Artwork by Aron Kamolz
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Procedural information from the plant graph can be stored as vertex colors in user-definable channels and sets.
The following pieces of information are supported:
Vertex colors are previewable in the viewport on a per-set and per-channel basis and they are computed for each LOD in the plant.
Ambient Occlusion in particular is editable in brightness, falloff, min and max strengths and in ground influence for artificial darkening of the base of a plant.
The post-processing options are also available within the PlantFactory integration plugins.
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The former "End" node was renamed to "Last".
A new "Repeater End" node was added to move from an inner loop to an outer loop.
The "Ancestor parameters" node now allows retrieving properties from specific iterations within a loop, using a combination of absolute and relative referencing.
The quality of life improvements in PlantFactory 2023 will speedup your daily workflow tremendously. We added several search functionalities for nodes, for node parameters inside of nodes and for finding nodes quickly in large graphs. Smart data conversion, improved node readability and intelligent connection handling make connecting nodes and navigating through the node network a breeze.
The Subdivision Surface blending algorithm has been further improved and produces successful blending in more cases than before.
Artwork by Aron Kamolz
Produce lightweight vegetation assets for projects where every single bit of performance counts.
The new instantiation node replaces individual geometry primitives with lightweight instances upon export. Everything placed after the node in the graph will be treated as a copy which will be placed on a point cloud in the exported mesh. Rotation, scale and offset randomizations can still be applied as part of the point cloud data.
Continuing from the last release, the PlantFactory integration plugin is now also available for Unreal Engine 5 as a Technology Preview. Together with the new vertex color and Ambient Occlusion post-processing features, it is now more convenient than ever to bring your PlantFactory vegetation assets into Unreal.
Generate new variations, adjust wind intensities, change presets or edit global parameters such as Maturity, Health and Season. Any parameter you published throughout plant creation will be accessible in the plugin. Compute vertex colors and Ambient Occlusion and preview the results directly in the viewport.
During procedural edition, a low-resolution proxy object is generated, which can be converted into the full high-resolution model once you are satisfied with the plant settings. Native shaders are created during plant conversion and Nanite options can be automatically enabled.
Click to expand the full list of release notes for PlantFactory 2023.