Jonathan van Immerzeel, higher often known as Staggart Creations, has revealed that his River Modeler device is being rebuilt as a devoted Stylized Water 3 extension. This transfer provides him an opportunity to refresh the device with improved options and performance, and since these are important modifications, the developer needed to share the information as early as doable.
River Modeler launched again in 2024 as a standalone river creation device, full with its personal fundamental Shader Graph so it might work with totally different water shaders, together with HDRP.
Nevertheless, regardless of being a pure companion, many Stylized Water 3 customers did not uncover River Modeler, leading to restricted gross sales and stalled growth. In the meantime, Unity 6 introduced VFX Graph modifications that required sustaining separate implementations for various Unity variations.
The core workflow behind the brand new River Modeler stays the identical: rivers will nonetheless be constructed round Unity’s native Spline system, making them simple to mix with different spline-based instruments and scripts. The device will even retain its width and displacement controls, 3D audio assist for streams and cascades, MicroVerse integration, and pre- and post-rebuild occasions.
Within the new model, river era will use Unity’s Job System and Burst compiler for a lot quicker rebuilding and interplay. Rivers will even be cut up into smaller segments to enhance efficiency, particularly for lengthy rivers and streaming. Audio will probably be streamed across the digicam as an alternative of counting on a whole lot of Audio Sources, whereas VFX and SFX will probably be arrange mechanically. River intersections will even mix collectively mechanically, making branching rivers simpler to create. The FBX export choice will probably be eliminated, and vertex shade controls will probably be changed with devoted foam controls higher suited to Stylized Water 3.
Sadly, for the reason that toolkit is being rebuilt from scratch, present customers will not have the ability to improve straight from the present model. Nevertheless, assist channels will stay open, and significant patches will nonetheless be accessible for obtain. The developer additionally guarantees to supply a beneficiant improve low cost for the brand new River Modeler extension.
Some particulars, reminiscent of pricing and sure options, have not been finalized but. You’ll be able to learn extra in regards to the upcoming River Modeler modifications here.
Stylized Water 3 provides a flexible answer for a variety of water-related tasks, with a powerful give attention to inventive freedom. You should purchase it here, and the Underwater Rendering extension is obtainable here.