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Graphics Hydroform Ocean Renderer [RELEASED]

Discussion in 'Tools In Progress' started by Xix-Interactive, Feb 11, 2016.

  1. pixelsteam

    pixelsteam

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    Wow!!! Finally. Congrats. I will be picking this up soon....
     
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  2. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Great, thank you so much!!

    Here is the new promo vid:
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2016
  3. Mark_T

    Mark_T

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    Congrats for the release!

    Does your ocean solution draw to the depth buffer? Would it be possible to get in contact with the Azure developer and check if your ocean works with his asset. It's one of the most beautiful skies solution, IMHO.
     
  4. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Yes it draws to the depth buffer. It should work with Azure unless he's doing something weird.
     
  5. Mark_T

    Mark_T

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    Thanks.
    It will be way more reassuring if you have a chat with him. I don't wanna be me the one who finds.
     
  6. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Fair enough! I will try and get in touch.
     
  7. Mark_T

    Mark_T

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    Much obliged, Sir.

    I noticed in your PC Demo that tiling is pretty visible(when the camera was up up in the sky looking down to the island), I think it was the subsurface scattering? I'm not sure which of the settings was the troublemaker, but if I remember well, I pushed all the setting all the way to the maximum.

    On a side note, don't forget to place the link to the asset store in your first post, on top of all the nice pictures you have there. It's a shame to keep it buried here, on the third page.
     
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  8. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Yes the tiling is visible IF the subsurface scattering is on AND the camera is high above the water. It looks find if SSS is off though, so I'd recommend turning it off if the camera will be high.

    Yeah, I will be promoting the system harder after I release the first patch. I'm trying to fix multi-camera setups, and then I've already got planar reflections and wave direction ready to go, just gotta get that fix working.
     
  9. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Hey everyone, Happy New Year!

    I just wanted to let everyone know that since launch a few issues have come up with multi-camera rendering (which would affect VR), and reflections/refraction in the Deferred rendering path. I know what the problems are and have pretty much solved them, I just need to clean up the code and update the documentation. A patch will be pushed soon!
     
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  10. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    I submitted the first update last night. It includes fixes to multi-camera rendering and reflection/refraction issues in the deferred rendering path. In addition, I added a planar reflection option, which is slower than screenspace reflections, but looks better if you need detailed reflections. I also added a way to set the direction of the waves.

    Today I'll be looking at the Google Cardboard SDK to see if I can find any issues with VR rendering.

    Looking forward to making this a kick-ass 2017!
     
  11. John-G

    John-G

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    Any new videos, interested in the wave abilities of the package, what is the highest waves possible.
     
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  12. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    No new videos, sorry. The update is LIVE now, they approved that really fast.

    There is no limit to wave size, though you'll have to decrease the frequency or they will look a bit "spikey". It will scale to whatever your needs are. Check out the demo - you can change up the height / frequency as you see fit.
     
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  13. Shodan0101

    Shodan0101

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    Hi Xix,

    Awesome ocean asset!! Looking to purchase ;) is the underwater "fog/bubbles/camera splash/ Water drops" a priority atm? I am really interested in that part as I need to walk into the ocean and swim etc and secondly can I use your asset to create a lake - flat water and subtle / fine shore line? Thx
     
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  14. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Yeah for future development, it looks like most people are interested in underwater fx, so that's up next. I'd like it to work for VR as well, get a lot of requests for that, so I may continue on that first.

    Hydroform is infinite-only, you could use it for a lake as long as it's completely surrounded by terrain, but any terrain that is below the waterline anywhere will be covered by the ocean.
     
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  15. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Update on VR - everything works in Google VR EXCEPT reflections.

    There are apparently a number of issues with reflections in VR and they aren't trivial to solve, especially without a rig, so I don't see this being resolved soon and do not recommend Hydroform for VR devs (unless you don't need realtime reflections, skybox reflections are fine).
     
  16. Shodan0101

    Shodan0101

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    Thx Xix! Good luck with the underwater feature! Very excited! ;D Perfect the "lake" will be surrounded by terrain ;) thx
     
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  17. strongbox3d

    strongbox3d

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    Hello Xix,

    I am working on a game for Xbox One where the ocean is a main part, and I was wondering if you would like for me to test the asset for you on that platform, of course if it fit the needs of my game and works fine on the Xbox One, I would buy the asset to use it on the game. Please let me know.

    Regards,
    Carlos
     
  18. oliran

    oliran

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    Hi,

    I am a VR dev (Oculus/Vive) and looking for a water solution. I currently use Suimono but there are major limitations in VR (reflections don't work correctly and shoreline is messed up). I am looking to buy an alternative and love the videos of your new ocean asset. However, I want to make sure that it will work for Rift + Vive before I purchase it because I already bought one asset that doesn't work.

    I know that there a lot of people in the same situation as I am, so if you can confirm that it works for VR I will not only buy the asset, but also blast the forums to inform devs that there is finally a good solution.

    Thanks!
    Omer
     
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  19. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    That sounds good, I sent you a note, we'll figure something out.
     
  20. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    I have looked into VR with Hydroform recently and unfortunately reflections are a non-trivial problem to solve in VR. Based on a thread I was reading, it sounds like Unity currently doesn't allow access to the position of each eye, and so it's difficult to calculate reflections correctly because of this. Apparently it can be worked around on Vive through a steam API, but no luck on Occulus/Daydream. In any case, I don't even have a rig, so solving the problem would be very difficult for me. If I had more time I would consider getting a Vive and going hard at the problem; there's definitely a demand there. For now though, Hydroform just can't support it, sorry!
     
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  21. recon0303

    recon0303

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    not sure if it was posted, but didnt notice, are you planning to support Android at all?
     
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  22. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    It will already run on Android, but slowly, especially on high res screens like my Galaxy S6. I would like to modify it to run much faster on mobile. More people are demanding underwater rendering however, so I'll be doing that first.
     
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  23. recon0303

    recon0303

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    hmm not good, ya if the high resolution is having issues. Seeing that 42% of users are still using older devices with Open GL2.0. But good to know your working on it..
     
  24. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Right, well it's definitely fill-rate limited, but everything would be on a 2560 x 1440 screen (that's way more than my desktop monitor!). If I were a mobile developer, I would definitely down-res my games to 1/4 resolution for screens of that size.
     
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  25. strongbox3d

    strongbox3d

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    WeirdColorationInPlants.png Ghost.png FoamNotShowing.png BlackSpot.png BlackSpotsOnGrass.png Xix, here are the images:
     
  26. recon0303

    recon0303

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    keep up the great work, the water look amazing.
     
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  27. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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  28. magique

    magique

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    Just saw this featured on the store so I have to ask if there are any hard requirements that would prevent this from working on the Wii U? I currently use AQUAS, but anything that's a GPU solution has my attention because that's where I can get the most performance.
     
  29. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    I don't really know what the specs are on WiiU, but if the GPU is GL SM 3.0 compatible, it should be OK. It can actually run on DX9 with a small modification, so it will probably work. If it doesn't I'll give you a refund, how does that sound? ;)
     
  30. magique

    magique

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    Wii U can do SM 4.0. By GL do you mean Graphics Level or are you referring to OpenGL?
     
  31. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    I mean OpenGL, so yeah I don't see any reason it wouldn't run on there. Which means it probably won't, lol. Try it out, I'll refund you if it's got too many problems.
     
  32. magique

    magique

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    Actually, no, it probably won't. Wii U doesn't use OpenGL. It converts to it's own shader language from HLSL. I'm fairly certain it doesn't handle GLSL. But I will definitely check with Nintendo to see if I'm accurate in that statement.

    The other concern would be whether or no you have code that might have issues with AOT platforms. Because Wii U can't do JIT.
     
  33. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Well it runs on DX or OpenGL, so as long as Unity Wii U can run shaders written for Unity, it should be fine on the GPU side - there is no specific HLSL or GLSL code in Hydroform, it's all using Cg. I have no idea whether there would be an issue with the scripts for AOT, Hydroform scripts are pretty simple though, they are just feeding data to the GPU.
     
  34. magique

    magique

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    That sounds better. Perhaps it may work after all. I'll consider picking it up when I have the budget for it.
     
  35. NeatWolf

    NeatWolf

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    DX9 support is always welcome, count me in if you're going to support DX9 and WebGL as well :p

    The effect looks great from a distance, but the shore line is a bit too... static. Is the foam just a function of the depth? How does the foam around a cone in the ocean look? like a real circle?

    Is there any chance you're going to implement a better wave+undertow effect instead of (for what I see) a clean intersection amont the water plane and the ground mesh (I don't know, something like sinusoidal randomized extensions, or some circular change of height along with the perimeter?

    Is this DX11 only at the moment? It's not specified in the asset description.
     
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  36. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Yes it can run on DX9, you just have to change a loop or two in the shader to be static - so you can't change the shader complexity in realtime. I can post more about this if someone needs the specifics - I believe I have a section in the manual for it. WebGL is out of the question unfortunately, the shader is simply too complex for it.

    The foam is a function of depth, yes, and there are several parameters for it that aren't in the demo to change up at what depth it starts to show up, how fast the foam layers animate, scale of each layer, etc. A cone in the ocean? Like a bit of terrain poking up? Yeah foam would show around whatever is close to the surface.

    There is a chance for better wave/terrain effects in the future, but right now it's the best available in the store so I'd like to focus on other features.
     
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  37. olavrv

    olavrv

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    Would be great if the ocean could reflect something other than just a cubemap - this is very useful when using a dynamic time of day system like "TOD". Is this currently possible?
     
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  38. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    It can! Have you tried turning on 'Planar Reflection'?
     
  39. bpears

    bpears

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    Purchased. I'm in hopeful anticipation of the underwater effect mentioned with that video posted.
     
  40. bpears

    bpears

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    Crap, does this not work with mesh terrains? There is no foaming or wave calming and shorelines. Also, this doesn't play nicely with global fog effects. the fog unhides the terrain hidden by water and renders the mesh gray as if there is no water there. There is also screen taring near camera and also water makes alpha textures below it inverted(see photo). Actaully maybe its the refraction throwing off the alpha I don't think its inverted now that Im looking closer. It does the same to opaque objects actually. The place where the refracted object 'really is', is cutting holes out of the water.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jan 13, 2017
  41. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Hmmm, it should work fine with mesh terrains. I can look into it. What fog are you using? Is this on deferred or forward rendering.
     
  42. bpears

    bpears

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    Deferred. I added a few more issues to previous post. I am using global fog script from standard assets.
     
  43. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Did a test with mesh terrain, looks fine to me:
    upload_2017-1-12_21-5-15.png

    On your screenshot with the fence - I'm happy to say that's a known issue that has been fixed. It will be in the next update.

    I'll check out the global fog next, sorry you are having these problems!
     
  44. olavrv

    olavrv

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    That seems to work! However, I am experiencing some issues with the foam in deferred rendering path / linear space - after a certain distance, the foam seems to stop fading (opacity goes to 100% on foam)
     
  45. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    OK yeah I'm seeing some problems with the Deferred rendering path, I'm working on the global fog issue bpears mentioned, hopefully they are related.
     
  46. bpears

    bpears

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    Well I'm dumb. I just had so much foam by default I didn't realize it was the shore foam, thought it was general foam. So that's working.
     
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  47. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Good to hear!
     
  48. bpears

    bpears

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    Trying to get all issues I notice while this asset is fresh, because I think it has even greater potential. I still can't seem to get the water to be calm at the shore. Maybe its just a difference in scale from what you based it on when creating? I do wish I could edit the distance from the shore that the water will settle down btw. Problem is not everyone is basing their world scale the same.

    Also,

    doesnt take lighting from lights?

    and the deep foam creates a odd difference in shading in the distant water:

    screen.JPG Capture2.JPG :
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2017
  49. Xix-Interactive

    Xix-Interactive

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    Oh yeah, the wave calm could totally be a scale thing, I should expose that. If you want to play around with it, look in the vert() function in Water.shader.

    It does not currently take lighting from lights but I'm hoping to get that going along with other deferred work.

    I don't know what's going on with that deep foam issue - it's possible it's a scale thing again. The brim mesh looks like it's getting blown out in brightness, and it uses the same shader as the patch meshes, so that's odd and shouldn't happen.
     
  50. bpears

    bpears

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    It's looking good now, thanks! Just need that underwater look and im set! Oh and a fix for the fog too would be super.
     
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