I am looking for a Level of Details system to help build some “large” scenes like cities and forests. I found Released: Hera LOD Manager - Showcase - PlayCanvas Discussion is what I am looking for but it said ‘Extension version has been deprecated, stay tuned for coming updates!’ So is there any other tools I could use? or how to realize it buy code?
I also checked the Batching tutorials and I am wondering if I am using Group Batching for some models(like trees and roads) Do I need to worry about the Level of Details System?
Hi @dkthegreat,
Indeed the paid extension has been deprecated, there is a new solution as an alternative in development here:
For simple LOD it’s actually quite easy to do it yourself:
- Have your various level of details available on separate entities
- Do a distance check between each entity from your active camera
- Enable the right LOD entity based on that distance
That can work for a small number of entities, but if you have a bigger scene all those distances checks will kill performance. From there you need some notion of a grid/cells to better manage this.
That will only take care of reducing draw calls, not polycount. If you are using batching it’s a bit harder to use level of details since all mesh instances are getting grouped in a single batched mesh instance internally. You will have to dig in the engine’s internals to find a way to show/hide batch groups depending on the active LOD.
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Thank you for your fast reply. It’s very helpful and looking forward your new tools!
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