Thanks for this question. Yes, you can use animation clips from Mixamo. You need to create your own animator controller. This is explained in the User Manual under "How to Use Alternate Animation Clips." Let me know if you have any questions.
Been waiting for 2.0. Just a couple of questions. Is this an update to the current NPC Populator or a 'sequel' stand alone asset requiring purchase? Also I need to generate large amounts of NPC's across a large level, think something about GTA V's map size, several city like areas and many smaller towns. Is it possible to drop multple spawn zones across the map with their own way points and custom spawn settings and also, if generating a large amount of NPC's is there a way to 'cull' the ones that aren't in the players line of sight? I've loaded a city's worth of NPCs, say about 1000, and regardless of the players location in the map all the NPC's spawn right across the area whether they can be seen or not, which obviously caues performance issues. At those amounts they also seem to bunch up and get stuck around way points also. Also is there a limit to the amount of waypoints in a single spawner's 'network'? Or an optimal number. When I drop a large amount of way points, it's like at a certain distance from the 'spawn point', the NPC's just start igorning the way points and stand around. Of course a much smaller amount of NPC's and way points the NPC's work as they should. Is there a limit to how many waypoints you can have in a single 'network'? And finally is there a maxium distance limit for connection between 2 waypoints? Like if a way point is too far away from another the the connection breajks and a NPC won't recognise the next way point and move towards it if that makes sense, or can the distance between 2 waypoints be anything and still work? Is NPC populator even capable of filling such a map or should it be kept to smaller maps and NPC numbers? Sorry to bug you with these questions, and thanks in advance if you reply.
Thanks for your comments and questions! I appreciate the thoughtful and in-depth questions and that you have been trying the NPC Populator and trying to get it to work for your scenario. I am very happy to answer the questions and to help resolve any issues. So here are answers, pertaining to NPC Populator version 2.0. The answers may be slightly different for the original NPC Populator, but I hope the new version will be in the Asset Store soon. Version 2.0 is an update to the original NPC Populator. People who have already purchased the NPC Populator should get this as a free update. I am also working on a new, more elaborate NPC toolkit that will be a separate purchase when it is released. It is possible to have multiple spawn zones by creating multiple NPC Factories, and each can have its own separate set of waypoints. As shown in the video, the bounds of the NavMesh area are automatically calculated as the region to spawn NPCs into, and then these bounds can be manually adjusted to use a smaller region. The region is rectangular, in case that is a limitation for you. If a spawn point is generated within the region that is not on the NavMesh the Factory tries again with a different spawn point. In terms of culling, if you mean culled from rendering, that is something that Unity provides, although there is no special support for it in the NPC Populator. (See docs.unity3d.com/Manual/OcclusionCulling.html.) If what you mean is to somehow "turn off" the NPCs that aren't visible so that they don't use any processing cycles, that is an interesting idea, but is not currently a feature of the NPC Populator. I had taken the approach that the world is always operating, even the parts that are off camera. I hope the new version 2.0 NPC Factory will work better for you in terms of placement of the NPCs. The logic of the NPC Factory has been completely reworked. I've noticed the phenomenon when sometimes NPCs bunch up at a waypoint. This can often be fixed by increasing the value of Stopping Distance in the NavMeshAgent. (The NPCs will consider themselves to have "arrived" at the waypoint when they are closer than this Stopping Distance.) In version 2.0, the npcIndividual.cs script has AgentStoppingDistance as a parameter that can be adjusted in the code. I could make that a parameter in the Factory if it is useful to change it when using the Factory. There is no specific limit to the number of waypoints. Each NPC will traverse between the waypoints under its WaypointParent object. There is an option in the NPC Factory to limit the distance of waypoints to close ones, and to specify that distance. Even if that option is selected, a more distant waypoint will be selected if there are none within range, but the closer ones have priority. This can be disabled however, so that distant waypoints don't need to have lower priority. I left the most difficult question for last: performance. In the most demanding test that I tried, I have 200 NPCs, about 170 waypoints, and a fairly large map (the Polygon City Pack asset) that has a lot of small details (e.g. streetlights, trees), so the NavMesh is somewhat complex. On startup, the NPCs start up one-by-one, but there is a visible delay of 1-2 minutes before they all start. (Each just runs its idle animation until it starts walking.) I have run some experiments to try determining the bottleneck. My best guess is that on startup the NavMesh system calculating 200 paths may get behind and require some time to catch up. After initialization when the system is running in "steady state," path calculations are only needed when an NPC reaches a waypoint, so they aren't all needed at the same time and the system runs smoothly. I will try this again with the Unity Profiler to see if my guess about the bottleneck is correct. For smaller environments or fewer waypoints or fewer NPCs, I have not seen significant performance issues. Please let me know if any of these answers are not clear, if you have other questions, or would like to further communicate about any of this. If you like, you can email me at info@clockworks-games.com or ClockworksGamesVideos@gmail.com.
@@ClockworksGames Thanks for the answers. Answered most of my questions well, and yes, when I mentoned culling I meant being able to 'turn off' the NPC's not have them render, when the player isn't near them, like a pooling system. Not sure if you're familiar with 'Simple Traffic System', this video is an example of what I mean, shows a 'zone' around the player where any vehicles outside of it are unloaded or hidden. th-cam.com/video/X6SyOG6UhLs/w-d-xo.html Look forward to 2.0, very grateful that it is an update because honestly considering the age of NPCP I wouldn't complain if you decided to sell it as a sequel as you no doubt also have to eat like the rest of us. So I for one shall look forward to your new NPC toolkit and if it's a suitable tool for me and reasonably priced I'll be more than happy to support you and buy it. I'll be sure to continue experimenting some more with NPCP, keeping your answers in mind. Of course a lot will also no doubt depend on the other assets I am using. At this point I'm attempting to intergrate NCP Populator with UFPS 2.0, Simple Traffic System, CScape City System, Gaia and Easyroads 3D. I also have Emerald A.I 2.0, but that is good maybe for a few NPC enemies or characters here and there, but it's not quite right for a large 'background' pedestrian population, especialkly as you basically have to build each NPC. I don't need background NPC's to be smart or complex, but having a way to make them react to vehicles, or in game events like gunfire etc would be awesome, like running away at gun fire or jumping out of the way of a car, plus I love that I can mass spawn NPC's and with the right NPC model pack easily have a large variety of different 'people' in a few clicks. I know I could do probably make them do a lot of this myself with some time, effort and research, but I'll admit I'm not a coder, just a lazy guy who is trying to make a game solo and has minimal coding skills. lol. Any way enough of me writing a wall of text here, you've been quite helpful here and via email. You give great support. I may email you again soon and discuss a few things with you after I've played aroundwith NPC populator some more. But I'll at least wait until I can download 2.0 and see what's new and how it works first. Again thanks for the prompt repsonses and great support, world needs more developers like you.
@@RabidsUnbreakableGamers Thanks for the nice comments, and I'm happy to hear what folks like you are up to and how the NPC Populator is being used. I will think about the pooling system idea. I'm glad to hear you could use "reactive" NPCs. That is a key feature of the new asset I have been working on. Good luck on your game, and feel free to write or post again anytime.
Yes, certainly. In fact this Oculus Rift game uses a slightly customized version of the NPC Populator: www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1949558515115603?ranking_trace=1053158208030928_1949558515115603_SKYLINEWEB_d02afdbc-40c5-4c6f-9aa5-2c37afbafff8.
Thanks for your comment. I have a couple of videos that address those questions. I would suggest using a city environment that uses separate game objects for sidewalks, roads, etc., so that a navigation mesh (NavMesh) can treat those areas separately. One good example that I have used is the POLYGON City Pack. This video goes into detail on how to set up a NavMesh over a city that you obtain from the Unity Asset Store: th-cam.com/video/b0G1vNKHqcc/w-d-xo.html There are many to choose from. I would suggest choosing one whose appearance you like, and before purchasing it, asking the creator whether different areas (e.g. sidewalks, roads, etc.) are modelled as separate game objects. For NPC models, again there are many to choose from in the Unity Asset Store. You certainly need the models to support humanoid animation, although most will. This video reviews a few examples: th-cam.com/video/u5zRmqZ0C0M/w-d-xo.html. I hope that helps. Let me know if you have other questions.
Unable to import the ThirdPersonCharacter animations from 'Standard Assets for Unity'. Cannot check the box/s for them. Using Unity 2019.4.29f1 I can select everything in the standard asset pack except for the animations. Any suggestions?
I just went through the process of doing this in the same version of Unity that you are using, and it worked fine. I have received the email you sent, and we can continue to figure out why you had this problem over email.
Well, that's an interesting idea, but the issue is that everyone probably has a different concept of what a "full AI NPC" or "super smart sim" would be. What features would you like to see?
@@ClockworksGames unity 2021 detailed statemachine with unity ml agent, basic animations as well as all necessary animations for daily tasks and events/activities but linked to GPT-3 or GPT-NEO in a way so that it understands to maximum degree
@@erobusblack4856 These are all good ideas. I have been working on a new NPC asset that is more advanced than the NPC Populator. It will include a more elaborate state machine with more different types of animations. I do not have a motion capture studio, so my asset will include an animator controller but require animation clips available through another asset, and probably a choice between several clip assets that will be compatible. I have started some experiments with ML Agents to determine the best way to use that for humanoid AI, and plan to make some videos on that soon, and provide any needed code as part of the new asset. What ML Agents can do is amazing, although it can be tricky to get is set up right. I've thought less about natural language, but maybe someday when I have a solid foundation on the other parts. In terms of timing, I hope to get into a rhythm of a new video every couple of weeks, and then put out the asset when it is reasonable shape. Thanks for your input!
it seems as if the standard assets are not available anymore
That is true and unfortunate that Unity took them down. I am happy to help anyone who has purchased the NPC Populator and has a problem with this.
hello is there a way to use custom animation from mixamo with this tool
Thanks for this question. Yes, you can use animation clips from Mixamo. You need to create your own animator controller. This is explained in the User Manual under "How to Use Alternate Animation Clips." Let me know if you have any questions.
This looks awesome. Has the 2.0 version been released on the assetstore yet?
Not yet (as of today), but hopefully soon! I will update the video's title to remove "Coming Soon" when the asset is published.
@@brionsarachan4500 Awesome looking forward to it.
NPC Populator 2.0 has been released now (in case you had not noticed it).
Been waiting for 2.0.
Just a couple of questions. Is this an update to the current NPC Populator or a 'sequel' stand alone asset requiring purchase?
Also I need to generate large amounts of NPC's across a large level, think something about GTA V's map size, several city like areas and many smaller towns.
Is it possible to drop multple spawn zones across the map with their own way points and custom spawn settings and also, if generating a large amount of NPC's is there a way to 'cull' the ones that aren't in the players line of sight?
I've loaded a city's worth of NPCs, say about 1000, and regardless of the players location in the map all the NPC's spawn right across the area whether they can be seen or not, which obviously caues performance issues.
At those amounts they also seem to bunch up and get stuck around way points also. Also is there a limit to the amount of waypoints in a single spawner's 'network'? Or an optimal number.
When I drop a large amount of way points, it's like at a certain distance from the 'spawn point', the NPC's just start igorning the way points and stand around. Of course a much smaller amount of NPC's and way points the NPC's work as they should. Is there a limit to how many waypoints you can have in a single 'network'?
And finally is there a maxium distance limit for connection between 2 waypoints? Like if a way point is too far away from another the the connection breajks and a NPC won't recognise the next way point and move towards it if that makes sense, or can the distance between 2 waypoints be anything and still work?
Is NPC populator even capable of filling such a map or should it be kept to smaller maps and NPC numbers?
Sorry to bug you with these questions, and thanks in advance if you reply.
Thanks for your comments and questions! I appreciate the thoughtful and in-depth questions and that you have been trying the NPC Populator and trying to get it to work for your scenario. I am very happy to answer the questions and to help resolve any issues.
So here are answers, pertaining to NPC Populator version 2.0. The answers may be slightly different for the original NPC Populator, but I hope the new version will be in the Asset Store soon.
Version 2.0 is an update to the original NPC Populator. People who have already purchased the NPC Populator should get this as a free update. I am also working on a new, more elaborate NPC toolkit that will be a separate purchase when it is released.
It is possible to have multiple spawn zones by creating multiple NPC Factories, and each can have its own separate set of waypoints. As shown in the video, the bounds of the NavMesh area are automatically calculated as the region to spawn NPCs into, and then these bounds can be manually adjusted to use a smaller region. The region is rectangular, in case that is a limitation for you. If a spawn point is generated within the region that is not on the NavMesh the Factory tries again with a different spawn point.
In terms of culling, if you mean culled from rendering, that is something that Unity provides, although there is no special support for it in the NPC Populator. (See docs.unity3d.com/Manual/OcclusionCulling.html.) If what you mean is to somehow "turn off" the NPCs that aren't visible so that they don't use any processing cycles, that is an interesting idea, but is not currently a feature of the NPC Populator. I had taken the approach that the world is always operating, even the parts that are off camera.
I hope the new version 2.0 NPC Factory will work better for you in terms of placement of the NPCs. The logic of the NPC Factory has been completely reworked.
I've noticed the phenomenon when sometimes NPCs bunch up at a waypoint. This can often be fixed by increasing the value of Stopping Distance in the NavMeshAgent. (The NPCs will consider themselves to have "arrived" at the waypoint when they are closer than this Stopping Distance.) In version 2.0, the npcIndividual.cs script has AgentStoppingDistance as a parameter that can be adjusted in the code. I could make that a parameter in the Factory if it is useful to change it when using the Factory.
There is no specific limit to the number of waypoints. Each NPC will traverse between the waypoints under its WaypointParent object.
There is an option in the NPC Factory to limit the distance of waypoints to close ones, and to specify that distance. Even if that option is selected, a more distant waypoint will be selected if there are none within range, but the closer ones have priority. This can be disabled however, so that distant waypoints don't need to have lower priority.
I left the most difficult question for last: performance. In the most demanding test that I tried, I have 200 NPCs, about 170 waypoints, and a fairly large map (the Polygon City Pack asset) that has a lot of small details (e.g. streetlights, trees), so the NavMesh is somewhat complex. On startup, the NPCs start up one-by-one, but there is a visible delay of 1-2 minutes before they all start. (Each just runs its idle animation until it starts walking.) I have run some experiments to try determining the bottleneck. My best guess is that on startup the NavMesh system calculating 200 paths may get behind and require some time to catch up. After initialization when the system is running in "steady state," path calculations are only needed when an NPC reaches a waypoint, so they aren't all needed at the same time and the system runs smoothly. I will try this again with the Unity Profiler to see if my guess about the bottleneck is correct. For smaller environments or fewer waypoints or fewer NPCs, I have not seen significant performance issues.
Please let me know if any of these answers are not clear, if you have other questions, or would like to further communicate about any of this. If you like, you can email me at info@clockworks-games.com or ClockworksGamesVideos@gmail.com.
@@ClockworksGames Thanks for the answers. Answered most of my questions well, and yes, when I mentoned culling I meant being able to 'turn off' the NPC's not have them render, when the player isn't near them, like a pooling system.
Not sure if you're familiar with 'Simple Traffic System', this video is an example of what I mean, shows a 'zone' around the player where any vehicles outside of it are unloaded or hidden.
th-cam.com/video/X6SyOG6UhLs/w-d-xo.html
Look forward to 2.0, very grateful that it is an update because honestly considering the age of NPCP I wouldn't complain if you decided to sell it as a sequel as you no doubt also have to eat like the rest of us. So I for one shall look forward to your new NPC toolkit and if it's a suitable tool for me and reasonably priced I'll be more than happy to support you and buy it.
I'll be sure to continue experimenting some more with NPCP, keeping your answers in mind. Of course a lot will also no doubt depend on the other assets I am using. At this point I'm attempting to intergrate NCP Populator with UFPS 2.0, Simple Traffic System, CScape City System, Gaia and Easyroads 3D.
I also have Emerald A.I 2.0, but that is good maybe for a few NPC enemies or characters here and there, but it's not quite right for a large 'background' pedestrian population, especialkly as you basically have to build each NPC. I don't need background NPC's to be smart or complex, but having a way to make them react to vehicles, or in game events like gunfire etc would be awesome, like running away at gun fire or jumping out of the way of a car, plus I love that I can mass spawn NPC's and with the right NPC model pack easily have a large variety of different 'people' in a few clicks.
I know I could do probably make them do a lot of this myself with some time, effort and research, but I'll admit I'm not a coder, just a lazy guy who is trying to make a game solo and has minimal coding skills. lol.
Any way enough of me writing a wall of text here, you've been quite helpful here and via email. You give great support. I may email you again soon and discuss a few things with you after I've played aroundwith NPC populator some more. But I'll at least wait until I can download 2.0 and see what's new and how it works first.
Again thanks for the prompt repsonses and great support, world needs more developers like you.
@@RabidsUnbreakableGamers Thanks for the nice comments, and I'm happy to hear what folks like you are up to and how the NPC Populator is being used. I will think about the pooling system idea. I'm glad to hear you could use "reactive" NPCs. That is a key feature of the new asset I have been working on. Good luck on your game, and feel free to write or post again anytime.
Can this be used for VR games?
Yes, certainly. In fact this Oculus Rift game uses a slightly customized version of the NPC Populator: www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1949558515115603?ranking_trace=1053158208030928_1949558515115603_SKYLINEWEB_d02afdbc-40c5-4c6f-9aa5-2c37afbafff8.
can you please suggest me some new and realistic city or npcs
Thanks for your comment. I have a couple of videos that address those questions. I would suggest using a city environment that uses separate game objects for sidewalks, roads, etc., so that a navigation mesh (NavMesh) can treat those areas separately. One good example that I have used is the POLYGON City Pack. This video goes into detail on how to set up a NavMesh over a city that you obtain from the Unity Asset Store: th-cam.com/video/b0G1vNKHqcc/w-d-xo.html There are many to choose from. I would suggest choosing one whose appearance you like, and before purchasing it, asking the creator whether different areas (e.g. sidewalks, roads, etc.) are modelled as separate game objects.
For NPC models, again there are many to choose from in the Unity Asset Store. You certainly need the models to support humanoid animation, although most will. This video reviews a few examples: th-cam.com/video/u5zRmqZ0C0M/w-d-xo.html.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you have other questions.
@@ClockworksGames thanks for suggesting I will try it
Unable to import the ThirdPersonCharacter animations from 'Standard Assets for Unity'. Cannot check the box/s for them. Using Unity 2019.4.29f1
I can select everything in the standard asset pack except for the animations. Any suggestions?
I just went through the process of doing this in the same version of Unity that you are using, and it worked fine. I have received the email you sent, and we can continue to figure out why you had this problem over email.
I got an idea, make a full ai npc and put it on the asset store personally i need an all in one similar to a super smart sim
Well, that's an interesting idea, but the issue is that everyone probably has a different concept of what a "full AI NPC" or "super smart sim" would be. What features would you like to see?
@@ClockworksGames unity 2021 detailed statemachine with unity ml agent, basic animations as well as all necessary animations for daily tasks and events/activities but linked to GPT-3 or GPT-NEO in a way so that it understands to maximum degree
I can send you ½ of it
@@erobusblack4856 These are all good ideas. I have been working on a new NPC asset that is more advanced than the NPC Populator. It will include a more elaborate state machine with more different types of animations. I do not have a motion capture studio, so my asset will include an animator controller but require animation clips available through another asset, and probably a choice between several clip assets that will be compatible.
I have started some experiments with ML Agents to determine the best way to use that for humanoid AI, and plan to make some videos on that soon, and provide any needed code as part of the new asset. What ML Agents can do is amazing, although it can be tricky to get is set up right. I've thought less about natural language, but maybe someday when I have a solid foundation on the other parts.
In terms of timing, I hope to get into a rhythm of a new video every couple of weeks, and then put out the asset when it is reasonable shape. Thanks for your input!
@@erobusblack4856 Half of what? :)
Great news.
Thanks! I hope to get it submitted to the Asset Store today!