. I plan to invest more time and effort into it though so maybe I can finally get AFS stuff to work for me. Sorry if I steered you wrong. :(
     
  6. snacktime

    snacktime

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    It's a mix. Server is fairly agnostic but I've got a lot of client side stuff that's all Unity centric.

    I have a full client side package not released that has runtime building/terraforming, combat, npc management, items/skills, you name it it's there. But I decided to take that and just start making games again with it. I think to make good money on the asset store you have to cater to not just developers, and this was really a developer's tool, even with a bunch of editor UI's and such. It would I'm fairly certain clock in at more lines of code then anything else on the asset store. So at this point I'll probably just open source it here soon.
     
  7. Kiwi-Hawk

    Kiwi-Hawk

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    Brand new Project and clean download of the new version

    Assets/Gaia/Scripts/ExtensionSystem/Extensions/CameraAndLight.cs(113,50): error CS0234: The type or namespace name `BloomOptimized' does not exist in the namespace `UnityStandardAssets.ImageEffects'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

    Assets/Gaia/Scripts/ExtensionSystem/Extensions/CameraAndLight.cs(125,50): error CS0234: The type or namespace name `DepthOfField' does not exist in the namespace `UnityStandardAssets.ImageEffects'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

    Assets/Gaia/Scripts/ExtensionSystem/Extensions/CameraAndLight.cs(162,50): error CS0234: The type or namespace name `Tonemapping' does not exist in the namespace `UnityStandardAssets.ImageEffects'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

    Assets/Gaia/Scripts/ExtensionSystem/Extensions/CameraAndLight.cs(171,50): error CS0234: The type or namespace name `VignetteAndChromaticAberration' does not exist in the namespace `UnityStandardAssets.ImageEffects'. Are you missing an assembly reference?

    Is this because I didn't download the standard assets?

    Edit:

    Seems so, there errors disrepair when I download the default effects asset
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2016
  8. ibyte

    ibyte

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    General question for Adam or anyone else. The recommended way to upgrade is to delete the existing Gaia and import the new version. This will not break any script references will it?
     
  9. ZenMicro

    ZenMicro

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    Wow, seems a bit of a wild swing in direction from it's too big, elaborate and complete a package to sell so i'll just share it for free! But I certainly won't complain! Have you released any assets or games for that matter?

    Nah, Can't blame anyone, I had been holding off on AFS for so long, at $20 really should have just done it. Anyway the dev of Real Imposter still has an opportunity to further develop his product. And i've always seemed to find problems especially with mesh stuff as i have high detailed models that often were not optimized or created with the intention for use in games. I tend to learn the hard way :p
     
  10. BackwoodsGaming

    BackwoodsGaming

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    They should reconnect when the package is back in place. Be sure to back up and stamps you have scanned yourself and any custom resources/defaults files you have created before deleting though :)
     
  11. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Yep - you need to import the Effects standard asset - as discussed in the Gaia documentation.

    I am surprised you even were able to get this at all as I check to see if the first effect I camera is there, and if its not then I pop up a message saying to import the standard Effects package. I also only compile this package into Gaia if the standard image effects are there - based on that first check to avoid exactly this scenario.

    Your issue has been caused by another package that has included some standard image effects but not all of them. I will add more checking to the next release of Gaia to ensure that it is well behaved in all scenarios.

    As a general suggestion to all users - you should not import standard assets ANY packages that include them as they will OFTEN break other things.

    The reason for this is that the publisher will import the version that goes with the version they are publishing the package with - and if you are then running that asset in a later version of Unity, you will be running out dated assets and likely be getting unexpected issues.

    I took the time to make a test for these, and to disable things if they are not present and provide a warning message if they aren't. A lot of other publisher just include them and leave you to fend for yourself - which is imho poor form.
     
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  12. magique

    magique

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    I totally agree. I've made it a habit from now on to look at the import list and find Standard Assets and uncheck it. It is a habit that has saved me lots of headaches.
     
  13. magique

    magique

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    Sent you a PM.
     
  14. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Nope - not planned - as other people have commented there are already very good assets that do this.

    There is so much you can do with this - I will do a video tutorial to show it off... actually i think i already did - but i will do more :



    I will reach out to the author - it would be a great tool to integrate with.

    I have set the default slopes in their spawn criteria to be relatively low (about 10 degrees or less) so that you don't get buildings hanging out the sides of mountains so maybe make your terrain a little flatter by dropping the height in the stamper when you stamp the terrain - i find that a value between 3 to 5 in the height really makes for nice terrains... also use your visualiser on the terrain - this will tell you how Gaia sees that village at a terrain level.

    Am also checking about every 90 meters in the spawner - drop that down to say 45 meters - that will scan your terrain much more closely for suitable POI sites.
     
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  15. jonfinlay

    jonfinlay

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    Been working a little more on my savannah. Basically here I didn't use any of the included stamps, I just created a plain white stamp, which I stamped as a stencil and noise with a +2 height various times (make sure you change the seed number). Then added a +3 stencil without any noise to raise the terrain, then I added a minus -2 rigged noise stencil which I used the for the water. This way I could make sure the water is never too deep in any part of the map and could control the deepness of the water, so the player is able to crouch under the water (using Aquas underwater lens) but not so deep as to be able to drown. One very useful feature would be able to preview the noise before its stamped. All the textures were painted on using noise as well, and I used Distingo to remove the tiling, which was still noticeable before I used it.

    Grab 20160223214704 w1900h1200 x-9y6z-896r325.jpg
     
  16. kerrmedia

    kerrmedia

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    Cool, because an auto generate mode should only do so much.
     
  17. BackwoodsGaming

    BackwoodsGaming

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    Yep! But definitely try what Adam suggested too.. I didn't even think to lower the distance that it does the area check.. I'm going to lower my slope settings back down and try playing lowering distance setting for checks. Thanks for pointing that out Adam! :)
     
  18. kerrmedia

    kerrmedia

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    By the way, the player is at 1.8 but I notice that is too tall for the 3DForge buildings. Anyone else see that? house_size.jpg

    Just trying to establish a base line around which to develop.
     
  19. BackwoodsGaming

    BackwoodsGaming

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    My guess would be it got scaled down in the POI somehow. My characters are 1.8 as well and I have no problems with buildings in the actual Exteriors Kit. It could be some Gaia colliders on the house as well maybe? I've been using an FPS controller but haven't really got close enough to go under the awnings.

    Find that building in scene view and look at how the colliders are set. Also look at the building's scale in the transform.
     
  20. kerrmedia

    kerrmedia

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    You mean lower the settings on the property Locations Per Spawn? I'm looking at the Coverage GameObject Spawner. Not seeing a property to lower the distance that it does the area check.
     
  21. brunno159

    brunno159

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  22. FractalCore

    FractalCore

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    Yeah, I remember watching that video a while back. I just wanted to show my excitement at getting to finally use noise. And the crapness of my picture was just to illustrate, I switched the noise on and got exactly what I was after, it just worked.

    I plan to use noise for everything, all over the place in Gaia. Everything in nature can be simulated with some form of noise. Maths baby! I love noise, just look at my user name :rolleyes:
     
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  23. BackwoodsGaming

    BackwoodsGaming

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    You have to go into the instance in your resources file and I think it is in the DNA. That part hasn't changed since 1.0. The spawning videos (or documentation) would be a good place for you to refresh on configuring spawn items.. The basic part of the POI is the same as any individual game object.
     
  24. kerrmedia

    kerrmedia

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    Yeah, its the box collider. If I disable it I can move around the houses and fences. I have purchased the Exterior and Interior kits, I should probably use these. The prefabs for Gaia are rather generic and it makes sense they don't facilitate too much interaction and use simple Colliders.

    I can adjust the collider on the specific farm house and then get under the awning. The collider is as it should be for these kinds of assets, a simple box that encompasses the entire house model including the awning.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2016
  25. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Glad Gaia is working well for you.

    Gaia is not an art asset it is a tool to procedurally create entire scenes. I have taken the time to build relationships with other asset producers and they have very generously provided the sample content included in Gaia so that you as the customer can get a great experience out of the box. I have added that sample content into Gaia as much as anything else to show how it could work for you.

    The scale of the lean to from the free samples provided by @S4G4N of 3D Forge is 1. You can easily change this to whatever scale you like by changing the instance settings. There are a lot of instances in the POI configurations, but that's the trade off you make to get the power of the feature - you have to describe the feature so that Gaia can procedurally use it.

    Your alternative is to place by hand and I know from personal experience that this is a huge amount of work. The great benefit of the POI system is that you can build up a library of POI's and leverage them by just dropping a spawner into your scene - villages, cemeteries, towns, ruins.. whatever it might be.

    2016-02-24_13-34-24 - Scale.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2016
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  26. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    In the example above - the parent DNA scale will only be used if the 'Use Parent Scale' is selected - this allows you to make individual instances scale independently - you have the freedom to do it either way.
     
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  27. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Not without modification - there is a bunch of stuff i do in Gaia that looks at the terrain itself. From what I can tell Voxeland does not use unity terrain.
     
  28. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Yep - back up your project first - the project has evolved a long way from its first release - essentially another 4 months of full time effort has gone into it.

    Also as a general comment - please send me feedback directly - it can get lost in here - my intention is to address any bugs or any problematic themes in a patch next week. So far 'touching wood' its been relatively pain free considering the scope of the changes.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2016
  29. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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  30. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Another small announcement - Gaia got it's 200th 5 star rating, and its 79th written review today!

    Thank you all so much for taking the time to rate Gaia - ratings for quality, and forums for support are the two things I look at first when assessing an asset for purchase - and I am very grateful for those of you who took the time and made the effort to do this :)

    For those who haven't yet.. todays as good a day as any.. they really do make my day when I read them!! :)
     
  31. Kiwi-Hawk

    Kiwi-Hawk

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    You'd have to spot me all the tickets mate lol,. long way to row
     
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  32. Kiwi-Hawk

    Kiwi-Hawk

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    I was playing round with ProCore's ProBuilder the last few day till Gaia updated



    Un finished and the front stairs are temp's
     
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  33. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Quite a long hike from Australia as well :)
     
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  34. Kiwi-Hawk

    Kiwi-Hawk

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  35. DarkXess

    DarkXess

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    Ok, just downloaded the new version with the standard effects also downloaded but I am getting this:

    Assets/Gaia/Scripts/Editor/GaiaManagerEditor.cs(96,47): warning CS0618: `UnityEditor.EditorApplication.currentScene' is obsolete: `Use EditorSceneManager to see which scenes are currently loaded'

    Also, still getting that annoying SpeedTree error, any ideas on how to fix this?

    SpeedTree materials need to be regenerated.

    Thanks
     
  36. KingLlama

    KingLlama

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    This fixed it. I just did it and it seems it works if it is a clean project. Thank you!
     
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  37. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    This wont hurt anything to my knowledge - will drop a patch out next week which will fix it - its a Unity 5.3 change.

    This is a very tedious Unity thing - it happens whenever you import any SpeedTree. Navigate to your speed trees and regenerate their materials.

    2016-02-24_17-36-12 = SpeedTree Fix.jpg

    Another annoyance is that you need to open and close the Gaia Manager twice to get the GX system kicked in - I will try an find a better way to do this in next weeks patch as well.

    Also - a new purchaser commented that he was having issues and i checked and there was an error in the QuickStart guide - it is incorrect - I am fixing this at the moment and will have it available for download in the next 20 minutes.
     
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  38. DarkXess

    DarkXess

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    Thanks for the reply, all sorted and will wait on the next patch too to fix my other issue :)
     
  39. AdamGoodrich

    AdamGoodrich

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    Hi everyone - here is the updated QuickStart document. Apologies for the inconvenience.
     
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  40. ZenMicro

    ZenMicro

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    #MadeWithGAIA + a bunch of other assets and custom work :)

    Thought i'd share a scene.. the actual terrain isn't really prominent in this shot but was made firstly with importing real world terrain from Terrain party as per Adam's tut video, and later i used an existing stamp to add the mountains/hills in the background, this is not Horizon[on] and I think this will be just fine for my needs, but again not much to actually see in regards to GAIA generation unfortunately... When i get my camera manager system working properly I will be able to actually move around again in first person view to explore the terrain etc.and take some different aspect screenshots of GAIA at work. I have used Perlin noise to mix the texturing up a bit (2 textures with flipped perlin map) and placed grasses With GAIA on a particular texture only.

    Had to downsize the picture a couple times, seems to upload a screen grab at 3440 x 1440 - 21:9 Ultra wide format is too large (over 4MB) :) - I also probably don't have my FOV set correct for this size, must look into getting the ideal Field Of View for this aspect.

    So Adam, you've been invited to go to GDC in the US? Way to go! Have a great trip :D Bring me back a T-Shirt :) maybe a Unity shirt can be gotten for less than online... XL thanks haha :p

    upload_2016-2-24_19-59-26.png
     
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  41. Kiwi-Hawk

    Kiwi-Hawk

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    Is there no way to export a 16Bit Heightmap instead of an 8Bit lego/mindcraft map
     
  42. KWaldt

    KWaldt

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    Hey there!

    Gaia looks wonderful--it generates such amazing environments quickly! Thank you for your hard work~

    However, I'm kinda stuck on the Quick Start Guide, on step 10 of "Just Do It!"--I don't have anything in the "installed" category of gx ("compatible" is working, though). I tried restarting Gaia a few times, but it doesn't help.
    Do you have an idea how to fix this?

    Best Regards,
    Kristina Waldt
     
  43. docsavage

    docsavage

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    Don't know if you have already seen the new quickstart pdf but if not Adam added a dropbox link to a modified an corrected quick start guide. It's about just about 4 posts up. It may address the problem you having. Easy to miss anything on this thread it moves that fast.
     
  44. docsavage

    docsavage

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    I can't check now as attempting the update to v5.3.3 but I think probuilder has a show sizes toggle but I may be getting it mixed up with meshmaker. Only mentioned because of your post re learning probuilder.
     
  45. DarkXess

    DarkXess

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    If you look further up what he mentioned to me mate:

    Another annoyance is that you need to open and close the Gaia Manager twice to get the GX system kicked in - I will try an find a better way to do this in next weeks patch as well.
     
  46. KWaldt

    KWaldt

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    Hey there!

    Thanks for the quick replies, @DarkXess and @docsavage! I've already read the updated guide, and like I said, I've also restarted the window a few times and it didn't help. Though maybe I'm doing it wrong?
    I press Strg+G to open the window and then close it--it doesn't change anything no matter how often I do this. Is there a different way to do this?

    I think I'll test it again in a new project, maybe it'll work this time.
    Edit: I don't know what I did differently, but it works now--I appreciate the help, have a nice day, all of you!

    Thanks for the help!
    - Kristina
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2016
  47. DarkXess

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    I don't know how it is meant to fix it, I did as he said and it seems to be working fine for me, though I started a brand new and fresh project so maybe that's why. Try starting a whole new project as you said, import GAIA and then first thing is to open and close the Gaia Manager twice to get it kicked in as Adam says and it should then in theory work, just for the question - what version of Unity are you using? it could be that if it doesn't work like I've said above :)
     
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  48. hike1

    hike1

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  49. Camagine

    Camagine

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    Looking for a little help. When i go to GX menu i have nothing listed under installed. I did import standard effects and environment assets from the assets store under downloads standard packages tab. Not sure what to do to get those nice camera effects working.
     
  50. DarkXess

    DarkXess

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    I only just said some posts back mate, Adam passed on this message to me and will maybe help you too:

    Another annoyance is that you need to open and close the Gaia Manager twice to get the GX system kicked in - I will try an find a better way to do this in next weeks patch as well.

    Also you may want to see this new guide Adam had written up which may help you also.
     
    Last edited: Feb 24, 2016