Vegetation Not Loading, Only Billboards

[FireAndIce22]

Whenever I try to use the Vegetation tool for one of the non-default models (pine or grass), only the billboards show up. It also appears that random models stretching to the sky show up in the background (you can see 3 in the screenshot provided). Example with barrels:

 

 

 

Am I missing something?

[macklebee]

if you are going to use non-default vegetation models like the barrel, I believe you still have to apply the vegetation shaders to the material file.

[FireAndIce22]

That did the trick. Thanks!

[FireAndIce22]

I do have another problem now. The vegetation generated tree (left) and the normal model tree (right) look different. The vegetation tree has some semi-transparency (you can see the shading is darker where the red box is behind it), and it also has a more realistic shadow than the normal model. Any ideas what causes either of these issues?

 

 

EDIT: Found that the shadow issue was because I had the wrong shadow shader set (needed to be "Leaves" instead of "Shadow"). Still trying to fix the transparency issue with the vegetation though.

[macklebee]

looks like Z-sort is enabled or the depth test/mask isnt enabled in the material? would need to see your material files for the tree to be able to say for certain.

[FireAndIce22]

Thanks for the response. Here is the tree texture settings I'm using:

 

I assume the vegetation and the model should use the same settings, unless it's cached somewhere for the vegetation to use:

 

 

 

I have noticed another issue that is unrelated but I might as well post it here. The tree model is unaffected by shadows:

 

Is there something in particular that causes this?

 

I've attached a .zip with the tree model and texture in various formats if anyone wants to try it for themselves. Thanks!

 

t_palmtree1.zip

[macklebee]

ok - there are multiple issues:

1) Open the texture in the texture editor and save it as a DXT5 to enable alpha transparency and save the file

2) Right click the texture in the asset panel and generate a normal map

3) In the material, dont use Alpha for the BlendMode - use Solid.

4) In the material, check cast shadows, two-sided (optional), depth test/mask

5) In the material, set the new normal texture to the Normal slot

6) In the material, set the shader to Shaders/Models/diffuse+normal+alphamask.shader

7) Add appropriate vegetation shaders if needed.

 

[FireAndIce22]

Awesome, that looks better, thanks! There are still some weird shadows on the leaves. Am I missing a setting or is this a problem with how the lighting affects the model? Thanks for the help.

 

[macklebee]

You can try to add the shadow+alphamask.shader to the Shadow slot in the material to see if that helps, but i suspect the problem is the model. Typically you would also want the leaves and the trunk to be separate textures so you wouldn't have to apply the same shaders/material settings to both surfaces on the model. Also some of those palm leaf surfaces could have flipped faces, but you would have to use an external modeling editor to confirm/fix.

[Josh]

Using the shadow alphamask shader should fix it. The trunk will cast a solid shadow still, because we know the alpha channel for those pixels is opaque.

[macklebee]

I think half the faces on the individual palm leaves are flipped. By using LE's Model Editor to flip faces, you can see the lighted area on sections of the individual leaves swap location.

 

[FireAndIce22]

Using the shadow alphamask shader should fix it. The trunk will cast a solid shadow still, because we know the alpha channel for those pixels is opaque.

Hmm, still shows the same way for me.

 

I think half the faces on the individual palm leaves are flipped. By using LE's Model Editor to flip faces, you can see the lighted area on sections of the individual leaves swap location.

Ah, I see. Is this something that has to be fixed in an external modeling tool?

 

EDIT: I think I fixed it! I used the Calculate Normals option in the Model Editor and they appear to look correct now. Thanks for all the help!