Automatic LOD - Create and manage LOD levels automatically

Hi Griffo! That issue was fixed a couple of months ago, in my previous post. Did you have a chance to try the new version?

 

@UGTools
Hi, I set up your product on our NPC models, which are skinned character meshes. I too am getting the flicker/polygon soup issue. I am using Automatic LOD version 1.04, and we are on Unity Version 5.4.0b19. It always pops between LODs for about a frame, and sometimes/rarely goes into a persistent animated polygon soup.

Edit: I see in the readme you mention the new Switch Mode, that addresses this issue. It took me a minute to realize that you have to delete mesh data to get that option back. I'm trying that now. Fingers crossed!!!

 

In case anyone else is having the "polygon soup" problem. I fixed it by clicking on "Delete LOD data" and then resetting them up. The secret sauce is you have to set the Switch Mode from the default "Switch Mesh" to "Switch Game Object" Make sure your Levels to generate is correct, and click on "Generate Lods" Worked like a charm!

 

Hi. Let me first say your Automatic LOD product is awesome!! It has saved our little studio a ton of time already after only using it for a couple of days. Greatness! We are having an issue with version control though. I set up AutoLOD on a bunch of skinned meshes in our game, (Using the switch game object method) which generated .asset files. I checked them in to our source control, assuming other team members would need those generated LOD files. However, now on other peoples machines it is re-generating .asset files, and source control is showing those .asset files as modified.
Does Automatic LOD auto-generate or update these? Perhaps, do the .asset files not need to be checked in to source control and everyone would generate their own?
It feels similar to when someone forgets to check in a .meta and everyones machines creates their own causing GUID conflicts. Can you give any advice on the subject? Hope this makes sense. Thanks.

 

Great tool!

But can you please make it so that when you press the "Enable Prefab Usage" checkbox, to select the prefab asset save location, it starts out in the prefab's folder, rather than the root Assets folder? It saves a lot of time when you're creating LOD assets for many files.

Doing so requires changing 1/3 lines, like so:
==========
Old line: (line 1549 of AutomaticLODEditor.cs)

Code (CSharp):

1. strMeshAssetPath = UnityEditor.EditorUtility.SaveFilePanelInProject("Save mesh asset(s)", "mesh_" + gameObject.name + gameObject.GetInstanceID().ToString() + ".asset", "asset", "Please enter a file name to save the mesh asset(s) to");

New lines:

Code (CSharp):

1. var prefab = PrefabUtility.GetPrefabParent(targetObject);
2. var prefabPath = AssetDatabase.GetAssetPath(prefab);
3. strMeshAssetPath = EditorUtility.SaveFilePanelInProject("Save mesh asset(s)", gameObject.name + "_" + gameObject.GetInstanceID() + "_MeshLOD.asset", "asset", "Please enter a file name to save the mesh asset(s) to", prefabPath.Substring(0, prefabPath.LastIndexOf("/")));

Thanks.

 

Hi! This very good solution for optimization, but before i am buy asset i need ask.

I have character model with many included meshes (clothes and etc). i can use Automatic LOD?

And with Automatic LOD i can set for LOD Levels meshes custom materials?

Example:
LOD0 - original material
LOD1 - material with resized texture /2
LOD2 - material with resized texture /4
and etc.

Sorry my english. Thx.

 

Yes exactly. This is because Unity has a bug where sometimes the mesh looks like a polygon soup for a second if you switch skinned meshes runtime by accesing the skinnedMeshRenderer.mesh.
Switch Game Object will create child LOD nodes and enable/disable them instead.

 

Will do! Thanks for the heads up

 

They should be checked into source control but they shouldn't be updated unless you regenerate the LODs. Are they always being updated without other users regenerating LODs?

 

Hello!

No, not at the moment but I'm working on that for future versions. More importantly I would also use simpler shader versions for higher LOD levels.

 

I just purchased the asset, and it is fantastic!

One question: Are LOD1+ baked into one mesh, or is it multiple meshes? Would be amazing for performance if LOD1+ was baked into one mesh in relation to draw calls...

 

Does this preserve blendshapes?

 

I have been trying hard to make blendshapes work but there is no way Unity lets programmers access the information at the moment

 

Does this handle merging meshes when creating LODs?

We have quite a few assets which have been set up inefficiently, and it would be great if this handled mesh merging / baking while creating the LODs.

 

Hi,
I'm trying to find a solution for a couple of issues that I'm hoping your solution might be able to help with. Basically I want to create crowds and find a replacements for unity terrain tree's as they don't work properly in VR.
Firstly is it possible to have billboards created for the meshes at the maximum LOD distance?
Also would this work on unity trees as well?
Many Thanks
Steve

 

Can you make some demo or trial version?
I want to try it before buy

 

Is Unity 4.7 supported?

 

@UGTools
Hi,
As we use lots of LOD gameobjects(about 2000) in our scene, it tacks too much time in the Update.
Any help?

 

Which version are you using? One of the last updates I made was especifically targeting that issue

 

Thank you! We've just upgrated to the latest version, it reduced half time of the old one.Very efficient ！But it still spends too much time（about 23ms） in our lowest testing machine, maybe we have to decrease our scene.

 

HI there,

First off great tool. However after experiencing the "polygon/-soup" issue I tried using the "Switch Between GameObjects" system instead. However now the meshes don't show. I read this which sounds like it could be the problem.

"There's a major bug with the switch gameobject mode. AutomaticLOD disables the parent mesh renderer when swithing to LOD1 and stops receiving OnWillRender() calls."

Any ideas?

 

@UGTools

Hi, when I use Mesh Simplify on any object including a skinned render and tick enable prefab usage, I then set it's location, but after its beed generated, all is fine in the scene view but it's not saved as a prefab .. Unity 5.5.0b10

Also is there anyway of setting the Automatic LOD of each level manually? As I'd like to set it to 3 LOD and have the last LOD crunched very low.

Thanks.

 

@UGTools

Hi, I managed to fix the "polygon soup" issue with switching out meshes for Skinned mesh renderers. I simply added a small delay to where you were switching the mesh and it seems to have removed all flickering. By small Delay:

new Timer (0.0001f, 1, () => {
skin.sharedMesh = newMesh;
});

Anyone else feel free to try it out and hopefully works for you too.

 

Hi,

Just bought the asset for my company, I'm the tech artist.
it seems really good but I run into an issue with the Vertex Relevance Modifiers.

Creating sphere is cool, for simple objects, but for complex ones, like the one I'm trying to simply that has a lot of curves, it's just impossible.

Would it be possible to add a feature that use the Vertex Color of the mesh instead of spheres ?

Thanks

 

@UGTools

Is this asset still supported ?

 

@UGTools

Hello,
I'm still waiting for a response from support, 18 days after I sent you my first email.
I also want to get refunded for this unreasonable wait for a $90 product.

Thanks

 

Totally agree, expensive product, lack of support and I can confirm that the soup problem still exists even with swapping the game object .. Unity 5.6.0b7

 

This dev appears to be gone. It has even been suggested in another thread that he passed away due to health issues.

If you can't get an answer from support email, I suggest you contact Unity and advise them of the situation. If they can't reach him, these plugins should be deprecated so that they can still be downloaded by those using them in their projects, but store customers would be unable to make new purchases.

 

What's the soup problem that you wrote about?
I have a problem where all the vertices of my humanoid are completely messed up for 2 or 3 frames when the LOD switches meshes.

 

Hi there, thanks for your response. That might be the reason, but hopefully not.
He retweeted something on 8th November 2016 though, shortly before someone said he hasn't replied for one month.
He was "last seen" on Unity forums on Dec 13, 2016.

 

Thats the soup problem ..

 

@UGTools Since you've logged in a few days ago I'll try my last shot before switching away of your framework. It's almost a year when you've mentioned the callback idea, will this 5 minutes of work ever get implemented?

 

Hello silentneedle!
Relevant post: link

Sure, I'm doing that as soon as I get back. I'm keeping track of all my next updates and I have added it to the list

 

There's no upgrade from Mesh Simplifier to Automatic LOD. Is there a plan to fix this?

(Also it's only $3 more at the moment so I hope the sale persists for a bit -.-)

 

Yes I will have to take a look at the upgrades system. From time to time I get requests for upgrades to the Advanced Tools Mega Pack as well

 

Polygon soup is 100% fixed? Not touched this in ages was waiting for that fix.

 

There are two solutions to this on this page...did neither of them work for you?

 

I havent tried yet, I only want to get back into it if im not going to waste hours finding out. Briefly what were them 2 solutions?

 

Your scroll wheel broken? One Two

 

Still there .. look at my post 77.

 

What is new in the April 12th update?

 

I fixed all compiler warnings/errors for the new Unity scripting changes. Also the athlete model was broken.

Working on improving performance and fixing other issues. Also I've contacted Unity regarding the polygon soup bug using the switch mesh algorithm. It seems to be a bug on their side regarding mesh switching during runtime

 

I really do like this asset but I'm sorry to say for me it's totally useless with the polygon soup bug !!

 

Good morning!

How many of you guys use or have used Unity's LOD group component? I was thinking of having a 3rd option besides Switch Mesh and Switch GameObject that would create a Unity LOD Group component with everything set up. The main reason I didn't do it before was that it was a Pro only feature but now that Unity free has support for it as well it makes more sense.
Hopefully this would also take care of the polygonsoup issues until I get a permanent solution.

 

I use Unity's LOD group all the time. I don't yet have Automatic LOD, and one of the things holding me back has been the lack of any info about Unit's LOD group support. Is it safe to assume that LOD models created with this tool can be used in those groups, but all the setup must be done manually?

 

Sounds a great idea .. I've mostly used Unity's LOD system and found it OK, and like you said it should solve the polygon soup issues ..

 

Not exactly, I have my own component which takes care of that. It is a substitute for the LODgroup component because in earlier Unity versions it was only supported in the paid Pro version.
Now that it works on the free version as well it makes sense to add support for it

 

Whatever works Im really looking forward to decimating my models!.. I have 152 npcs all running in high poly right now, hoping to make a nice saving with this soon ...

 

Any news about this since there still isn't an upgrade between this and that.

 

Done