LOD automatic generation at import

Pixyz Plugin for Unity can generate LODs (Levels of Detail, up to 5 levels) “on-the-fly” during the import phase. It works by automatically adding a Unity LOD Group on top of the targeted  


NOTE                To learn more about LODs in Unity, please visit this page: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/class-LODGroup.html


Adding LODs

Use LODs button to activate LODs

Once the "Add LOD level" checkbox is enabled, the Group box is renamed "LODs Mesh quality". From that point, the user can add multiple LODs and define a Mesh Quality preset for each added LOD.



A first LOD (called LOD0) is automatically added, keeping the previously-defined Mesh Quality preset. 



Adjust the visibility percentage for the current LOD and the culling. The percentage value represents the maximum visible proportion of a part/model when the camera is moving forward/backward before switching to the following LOD available, until disappearing (culling percentage).



LOD Levels can be added or removed by right click :




Use one of the following modes to define the LOD Group behavior:



Root Mode : The LOD Group is placed on the root node of the imported model. Use this setting if you wish to control the global visibility of the entire imported model at once.

Leaves Mode (default mode): The LOD Group is placed on the parent-node of each mesh (or object) existing in the hierarchy. Use this setting if you wish to control the visibility of each sub-part of the imported model.


Use the "Add LOD level" to add another LOD (up to 5). Natively, a newly added LOD will have its Mesh Quality set as a lower Mesh Quality preset than the previously added LOD (LOD[-1]).

Use the "–"  button to remove LOD levels.


WARNING        To have the maximum of 5 LODs, the first level quality should be set to Very high. To have the maximum of 4 LODs, the first level quality should be set to high, etc...


In Pixyz Plugin for Unity, the way a LOD is created is different from a native CAD model (exact geometry) to a tessellated model (mesh geometry). To simplify: 

With a CAD model: LOD0 is created by Pixyz through a tessellation, and next levels are reduced versions of LOD0 (decimation).

With a Mesh model: LOD levels are created by optimizing (decimating) the original mesh file, or LOD0. In this particular case of meshes, it is often better to use the Very High preset for LOD0, so that other LODs will be created from a sufficiently-defined mesh.


NOTE                Remember that an imported mesh (already tessellated) object processed with a Maximum preset will be delivered without any optimization whatsoever 


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