LogInTim Johannsen demonstrated his latest project.
Tim Johannsen, whose Edge Decal Generator we featured in spring, unveiled a new project: a procedural vegetation placement tool. This system automatically places vegetation meshes on the visible surfaces of any objects in a scene. It's built for flexibility and realistic results, and can be used with just a few clicks. Best of all, since the tool only calculates spawn locations for static meshes, it adds no runtime overhead in-game.
The developer spent several months building the system and created more than five custom PCG and Blueprint nodes to bring it to life. The system filters spawn locations based on visibility and occlusion by ray casting the actual scene. This makes sure vegetation only appears where it's visible and doesn't overlap with other meshes.
You can set up multiple boxes to control exactly where vegetation grows, while still using seed-based randomness for variety. The system creates a natural-looking pattern based on a seed, so results feel organic but stay consistent. It supports different vegetation meshes in various sizes and shapes, letting you mix large, simple meshes with smaller, detailed ones for a better overall look.
An adjustable system of spatial checks eliminates floating meshes. The system also analyzes geometry to detect corners and places special meshes in those areas, though this feature is still a work in progress. Overhanging parts of meshes are detected and can be populated with vines or other hanging plants.
Tim will be sharing a more detailed breakdown soon and is considering a public release, so stay tuned and follow him on LinkedIn. Also, join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.