The Unicorn VisTools Suite enables artists to create LOD models for their assets, reducing triangle count and drawcalls, which is especially important for Mobile & VR games. This system is best used in conjunction with StreamingEnabled.
Features
Make objects fade away when far away from the camera.
Create optional “imposter” models to substitute higher-poly models from a distance.
Reduces triangle count.
Can be used in as many games as you want.
Occlusion culling! Set objects you want to disappear when behind objects marked as “occluders.”
Results
System Info:
Samsung S22 Ultra
Graphics Quality 10
Mobile
Demo Showcasing the new Occlusion Culler. This is a side project within a HL2 Combine RP group. Heavily populated with small detail props & dynamic lights. Maintains a stable 60 FPS w/ minimal CPU & GPU usage.
But roblox already does LODs on meshes. Why would i want to use it. And why the so high price.
I would understand oclussion culling, but it will also be handled automatically by roblox soon.
Have you benchmarked the improvements with this plugin? Is this better than the default LOD?
From the video, does it mean you have to make imposter meshes yourself? You described this as feature of the plugin. What does the plugin do if you have to manually setup everything?
With the questions above in mind, can you explain the $60 price?
True. Workspace have StreamingTargetRadius property, that actually do the same (except smoothness). And $60… the price is not justified (this quite alot even for unity asset store, in fact roblox isn’t professional engine).
Roblox LODs look bad and you have no artistic control over them. There’s value in being able to create your own LODs that don’t look like a smudged block of clay. Not sure if this is worth $60, though. Maybe if it also supported features like imposter billboards for trees.
Imposter Billboards are a planned feature, actually.
Due to this being a Roblox plugin, it’s not really possible to generate billboards or imposter meshes on the fly, at least until EditableMesh & EditableImage are released.
I’m not convinced that the $60 price tag is justified for this product. In my opinion, it could be offered for free or utilize existing features like streaming and LOD rather than requiring a separate plugin. Using the plugin not only adds to the cost but also increases the part count, necessitating the creation of an “imposter part” for the model, which further escalates part count. It seems to me that streaming-enabled functionality would suffice for achieving the desired results.
However, I want to acknowledge the effort put into developing this product. Despite my reservations about the pricing and necessity of the plugin, I appreciate the work that went into its creation. Keep up the good work!
Ah, I see there is a noticeable performance improvement when using the plugin. However, I’m curious if similar enhancements can be achieved by enabling streaming and adjusting render settings such as optimized/low quality. Additionally, could you test the model with streaming mesh set for the streaming model option? This setting often pastes a 3D picture to replicate a model at a distance, which might yield comparable results.
Just a quick question regarding the models: When we need to create an additional part to serve as an “imposter model,” as shown in the video, wouldn’t this increase the part count? Nonetheless, great work on the plugin!
Players are now faded out. You can disable this by deleting the server script.
All parts & decals have their base transparencies saved. Meaning if you have a window at 0.5 transparency, the renderer will fade it to and from that transparency.
