bevy/crates
Patrick Walton 31835ff76d
Implement visibility ranges, also known as hierarchical levels of detail (HLODs). (#12916)
Implement visibility ranges, also known as hierarchical levels of detail
(HLODs).

This commit introduces a new component, `VisibilityRange`, which allows
developers to specify camera distances in which meshes are to be shown
and hidden. Hiding meshes happens early in the rendering pipeline, so
this feature can be used for level of detail optimization. Additionally,
this feature is properly evaluated per-view, so different views can show
different levels of detail.

This feature differs from proper mesh LODs, which can be implemented
later. Engines generally implement true mesh LODs later in the pipeline;
they're typically more efficient than HLODs with GPU-driven rendering.
However, mesh LODs are more limited than HLODs, because they require the
lower levels of detail to be meshes with the same vertex layout and
shader (and perhaps the same material) as the original mesh. Games often
want to use objects other than meshes to replace distant models, such as
*octahedral imposters* or *billboard imposters*.

The reason why the feature is called *hierarchical level of detail* is
that HLODs can replace multiple meshes with a single mesh when the
camera is far away. This can be useful for reducing drawcall count. Note
that `VisibilityRange` doesn't automatically propagate down to children;
it must be placed on every mesh.

Crossfading between different levels of detail is supported, using the
standard 4x4 ordered dithering pattern from [1]. The shader code to
compute the dithering patterns should be well-optimized. The dithering
code is only active when visibility ranges are in use for the mesh in
question, so that we don't lose early Z.

Cascaded shadow maps show the HLOD level of the view they're associated
with. Point light and spot light shadow maps, which have no CSMs,
display all HLOD levels that are visible in any view. To support this
efficiently and avoid doing visibility checks multiple times, we
precalculate all visible HLOD levels for each entity with a
`VisibilityRange` during the `check_visibility_range` system.

A new example, `visibility_range`, has been added to the tree, as well
as a new low-poly version of the flight helmet model to go with it. It
demonstrates use of the visibility range feature to provide levels of
detail.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordered_dithering#Threshold_map

[^1]: Unreal doesn't have a feature that exactly corresponds to
visibility ranges, but Unreal's HLOD system serves roughly the same
purpose.

## Changelog

### Added

* A new `VisibilityRange` component is available to conditionally enable
entity visibility at camera distances, with optional crossfade support.
This can be used to implement different levels of detail (LODs).

## Screenshots

High-poly model:
![Screenshot 2024-04-09
185541](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/assets/157897/7e8be017-7187-4471-8866-974e2d8f2623)

Low-poly model up close:
![Screenshot 2024-04-09
185546](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/assets/157897/429603fe-6bb7-4246-8b4e-b4888fd1d3a0)

Crossfading between the two:
![Screenshot 2024-04-09
185604](https://github.com/bevyengine/bevy/assets/157897/86d0d543-f8f3-49ec-8fe5-caa4d0784fd4)

---------

Co-authored-by: Carter Anderson <mcanders1@gmail.com>
2024-05-03 00:11:35 +00:00
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bevy_a11y Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_animation Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_app Computed State & Sub States (#11426) 2024-05-02 19:36:23 +00:00
bevy_asset Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_audio Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_color Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_compile_test_utils Switch to ui_test in compile fail tests. (#12810) 2024-04-27 00:00:57 +00:00
bevy_core Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_core_pipeline Implement visibility ranges, also known as hierarchical levels of detail (HLODs). (#12916) 2024-05-03 00:11:35 +00:00
bevy_derive Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_dev_tools new format for ci config file (#13154) 2024-05-02 22:51:47 +00:00
bevy_diagnostic Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_dylib Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_dynamic_plugin Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_ecs Computed State & Sub States (#11426) 2024-05-02 19:36:23 +00:00
bevy_ecs_compile_fail_tests Switch to ui_test in compile fail tests. (#12810) 2024-04-27 00:00:57 +00:00
bevy_encase_derive Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_gilrs Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_gizmos Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_gltf Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_hierarchy Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_input Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_internal Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_log Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_macro_utils Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_macros_compile_fail_tests Switch to ui_test in compile fail tests. (#12810) 2024-04-27 00:00:57 +00:00
bevy_math Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_mikktspace Update glam version requirement from 0.25 to 0.27 (#12757) 2024-05-02 18:42:34 +00:00
bevy_pbr Implement visibility ranges, also known as hierarchical levels of detail (HLODs). (#12916) 2024-05-03 00:11:35 +00:00
bevy_ptr Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_reflect Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_reflect_compile_fail_tests Switch to ui_test in compile fail tests. (#12810) 2024-04-27 00:00:57 +00:00
bevy_render Implement visibility ranges, also known as hierarchical levels of detail (HLODs). (#12916) 2024-05-03 00:11:35 +00:00
bevy_scene Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_sprite Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_tasks Remove async-task as a dependency (#13071) 2024-04-23 14:57:55 +00:00
bevy_text Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_time Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_transform Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_ui Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_utils Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_window Add README.md to all crates (#13184) 2024-05-02 18:56:00 +00:00
bevy_winit fix: rewrite winit loop (#12669) 2024-05-02 19:57:19 +00:00