Unity's Stylized Water 3 Is Getting Spline-Based River Modeler Tool

Jonathan van Immerzeel, better known as Staggart Creations, has revealed that his River Modeler tool is being rebuilt as a dedicated Stylized Water 3 extension. This move gives him a chance to refresh the tool with improved features and functionality, and since these are significant changes, the developer wanted to share the news as early as possible.

River Modeler launched back in 2024 as a standalone river creation tool, complete with its own basic Shader Graph so it could work with different water shaders, including HDRP.
However, despite being a natural companion, many Stylized Water 3 users didn't discover River Modeler, resulting in limited sales and stalled development. Meanwhile, Unity 6 brought VFX Graph changes that required maintaining separate implementations for different Unity versions.

The core workflow behind the new River Modeler remains the same: rivers will still be built around Unity's native Spline system, making them easy to combine with other spline-based tools and scripts. The tool will also retain its width and displacement controls, 3D audio support for streams and cascades, MicroVerse integration, and pre- and post-rebuild events.

In the new version, river generation will use Unity's Job System and Burst compiler for much faster rebuilding and interaction. Rivers will also be split into smaller segments to improve performance, especially for long rivers and streaming. Audio will be streamed around the camera instead of relying on hundreds of Audio Sources, while VFX and SFX will be set up automatically. River intersections will also blend together automatically, making branching rivers easier to create. The FBX export option will be removed, and vertex color controls will be replaced with dedicated foam controls better suited to Stylized Water 3.

Unfortunately, since the toolkit is being rebuilt from scratch, existing users won't be able to upgrade directly from the current version. However, support channels will remain open, and critical patches will still be available for download. The developer also promises to offer a generous upgrade discount for the new River Modeler extension.

Some details, such as pricing and certain features, haven't been finalized yet. You can read more about the upcoming River Modeler changes here.

Stylized Water 3 offers a versatile solution for a wide range of water-related projects, with a strong focus on artistic freedom. You can purchase it here, and the Underwater Rendering extension is available here.

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