Following CreateStaticTrees Workflow

[z929669 2]

@sheson

Looking for some direction. I believe Draco's Alternative Aspen Trees does not support hybrid trees. I like the aspen models and have modified the textures. LOD tree trunks are white and pop in when close enough in game. I believe that I need to modify the models of the 'billboards' as the mod creator calls them in the downloads.

 

First: am I correct in my assumption that I must modify the models?

 

Second: I am having issues following your workflow ...

../DynDOLOD/Docs/trees.ultra/tools/DynDOLOD_CreateStaticTree.html

... and will post details on that once I determine if I am even on the right path ... or you can point me to previous Q&A on that in these forums.

 

Thanks

[sheson 563]

Any billbord with the same file name but without a number indicator is ignored.

Correct, this is what happens.

 

This Internal Billboard model supports normal maps and different lighting options

The internal billboard has 2 planes and makes use of _1 and _2 and normal map textures just the same.

 

You know that the normal map textures are used because the messages "Note: textures\terrain\lodgen\*\*_n.dds normal map not found, using flat replacement" do not show up.

 

The log message only shows the first billboard texture found, not the additional ones, because that tells all we need to know. It fond the numberd billboards and uses them instead of the traditional one.

 

Traditional tree LOD uses the unnumbered billboard. Ultra tree LOD prefers the numbered billboard(s).

 

If tree LOD billboards have a normal map etc., then their diffuse texture should be made properly with no to little direct lighting as already explained. Object with normal vectors and maps should react different to ENB, weather mods like traditional tree LOD that does not have any of the lighting information which require diffuse brightness adjustment based on load order.

[z929669 2]

Thanks for the confirmations! I think I know what to tweak test now for billboards. Back to the 3D statics ...

[z929669 2]

@sheson

 

Scoured the doc but was unable to find any explicit definitions for mesh rules Static LOD8 and Static LOD16.

 

What happens if one sets Static LOD8 at LOD4 mesh rule for example? Seems invalid, but it's available from the context menu.

[z929669 2]

I finally finished. Billboard2 looks good, but inferior to the optimized 3D statics (with 2x flat planes for trunks). However, with these trees, the specular of the trunks does not agree with the flat meshes, which do not render the specularity it seems. Using stripped-down versions of the full models as 3D statics fixed that. The full-model meshes were optimized out of the box, so no redundant triangles. This is the result (full-models are mixed with the LOD, so hopefully, it's tough to tell the diff). The only pop-in I see is the leaves and the trunks, due to the 'fixed' models of the LOD meshes I think. I do see movement of the sun on the LOD, but there is still a diff. LOD transitions are pretty damn good though.

 

[TechAngel85 15]

@Sheson
When creating the 3D Hybrid files, are the default shaders on the branches that are copied from the full version okay to use?

 

Also, the flat planes are only for trunks so they only need to be as tall as the trunks, correct? In other words, if the trunk only goes up to z=1000, but the branches continue up to z=1300, the flat planes of the hybrid mesh only need to to z=1000, correct?

 

[z929669 2]

Sheson will correct my mistakes, but when I did this, I kept all branch shaders but for those that are not compatible like parallax (forget if those were on trunks or branches). And yes, the planes are trunks and the z values correspond to the high/low of the trunks in the planes used. You can see this in some of the hybrid trees in the DynDOLOD resources as I recall.

 

I also found that using the trunk shaders without converting them to 2D planes was much easier and looks better without any performance impact (assuming optimized poly counts). That's also what kojack did for Myrkvior.

[sheson 563]

@Sheson

When creating the 3D Hybrid files, are the default shaders on the branches that are copied from the full version okay to use?

 

Also, the flat planes are only for trunks so they only need to be as tall as the trunks, correct? In other words, if the trunk only goes up to z=1000, but the branches continue up to z=1300, the flat planes of the hybrid mesh only need to to z=1000, correct?

 

 

Yes, typically you should leave all shader settings as they are, especially if the shader itself is the Default shader. If the shader is not Default or the Glow Shader, it might work or cause CTD if used in LOD, LODGen.exe might also say something about it.

 

The trunk plane needs to fit the trunk texture, nothing else. Stop doing what you are doing with trunks and wait a day or two for DynDOLOD 3.0 alpha version. It will make creating hybrids easier.

Edited December 7, 2020 by sheson

[TechAngel85 15]

Yes, typically you should leave all shader settings as they are, especially if the shader itself is the Default shader. If the shader is not Default or the Glow Shader, it might work or cause CTD if used in LOD, LODGen.exe might also say something about it.

 

The trunk plane needs to fit the trunk texture, nothing else. Stop doing what you are doing with trunks and wait a day or two for DynDOLOD 3.0 alpha version. It will make creating hybrids easier.

Thanks!

 

I'm already done with the update, though. Not planning on working on EVT anymore after this. Any additional tree work from me after this will be completely my own work. You have my attention, though!

[sheson 563]

Thanks!

 

I'm already done with the update, though. Not planning on working on EVT anymore after this. Any additional tree work from me after this will be completely my own work. You have my attention, though!

Check ..\DynDOLOD\docs\trees.ultra\tools\hybrids\DynDOLOD_CreateHybrid.html in the DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 1 for info. The entire setup for the latest version of the hybrid trees included in DynDOLOD Resources SE is included as example.