Working on a rather uneven terrain i have met the problem of “flying” trees: I managed to avoid flying mesh trees by raising the pivot just a little bit so that some part of the trunk is below the pivot. But this leads to flying billboards…
[see image: Raised Pivot]
The only solution I could find to get both – none flying billboard trees and none flying mesh trees – is to work with 2 terrains: the first (and lower) one just for the trees (it is lowered by something around -0,5m/-1m), and a second one for texturing and all details like grass etc.
[see image: Workaround]
Does anybody have another – maybe “cheaper” – solution for this problem?
Lars
I believe I solved the billboard issue by simply changing the billboard detail/fading/distance settings at the terrain object.
Have you tried raising/lowering those options?
Nope – changing the billboard detail/fading/distance settings doesn’t help at all – it just might conceal the problem, but it is no solution at all.
Just think of an open world with view distances about 400 metres and let’s say 150 trees: you won’t be able to render them as meshes if there is anything else to render. Think of trees in front of a bright skybox. Or trees dropping shadows onto the terrain. That all even blows the problem.
I have prepared 3 packages to give you the possibility to reproduce both: the problem and my workaround. You can download them from:
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Just the normal trees (not so nice to place them on uneven terrain at all…)
http://wp1089796.vwp0260.webpack.hosteurope.de/unity/flying_trees/01_flying_trees_normal_pivot.unityPackage
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Trees with a raised pivot (perfect for uneven terrain when displayed as mesh – but flying when displayed as billboards)
http://wp1089796.vwp0260.webpack.hosteurope.de/unity/flying_trees/02_flying_trees_raised_pivot.unityPackage
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My workaround: 2 terrains…
http://wp1089796.vwp0260.webpack.hosteurope.de/unity/flying_trees/03_flying_trees_normal_pivot_2terrains.unityPackage
