Trick For Reducing Vertex Count For Custom Unity Grass Renderer

A new version of Polaris, the low-poly terrain tool, has been out for a while, bringing major improvements aimed at boosting both runtime and editor performance and streamlining workflows, among other changes.

In Polaris 3, the tree and grass rendering systems have been completely overhauled. Culling is now faster and more accurate, significantly reducing GPU load while efficiently utilizing available CPU resources. Improved LOD handling also allows for the creation of more complex outdoor scenes.

In a recent devlog, Pinwheel Studio shared an inside look at these updates. Notably, now both trees and grass support an extra LOD1 level, where simplified models and materials can be used. These reduce GPU rendering time by minimizing vertex count and disabling costly visual effects such as wind animation, translucency, and more.

At LOD0, grass is rendered using a regular quad mesh. At LOD1, grass uses a flipped triangle with the tip sunk deep below the ground. It's just 3 vertices, looks weird up close, but from a distance, it does the job.

Apparently, this one vertex provides massive savings when you're dealing with hundreds of thousands or even millions of instances.

You can learn more and see the benchmarking results for Polaris 3 here. Purchase it by clicking this link and 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.