Troubleshooting FOLIAGE issues in Unreal Engine

Learn how to fix foliage issues in Unreal! The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/williamfaucher11211
In this video we cover how to fix a variety of common foliage issues in Unreal Engine. It's a rather frustrating process to diagnose when these problems rear their ugly head, fortunately, the problems are rather easily fixable.
Console Variables:
r.Raytracing.Geometry.InstancedStaticMeshes.Culling 0
r.ScreenPercentage 200
r.forceLOD 0
foliage.forceLOD 0
#unrealengine
#realtime
#foliage
---------------
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:15 - Issue #1
02:22 - Issue #2
07:14 - Issue #3
09:30 - Skillshare
10:32 - Issue #4
15:46 - Issue #5
17:08 - Outro & Thanks
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[@stratchevelle]

Hey man, thanks for this video. You answered a few of my head scratchers in one go. Far and away the most I've ever learned about unreal has been during long nights spent troubleshooting strange problems. The rabbit holes go deep sometimes! I would love more videos like this where you troubleshoot rendering problems!

[@ArthurBaum]

Man, every single one of your videos is just so thorough yet easy to follow and entertaining. Thank so much for taking your time to bring UE to beginners and creatives.

[@jamesgoodman2931]

Wow! Just what I’m after! Can’t believe I missed this, hopefully will solve my popping shadows from a distance. Fabulous work as usual!!

[@L1D1]

I have just recently jumped into Unreal and I am still getting familiar with it. Thank you William! I appreciate all the help you're giving with these videos!

[@Blightbulb]

Probably my favorite intro to any software-related video on KZbin. I felt those reactions in my soul. Well done, sir.

[@robdomenech]

That intro was fantastic! Great info in this video. Thank you so much for what you do, my friend.

[@quietlyworking]

I get awfully excited when I see you've got a new video out. 🤣 Seriously, my fav and most consistently applicable tuts. Thank you very much for all your hard work!

[@cinemyscope6630]

I just wanted to thank you once more for this video. I keep coming back to it for different issues that you've covered. THANK YOU!

[@hunkerdown2344]

Man, I have lost track of how many times you’ve saved my butt with these annoyances. You’re helping make life better for artists. Big thanks.

[@christianek_h]

Those first 30 seconds cracked me up, waaay to real for me! Thank you so much for your hard work putting these videos together and for sharing your knowledge, I learn a ridiculous amount from them every time!

[@vickyvey1657]

I love the way you present, the way you explain subjects and the way you record these videos with nice BG and audio. Very professional !

[@raghavsharma1973]

goddddddd, i was looking for this everywhere and i always end up on your channel with my problems. You are a Legendary artist. Loads of love mannnnn!!!!!!!!!

[@Creating_Space]

was just hoping you'd make a video soon and here it is! Thanks for the great content always. I've been starting with your earliest videos and working my way to current, lot of useful info! Love to MRQ stuff.

[@alexdang]

Great thanks man! I was struggling for hours... You're my hero dude! Such a helpful video, compact, precise, direct! Thanks!!!

[@Dhieen]

I like the fact that you do troubleshooting videos!! alot of times the videos on unreal are like: how to do great stuff; but they never talk about the problems they had before finishing their amazing projects

[@CHITUS]

Best intro ever! Content just keeps getting better and better mate. Great production value

[@MohammedIdrei]

Thanks William.. honestly you always answer the most important issues .. cant explain the coincidence of me just thinking to start asking myself about this issue specifically and ur video showed up !

[@Highcastle_of_Geek]

I always come back to your videos when I experience these types of issues and typically find the answer I need. I know I've used other tips from this video before, but today it was screen percentage that fixed some really annoying distant landscape flickering. Thanks for all you do, William! You're one of the few YTers that I follow religiously...

[@Tomaccc1]

The fact that you included the "Issue #5" makes me want to watch literally every video on your channel, because that level of "I want to help you guys" is unseen. Have a good one, subscribed, gonna go watch all your videos now and learn:D

[@realbiomes]

Great showcase of our pack in the beginning William, thank you! :)

[@BirhanDursun]

I've been waiting for almost decades for this tutorial. Love you

[@teher1k]

This intro!... Those reactions are just at the heart of every UE environment artist. This whole video gave me some closure. Thank you very much. Also a suggestion on the disappearing foliage - might be wind animations just killing VRAM?

[@noalterna77]

your tutorials are simply INCREDIBLE. well scripted, well explained, well edited and essential. thank you!

[@WilliamFaucher]

Thanks so much, I appreciate it!

[@UnrealArtist]

Worth watching every second of it

[@dmytronesterenko6479]

The best intro I've ever seen. Thank you for this video. It was very helpful

[@martinbalaguer5723]

Once again, you've solved a very annoying issue for us. Thank you, William!

[@chiya_mohammed]

In my opinion, this new year has been presented. Thank you for this new year's gift video.

[@user-yw2xn4df8h]

thank you so much this video fixed a huge issue for me and also boosted my FPS by like 30fps with the LOD part. Also somehow allowed me to up engine scalability from medium to high. Looking and running great now

[@b_film8458]

This is such a great tutorial! William, all the problems I've been thinking about, You always solve it for me! Thank you, and thanks to you, I can make good videos. I'm waiting for your video.

[@Arms2]

This is the video I been waiting for! Thank you!!!

[@henningricke]

Thank you very much! Your Tutorials helped me a lot to get closer to photorealistic results. By the way, I loved the intro of this one! :)

[@AdvectionStride]

This dude is Legend, extremely time saving stuff in this channel. Thank you.

[@mkheisenberg]

that beginning intro was so charming and relatable. :p thank you so much for being an active contributor to the community!

[@WilliamFaucher]

Hahah thanks for watching!

[@syntheticfauna]

Dude, thank you for sharing your knowledge in a clear funny way. You sir just got a new follower 👌

[@TheGrrson]

Learning Unreal is A LOT easier thanks to your videos! Thanks for sharing!

[@3dchick]

Omg, I thought it was just me or my settings-- I've had issues with all of these. I would not have figured this out in a hundred years. THANK YOU!

[@cathychoi6959]

Thank you, William, I just joined skillshare through you, thank you so much!

[@mrjake2k8]

Perfect timing, just moving into the rendering stage of my Artstation challenge and I've got these issues with my foliage at the moment!

[@WilliamFaucher]

Glad to hear it can help!

[@SolomonJagwe]

Thank you so much William!!! Definitely much needed and very insightful!!! 👋🏾🙏🏾

[@WilliamFaucher]

Cheers Solomon!

[@lonewolf_studio]

You are literally fixing all the problems I faces with foliage. You are the only one that explains stuff smoothly. Thank you.

[@WilliamFaucher]

Thanks so much!

[@fawadfarooq]

Thank you again for your time. Amazing stuff and tips

[@danieljanovec9830]

Thank you for the free month of skillshare, the foliage lesson, and all of the other lessons!

[@krutishnizer]

Wow! Thanks for this great tutorial! A had last issue with disappearing foliage when I've used standard Render Movie, to fix it I've used 200 warm up frames before starting render. With Movie Render Queue I didn't have such issue yet.

[@exorcist3d99]

Don't know if you'll see this William, but I am a 19 y/o passionate only about art in life. My goal atm is to do this full time and your tutorials in unreal really do help with the chances of that dream becoming a reality. Thank you for everything you do my guy, you have a huge fan from India.

[@huzefamalik3182]

William you are my saviour! thank you sooo much

[@Kinos141]

Great workaround, William. Thanks for this.

[@WilliamFaucher]

Cheers! Thanks for watching !

[@DSupgrade]

Wow wow wow you just saved my project with that. Love your content thank you very much.

[@bellator3762]

This video is still saving lives! RESPECT

[@UNKNOWN-kg7nx]

Another great freaking video!! thanks a lot and keep it up good sir cause we seriously need them ❤

[@UnknownDino]

That intro, that was perfect!

[@lubruz7164]

Great intro! I like this change to the style of your video.

[@WilliamFaucher]

Thank you!

[@griffithpictures]

Thank you so much! And a great intro. It's funny because it's true. That was the first problem I had doing a spaceship flying away from a forest shot! Mystery solved.

[@madmoret]

William is like a Jedi Master for cinematics with Unreal Engine lol

[@WilliamFaucher]

Haha thank you!

[@syno3608]

Yes actually 😁

[@gastonpiston]

6:29 I love you. I spent like 3 days trying stuff now it works

[@Assaultpowered]

Thanks you for tips man. For the issue number 5, it happen with me when i paint so much the same asset, it's came the most of the time with tree and bushes. if it's gone when you render with render queue, delete a part of you paint meshes and retry render and boom, reappear. The solution i use for now when the problem arrive is to use a order asset of tree, bushes and you can continue to paint without any problem in Render queue. It's really anoying but easy to resolve.

[@FDZ-architecture]

The best intro! Thanks :)

[@iherok]

William solving mysteries again ! Thanks

[@rohanmandke1920]

Thank you William, Very helpful...

[@aprilhamlincom18]

Great video... AGAIN! 😁 Thank you for your work!

[@eshwarthegreat]

Thanks man, i was frustrated due to foliage popping issues

[@jbach]

Another awesome video. Thanks William!

[@loveparmar1]

Finally I asked for this! A couple of months ago thank you!!!

[@Aidenjh11]

So much appreciated - well done.

[@antoniokort]

Best Tutorial ever . Super Important topics .

[@unreal_animations]

Excellent intro ! Very usefull video ! Thanks !!

[@barmaleevmax]

Hi William! Your videos have saved my projects many times, it's just a treasure trove of information in a condensed form, nothing superfluous, only the most important. Huge respect. But progress is breathing down our neck and already there are new problems. Now Nanite for Foliage raises questions. I think a lot of people will join my request, this kind of Troubleshooting is needed for UE 5.2/5.3.

[@alzate_3d]

x2

[@MarcosRamone]

The way that I manage to fix was going to the material property overrides of your foliage and look for the "Opacity Mask Clip Value" and changing to 0.05 or 0.1.@@alzate_3d

[@diomiziofattorelli6609]

Thank you WIlliam. Render videos in Unreal is always a pain. Lately I was trying to render a video of an enviroment I made. Lots of little but annoyng defects probably correlated to lumen in UE5. Hopefully your tips could help me to get something better!

[@youssefadel5978]

Thank you so much William. you are the Best

[@sabkarim]

Thanks a lot, his was very helpful...Much appreciated!

[@trick29420]

Doing the lords work sir thank you so much.

[@Mehdi.Borousan]

Man, You are the best! THANK YOU

[@darthsayan]

Thank you so much ! you have saved my project

[@heikohesse4666]

... best intro ever 😎 great video!

[@Shrexpir]

Thank you very much William

[@sbcomputerentertainment]

For issue #5 If the scene is divided into several streaming levels (each person person working on a different part), and when all levels are loaded, the preview window will display it correctly, sequencer will display it correctly, render legacy will have it correctly, but render movie que will not show some things. Solution is to put those meshes inside the persistent map where the master sequence is, or right click on it in sequencer and convert to spawnable, this happens mostly with skeletal meshes.

[@giuseppemilana6220]

Nice Intro Mate! and nice video!

[@dovahkiin009087]

To save a bit of perf on the second tip (Foliage mesh shadow wind issue), in the BP you make, make sure to add an instanced static mesh then add the fern to that.

[@trick29420]

Can you elaborate on this? When adding an InstancedStaticMesh under the root, and then assigning the static mesh in the static mesh slot, it does not show in the viewport. Do you need to add a StaticMesh component under the InstancedStaticMesh component?

[@radosawwolnik]

@@trick29420 still looking for solution?

[@trick29420]

@@radosawwolnik Nope. Thanks anyway.

[@vladasimovic2732]

This helped a lot! Thanks.

[@bartoszbawas8670]

Thank You so much for this!

[@Particle67]

So far the best instructor. 😍

[@kingfatpat]

10/10 William, wished i watched this before doing a render video scene in Ue4

[@arch1tect0r]

Hi! Probably You know how we needed this tips, but I'm going to say it anyway! You don't know how it is helpful!!! Thank You!

[@AdrianM.T.]

I'm going to make a short film when I get my new PC and these tutorials are the most helpful thing ever.

[@WilliamFaucher]

Thank you! Best of luck on your short film!

[@tayayoung6031]

Another culprit for foliage disappearing (especially if it's just the leaves) can be the ""opacity Mask clip value" in your leaf material. By default this is 0.33, you can set it to something like 0.1 and your leaves will be visible from farther away.

[@MABprodrennes]

thanks for the tip ! this is exactly what i was trying to solve :)

[@petrsehnal7990]

Thank you, extremely useful!

[@qq-pf9pn]

loved the intro

[@pranildeshmukh7209]

As usual the video was really awesome and so articulated. I sometimes get issue with my movie render queue but I am not sure. When I render some cute scenes with multiple camera cuts, some frames are just skipped in the render. And sometimes the camera changes too. I don't know why this is happening.

[@SergeyPanasenkov]

Thanks a lot!!! You just save my project!

[@pawelkiktacw731]

great material William!

[@alvaromartin1351]

That intro was gold :D

[@Glowbox3D]

Thank you sir, awesome tips. Saved the vid! Cheers.

[@_20TWO]

What a great video! Thanks again!

[@giaco89]

Thanks for the awesome video William :)

[@lucascunat7468]

Thank you so much ! Amazing video !

[@christuusgnosis]

I randomly fell on this after hitting the problem last week. several pieces of useful info.

[@WilliamFaucher]

Thanks for watching!

[@lebombe8342]

This is dope ! Good as always. Thanks

[@WilliamFaucher]

Thank you!

[@MaxKusari]

Had this during development and searched for aaaaages deep in the web... and just turned of the wind. Thanks for this very helpful und structured video on these topics! :)

[@WilliamFaucher]

Thanks! Hope this helps!

[@MaxKusari]

@@WilliamFaucher yes, the Issue 2# part is easily worth a nobel prize, haha.

[@varunverma95]

Amazing really amazing tutorial William !! But can u also do one tutorial for Instantaneous Meshes that can save performance in games ? Bcz we all know how dense and heavy foliage can be

[@patrickobrien3235]

Great tutorial, thank you

[@abhilashwolffxartworks9592]

Thank you very much for the help with the foliage issue. And regarding the last issue part with foliage disappearing in the middle of the render I saw that same problem as well when I was doing an assignment and in viewport the foliage showed while it disappeared in the render. I had the problem with cinematic render part and I had to drag the top timeline so as to render the foliage. The cinematic render sequence timeline was causing the issue of foliage of my scene not rendering the foliage. Mine was fixed doing that so hopefully others might get it fixed this way

[@WilliamFaucher]

The only reason that worked is because it forces meshes to use higher LODs, which means lower triangle counts. Unreal has a hidden max triangle limit that culls away meshes/foliage when that number is exceeded. See the pinned comment!