EasyRoads3D v2 is out – Road, rivers, procedural geometry for Unity

Hello,

My apologies if this question has been asked but I am wondering about Easy Roads 3D's compatibility with other terrain creation assets such as Terrain Composer. I have a project where I need to run railroad tracks through terrain and view the rail line from various altitudes from ground level to a few thousand feet up. I need to lay in rail lines, roads, bridges, tunnels etc. into it. Any suggestions or comments on this would be greatly appreciated.

~V~

 

Floating point numbers lose there accuracy the further away from origin you get. Try increasing the near clipping plane of your camera might help.

 

Hi,

Is there a way to quickly get the in ordered markers so I get my AI cars to follow the points?

 

The issue turned out to be that the package had become corrupted. I had to manually copy the installation and pertinent files over the corrupted ones to fix the scene and package. It occurred probably because my external (where the files are kept, unfortunately) became disconnected from the computer. Thanks for answering though!

 

Hi,
i have an issue with my newly acquired ER pro...
it seems like i cannot get my roads to "stitch" to the terrain. The always seem to be floating over the terrain...
Im using worldcomposer package for the terrain...i dont know if that´s an issue...
Here is what i do:
1) i place my circuit (closed track), and everything seems to be fine, see image (question3.jpg):
2) I click on "process the terrain and..."" button and some sections of my road are either below the ground or above the ground, see image (question2.jpg):.(yes, i have tried with the "raise" option)
3) I have tried manually adjusting the y value for the markers (there are a lot of incorrect markers!) but i don´t seem to be getting anywhere....i get either too high, or too low...
4) i try adjusting the values for "Indent" and "surrounding" (i even used the ones i have seen in the tutorial videos) with absolutely no success....

Please....i beg for help....please...

 

Just bought this, does anyone know if the side objects seen in the promo vids and pictures come with it, cause I can't find them.

 

Hi Jack62Lewis,

You can download the example package here, http://www.unityterraintools.com/downloads.php, it includes almost all side objects also used in the demo videos. Please check the _readme file in the root directory of the imported package, it includes info on how to register your purchase so you can download the package.

This way you will also have access to the v3 beta which will include more additional side object presets.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I was going to purchase the pro version from the asset store as i was going to modify it to work using procedural generation at runtime for use in my game, but i noticed in one of the reviews that the code is obfuscated.

Can you tell me why you have done that as surely when someone purchases the asset which is reasonably priced but not cheap, the least you can expect to be able to use the asset as you wish to best suit your project ?

If you de-obfuscate the code, then i will gladly buy the pro version

 

Hello GamesDeveloper12,

EasyRoads3D was one of the first asset store tools, in fact it already existed before the asset store started somewhere in 2011. V1 was released 2009 / 2010. When doing v1 we also took that as a test for protecting the code in our other projects. That is one side of it. We had no idea back then how Unity would grow that fast.

Also, despite of what is written in one of the recent reviews on the asset store, especially the current offer is a very reasonable price. EasyRoads3D is maintained since 2010, we are still here, we are working hard on v3. Other tools come with source but there have also been a bunch of toolsets on the asset store in the past that get quiet leaving you alone with the source (checking the release date and updates history will help here). We have had that, having to spend hours digging through the code trying to get it work on a new Unity version.

We have not yet decided regarding v3, but v3 is a process of 3 to 4 hours of work every day for many months now, it is a comprehensive toolset. Who knows if we will ever see equal returns given that anyone with a Pro license will already have free access. But we need it for ourselves as well so that will keep us going anyway. It is a tough decision to give that away for < $50 at this moment or < $100 at the standard price. Not to speak about also having to maintain it for that price,

I hope you understand.

That said, we are always open for suggestions if you want something implemented. Some people who give a lot of feedback on v3, do see features implemented that were not yet on the list.

Raoul

 

Oops, somehow I missed this, apologies! Usually I get notified when there are new posts and most activity nowadays is on the v3 WIP thread.

You mention World Composer, does this indeed mean the results are multiple terrains in the scene? In that case you have to enable "Multiple Terrains" in "General Settings" and handle each terrain one by one, otherwise Unity's Terrain .activeTerrain will be used which indeed can result in the wrong terrain being conformed to the road. The manual explains this.

In v3 all this works out of the box, you can handle terrains individually for quick testing or process all terrains at once.

Raoul

 

Hey Raoul,

I also have a material related question:

The EasyRodas3D/Transparent/Bumped Specular works fine in my project, except that it does not show any specular higlights. In your demo videos and screenshots the spec is also not showing. I even looked into the code of the shader, where it seems that it has been implemented, but yet the effect is not visible. Could you help me with that?

Greetz,
Maenny

 

Hi Maenny,

The EasyRoads3D shaders are slightly modified versions of the Unity default shaders. Unfortunately there are no true transparent shaders that receive shadows therefor up to 2013 or so the package came with transparent cutout shaders which do receive shadows. At that point an EasyRoads3D user kindly provided transparent shaders that do receive shadows. These are still the transparent shaders in the package.

But in recent Unity versions these shaders do not receive shadows either, perhaps the specular issue is related? Can you try a cutout shader?

Otherwise you can use the default Unity Transparent Bumped Specular shader. The only thing added for the EasyRoads3D shaders is Offset -x, -x. Check one of the shaders for an example. Or let me know and I will send a modified version to you.

Most of the demo videos and screenshots use ordinary diffuse shaders, some screenshots use bumped diffuse shaders.

Because I mentioned transparent shaders that do receive shadows, I will look into that but it seems this type of shader is relatively expensive for performance. Perhaps Unity 5?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

I feared something like that

We are doing a car racing game and for the looks I need transparent (not cutout), specular, bump AND shadows. Would you have any idea where to look for such a shader? And yes, I believe it would be quite expensive, but I would be willing to accept that.

Nevertheless I will also try the standart shader with your modification again - but I think there won't be any shadows...

 

Did you try this?

http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=TransparentShadowReceiver

Does it work for you?

Raoul

 

Yes, I had to recode parts of it fpor being able to use it in Direct X 11 - but now it seems to work! Great, thx

 

Help!
Just downloaded and imported the free version for testing purposes and cannot get it to work. The EasyRoad3D menu doesn't appear in the top bar menu. What am I doing wrong?

 

Hello Juan,

The location of the menu changed because asset store tools can no longer be positioned in the top menu

You can find the menu here (also see the manual):

Top Menu > GameObject > Create Other > EasyRoads3D

Let me know if you need more help with this!

Raoul

 

Hello,

I've been wondering whether EasyRoads could possibly be a solution for my particular problem - we need to make airport runways and plane rolling sections (so all the proper "roads" that constitute an airport). We're aiming for design realism, so these structures will need to be complex, so modeling them by hand is out of the question. Would EasyRoads be a solution? Could I make the necessary tarmac, runways and plane parking spots using EasyRoads, or is the system not exactly designed for this kind of complexity?



Best regards,
Xtense

 

Hi Xtense,

v2, this thread, will probably not work for you as it generates standard roads.

V3, http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/easyroads3d-v3-the-upcoming-new-road-system.229327/ , could do this to a certain extend. It depends on the complexity you require and how realistic it should be also regarding texturing?

In V3 you can also import your own models (specific crossings) and integrate them within the system, connect runways etc. which can be useful in this case.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Best regards,
Raoul

 

Hello, EasyRoads3D is a very good tool, I use this error in unity5 inside.
What are the reasons?

 

Hi Hejun,

This message can appear in the Geometry Editor window in the Side Objects Manager after extracting the source prefab.

In order to extract the correct shape of the source Mesh, the system expects these vertices to be positioned at z = 0. You can try tweaking the offset value a little bit, but this will not work well when the source prefab is centred at (0,0,0).

This "Trace" system is in place to auto generate the shape associated with Start / End prefabs. Prefabs used at the start should have negative Z values ending at 0. End prefabs should have positive Z values starting at z = 0. This way these prefabs will smoothly connect to the procedurally generated mesh based on the 2D shape in the Geomtery Editor window. That is why the system expects these vertices to be on z = 0.

When the prefab is indeed centered at (0,0,0) you can correct this by assigning it as child to a new prefab and move the child object relative to the parent in order to have the vertices that should be extracted for the shape positioned at z = 0.

I hope this makes sense, otherwise let me know!

I also received your email asking for the side obejcts examples package, I just replied. In this example package you can have a look at, for example, the set up of the wall start / end prefabs. Drag them in the scene and see how the actual mesh geometry is positioned relative to the pivot point.

Also, if you are just starting to use v2, you may want to check the v3 betas first. It can already do almost everything v2 does (fading the road in/out is the only feature not yet implemented) and a lot more. The side objects system in v3 also has a lot more features. You can for example import a full mesh and define start / end segments directly on the stage, no need to generate seperate start / end objects and it i also not necessary to define the shape. The system will do that automatically. See the below video starting at 2.14

The v3 thread:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/easyroads3d-v3-the-upcoming-new-road-system.229327/

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello!

I've tried building an oval track with EasyRoadsV2 but unfortunately the track disappears beneath the terrain it generates. Even if I raise the track 1 meter the inner edges will be beneath the created terrain. I've tried to remedy this so far by minimising the geometry value, increasing the resolution and decreasing the pixel error values in the terrain but no luck so far. The screenshot below shows the road raised to 71.4cm, it's visible most of the way around here.



This screenshot shows it not quite so raised and almost completely below the surface here. I can't really afford to have the whole track raised 1meter as if cars run off of it, they can't find their way back.



Edit: Just consulted the manual about this part:

To help with debugging - The terrain is raised by default to 33 meters, all markers are set to 33 meters. The terrain was flat before Easy Roads generated it for me, I'm not too sure what to try next

 

Hi andrew210,

The screenshot shows a flat terrain with the inner side of the oval at the terrain height.

The Unity terrain object is grid based, it is impossible to add details points for more precision. The white surfaces surrounding the road deal with that, they make sure that there are enough terrain points surrounding the road to flatten it according the road shape.

But the terrain is also flat and I assume it is flattened at 0 height. It is impossible to apply negative height values to the unity terrain object so you cannot deform the terrain below its game objects Y position. You will probably get better results when you first flatten the terrain at an higher level 5 units or so.Does that make sense? Do you get better results? But depending on the heightmapscale you may still have some issues with terrain popping through the road because of the high tilting level of the road shape and the bend. Significant road tilting in bends results in different road heights over small distances, when there are not enough terrain points in this area the terrain will pop through the road or float below the road..

But for ovals you probably not want the terrain to follow the oval shape on the inner part up to the "safe" distance . Isn't this type of track something that doesn't really require terrain deformation? It can probably be made using side objects only.

You also may want to have a look at the v3 betas, it includes options for straight and circular track segments which are useful for race tracks and ovals. It also includes new side object features with options to snap it to the terrain on the outer side. You can use a concrete /asphalt side object on the inner part of the oval that snaps to the terrain over X distance. This way the oval will look more realistic then having the terrain flattened downwards following the tilting direction on the inner side.

EDIT: I see you already tried what I suggested. Does increasing the indent values have better results? And raising the road a little bit? The blue geometry lines are also clearly visible. Are you using one of the EasyRoads3D shaders? In that case the lines should not be visible because it uses an offset used to deal with z-fighting issues with the terrain. This offset shader will also have better results but it looks like more is going on in your screenshot then z-fighting only.



Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

You're right in that terrain deforming isn't really necessary for this track at all - but haven't found a good way to turn it off just yet? When I use the EasyRoads3D Shaders the cars wheels sink through the track which looks a bit odd so I'm using Mobile / Diffuse Shader which makes the collisions look right (the EasyRoads3D shaders also sink beneath the terrain but not quite as badly).

The way I'm avoiding terrain deformation at the moment is by giving Easy Roads a terrain to play with, and once I'm done playing with that road, disable that terrains game object and continue then with a new terrain, which sort of works, but if I ever click on the easy roads object again it crashes everything, but am hoping there's something obvious I've missed that lets me turn off terrain deforming and lets me keep the placement of side objects like the fences in the right places on banked cruves?

 

Hi again,

In v2 you can use the Terrain Heightmap Restore option (available in the EasyRoads3D menu in the top menu) to undo the terrain deformation in Build Mode. But when you use this, please make sure the original terrain data stored is up to date. When you create the first road object in a scene the terrain data is stored. You can update this data, for terrain changes afterwards, using the Terrain Backup options in the same menu.

When the wheels are sinking too much in the road due to the offset on the shader and your camera angles you could use a similar offset on your vehicle shader or lower the offset values in the shader. An alternative to deal with z-fighting is to raise the road a little bit further.

With "crashes everything", do you mean the road object switching back to Edit Mode in v2? This happens after code changes or playing the scene. It is done to preserve the original terrain height data. V3 stores the data differently, road objects will not fall back to Edit Mode after playing the scene and selecting it in the hierarchy.

The placement of side objects is controlled by the side object alignment options (displayed in the Inspector after selecting the side object in the hierarchy). You probably do not want to use the terrain alignment options for side objects that should follow the oval.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ah sweet, thank you! I'll use that instead! When I said it was crashing things, it was just that the easy roads object was trying to access the terrain object that I had disabled and then processing on that forever.

I've checked out EasyRoads V3 beta and it looks great, super powerful, but iRDS works great with EasyRoads V2 which is all I need it for right now. Thanks for your help! I should be able to get a fun little banked circuit working now

 

Ok, hopefully iRDS will work with v3 as well. It is already possible to generate waypoints from road markers in v3 and with the next v3 beta, probably available later today, you can access the spline info through the API.

Anyway good luck with your project and let me know if you have further questions!

Raoul

 

Hello everybody. I'm a complete newbie to Unity but I'm in the process of learning and buying assets to ease development and I bought this one a few days ago. Finally I have some time to start learning but I'm clueless about where to start and I was hoping that somebody here can point me in the right direction. My goal right now is to build a house complex with sidewalk, electrical posts, fire hydrants, trees and everything that usually is by the side of the road. I would also want to place entrances to the houses at a fixed interval, like 50 feet between each other and I would like to fit seamlessly with the rest of the sidewalk.

Another thing, do I need a terrain first before I start building my road or can I start to build the road and then start to build some planes by the sides that eventually will become the terrain with a grass texture added? Can somebody tell me where should I start?

 

Oh and I almost forgot, how can I get version 3?

 

Hi BigLouis1971,

If you need support for sidewalks, crossings you may want to try v3 first (http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/easyroads3d-v3-the-upcoming-new-road-system.229327/) , could you send me a PM (Start Conversation, click my forum name) or through our website (see my signature) and forward your details so I can send you the download link?

I would first check the demo project, play with the demo scene. Add / Insert road markers, Move road markers, disconnect / connect markers to crossings, activate / deactivate side objects on roads and individual markers. All this to get a quick feeling of the general workflow. Then I would recommend to take a few minutes and go through the manual, the first sections will help you a lot, they explain the recommended workflow.

The beta email also comes with links to the currently available videos which are also useful to get familiar with the tool.

You do not have to build your terrain first, you can do that later, but I would recommend to at least shape the terrain heights roughly. This will help placing the road markers at the right position.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Conversation started. I hope you can send that v3 email ASAP. Thanks in advance!

 

I sent you an email.

Raoul

 

@raoul:
Hello,
I bought your asset EasyRoad Pro and I love it!!!
Thanks for the great software.

I'm trying to use a substance (SBSAR) with EasyRoad, but the only thing I can get is a BLANK texture.
And here is the result (black texture).




Here some info about my project:

• Unity 5.0.1f1
• EasyRoad 2.5.6.1
• Road_01.sbsar (free substance)

But when I use the same substance with a "cube" or a "3d mesh" (obj file format), the result it's ok.
Could you help me please?
Thanks in advance.

 

Hi mkgm,

I think I just replied to the same question by email? Here is ia copy:

Objects render in black in Unity 5 when a bumped shader is used and the mesh does not have tangent info required for bumped shaders.

This is something that needs more attention in Edit Mode, but before building the final network and terrains there is an option “Calculate Tangents”. Is that switched on? If not, can you try that?

This is the v2 thread though, In v2 you will see a button "Calculate Tangents" in Build Mode and, I belief, in General Settings a checkbox "Calculate Tangents" is available.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello,

I have some problem with an object on roads. Picture is more than thousands words so:


This getting worse when camera is moving away and there is almost no error when camera is very close to an object.

I'm using Unity 5.0.2, last version of EasyRoads3D Pro 2.5.6.1


I suppose it is something with shaders and z-buffer, because road and terrain are in exact same height. Does anyone has problem with this? I tried every shader in Easy Roads.

 

Hi Cece_CZ,

By default the road meshes are generated exactly on the terrain, this will indeed result in z-fighting issues.

There are a couple of ways to deal with that inside EasyRoads3D itself:

1. Raise the road a little bit (in Build Mode), up to .0.5 or even a little bit higher is usually hardly noticable depending on your cam angles.
2. Use the EasyRoads3D shaders which have an Offset applied. This is especially useful in hilly areas and views further away from the cam when the terrains LOD system kicks in which could result in the terrain being rendered through the road. This Offset deals with that.

The result of this Offset is what you see in the screenshot which also indeed depends on your cam positions / angles.

You can adjust the offset values more towards 0, especially if your terrain generally is reasonably flat like in the screenshot. Or you could experiment with using a standard Unity shader and raise the road a little bit higher .

Alternatively you could also use a similar offset shader on objects on the road.

Just as a side note because this is the v2 thread, version 3 is getting fairly stable (certainly regarding v2 features) and is available in betas: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/easyroads3d-v3-the-upcoming-new-road-system.229327/

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Thanks for answer Raoul,

I am not sure what Offset do you mean, because in EasyRoads3D shaders is offset only for texture UV coordinates.

 

Hi Cece_CZ,

The shaders are the default Unity shaders with only a single line added near line 10 or so:

Offset -5, -5

-5 might be a different value.

You could try to lower these values more towards 0.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Great thanks!
That was it

 

Glad that worked!

Raoul

 

Hi

Shift click does not work, it adds nothing, I'm using Unity 5.0.2

 

Hi bngames,

Do you have multiple terrain Unity terrain objects in the scene?

In that case, could you check if “Multiple Terrains” in General Settings in the Inspector is activated? You can now add markers on all terrains but make sure that terrain is the active terrain by selecting it from the dropdown further below in the Inspector or by Ctrl+Alt+Click the specific terrain.

V3, available in betas, is optimized to work with multiple terrains. There is no need to select the active terrain, etc.

Please let me know if this does not solve the issue for you.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hello, sorry if this has been asked before, google didn't give me any results. I'm just starting out with easyroads and I'm very close to finishing up my terrains. I'm ready to add rivers. I have an image that shows exactly where I want my rivers. I cannot find how to take this image and apply it to easyroads to add my rivers to my terrains. I've read in a couple places that a splatmap can be used but I'm not sure how and I cannot find any documentation that will step me through it. Could you help me with that? Thanks!

 

Ji jalapen0,

There is a splatmap option but it is related to exisiting road/river objects. It will add the shape of the object to the terrain splatmap, you can assign one of the additional terrain textures to it.

Or, does the image size match the terrain size? In that case you can assign the texture to the terrain object and set the texture tiling to the terrain size, the river will be visible at the correct position and you can use that as a reference to manually add the river.

Are you already finished painting the terrain? In that case you can use the Export / Import options to store the current terrain splatmap, then add the reference texture and paint it on the terrain. After yuo are finished with the river object you import the previously stored splatmap data. All this should work just fine, but when doing this I would recommend to add a "duplicate" for that terrain object in the assets folder, just in case.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ok i see. So there is no "create rivers with image" kind of feature. Im mostly done with textures so i dont want to change those. I say i have another option though. I will remove my color map and apply the river image. I will then use that as a template to create the river objects.

 

Indeed you can't create a river object by an image only.

As mentioned, you can backup / restore the splatmaps and in between use the image with the river. But, yes, if you are using a custom terrain shader with a colormap that indeed may be an easier solution.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Hey when I try to create a road object, it doesn't work. I push shift and left click. The inspector flashes and the terrain object in the hierarchy flashes. That's it, no object. No errors. Nothing. What am I doing wrong? I have multiple terrains but the multiple terrain box is checked. Everything else is defaults.

EDIT: nevermind, I had the same issue as a few posts above.

 

Another issue. Trying my first river. I followed the documentation\video and clicked the terrain button. I got this...whatever it is. Some kind of road texture. It spilled over, way larger than the markers show. Furthermore, I can't seem to make a river small enough to fit my terrain properly. Is there a way to miniaturize it further? I set width to 0 and it's still slightly too wide. Also, it seems the depth and other controls don't really work.

 

Yes, that probably was a matter of selecting the active terrain where you are placing markers. This is not necessary in v3.

Thanks,
Raoul

 

Ther are a couple of things to take into account when creating rivers:

1. The river bed must be above the terrains game object Y value bcause it is impossible to apply negative height values. Make sure especially the river surface is well above the terrains Y value.

2. the marker Y position represents the river surface. When this is oo high above the terrain, situations like in your screenshot can happen. You can correct that by raising the river bank height but it will look more natural if you make sure that the markers are below the terrain.

Regarding the width, that depends on your terrains heigtmapscale (size vs heightmap resolution) this is about 4 for a default Unity terrain object (2000 vs 513). This means the distance between terrain points is about 4 units, That will be the minimum width of the river as it is impossible to add detail points to the terrain object. You could add more detail by using a mesh overlay as the river surface.

V3 does not include a river object but it can be simulated using side objects. The workflow is simplified and you do have more options regarding the shape and it is easier to assign water assets (materials/scripts).

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/easyroads3d-v3-the-upcoming-new-road-system.229327


Thanks,
Raoul