Hi there, as I just found out in the changes log for Unity3 soft vegetation is gone:
“Removed Soft Vegetation option from Quality Settings UI. It does nothing in built-in shaders now.”
How can I reactivate this feature or create something like it? Do I need a new shader for the tree and grass textures or do I have to use a post effect filter?
Any ideas?
(Unity3-pro version is available)
New rendering modes make that obsolete.
Thanks for your response.
There is no difference to grass and other vegetation when I switch from forward rendering to deferred. May be I got you wrong? What rendering modes are you talking about?
What he meant is that due to the way it is rendering, soft vegetation is no longer required.
I see - so there is no way to get a similar visual effect like soft vegetation from Unity2 in Unity3? Maybe my question was misleading. I want to know how I can achieve a similar visual effect. Do I need a special shader or can I use a post effect filter only for vegetation?
Basically all the veg is nicer all the time instead of having to trade off and have it be better some of the time. That’s due to the overall improvements and changes to the rendering system.
So just pretend it never existed and you won’t miss it.
I’ve done a screen shot of the situation. It is a project from Unity2.6.1 ported to Unity3. I don’t agree that the vegetation is better in U3…
You could roll your own alpha blending shader, aLthough it will be as slow as a dog! Actually an alpha to coverage shader could look good, but I don’t know if that plays nice with deferred rendering.
Personally speaking the unity3 one looks far better while the unity2 one looks like a texture map (due to it being undefined)
I’m using some blur shader combinations. It is a shame, thought.
I think for the U3, it shows more definition to the grass in the distance… I’m not saying it’s better, but I think that the effect does at least give you a better sense of detail that doesn’t get muddied in a softened effect.
As far as reverting to Unity 2.6 grass, that depends on whether or not you want to trade of U3 features for U2.6 features. :\
I guess it’s a matter of opinion and my opinion is the Unity 3 image above looks MUCH better than the 2.6 image in every way. Not sure if there is a way to get the old look though. Unless there is some features you absolutely need in 3 you could always stick with 2.6
I think if you use the deferred antialiasing shader as demonstrated in other topics, you get the unity2 look back. It tends to soften grass/trees quite a bit.
Orzene, in that screenshot - yeah, looks better. But in real time, when full screen, when grass moves around, those ugly edges produces lots of unnatural noise, looks very bad. I just want to shout “arrrggg, smooth it!”
Like I said, its possible to get the old look back but you need a shader for it.
It softens textured foliage like trees considerably (and grass). You can try this demo to see what I mean (look at the grass and trees with it on): http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/63330-Better-fake-AA-for-deferred-lighting?highlight=deferred+antialiasing
Topic: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/64504-Sort-of-MLAA(wip)
It tends to soften textured grass and trees quite a bit.