The Misfit Devlog - 4 - Interactive Foliage and the power of HISM's

So now that we've got interactible static meshes, next up is foliage.
Key terms:
- Hierarchical Instanced Static Meshes
- Per Instance Custom Data (materials)

[@flurishart612]

That was really interesting thx. I've been working a lot with foliage in UE5 recently too trying to find ways to improve performance but it has been tough. I'm using PCG in my project I posted a video on my channel if you would like to see. One thing I noticed that has a really large performance impact is the setting "affects distance field lighting". If this setting is disabled it will improve performance by a lot but it's a noticeable loss in quality in the shadows on the leaves in trees. It seems like things with SSS were most noticeable. So I ended up keeping it enabled for the foliage higher up, but disabled it on the grass and flowers or ground level stuff. WPO is still the biggest issue for me though like you mentioned. I currently have it so the WPO disables after a certain distance, but since I'm using pivot painter for a lot of my trees it's very noticeable when it snaps from it's normal to the bent position. I've been trying to figure out how to make it blend from it's static position to the WPO position but haven't figured out how to do it smoothly. I tried using just nanite for my leaves too instead of masking, and that actually gave the best performance, but it caused artifacting that I couldn't fix like flickering in the shadows.

[@NumenBrothers]

I had no idea about that 'Affects Distance Field Lighting' setting! Like you said, the look and feel of it isn't quite as good but the performance boost is very nice. Thank you!! Do you mind if I pin this post?

[@flurishart612]

@@NumenBrothers Sure np!

[@MatrixNetworx]

Take advantage of UE 5.3.1 and use Nanite, instead of instancing all the foliage make them sparse volume effects with a delay so as the player passes by, the foliage grows only within their camera sphere/Field of view. Haven't tried it but it might work.

[@NumenBrothers]

never seen that- any documentation you can point me to? Thanks

[@MatrixNetworx]

@@NumenBrothers I Think the algorithm is deleting my replies. So basically replacing the old Billboard effects as sparse volume fx. Google this "Why Unreal Engine 5.3 is a BIG Deal" play it from 4:23. The Idea would be in a nut shell instead of explosions it would be tiny leaf growth animations. Only triggering in a specific space so if the player turned around and walked back where they came from it would still be the same effect within a trigger box when the execution function is triggered.

[@javideas]

Maybe Nanite, and VAT, very pricey plugin named Vertex Animation Texture (499 dollars 😮) but maybe it can be reverse engineered (comments with links and other alternatives:)

[@SandyM1993]

Just wondering if you'll ever go back to doing full length videos. I watched every video from your 80 episodes series, but this one I'm fully ignoring because it's too short to learn anything.

[@NumenBrothers]

If you've completed the series, you're ready to make your own creation.

[@sharpiefps7630]

Bruh.

[@sharpiefps7630]

Is it a good idea to turn trees into skeletal meshes and slap on some sockets and use these sockets to put on branches procedurally?

[@NumenBrothers]

skeletal meshes tend to be far more performance intensive than typical meshes, because you can think of them as made up of a series of meshes, all dynamically moving at runtime.