[Unity 5] Something weird with trees alpha textures

Hello everyone!
After updating my project to a new version of Unity, I faced quite a strange problem:
- Trees alpha textures (leaves) have some kind of an outline, that uses the skybox color. When I change it, the color of outlines also changes.

Practically the same stuff I met in one of the Beta versions, but thought it'll be fixed towards the release.

It could be done somehow if you change the "alpha cutoff" parameter in the model itself. But it's not the solution...

 

I got the same problem.

 

Hey! I've just upgraded to Unity 5 and I have this problem too, I don't know how to fix this :/
In the scene I can see those grey outlines and in the game it's blue (like the sky's color)

-> I do not have this problem with Unity 4.6, only with Unity 5

Scene view:


InGame view:

 

I also have this problem.

 

Guys, i had the same problems, also with the betas. I finally found the problem. Its the camera background. Somehow it overrides the alpha. Reset the alpha somewhere in your code like this:
Camera.Main.backgroundColor = new Color(0,0,0,0);

 

Thanks, it works

 

It doesn't work for me

 

It works only in game, not in editor

 

In my case, it doesn't work in the game with that line of code.
The outlines are grey in the editor and they turn black in the game.

It works if I uncheck "Receive Shadows" on the trees, but... I want these shadows...

 

I am also having this issue. I have narrowed it down to the shadow texture for tree creator trees. When you set the shadow caster resolution (in tree creator) to full resolution the problem gets significantly better but doesn't go away entirely.

If you can somehow replace that shadow texture with the diffuse it does fix the problem (but its wrong, and the leaves no longer cast shadows properly) but any messing with tree creator will simply regenerate the tree and overwrite this shadow texture with the problem version. I really think the core issue is in the shader (Hidden/Nature/Tree Creator Leaves Optimized). I am looking at it but nothing stands out immediately (maybe its referencing an old include, etc). I really despise the way Unity handled the tree generator with it creating hidden materials and using hidden shaders and all.

Update: Changing from deferred to forward rendering "fixes" the issue completely. Though I doubt the intention is to eliminate tree creator trees from deferred rendering so I still think this is pretty big bug.

 

I hit this issue as well and the "reset the camera alpha from code" trick didn't work for me. Switching to Forward rendering from Deferred (legacy deferred also has this issue) also "fixes" the issue for me, but this is definitely a bug in the tree leaf shader. Never hit this issue in 4.6 and dragging a tree into the scene directly has no weird outline.

 

I'm having the same issue. Setting to Forward rendering also "hides" the problem, but certainly not a viable solution. It cuts me off from taking advantage of all of the new Deferred benefits. Anyone discovering a solid fix for this yet?

 

Turning off "Receive shadows" on the tree did it for me in f4, obviously still not ideal.

 

In Camera settings you have to change Rendering Path from "Legacy Deffered (light prepass)" to "Deferred" and that's all))

 

no. you don't, well not everyone, since I tried that, and every other combination of simple tests like that.

Glad it worked for you however I needed a shader to sort mine out.

(Also it is a good idea to say which point version you mean, p2 that may work f4 it certainly won't)

 

Checking 'HDR' on the camera fixes it as well in f4.

 

And i have to say, nice looking game

 

I am running into same issue. Has it been fixed yet in the patches?

Edit:
http://issuetracker.unity3d.com/iss...rate-white-spots-with-deferred-rendering-path
Apparently not. Why hasn't it been fixed yet? This is a major issue!

 

Hey guys I found out a temporary fix
Try to change your graphics emulation to shader 2 or 3 whatever it suits to your game

 

hi, i like it

 

Setting it to Shader Model 2 "fixes" the issue. However, it still remains in Shader Model 3 for me.

 

hi there,

the error you all get it caused by the fact that in unity 5 writing to the z-buffer and rendering the shadow map is more or less the same. so the old trick (using a low res shadow texture for the leaves to safe some bandwidth) simply corrupts the z-buffer and results in holes as shown in your screen shoots.
you can either get fully rid of this by:
a) buying (mine, sorry) advanced foliage shader from the asset store or
b) manually edit the tree creator shaders.
c) setting the shadow texture to "full res" might reduce the artifacts but will not eliminate them completely.
d) another possibility would be to manually copy the alpha channel of your diffuse texture to all three color channels of a new texture and using this as shadow texture (with same resolution, aniso settings, compression etc as the main tex) but even this might not fully solve the issue: it is still 2 different textures: the alpha channel of the diffuse and the shadow map.

lars

 

@larsbertram1, I'm not sure that Unity offers an ability to change shaders for TreeCreator made trees. Are you sure it is possible? Did you tried it?

 

yes. and it works fine.

 

I have not recieved a fix yet. Anyone?

 

i'm getting the problem tried just about everything that was suggested but the problem persists

since its affecting numerous members and since it works great prior to U5 i'm hoping it will soon be fixed.

 

Don't get your hopes high. As far as I know, this problem plagues U5 since beta. You can say that it was ignored for more than 6 moths.

 

Hi guys
I noticed when I changed the shader emulation GI doesn't work so I returned to No Emulation and tried to make the background color in the camera to bit dark grey and it works fine

 

I am seeing this issue both in game and editor, i believe it has something to do with the nature shader's trying to use the same execution method as the standard shader but with transparency. I am currently trying to produce a new shader for all to use. It is stupid that Unity 5 did not maintain unity 4's Legacy nature shaders.

 

Yeah noticed that U5 legacy shaders not always the same as U4 shaders.

Still happy that they got U5 out to us and hopefully things like this will get fixed or someone will find workaround that we all can use...

 

Hi, I was going fine in my unity project until I came across this problem, after troubleshooting and trying several work arounds, I came across a solution which seemed to be the only way it would work, it seems like a legitimate solution.

Instructions:
1. Import your texture of a tree branch with Transparent background (PNG Format)
2. Apply These Settings :
Texture type: Texture
Alpha from Grayscale unticked
Alpha Is transparent ticked
Wrap Mode:Clamp
Filter Mode: Bilinear (Does not matter as far as I've tried)
Aniso Level: 0-16 (Does not matter as far as I've tried)

3. Create New Material and apply these settings:
Shader:Legacy Shaders/Transparent/Diffuse
Apply your PNG Tree Branch Image

4. Now, apply this material to the leaves of your tree, you will recieve the warning that you must have a nature shader applied, hit apply.
Voila! Hopefully..

Anyway, from experimenting, this works everytime for me, and as far as I've experimented, you can use different transparent shaders with your branch material before essentially "converting" it through the tree creator.

I really hope this sums up this solution for everybody, it seems to be a real frustration.

 

Lemme know if it works too! I'm interested to know if this was a purposeful procedure or whether it is a bug they are still trying to iron out.

 

OK... linking in some useful parallel threads and info to this discussion:
(This bug is driving more of us crazy than we realize, LOL)

Unity Case Number 674542 and 688932 that references this bug:
http://unity3d.com/search?refinement=issues&gq=674542

Fix for shimmering trees:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/fix-for-shimmering-trees-in-deferred-mode.311961/

Discussion that brought that one about:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/terrain-trees-sparkle-in-deferred-rendering.278851/

Discussions about this same issue when in beta:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/trees-with-white-bordered-leaves.306452/
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/terrain-tree-creator-billboard-artifacts.296884/

 

Holy crap... just spent 2 hours applying the Unity 5 nature/leaves materials to all the trees in Michael K's Winter asset... so much work but so worth it. Screenshot to show the difference (I made the camera background blood red so the problem would show up more easily against all the white snow.)

Fixing this is like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders! I'll post a screenshot to show an idea of what I did with all the trees.

 

So for each tree's texture folders I made a new Nature/Tree Creator Leaves material and filled it in... I let Unity change the normal texture's attribute to normal, and just used the same texture for both gloss/translucency.

After that I had to go to each prefab of the Trees and apply the new material to the leaves.

Then I just had to refresh all the trees in the terrain.

 

wow great job, thanks for taking time and effort to help us all!

 

This may also help those who don't find the above post a fix... When turning off receive shadows on the terrin mesh renderer, the problem goes away. So if you don't find the above post as any help, sacrifice your realism by turning off receive shadows .... Hope that this helps find a real fix

 

Thank you Dreamaster, it works, this is the proper solution.
I've started working on the Real Nature trees.

 

Thanks for the information in this thread. That tree issue was driving me insane. It sucks having to redo all of the shaders and materials, but at least that's something.

 

Is there no better way to fix this? This seems like an Unity 5 bug rather than something everyone should have go through on all their upgraded assets

 

Definitely a bug that Unity should fix!
This makes the tree creator pretty useless.
Replacing the materials with your own "Tree creator leaves" material isn't really a solution since the material won't have the translucency property.

 

@larsbertram1

I've bought advanced foliage shader. But I have a lot of questions and problems with the process of updating trees. Please check your PM.

 

Someone found a better solution to this bug?

 

Replacing the leaf material with the Unity 5 Nature Tree Creator material works 100% of the time... I'm not sure what Neiles is talking about it not having transulency property... it's right there in the shader and you can even see it in my screenshot.

 

In the Rendering Path option in your camera settings, select either Forward or Legacy Deferred.

It worked for me at least.

 

Well. After more than 3 months of waiting we still haven't a proper solution? Changing the shader model decreases the use of a new Deferred render to zero. I've read the whole thread, but haven't understand how you avoid this bug. Everyone does it in their own way

Turning off the "Anti-Aliasing" box is not working obviously

 

I'm also having weird issues with Unity's Terrain and Place Trees. I set up prefab with proper material, but when I place the trees using the Place Trees within the Terrain gameobject, it looks like I lose alpha channel completely.


On the left, the base prefab for the tree placed in scene. Material is working properly. On the right the same prefab placed within the terrain gameobject, not alpha clipped like it should be.

I'm using the standard shader with alpha cutout rendering mode. Am I missing something? Shouldn't it look like the base prefab?

Edit: Dreamaster I tried that before posting and it didn't work, I tried it again and now it works, I guess it just bugged out first time, thank you

 

Change the shader from "Standard" to "Nature/Tree Creator Leaves".

 

How can I change the tree shader properly? When I just edit the material, trees on the scene remain sill and don't affect any changes. Even if I choose standart shader without alpha at all. I refreshed it from the TREES tab in the terrain editing menu, and restarted Unity several times. No way.

 

This is still completely bugged. The shader is already "Nature/Tree Creator Leaves".

You can update the prefab by changing the "Optimized" materials to your materials, as mentioned above, but then billboards don't work unless you use the "Nature/Soft Occlusion Shader", but then the tree prefab will complain the leaves aren't using a tree shader...

Terrible. How was this ok'd for release?