Fluffy stylized trees tutorial, using quadmesh-to-billboards shader in Unity

[@ijidau]

For Blender users - to fill each quad to the whole UV space select all faces, press 'U' and choose 'Reset'.

[@rebeccaharrison4588]

Thank you so much! :D

[@Leonardorth.]

Thank you for this quick tip. Takes mere seconds to do in Blender.

[@shaqm0bile]

When he says hard edge, is that the same as sharp?

[@GAZEREAPER]

How is this working for you guys? For me it seems to be causing issues with either rotated or mirrored uv's.

[@shaqm0bile]

@@GAZEREAPER I got it working in UE4 with blender. I had to find another video for the material setup though.

[@Imphenzia]

Fantastic technique! I love playing around with Amplify and Shader Graph, especially for vertex and UV tricks - this technique is really cool. Thanks for sharing!

[@JoeyWongcw]

For those still wanting to know how to do the wind effect on Amplify Shader, a quick and simple way is to follow the video's Rotator example around @41:00, but instead of plugging the Rotator's output into the Append input, add a Panner node and plug the Rotator into the Panner's Time input, and plug the Remap output into the same Panner UV input instead of the Rotator's. Adjust anchor/speed/timescale as needed.

[@planebreach]

Any idea on how to do that in shader graph ?

[@CamrunThomas]

@@planebreach just add Rotating noise adn add it to tilinging and offest noise

[@morganlak4337]

My favorite part of this method vs scattering planes over a mesh and then sphereizing the normals is 1. Normals in this case just work, you aren't fighting backfaces 2. This can be way lower poly and look just as good or better. Really ingenious technique, made enough trees to recognize that this is some real innovation

[@literallyjeff]

You may be interested to try scaling the faces in-place along the tangent instead of camera-facing. The con is that it has the traditional leaf-card look, however it also has a lot of the same benefits plus shadows!

[@AndreCastel]

Awesome tutorial. Thank you so much for taking the time. I would love seeing how you did the wind as well for this setup. It looks great.

[@t2g4_channel]

Oh God, Pontus, you just have an talent to explain something / to teach. You're doing it so calm, so soft, and explain every thing you're doing or have done, so at the end there is no single question left, everything clear as the purest glass! If you ever decide to make some online courses I bet you will be the most popular/recomended teacher! I love it!

[@Airtight215]

I'd love to see how you set the wind up. Thank you for this, it's an amazing style.

[@johgranger1304]

Yes!!! Please do a tuto on wind :) This is one of the best shader tutorial I've watched. Your break down of how and why everything works is amazing.

[@LazloBonin]

Thank you so much for sharing this! This is insanely powerful in its simplicity. Adding my +1 for wind setup, would love to see it!

[@nameno7032]

This is to be a series, so sad that you don't make it anymore Keep them coming, subscribed!

[@aldigangster123]

found the URP + Amplify solution (in the video we see the standard render pipeline, which has slightly different settings). What's additionally required is a float-property to the "Alpha Clip Threshold" output of the URP/Lit shader. You can min-max the property to 0-1, because anything below 0 or above 0.9 will make no change. This solved the issue for me, that the alpha-image result looked very bad.

[@wrh73]

You, sir, are a great teacher. Watched twice and learned a lot. Hope you'll make a follow-up on the lovely wind effects.

[@mewly6983]

By no means a perfect solution but it did work, so anyone who's struggling with the rotation breaking on a certain axis for URP: Make sure your UVs are facing outward/the correct angle, when you Unitize them they all face a certain way, and as such the camera might perceive them as a 'back' face and shrink them, I managed to fix most of it, the top/bottom of the mesh is still a little tricky but unless you're birds eye view it can be hidden

[@steliosstavropoulos499]

How did you overcome this issue?

[@mewly6983]

@@steliosstavropoulos499 I didn't, that was my solution above, no idea how to get the top and bottom of the mesh to work perfectly

[@zardify_]

This might have been the best video I've seen on anything shader related. Huge thanks.

[@Bruhsty1234]

I'm glad Imphenzia shared this video, you explained everything very well, I think it's safe to say everyone want's to see a wind setup, and I'm hoping to see more tutorials from you, subbed.

[@Reikha1987]

I cannot believe this is the only video. I'd love to see more tech like this.

[@goyohiga]

Wow thank you for the tutorial, quite teaching

[@emirhandemir5468]

I was trying to figured it out how to implement it in URP Shader Graph and then I saw you already added it in the description. You are the real hero, thank you!

[@hiimpaco9743]

I've learned more from this channel with 1 video then channels with hundreds of videos. I hope you come back to upload more tutorials, great explanation, calm voice and perfect pace.

[@FredrikLindbom86]

Love this. Thank you so much for sharing. Would also love to see the wind for this :D

[@danielcollier7189]

I know it's been 4 years but would loveeeee to see how you set up the wind effect, I'm not sure if I've seen a better implementation anywhere!

[@indigodoyle]

This is gorgeous. love the detail in this tutorial, thanks so much. Would love to see the wind tutorial as well if you have time.

[@bronwenalexina]

Oh, hello there former coworker!!!!! Fancy seeing your comment here on this fine tutorial!!

[@rahulcorleone4222]

I had no idea there are still better graph tools for creating shaders better than shader graph. btw, great effect. i like it.

[@F1Soda]

Solution to the problem with cast Shadow If u have problem, that bush casts a shadow on itself leaves, then you should turn off parameter Receive Shadows in Shader Graph Settings. Если у тебя есть проблема, с тем что листья отбрасывают тень на самих себя, то тебе нужно выключить параметр Receive Shadows в настройках графа. Huge thx to the author for this tutorial! Игра с такими деревьями выглядит куда лучше!

[@KhalilArafan]

Magnificent stuff ! Thank you for making me understand shaders for the first time in years of attempts haha

[@ultrasour7007]

So glad i found this video again. Saw it awhile ago and have been wanting to replicate for bit.

[@erikm9768]

Thank you a bunch. Would love to see the wind setup for this as well!

[@svnayak3849]

Absolutely loved it. I personally have never seen unity shader graph and am blown away at how similar it is to Unreal. Unity is no longer a scary alligator for me all thanks to you. Your video was extremely clear all thanks to your beautiful presentation. Keep it up! Looking forward for more content if u ever make them :D

[@Frank_G_Finster]

Wow... this is actually one of the very few videos, that can proudly and truly call themselves a tutorial. Very in depths information, easy to grab and follow. Thank you very much for sharing this excellent work!

[@JiovanieVelazquez]

Perfect tutorial, only wish you'd done the wind too! :D I love how clearly you went into detail to explain what was happening and why it's happening. A few tutorials I've watched recently burn through the UI as if they're trying to train AI models and don't bother explaining what's making them decide to make those clicks...

[@sickelmo_official]

Thanks for the video, I'm pretty new to shaders and I could follow along. Pretty awesome and I would like to see the wind tutorial 👍

[@NutyRiver]

Incredible tutorial. I REALLY love how you explain what each node does!!

[@duncanrudd348]

Thanks for sharing this technique - very nice work! Would love see walkthrough of how you created the wind

[@surrogatpappan]

the wind setup would be really cool to see!

[@piyushguptaji402]

You are a great fucking teacher wont even lie. This was one of the rare videos where i understood all the technical details lol

[@dionsandy935]

I was linked to this video from another channel and I must say, FINNALY, A tree tutorial that legit works for me! Also works really well for things like procedural grass, which was another thing I desperately wanted. A great 2 for 1 deal!

[@romansharf8113]

Very cool video! Everything was very clear. Looking forward to seeing the wind setup!

[@smithywerbenjaggermanjense8970]

How would this perform when it comes to creating overdraw? Great tutorial with clear explanations.. thank you!

[@matthewwellman]

Very nice video, I went into into your channel excited to see what else you may have for my viewing pleasure only to realise this is your only video! I would love a wind video sometime in the future! thanks for sharing.

[@Pomperi]

Sorry to disappoint :P Wind video will come eventually!

[@STARmod]

I wish you did more tutorials you teach so well bro, thanks alot for the technique!

[@paridemarini5606]

Thank you SO MUCH for putting the URP shadergraph link in the description! i was going insane trying to replicate this hahah amazing tutorial!!

[@DarkAntheos]

I'm so glad, i wake up with the idea of a tree with bilboard leaves facing the camera, to make trees that look like painted trees. And i found your video and the idea of the shader that use the polygones of a mesh to create this. I will try this tomorow haha thanks you so much :) I'm super interested with a wind tutorial too !

[@Pomperi]

Looking forward to see what you come up with!

[@niuage]

What a nice result, I'll give that a try thanks! Count my vote for a follow up tutorial to handle the lighting!

[@niuage]

Sometimes I'm really happy about the youtube algo...

[@essimoonVFXArt]

This is a really nice technique! I'd love to see the wind setup as well, has an interesting motion to it and never used it like that before. Really cool! :)

[@nitrosponge]

This is a brilliant tutorial. Your speed and the amount of information you've packed in is excellent. Thank you making it.

[@Pomperi]

Thanks for the kind words :)

[@chaochenxue3741]

best stylized tree I've seen in unity， thx for sharing！

[@shifengliang5660]

Awesome tutorial! Thank you very much! Looking foward to seeing your wind animation tutorial!

[@_e8a]

briliant mate. put it on the asset store and make some cash, id buy it.

[@nathanbarraud]

This tutorial is so good ! I never thought of this technic to make trees ! And the wind effect looks amazing ! Well done !

[@joshnjoshgaming]

really good explanation of vertex shading thank you

[@kiddba9716]

Great tutorial! I like the way you explain how you achieved this effect, so clear and straight forward

[@foobar2285]

This is one of the most incredible practical shader effects that I've seen recently. Amazing work!

[@qwetry-j2u]

Wow, It's so surprising for me that the Shader Editor in Unity is so similar to the one in Unreal! I thought it would be significantly different and will have only some occasional similarities, but in fact they look almost the same (at least in this particular case). That's reaaly good! :) And yes, the tutorial is also great! Thank you so much for actually explaining stuff (not only showing the process of creation the shader)!

[@Sweenus987]

How did you set the material up in UE? I'm struggling with that part

[@alejmc]

Excellent trick sir, glad to have bumped into this, looks neat. I haven’t tried it yet on my own but amplify does have those “Transform Direction” and “Transform Position” nodes which simplify quite a bit the battle of the matrices (and in which order to plug them as that affects too). I believe a Transform Direction node configured “from” Object “to” View might do the trick too. Nevertheless, cheers. Subbed.

[@EasyEV]

This is awesome. I am definitely interested in how you set up the wind!

[@tevl3551]

Thanks for adding a setup in the unity shader graph too, I just learned two new nodes.

[@dzima-create]

Great tutorial. Enjoyed the way you explained it! Thank you very much!

[@spazymagnet]

This is absolutely brilliant, thank you so much for sharing. I have attempted to replicate this in Unity ShaderGraph, but I'm getting some strange inversions from the view transform . Will keep trying though as the results look amazing!

[@Pomperi]

I've barely used shader graph at all I'm afraid, so not sure what could be causing it. Let me know if you manage to solve it, would love to see your results :)

[@Pomperi]

After experimenting a bit in shader graph, I got it working. I think my own understanding of matrices might be a bit off given how I eventually got it working :P Here's how you set up the graph: i.imgur.com/xZoPHVQ.png

[@spazymagnet]

@@Pomperi You're a saint. I think it's the World to Object transformation I'm missing. Will give it a shot this evening. Thank you!

[@spazymagnet]

@@Pomperi Gave it another quick shot and recreated your screenshot, it didn't work for me. May I ask what version of Unity and ShaderGraph you used?

[@Pomperi]

@@spazymagnet Sorry, didn't see your reply sooner. I'm on Unity version 2019.3.4f1, using Shader Graph 7.1.8. I've seen others who've had some troubles getting it working with shader graph, so there might have been some changes to it. Could perhaps be render pipeline related. In my graph I used URP, could perhaps be different if you're using HDRP.

[@jugibur2117]

Incredible work and result, thanks for sharing!

[@kasali2739]

This is very smart approach, thank you for sharing

[@chrisdardis4794]

Thankyou Pontus, so much great info! +1 for the wind tutorial!

[@kerrybaldino8826]

Great video! Know this is old but I would still love to see a video on the wind effect. It looks very impressive in your scene.

[@cortes9231]

Thanks you so much for sharing this awesome shader tutorial. I'm so glad!

[@Pomperi]

Always happy to help!

[@asavaris]

great tutorial, thank you very much! It maybe late now, but yes, I'd like to see the second part of it

[@tomclauzade8325]

Really cool effect :D Love it ! You've done literally every things i need for my project's trees ! Please continue the tutorial for wind or some tips ! Huge Thanks :)

[@gecko6872]

That's a beautiful shader! Thank you for taking the time to explain it in so much detail.

[@ronjart]

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to record and share this. Can't wait to try it out on our project.

[@AlexStrook]

This is such a genius technique! I will definitely use that!

[@MrGentleGaming]

Really great Tutorial. Made with a lot of love and explained everything really good.

[@austinhauger5926]

Wondering if there is a way to do this technique in a way that the faces don't follow the camera? Shader Graph is still fairly new to me and I'm unsure how to approach it

[@Mittzys]

Great video! I'll probably end up using this at some point

[@morpheusdreamer]

If anyone is using Maya to layout the UVs, there is a unitize option in the UV Editor (not the UV Toolkit bar) that produces the desired results.

[@Imphenzia]

Just a question actually, do you have any alpha cutout lack of antialiasing issues? I use a similar technique, and I've tried some Alpha to Coverage methods to try to reduce the cutout edges problem but I haven't found anything that is satisfactory enough yet.

[@Pomperi]

I don't have any obvious aliasing issues with these I think, but whenever I do have aliasing artifacts, it's usually either texture compression or low bit depth, or it's a result of how I made the alpha in the first place. For texture compression I'd avoid packing it as one out of 3 channels of a DXT1, so rather packing it as the alpha of a DXT5 or BC7 or using a single channel. Bit depth-wise you want to use 16 bits when making the alpha in the first place, even if you end up exporting it as an 8 bit alpha. I made my alpha from a highpoly and then baked it down in XNormal. If you use that approach it's important to include an actual background mesh so you don't bake your leaves against a void background because then the anti-aliasing baking options won't work!

[@amadhia]

Great tutorial and wonderful idea! (And yes, I would love to see a tutorial on the finer points of manually creating wind texture by vertex manipulation in Amplify!)

[@laur4184]

This is GOLD, I love you!

[@LastTM]

thank you very much. We are waiting for new videos!

[@qwetry-j2u]

Subscribed to your channel despite it has only one video :) Please continue by adding another tutorial on how to add wind!

[@Tcrakman]

This was super helpful, thank you. Amazing tutorial!!!

[@brasscross5476]

This is incredible, easy to follow and the results are gorgeous. Hope you make more of these

[@Stormharbor]

This is fantastic, thank you so much for sharing! I would honestly love so much to see how you did the wind and lighting as well, if and when you have the time to create a video for them.

[@teeglecreations]

Excellent tutorial! I'd be interested in seeing how you made the wind as well!

[@mzh99]

Very interesting technique and great presentation.

[@tojynick]

This is incredibly useful and very well-explained, thank you so much! ❤

[@speedy1000ism]

Great tutorial, we need that wind follow up!

[@NickBaijens]

Very cool stuff! Definitely something I wanna try using sometime

[@felixlarsson4205]

When i do this in unity 2021.3.4f1 following the image posted in the description, and i look at it from the top or form the bottom the uvs on the top and bottom respectively get skewed in a weird way for some models. Could it perhaps be because of my models uv mapping you think? Edit: it was just one of my meshes doing this for some unknown reason, none of the other models had the same thing happen which im happy for! P.S. Make more tutorials, please

[@RetroPanther1]

having this issue too having copied the shader graph setup..will try another model but seems something with the world position is getting skewed im not sure!

[@alekseyabramov9259]

Great work, mate! Your ability to explain is awesome. Thank you for your work!

[@conorvernon456]

For Shadergraph, you need to replace the Matrix nodes with Transformation Matrix nodes, set to "View" and "Model" respectively. Then do the billboard scale and inflation before adding the result to a Position node set to "Object". I couldn't get the Normalize effect to work as expected, so I left it out. But it's good enough for my purposes. This was done on Unity 2019.4.7f1 (LTS), using HDRP & Shadergraph 7.3.1. I would post an image of the graph, but I think KZbin thought my previous posts with images were spam.

[@niuage]

Thanks, that helped me out. I had the first matrix right, but for the second, I figured I should use a "Transform" node, going from Object to World and for some reason that one didnt work.

[@Reakol]

Is there any specific reason as to why I don't have the Amplify Surface Shader when I try and create the shader. I'm using URP

[@Pomperi]

The Amplify Surface Shader is part of the plugin I'm using for making the shader (called Amplify Shader Editor), so unless you have the plugin, you wont have the data types that comes with the plugin I'm afraid. I did include an image of this shader that I did using Unity's Shader Graph that you can try if you're using URP. Since there are many configurations for rendering in Unity, other artists have pointed out that they are having problems getting it to work with their version of Shader Graph, so my graph might give you some varying results, but feel free to give it a go :)

[@Reakol]

@@Pomperi Ohh okay that makes sense! Thanks for the response!

[@coledanson6507]

Thanks for taking the time to do such an in-depth tutorial! :)

[@MrHeadWorks]

Amazing! Please do the follow-up explaining dynamic wind! ✨

[@GAZEREAPER]

So cool, definetely going to try this out for my project. I'm doing a PSX artstyle though so gonna have to experiment a bit to see if I can match it to the rest of my world. Thanks a ton for the vid!

[@maximcherstvi9877]

Dude, you are God given!

[@Ryan-wx8of]

Great video! I would love to see the wind setup

[@aldigangster123]

Amazing work! Any chance you can still provide us insight into how you created those lovely wind effects?

[@BlueGooGames]

Amazing! Now i just need to figure out how to translate all this to Shader Graph and also see if you did that tutorial on wind cause it looked great :) i’m also curious on how it will look on smaller bushes with less faces. Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪

[@HelderP1337]

Pontus, you're killing it brother.

[@Pomperi]

[@oceanquigley]

Quick tip for speeding up UV creation in Modo; you can get per-face UV's in a single step by using the UV projection tool and setting projection type to "Barycentric"

[@Pomperi]

That's super useful, thanks for the tip!

[@oceanquigley]

@@Pomperi Thanks for explaining this excellent technique!

[@Pomperi]

You're welcome :) Always happy to help fellow artists!

[@ViniciusNegrao_]

I loved this technique, I'm still learning how to mess with shaders and a wind example would be so helpful! I have no idea how to make an external factor alter the tri's position in a shader

[@seithcg]

This is a wonderful tutorial! I'd be very curious to see a wind tutorial from you as well. Especially the parts regarding branches' pivot points...