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[RELEASED] Etherea1 - Full Planets for Unity3D

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by imerso, Apr 6, 2012.

  1. imerso

    imerso

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    I am glad to announce that Etherea1 was accepted and is already available through the Unity Asset Store right now!



    Features:

    - Fully spherical, huge, visitable planets
    - Can handle dozens of planets simultaneously in the same scene
    - Very low disk space needed to store a full planet
    - Realtime procedural generation of the huge spherical terrain
    - Planet atmospheres with automatic day and night horizons
    - Vastly configurable through many parameters
    - Works under Windows, WebPlayer and Macintosh*
    - Code paths for Unity Pro and Unity Indie** (through pre-compiler switch)
    - Full C# and CG shaders source-code included

    * For some time now, Macintosh is also fully supported, exactly like Windows
    ** Unity Pro version has much better terrain overall quality, although you receive both versions in one buy

    Some features are still being implemented, but buyers will get access to an online repository where they can get all future updates for free.

    Demo: http://www.etereo.com.br/WebPlayer (~1.5mb)

    Asset Store link: http://u3d.as/content/vander-imerso-nunes/etherea1-ethereal-planets


    Best regards,

    imerso
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2012
  2. Jaimi

    Jaimi

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    So what is actually not supported on the Mac?

    Do your planets have gravity? Collision? Can we plop down a "3rd person controller" prefab, and walk around on the plant with the correct orientation?
     
  3. imerso

    imerso

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    *** EDIT: this is OLD POST, and these limitations do not exist anymore. Macintosh works identical to Windows for some time now.

    At this moment Mac version has basic lighting support (no normalmaps yet) and the heightmaps are a bit lower-res than the full Pro version. Also there is only one layer of fractal generation, not many as in the full Pro.

    This is good to mention that Mac will get the full Pro version soon, and even the Indie version will be revamped soon.

    Yes, they have spherical gravity and Physx support. Yes, you can put models walking over the terrain if you wish. I did not have the time yet to make a sample showing characters walking there, or buildings placed at ground, though that is perfectly possible.

    Things may sometimes get tricky for such a high scale because we are pushing hardware and Unity, but the tech can be definitely useful for a lot of original ideas right now.
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2013
  4. imerso

    imerso

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    NOTE: this is currently for Windows only. A fix to run under Macs will come soon.

    I never posted a WebPlayer before, but here is one:

    http://www.etereo.com.br/WebPlayer (~8mb)

    So, now you can check how it looks like if you are considering supporting this extension which is still in its infance.

    Thanks,

    imerso
     
    Last edited: Apr 8, 2012
  5. darryldonohoe

    darryldonohoe

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    Thats cool, tried the demo and its pretty massive.

    But will it also be possible that if you enter a planets atmosphere, that you will have a blue or other color sky?

    If so, i'll probably buy.


    Anyway great job looks great so far!
     
  6. angel_m

    angel_m

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    Very interesting. :)
    Can be modified the size of planets?
     
  7. imerso

    imerso

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    Definitely yes, almost everything is exposed in the Inspector: color, radius, power, transparency, etc. You change almost everything, not only related to the atmospheres, but also terrain heights, frequencies, water, textures, etc.

    Definitely yes, almost everything is exposed in the Inspector as a parameter.
     
  8. IndieDude360

    IndieDude360

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    Wow spectacular work on this, It looks really amazing however I find the webplayer a bit difficult to control but amazing nevertheless!
     
  9. hfcgII

    hfcgII

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    Hi imerso,

    I got a look this weekend on the current state.
    Thanks for the acces to the online repo.
    The project is simply great! Cant wait to integrate it to my existing universe projects.
    I never regreted to have supported you from the beginning!

    Cheers
    Hanns
     
  10. darryldonohoe

    darryldonohoe

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    Okey i wanted to wait a little bit longer, but i bought it.

    Will test it as soon as i can download it.


    EDIT

    Okey i tried it, but i am having a small problem, it seems that it doesnt produce any height.
    I looked in the Manual and tried Height scale but it didn't worked. This also happens in the sample scene that came with it.

    How can i fix this?


    $screenshot.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2012
  11. darryldonohoe

    darryldonohoe

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    EDIT never mind, its working
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2012
  12. imerso

    imerso

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    There is a new update in the online repository, and now normal lighting under Indie.

    I sent v1.1 to the Asset Store for the people who bought from there. Dont know how many days it'll be live, though. From the repository you get it immediately, so please contact me if you bought from the Asset Store, to get online repository access.

    Thanks,

    imerso
     
  13. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    I can't get down to the planet!

    When it get's to full size my speed slows to 20 and it just sits there :)
     
  14. virror

    virror

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    Same problem here, the closer i get tho the planets, the lower my speed becomes.
    Also the controls are a bit hard.
    But very impressive!
     
  15. Mark104

    Mark104

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    Hello Imerso, been using this from the asset store, the visuals are lovely as well as the optimisation.

    One query though, I have not been able to get collision working with the planet mesh, even in your example scene.

    Is there a specific layer that collisions need to be tested on or am I missing something the manual did not seem to indicate anything of the sort.

    Thanks anyway, great work!

    Mark
     
  16. imerso

    imerso

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    Hello Mark,

    The AssetStore version is outdated. I have sent you a PM -- please read that and contact me at imerso (at) imersiva.com.

    Thank you for supporting the Etherea1 extension!

    Best regards,

    imerso
     
  17. carmine

    carmine

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    Hello,
    I went to check out the webplayer but it's not up. When will it be up? Also, any idea of when Mac will work (a week? a month? etc.)

    Thanks!

    -Carmine
     
  18. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    stuck project? still can't land on the planets in the demo :(
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2012
  19. Alienchild

    Alienchild

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    Cant get close to planet so impossible to test. That's a shame :(
     
  20. carmine

    carmine

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    Hello,
    Any update on Mac version?
     
  21. Corscaria

    Corscaria

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    @Alienchild. I was able to get down to the planet, you pretty much have to strafe towards it, as the character controller seems clunky. Additionally, You slow WAY down as you near a planet which makes it feel like you will never get there, but strafing helps there too as it seems to more than double your speed.

    The surface is definitely collidable. Pressing Enter drops items which fall to the surface. The surface seems VERY jittery up close, but I'm not entirely sure if that is due to the planet LOD code or the clunky character controller. I'm thinking the latter. The terrain seems to be textured purely by altitude. The planets are barren, just rock and water. Good enough for a space simulator but, people may want whole planets for something other than space simulators like a planet wide RTS.

    At it's current level of development I don't think it's worth $100 more like $50. It needs biomes capable of spawning (and despawning) procedurally placed decor (plants, rocks, etc...) when the player is close enough. It needs to be able to be able to export small areas as height maps, and use height maps as an override to the procedural generation of small areas, so developers can customize an area. And it needs to handle spawning (and despawning) of developer placed decorations such as buildings when the player is within range. I admit my opinion of the value is biased, as I have my own planet generator that is admittedly less developed, but I only worked on it for 2 weeks a couple of years ago. If you can't make your own planet generation code, this probably IS the best option if you need whole planets. But if they added those features i think it needs, it would definitely be worth $100 even to me.
     
    Last edited: May 22, 2012
  22. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    I think imerso has updated the planet demo, I can fly down to the planets now - which is the whole point :)
     
  23. imerso

    imerso

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    The project is not stuck, it's just paused until the next big revision which will include some new features and bug fixes.

    The webplayer demo is the same, and yes the control is a bit lame in this demo. Just keep flying to the planet, and use Q+W and E+W to get a little speedup.

    Cheers
     
  24. carmine

    carmine

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    Any word on this working on Mac?
     
  25. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    Hi Imerso,

    Looking fantastic... I guess the things I'm waiting for are :

    - atmosphere (i.e. blue skies)
    - more than one texture on the terrain
    - decals (i.e. small thumbnail pic of a city or town)

    All the other stuff you normally see in a normal level (i.e. sculpting terrain, foliage etc) can just stay in normal levels - I don't mind doing fly down to the planet to about 1 km up in the air then do a cut scene to a normal unity scene.
     
  26. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    Just a little tip imerso, people tend to be more comfortable buying higher priced items from the asset store when the authors are active and accessible on the forum...
     
  27. Alienchild

    Alienchild

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    Oh for F*s sake can you please fix the movement speed in the demo? Multiply speed to 50.
     
  28. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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  29. carmine

    carmine

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    Hey everyone.... I purchased this recently and started playing around with it...

    (W, A, S, D... hit SHIFT for boost) other keys half-do some other stuff..
    It's pretty hacked together... I'm just testing to see what I can do...
    PC ONLY!
    http://www.snagen.com/planettest

    (plug) The assets are from our other game here:
    (Mac/pc/whatever)
    http://www.snagen.com/aeosrift
     
  30. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    Sorry Carmine,

    Nothing happens for me on your demo... I click Go! and nothing happens :(
     
  31. carmine

    carmine

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    Hmm worked last night... (at 4am :)) Maybe networking stuff is down also it's a pretty big download... Try again later.
     
  32. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    wait, it's going now...

    EPIC graphics :) Just luverly.

    Couldn't get to a planet though?
     
  33. carmine

    carmine

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    The link with planettest has the planets...
     
  34. carmine

    carmine

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    It's running again... You start on a planet. The pink arrows point to little bases. There is one right next to you and one on a moon.
     
  35. imerso

    imerso

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    There will be an update late this night, with visual improvements, some bug fixes and finally... MAC support!

    All the supporters are getting the update for free, of course.
     
  36. carmine

    carmine

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    Thanks! I bought this last night and was up till 4:30am playing around with it and being inspired! Can't wait!
     
  37. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    Ok, Carmines demo finally loaded up - you have to let it keep loading even after the login controls come up, then when it's finished, then you login.

    Carmine: nice demo, particularly with your really usable ship controls

    Imerso: the lod popping is a bit strong but not unforgivable, and can't wait to see atmospheres re-enabled, but my god, those coastlines... they look spectacular :)
     
  38. imerso

    imerso

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    The new demo is just posted at http://www.etereo.com.br/WebPlayer.







    (Compatible with Windows and Macintosh)

    IMPORTANT! At this moment, the Asset Store version is *very* outdated. If you buy from there, you'll need to either contact me directly or wait for them to update the source-code to the latest version.

    Buying from me you will get the FULL PROJECT source-code for only $99 -- now I think that is a bargain, sincerely, for the amount of work I spent on it and what it can already do -- plus access to the source repository and free access to ANY future updates.

    Many thanks,


    imerso
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2012
  39. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    Hey Imerso,

    Nice demo, beautiful work, well done :)
     
  40. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    That's weird i cannot update threw TortoiseHG ( Mercurial ) its says that there is no new update.
     
  41. imerso

    imerso

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    Hi Thinker, I am still creating a new branch to securely update through Mercurial without breaking your own projects, so I contacted the supporters list informing an alternative way to update. Have you received a contact from that list today? Check that, please.

    imerso
     
  42. Deleted User

    Deleted User

    Guest

    The best way would be if you could give access to people who bought it from you threw the website to the Unity Asset store one. By doing that you would have much better security :). Plus for us would be much much easier to use it in our projects.
     
  43. virror

    virror

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    Getting some strange bugs when running the webplayer demo. Sun is visible through the planet and some very strange artifacts appears in the terrain.

    $planetBug.JPG
     
  44. imerso

    imerso

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    Sorry, shortly will be uploading a new update with MAC compatibility enabled.
     
  45. imerso

    imerso

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    Could you tell me which OS and graphics card are you using? Thanks.

    imerso
     
  46. online|offworld

    online|offworld

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    I got it on win 7 at home and work, home machine is ati 5570, work is just on board.

    Seems the atmospheric shader is not aware of the hills, assumes instead a smooth spherical surface...
     
  47. carmine

    carmine

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    For those using Mac... the newer version works fine for Turblence layers but not Rigid...

    If you take the new demo and set the Layers to 1 instead of 2 it works!
     
  48. virror

    virror

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    Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.120411-1615)
    Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
    3328MB RAM
    NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
     
  49. imerso

    imerso

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    Please try the demo again, I think it'll run on your configuration now. Good luck!
     
  50. imerso

    imerso

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    For fun and as a proof-of-concept, I have now a private personal project using Etherea1 for Unity3D:




    The link to the youtube video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCOaUVhcQYo


    I will be expanding the concept as time permits.


    Thanks,

    imerso