So the current issue we have ( now that we have working sexy alpha based grass ) is that we dont want a simple grass block with a silly X on it.

Instead we want something with a bit of a dynamic feel to it.

We had a previous grass thread with many great suggestions ( click here to read it ), but the issue is that our land is 100% dynamic and block/voxel based. This means that normally a single grass object can rely upon one block at a time. The problem with this is that when you do this setup you get the minecraft shot we had above.

However, we could stack a bunch of model blocks into one block:

But unless you allow for some overhang you are going to still get the problem we had with minecraft which is some nasty looking topdown or 45 degree looks. So you say "Why dont you just allow for overhang?"

If we allow for overhang, what would we do if somebody destroyed block 1? Simple answer is to destroy all of the grass blocks that take up space in block 1, but this only works if the art assets support such a theory. If we make a grass plane that is long and that spreads to the edges ( but is spawned on the edge ) we would have a grass plane that looked like it was hanging off with odd grass out in the middle of nowhere.

Note: While posting this i figured out that i could fix this by limiting the width of the base and spawning multiple instances from the origin of the model/plane and fanning it out from there. I would like to not have to be limited by that though.... so ill keep posting.

So the next question would be, how can we code something that has to be reliant upon dynamic terrain changes that will allow for a more dynamic feel? Is there a way to allow for overhanging grass that will be removed when block 1 is removed?

So lets go by this step by step and see if this explains it better:

Here we have a nice sexy block 1 and 2, on block 2 is the spawned grass that we created. ( note that it has a very long base )

Here we have the same as the previous image but the grass is spawned inbetween 1 and 2 as well as on 2. This creates for a more realistic look when at an overhead or 45.

In this picture we remove block 2 and notice that because of the long base of the grass model we have some issues. 2A grass block would be destroyed but 1A could or could not depending on how you wanted to do it. ( which is part of the problem, deciding how to do it )

While making the post I realized that if i make the base of the model smaller we could allow for edge spawning to occur without having to remove the grass model and it would still look okay!

But I do not want to be limited by this because it would limit the style that a person could use ( mods are allowed ) and would limit the style of grass being created. It is a solution though. Last but not least this is the current grass we have

Out of curiosity, what stops you from swapping grass models when you remove a block? You could switch to a more appropriate length on block removal

Out of curiosity, what stops you from swapping grass models when you remove a block? You could switch to a more appropriate length on block removal

Not a bad idea, this is possible too depending on how hard it is. The problem that I see is how to poll what grass is in what area? normally a grass block takes up a block so there is a simple method by calling the block/box. If we remove that we are now polling everything for grass? could be a memory hog.

I guess you have it a bit harder because whatever you do, all you have is cubes so distribution will always be tied to these cubes, unless maybe you create some sort of "terrain mask" where you generate a mask where the grass should appear and apply grass distribution based on this mask - some engines use such masks to "paint" grass over terrain, but its heightmap, so in case of 3d voxel volume terrain it may not be that easy to achieve.

That is indeed the problem. :P Thanks for the posts guys. Keep the ideas coming

Not a bad idea, this is possible too depending on how hard it is. The problem that I see is how to poll what grass is in what area? normally a grass block takes up a block so there is a simple method by calling the block/box. If we remove that we are now polling everything for grass? could be a memory hog.

Isn't your grass sorted in some way already? If you don't have some kind of paging* system in place you might run into performance constraints later if you wind up having a lot of grass

Edit: when I say paging I'm thinking octree or other spatial hierarchy

Isn't your grass sorted in some way already? If you don't have some kind of paging* system in place you might run into performance constraints later if you wind up having a lot of grass

So it's already sorted by chunk, that'll do just fine. What stops you from simply looping through the grass strips of the removed chunk and adjacent chunks and applying your chosen solution?

You needn't necessarily delete any offending grass strip*, either. If you want all the strips to use exactly the same model and similar geometry, simply rotating or translating an existing strip a little bit to a new valid position might even work.

*on blocks adjacent to the removed one

Well my complaint was having the grass spawn anywhere, he didnt know how to do that... or if he did he didnt know how to remove the shit once a block below was removed.