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[WxTech]

UPDATE, Dec 1, 2022: Added to the readme file the 16 missing static.ini entries for the light colored objects. This is repeated below, in case you don't wish to download the whole archive again. You can copy/paste the text from here into your current readme file.

UPDATE, Nov 21, 2022: Now 32 objects in total! I have made dedicated objects for EVERY color, so that you need never manually choose files to copy/paste. I also reworked the existing textures for higher contrast/better detail. Added a new color (Straw); great for winter maps. Updated readme file below. Here is the included color guide image:



UPDATE, Nov 20, 2022: Now 12 objects in total; 6X 2m tall Kunai grass and 6X 1m tall grass, both in green, yellow and brown.

UPDATE, Nov 13, 2022: Fourth release. Updated readme below... Thanks to the indefatigable genXgamer, who pointed out a less savoury transition between LODs resulting in the previous update, I've adjusted the color/lightness and opacity of the underlying ground level texture, for now better consistency over the full range of viewing distance and on a wide variety of underlying terrain textures.

UPDATE, Nov 10, 2022: Third release. Updated readme below...

UPDATE, Oct 27, 2022: Second release.


Two meter tall Kunai grass for Pacific scenarios. Shown here in yellow; green and brown included



One meter tall grass for general use. All three of green, yellow and brown are shown here.



Get it here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/8urywqt2s5m3es1/Kunai_grass.7z/file


From the included, updated readme file:



2-METER TALL KUNAI GRASS and 1-METER TALL GRASS OBJECTS,
  in green, yellow, brown and straw,
  in light and dark variants,
  in 40m and 10m diameters.
32 objects in total.




These objects are based on a mesh created by carsmaster for his early runway grass object, and use either in full or in part the farthest LOD of his model (with my adjustments). All these grass objects are set to conform to the landscape and so can be placed on sloping terrain.


CURRENT RELEASE NOTES
---------------------
Reworked all textures so as to retain higher contrast and hence present more visible detail. Makes for a livelier appearance.

Added a fourth color; Straw. This is good for winter maps.

Upon further reflection, I decided to not impose upon the user the need to manually select which of the lighter/darker colors to use for any particular object. Now ALL colors have their own dedicated object, for a total of 32 objects (8 colors X 2 diameters X 2 heights.)

I supply a color reference image, Grass Color Reference.jpg.


FIFTH RELEASE NOTES
-------------------
The object count has been greatly expanded since the last release; from 2 objects to 12. In addition to the former pair of Kunai grass objects (yellowish hue), there is now a pair of green and a pair of brown, for 6 Kunai grass objects in total.

Additionally, 3 pairs of green, yellow and brown 1-meter tall grass objects have been created. They have the same 40m and 10m diameters as their Kunai siblings.

I supply alternative green and brown textures, in 4 dedicated folders, appropritaly named. The ones present in the main folder and hence in use are the darker green and the lighter brown. If you wish to try the lighter green or the darker brown, copy all 7 textures from the appropriate folder and paste them into the "Kunai_grass" folder, overwriting those there. (Do not drag and drop, because you will want to keep the 'archived' files where they are for further use.) Note that the differences are not particularly pronounced. The current set make for a good progression, maintaining a more consistent tone. The one of potentially more interest is the lighter green, which has greater contrast and a 'livelier' appearance.


FOURTH RELEASE NOTES
--------------------
After receiving a report of discordant transitions, I tried setting grass on a number of underlying terrain textures, from light to dark. I discovered that my original, lower opacity values for this grass's underlying ground level texture are better. And giving this ground texture a hue and tone much more similar to that of the grass is superior.


THIRD RELEASE NOTES
-------------------
I've made another version of the object, having 1/4 the diameter and comprised of 1/4 the number of individual grass strips, thus retaining a similar central density. It very nicely fills in the 'ragged' edges of the larger object, and will be great for covering smaller areas such as around airfield revetments and such.

I've addressed carsmaster's original surface normals, which were seemingly random and set to all kinds of odd directions--including downward, which would make for a bit higher than expected brightness at night. The critical consequence of this randomness was a pronounced discontinuity in texture brightness along a diagonal line connecting opposite corners for a number of individual strips. I took a far more structured approach by setting the Z component of the surface normals to 15 degrees from straight up, and by setting a random, but consistent, azimuthal orientation for both of the faces of each linear strip. The result is a cleaner appearance.

I boosted the opacity somewhat for the underlying ground texture for all LODs.

For the material UV mapping, formerly the grass strip ends had the grass clump image there truncated. I relocated the U values so as to fall between clumps in the texture.


SECOND RELEASE NOTES
--------------------
After the first release of a few days ago, I added a ground level texture that reduces the thinness of appearance when placed on rather darker or lighter ground and when seen from directly above. Moreover, this simple texture comprises the newly added farthest LOD.

I've added a 2048 pixel wide texture for an additional nearest LOD, providing much better detail when seen from very close up. This means there are now 5 LODs in all (compared to the original 3).


WxTech

Nov21, 2022
(Fifth release Nov 20, 2022)
(Fourth release Nov 13, 2022)
(Third release Nov 10, 2022)
(Second release Oct 27, 2022)
(First release Oct 23, 2022)



Add to static.ini:
-----------------

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass]
Title           Kunai_grass
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_green]
Title           Kunai_grass_green
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_green.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_green_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_green_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_green_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth_green]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth_green
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth_green.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth_green_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth_green_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth_green_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_brown]
Title           Kunai_grass_brown
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_brown.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_brown_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_brown_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_brown_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth_brown]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth_brown
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth_brown.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth_brown_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth_brown_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth_brown_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_straw]
Title           Kunai_grass_straw
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_straw.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_straw_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_straw_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_straw_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth_straw]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth_straw
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth_straw.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$Kunai_grass_one-fourth_straw_light]
Title           Kunai_grass_one-fourth_straw_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_one-fourth_straw_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

//------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_green]
Title           1meter_grass_green
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_green.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_green_light]
Title           1meter_grass_green_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_green_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_green]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_green
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_green.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_green_light]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_green_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_green_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_yellow]
Title           1meter_grass_yellow
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_yellow.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_yellow_light]
Title           1meter_grass_yellow_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_yellow_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_yellow]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_yellow
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_yellow.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_yellow_light]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_yellow_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_yellow_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_brown]
Title           1meter_grass_brown
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_brown.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_brown_light]
Title           1meter_grass_brown_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_brown_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_brown]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_brown
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_brown.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_brown_light]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_brown_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_brown_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_straw]
Title           1meter_grass_straw
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_straw.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_straw_light]
Title           1meter_grass_straw_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_straw_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_straw]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_straw
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_straw.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[buildings.House$1meter_grass_one-fourth_straw_light]
Title           1meter_grass_one-fourth_straw_light
MeshLive        3do/ForestSides/Kunai_grass/live_1m_one-fourth_straw_light.sim
MeshDead
AddHeightLive   0       
AlignToLand     1  //0
Body            RockMiddle
Panzer          50.0  //0.12

[genXgamer]

Hi WxTech

This has a lot of potential, so in my testing I found the appearance of the second LOD (screenshot 1) more pleasing as it blended in better with the map.
I found the closest LOD (screenshot 2) too vibrant for my liking, although could we have both a wet season and dry season version.
I played around with the LOD values so that the second LOD displayed more, which I preferred.

A colour similar to the third screenshot would also be desirable.

Is there a way to add a bit of variation in height? Viewed from a distance it is absolutely dead flat level.

[WxTech]

Shane,
As I noted in the other discussion thread in the Lounge, for the nearest LOD's .mat file I settled on tfBlend 0 for this reason: If blending is enabled via tfBlend 1, an object situated on a sight line between the nearby grass and the distant scenery (especially the sky!) will result in parts of the object becoming see-through, as though turning into a ghost.    I recommend you do an experiment by putting some object in the middle of a grass patch and looking through the grass toward it. If this is not a problem for you, you can enable blending and then see that the appearance will be more generally agreeable. That's what causes the 2nd LOD to look better; tfBlend 1. However, objects placed in the grass will tend to have their lower parts go transparent. But this should be made less prominent with a larger texture; I'll fiddle with that.

I too am bothered by the flat-topped appearance. I'll look into adding some height variation at some ends of the very long polygons. Which will be done via a spreadsheet in my case. 

Color variations are limited by one's imagination, and a little library of grasses could be easily made.

[WxTech]

I've just altered half of the polygon heights so as to make for a more irregular carpet. Half have the same height as before, and the other half have reductions of either -0.45m or -0.9m; the subtractions were done in a variety of combinations. As expected, from nearby the new irregularity is seen, but from a distance the top surface still averages out into a flat appearance. This is unavoidable because all polygons are full length strips that stretch across a diameter or sizeable chord, and have vertices only at the ends. Only if there were at least intermediate vertices could one  introducing a sufficient degree of organized departure that would make for an averaged top surface as seen from a distance not appear so tabletop-flat.

Here the view is from within the grass object. The far edge and where the plane sits show some variation in grass tuft heights. And so in spite of the far view still having that flat aspect, from closer in the irregularity is a decided improvement.

[WxTech]

A view of one edge of the object, showing the three different heights at the polygon ends; 'normal', -.45m and -.9m. I like this irregular 'feathering', which gives a more natural perimeter where plant growth tends to be generally less robust and fullsome.

[Sergent Pepper]

Looks very beautiful.
Thank you.
Comng back after try.

[Dandolo513]

Hallo,
my question could be silly but...
On which folder i have to add 3do ?
How it is possible to find to add on a map?

Best regards

[cgagan]

STD/3do/ForestSides,

[Dandolo513]

Thanks,




Very nice.



 on BAT FP 4.2.1 i have add the Kunai grass folder inside WAW3 and the Static strings in #WAW3\STD\com\maddox\il2\objects\static.ini

It works.

Thanks a lot for fast replay.

Best regards

[Mixx]

Surprisingly, Kunai grassis a very friendly object. Fits well on textures and
mountain ridge. Pleasant  view from short and long distances. Doesn't flicker!
The model of Kunai grassitself is very interesting. It spins in a spiral. It can be used not only for maps of the Pacific Ocean.
And she's quite tall!!
Many thanks to Glenn for his tireless work and the search for new ideas and projects.

[WxTech]

In addition to the height variation mentioned earlier, these changes have been made:

- Added a diffuse ground texture that helps much when the underlying ground is of a fairly darker or lighter tone.

- Added two more LODs; the nearest having a 2048 pixel texture for far better close-up detail, and the farthest having just the simple flat texture mentioned above.

[WxTech]

Released the second version, same d/l link in the top post.