I have a question. I’m currently working on the first level for our new game. I think obviously to stand apart from the rest of the bunch, it is best to use your own content when making terrains and not the stock assets that come with Unity. With that said, what software tools did the makers of the collection of terrain assets included with Unity’s “Terrain Assets” use to create those assets? Another way to ask this question is, what are good (or the best) software tools to use to make original terrain assets?
Any input would be much appreciated.
P.S. I have Carrara 8 Pro, but I haven’t really used it much since I bought it as I’ve been very, very busy.
Thanks!
Most of the terrain assets were created in Maya and Cinema 4D.
Ok, Thanks! So can just about any 3D model made in Maya or Cinema 4D (Carrara etc.) be used as terrain assets in Unity?
Yes, there’s nothing special about the meshes used for the Terrain Engine so any 3d app can create trees for it.
Awesome! Thanks! That gives me an excuse to fire up my new Carrara software! Yay!
I’m finding this topic thread helpful regarding this discussion, although since it’s Carrara specific it only applies to those who are using Carrara and not other 3D modeling tools (i.e., Maya and C4D).
Carrara Workshop: Topic 1- Terrains, Landscapes and Plants
http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=77436
I found the following in the Unity reference manual specifying certain special considerations for tree meshes. I suppose the two materials attached to the mesh would be the textures for the trunk and leaves.
Psimaster
Creating Trees
Every tree should consist of a single mesh with two Materials. One for the trunk and one for the leaves. For performance reasons, triangle count should be kept below 2000 for an average tree. The fewer triangles the better. The pivot point of the tree mesh must be exactly at the root of the tree, that is at the point where the tree should meet the surface it is placed on. This makes it the easiest to import into Unity and other modelling applications.
Trees must use the Nature/Soft Occlusion Leaves and Nature/Soft Occlusion Bark shader. In order to use those shaders you also have to place the tree in a special folder that contains the name “Ambient-Occlusion”. When you place a model in that folder and reimport it, Unity will calculate soft ambient occlusion specialized for trees. The “Nature/Soft Occlusion” shaders need this information. If you don’t follow the naming conventions the tree will look weird with completely black parts.
Unity also ships with several high quality trees in the “Terrain Demo.unitypackage”. You can use those trees readily in your game. Even if you don’t want to use the builtin trees, we strongly recommend that you take a look at those trees as an example on how to model trees.
Yep, the tree needs to be one mesh with two assigned materials.
There is a video I’m watching of Jimmy Vegas, he’s saying I need terrain assets by Unity Technologies but I can’t find any . Please Help me