Amplify Texture 2 - Development Showcase

I'll try this to see how it behaves with aerial imagery. I remember trying it in the past but the texture size limit of unity was not allowing me to import a 36k + aerial texture import. Now I've the way to separate huge areal images in chunks of 4096 so the resulting resolution is 10cm perpixel. Lets see how it goes!. Ihope that appart from visible areas loading it does not load them at full res and there is a quality / discance control.

 

Hello Pulov,

The 16k Unity 4 limit per texture can be a bit troublesome, we do intend to add an alternative method of loading such data sets, more about this soon.

In the meantime, you should have no problems testing your project; using standard methods or Multi-Tile Texture Collections.

Multi-Tile collections are a great way to import large data sets. Provided that you are using a compatible naming convention and appropriate UV layout, all you need to do is drag the first tile in the collection into the the AT2 material texture slot and build the virtual texture. AT2 will automatically virtualize all the associated tiles and apply them to your model; no need for different material ID's.

More information available in the AT2 Manual - External Multi-Tile Bake Tools and Additional Resources section.

AT2 as no problem with larger areas, it streams only what is required instead of loading the actual texture in "the traditional sense"; VRAM usage is fixed and configurable. Among other setting you can also easily specify MIP values if required.

(I sent you a PM with an exclusive preview)

Let me know if you run into any issues, I would be happy to help.

 

Awesome Thanks

 

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We are happy to announce a new Amplify Texture 2 update. Among other additions and fixes, we finally resolved an elusive DLL issue that prevented AT2 from executing correctly in Unity 5.

Alpha 33 features complete Unity 5 support, including both metallic and specular universal shader and real-time GI support, Oculus Rift support, SLI/CrossFire support, EXR 2.0 support, Multiple camera support, solid/seamless anisotropic filtering and fixed texture addressing issues across the board specifically involving multi-VT support.

Most importantly, the full version now includes the FULL SOURCE CODE for all managed code/scripts and all major known issues in previous builds have also been addressed.

We also simplified our EULA to reflect the standard Unity Asset Store license. The only major difference is that each Pre-Order provides you with a 3-Seat License, unlike the Unity Asset Store 1-Seat Editor Extension terms.

Try it today, without limitations or complicated licensing plans.

Amplify Texture v2.0.3 Alpha 33 - Download & Release Notes

Updated Manual - Manual Page

 

Superb!

 

Glad you liked it but there is more

I will get back to your private msg in a few hours.

 

Hello everyone, we are happy to share with you Part 1 of the series Amplify Your Game with Amplify Texture 2. In this first 2 videos we will compare a Standard Scene with an Amplified and Scene and demonstrate some of the advantages gained by using AT2. The first part includes side by side stats and a overview of the process. Keep in mind that the following video does not represent the final quality or performance of the final AT2 version, Unity applications perform slower in the Editor.

Amplify Your Game - Standard vs Amplified​

Part 2 will be available tomorrow.

Try it today for free, no sign up required!

Trial Download - Full Blog Post - Product Page

 

Very impressive guys

 

Thanks!

 

Hello everyone, Part 2 in the series Amplify Your Game is now available. In this video we cover some of the Unity editor workflow advantages gained by using AT2 and specific optimization techniques.

Try it today for free, no sign up required!

Trial Download - Full Blog Post - Product Page​

 

Ill give it a try soon. as I finish building my game level. I am really curious to test performance on various computers with my occulus rift.

 

Question is there a way to have much larger resolution textures with this? or are we still limited to 4096x4096?

 

Awesome, keep us posted.

Unity currently allows for 16k on windows and 8k on OSX. With our upcoming Proxy Folder System you will be able to bypass the standard Unity slow import process and go up to 32k per-texture.

 

wow when does that come?

 

Hopefully soon but there is no official date yet. In the meantime I would recommend checking out section 5 and 6 of the AT2 Manual regarding Multi-Tile UV's. With very little work, it's a great way to go over the 16k limit or even beyond 32k.

 

We released a new Tutorial video. Starting from Alpha 32 we simplified the process of updating Amplify Texture 2, from trial to full or simply when updating to the latest full version.

 

Multi-Tile UV Bake Tool [3dsMax]

The Multi-Tile UV Bake Tool allows you to batch bake entire multi-tile Collections directly into common multi-tile naming conventions such as MARI UDIM, Mudbox & Zbrush. 3dsMax is limited to the 0,1 UV Space, without this tool manually exporting/baking collections is extremely time consuming and quite forbidding, especially when dealing with large tile collections.

The bake tool was developed in order to process and export multi-tile uv data sets in 3ds Max for direct use with texture virtualization system Amplify Texture 2 in Unity Pro, as an added bonus it’s a great pipeline addition if you need to take your 3ds Max projects into other Multi-Tile Based authoring tools such as MARI or MODO.

Free 3-Seat License included in all Amplify Texture 2 Pre-Orders

Multi-Tile UV Bake Tool: Product Page
Multi-Tile UV Bake Tool Trial: Download

 

Thanks for the video, but for my taste in a lot of parts it´s muuuuuuuch too fast.

 

Glad you liked it. Unfortunately we had to speed it up a bit on the Unity related sections, we do provide more Unity+AT2 focused tutorials and a Manual for the Bake Tool.

Amplify Texture 2: Video Tutorials
Bake Tool: Manual Page

Let us know if we can provide any additional information, we would be happy to help.

Thanks for watching!

 

Will this work with Tom's RTP3?

 

I’m not entirely sure. At the moment we don’t have any plans to support it but we will look into it.

 

On a similar note, we are happy to announce the first Amplify Terrain video tutorial. This tutorial demonstrates how to use Virtualized Multi-Tile UV Collections with Unity Terrains and it goes through some of the features provided by World Machine. This is an example of early Unity Terrain support, as we update Amplify we will release new videos demonstrating new features.

Amplify Terrain 101

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Amplify Texture 2 - Product Page - Trial​

 

I had high hopes for Amplify when I bought it originally and even higher ones when I prepurchased AT2 when that opportunity arised but what you are delivering is even exceeding those hopes ... Thats one blast of a progress, tech and power you are giving me and the results we deliver to our customers!

 

Hi Ricardo, do you have more information about the progress on AT2 for mobile? Thanks for the videos.

 

It would be great if you can make vertex streaming work as well. Amplify would work great for flight simulators (which I am working on), but you still have the problem of having massive amounts of vertices in view when at a decent altitude.

I understand that this is a totally different ballgame, but any plans for that? Or does the virtualized displacement and tessellation feature cover this?

 

Thank you, we really appreciate your support. We made it this far thanks to early adopters such as yourself that took a chance on our product and our team, we are truly thankful for the opportunity. Amplify Texture belongs to all of you, we are very happy with the result and although we are a bit late on our initial release date, we are close to delivering all the promised features.

Whenever possible we will take an extra step to add additional value to our products.

Thank you!

 

I will soon.

As soon as possible I will post it here.

 

It's an interesting challenge, definitely something we review from time to time. If we ever get to make a commercial product based on that concept we will contact you directly.

Virtualized displacement and tessellation might work but it depends on the actual terrain. Amplify Texture 2 covers the texture load but for the geometry ("Terrain Chuncks") you would probably need to come up with a custom system, or use one of the great options available in the Asset Store.

Feel free to get in touch with me directly at ricardo@amplify.pt, I would love to know more about how your project is currently set up.

 

We updated our video tutorial section, if your are looking for additional setup and use information check out the link bellow.Consider following us on Twitter or subscribing to our Youtube Channel, we will release more videos in the near future.

Amplify Texture 2 Video Tutorials

 

was there any word about mobile performance? I only read it supports it but no real performance statistics in any place

 

Hi,

We will provide that information as soon as Mobile support is made available.

Thanks

 

I'm lost now... on version 1 beginning thread it said it was already mobile friendly. At the end of version 1 thread it said to test version 2 because it had some mobile improvements. Now you say mobile support is not even available :?
What's the status then?

 

Hello,

Might you be confusing it with our other 2 products? Amplify Color & Motion are mobile friendly, Amplify Texture 1 however is not and if you have seen contrary information please point me to it.

Amplify Texture 2 does have mobile support but it's not yet available to the public or early adopters. AT2 is still in development, we are actually working on mobile support as it's one of the last features we set out to accomplish in Version 2.

Let me know if you need any additional information, I would be happy to elaborate.

Thanks

 

Think there could be unbaked dynamic substances support in the future (or if it could be integrated once the source is available) or is it an inherent permanent limitation of the system?

 

Hello,

It’s not so much a limitation more that it was not designed for that purpose, it really comes down to what elements need to be dynamic. AT2 as it stands is more geared towards baked/pre-processed textures, hence the extreme amount of data it can handle.

AT2 does support a certain amount of features that could be defined as dynamic. There are other types of virtualization more suited for dynamic or semi-dynamic textures, we are definitely looking into those techniques.

By dynamic do you mean capable of altering seeds at runtime, animated or simply from a workflow standpoint? I would be happy to elaborate on my answer.

Thanks

 

I am referring to the run-time effects of Substances such as adding dirt or scratches. I was wondering if I could reference and edit an individual texture out of an atlas/megatexture and add effects to it at run-time for things like rather than adding decals to let's say a damaged battleship, only adding scratches to the parts that have been affected.
Or if I have a room like this:

,all of it stored in a single atlas, can I specifically reference and alter just the floor texture in-game?

And just being curious, can megatextures work for things like an animated massive volcano lava texture? [I know this is better suited for shader effects, but I am just curious]

 

Something along those lines is completely feasible with AT2, unfortunately not by using Substances directly without adding some sort of feature-specific compatibility or some form of pre-processing. You have a few options available, through customized Shaders you can achieve similar results, granted not as flexible as Substances but still a pretty good compromise between quality/resolution & flexibility.

For the floor example in the video I recommend checking out the Unity 5 Standard Shader as a starting point. You can combine virtualized base maps with none-virtualized secondary detail maps without modifying the Shader; AT2 also supports swapping materials at runtime and UV Offsets.

For the lava effect it depends on how it actually works but as far as AT2 is concerned all you need to do is use a custom Shader that correctly accesses the virtualized channels. More information regarding Shader conversion can be found in the AT2 Manual, section 14.

Keep an eye out for updates, we will continue to improve customization flexibility and overall baked substance support. Let us know if you have any additional questions, we would be happy to elaborate.

Thanks

 

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We are happy to announce a new Amplify Texture 2 update. Among other features and improvements the new Amplify version includes full Unity 5 (Free/Pro) and Alloy 3 support.

If you are a registered AT2 user be sure to check the update post in the private developer forum section for full release notes and additional confidential information regarding the next updates.

Fully functional trial version: Download - Release Notes

Amplify Texture 2: Product Page

Consider following us on Twitter for instant updates.

 

Does this work for the web-player (legacy or webgl)? Also, are there plans to add procedural virtual texturing for terrain, ala frostbite engine?

 

Hello,

Thank you for your interest. At the moment it does not support the web-player, we are actively looking into WebGL support. I will let you know as soon as we have any updates.

Although Procedural Virtual Texturing was not one of the planned features for Amplify Texture 2 it will be added soon. @Diogo Teixeira implemented a custom version of this feature in the game RUST by Facepunch and the results are great. We will post more information regarding PVT in the near future.

Thanks!

 

Does this support dynamic terrain loading and unloading such as used here?
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/released-terrain-slicing-dynamic-loading-kit.208933/

 

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in Amplify Texture 2. As long as the objects use a compatible Amplified Material and the textures are properly virtualized the dynamic loading feature should work great.

Regarding the terrain slice tool it really depends on what kind features are provided. Going from a single terrain with a large Amplified multi-tile collection to multiple terrain objects might be troublesome depending on how UV's and generated texture slices are handled by the tool.

What textures did you intend to virtualize? Amplify support is currently only available for Base Color + Normals, we are going to improve terrain support in the upcoming updates.

Let us know if you have any additional questions, we would be happy to help.

 

Just base color and normals would be fine. I don't need the terrain slicing tool so it should work. I will try it and let you know if I run into any problems.

 

Sounds great, do keep us posted and let us know if you run into any issues.

Thanks!

 

We recently updated our Amplify Texture 2 Video Tutorial page. A new AT2 update is also right around the corner, stay tuned!

Amplify Texture 2: Video Tutorials

MARI - Exporting Custom Channels for PBR Workflows: A quick but very handy tutorial on how to export custom UDIM tiles from MARI to be used in Metallic/Specular or any other custom setup.

Alloy 3 Physical Shader Framework: A great in-depth look into Alloy 3 by the RUST LTD team, definitely one to watch if you intend to make the most out of Alloy 3 & AT2. This video was not created by us and focus solely on Alloy use, if you are not familiar with the Alloy 3 Physical Shader Framework you should definitely check out their work.

 

I was just wondering why textures can be streamed into Unity but meshes can not. Is there any particular reason for this, like lack of an API, multi threading, etc?

 

Hello,

There isn't a specific limitation per-say, however vertex streaming is a bit experimental and not an easy all-in-one solution so to speak. Depending on the type of project and assets used you might need to employ different vertex/asset streaming techniques.

Were you looking for a streaming solution for a specific project or for general use?

Thanks!

 

It is very specific. Displaying world wide terrain based on height maps from public data sources such as USGS. The terrain is fully static, but it does require LOD because the amount of vertices in view when you are at 35.000 feet is staggering.

No need for satellite images but we do use very high resolution generic textures which still require visualization.

There has to be near zero manual input required to get the height maps to work because authoring the entire world will take far too long.

I have seen some promising assets but they all suffer from performance issues (massive GC activity for instance) due to the fact that Unity really isn't designed for this. It seems that you somehow managed to harness the power of the force, so if you can get this to work for a terrain engine which can draw world wide terrain 1 ms or less, that would be quite an achievement.

 

Hello,

Interesting, that's definitely a very specific application but it should be possible. Without proper LOD control heightmap based terrains can be quite costly at that scale, any specific reason not to use meshes? I'm wondering if your project could benefit from having its data processed externally.

All the best,

 

We can use meshes but we still have to stream those in due to the vast area (entire world) we use. The API unity provides for streaming meshes (LoadAsync) does not work as advertised as it does cause frame stutters. So I think streaming in the height maps and displacing the vertices from that is the best option.

I found this blog which seems promising:
http://casual-effects.blogspot.com/2014/04/fast-terrain-rendering-with-continuous.html

It uses a single mesh witch moves with the camera and has LOD baked in. Can Amplify stream in textures without explicitly sticking the textures each on a separate mesh?