OpenVAT
View full documentation at https://github.com/sharpen3d/openvat
Encode vertex animated textures (VATs) from your animated mesh for use in game engines and VFX. Bake any type of vertex animation: animated modifiers, animated geometry nodes, simulations, armature, shape keys, and more.
Exports an optimized VAT, a mesh with VAT-compatible additional UV set, JSON remapping data (to inform engine shaders), and optionally exports relative vertex normals in a secondary (VNRM) texture.
Install the satellite Unity package via Unity's Package manager for openVAT auto-import and setup tools for unity. Add via git with this URL - https://github.com/sharpen3d/openvat-unity.git
-See README in documentation for more details on Engine Usage.
Running the tool automatically sets up the newly-created VAT on an included geometry node method to decode the VAT and provides an example implementation and instant preview to check the quality of the generated information.
Encoding directly from dependency graph vertex information, this vertex encoding method is fast, accurate, and extremely powerful. Geometry node animations and simulations can be captured and exported accurately to game engines. Relative color space in RGB is remapped to MIN-MAX per-channel to represent the best-possible use of spectral information in RGB.
VATs are typically used for CPU optimization in game engines. With careful implementation in engine shaders, effects such as clothing simulations, complex character/creature animation, interactive/animated environmental effects and more can be driven by VAT on GPU.
What's New
1.0.2 July 29th, 2024
- Updated tagline to better reflect the use of this self-contained tool
- Code cleanup and commenting
- Nodes cleanup and commenting
- Improved Normals rendering process
- Added 'Packed' Vertex Normals method option
- this option allows for a position and normal map in one export map (still includes functionality to not include normals, or render on a separate map)
- Improved menu layout, tooltips, and user interface
- Caught and removed one unnecessary def
- Stripped and un-grouped enclosed node_groups, so appending does not bring additional node groups - major pass at node restructuring and organization
- Stripped all unnecessary data from resources
- Added delete/purge functionality in cleanup (does not accumulate data when cleanup is enabled)
Very interesting addition. Thank you for your work! In one of the comments, the question was asked "Is it possible to make it support EEVEE or Cycles? I want to try it for crowd animation." You answered that this is done by default, but in my case no settings in the shader happened. Can you give more detailed information?
IDK anything about what kinda work goes on behind the scenes of this, but it works and works well and without it my blender-unity pipeline for VAT would be impossible. I thank you for this. I must add tho, often I have to sort of "cheat" it to get it to make the damn texture. For no reason it refuses to do it with neither of the normals options checked, then another time it does it first try, then another time it doesnt work with the cleanup option checked, and yet another it does etc. I would REALLY like to be able to see what the hell its actually "thinking" and what exactly it does and how to stop it. For example it keeps outputting "vat.001" when the folder is emptied etc ect. Its very useful and mildly to medium frustrating. Please try and perfect it if you can.