R&D: Realistic Complex Procedural Foliage Movement without Physics or Skeleton

Test for creating realistic, complex, procedural movement on ambient foliage without using physics simulation or skeleton rigging / animation.

The premiss is to have a vertex shader that sways trees with the ability to separate the phase of various branches for added realism.
This solution is based on using custom vertex data to drive various aspects of the motion itself.

The overall phase of the swaying motion is offset by the tree position, and is being modulated by tree scale.

Besides a vertex channel for storing baked ambient occlusion, two vertex masks are used for the motion:
• Displacement Multiplier - Controls how much displacement takes place.
• Phase Offset - Controls the phase of the sway, which not only means branches can be easily separated, but the gradual phase along the branches creates a more realistic bending as if the motion of wind and gravity propagates along the branches.

The direction and strength of the wind/swaying can be controlled by a single node in the level.

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