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3D Cloud System

Discussion in 'Made With Unity' started by 3dDude, Jan 7, 2011.

  1. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    hello guys,

    as some of you know I have been working on a 3d cloud system... I have posted images on a few other threads.. but here is the official thread :D

    I think my cloud system is good enough now to showoff!. :rolleyes:

    I'm starting to think that it was a bad idea, considering all the clouds systems that have been popping up around here.

    These images are made completely in unity basic.e c

    All the clouds have 60 particles. And unless there are more then 50 clouds then it causes no visible slowdown...

    I am running on a macbook from 2009.









     
  2. psychicparrot

    psychicparrot

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    Looks great! I really like the night shot with the moon in the bg ... looks very moody!

    Would love to see a webplayer, though (hint hint!) :)
     
  3. bigkahuna

    bigkahuna

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    Nicely done and how the sun / moon light effects the clouds is absolutely stellar! ;)
     
  4. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Thanks!!! I am having some problems with the webplayer though :/

    It works fine in the editor but and then I build, the lighting on the clouds stops working *sigh* I will post it asap when it works!
     
  5. HolBol

    HolBol

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    Might just be your computer/Graphics card? Try it on someone else's to see if it works.
     
  6. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    I dont think so.... It does not use a complex shader or anything... It works fine in the editor. It could be a bug I guess.
     
  7. 3dDude

    3dDude

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  8. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Awww man this thread really died :(
     
  9. alexzzzz

    alexzzzz

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    Looks amazing!
     
  10. granada

    granada

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    I agree.

    dave
     
  11. kenshin

    kenshin

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    I agree too :)
     
  12. thellama

    thellama

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    3dDude what method did you use to create the moon and it's glow, very impressive, I would like to achieve something similar.

    P.S. your clouds are really shaping up NICE!
     
  13. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Thanks!

    For the moon I opened the image file in Gimp( I got the moon image from google images ). Then I used a circle select to remove the background. Then I added a black layer behind the moon layer. Then created a new transparent layer behind the moon layer but in front of the black layer. Then I created a circle gradient. Then I modified the contrast and a few other settings to make it look more "glowy"

    Fairly simple. Then in unity I just created a plane( because the scene was static I could just use a plane ) and put that image on it with the particles alphaBlended shader.

    I will post the final image if you want.
     
  14. thellama

    thellama

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    That would be super helpful! I would love to replicate it :D Thanks!
     
  15. AndrewGrayGames

    AndrewGrayGames

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    When you do send it to the Asset Store, don't make it too expensive! Let us poor, new indie devs get in on some of this awesome cloud-love!
     
  16. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Ok will do. I am rather busy tonight so I will post it sometime tomorrow.

    No worries I wont make it to expensive ;)

    What do you mean by "not to expensive" like 20-30$ 40-50$ 50-80# ???
     
  17. Tofugames

    Tofugames

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    Are the clouds automatically colored based on the lighting? Or do we have to do this manually?
     
  18. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    I am not really sure what you mean... Like for sunset they are automatically colored to be more orange? I still have a big todo list so I will add that to it ;)
     
  19. Tofugames

    Tofugames

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    Yeah, kind of. I mean, if I use a day night cycle (or does it have a built in one?) will the clouds automatically be colored (or would be possible to have them be) correctly like the rest of the landscape (dark at night, orange at sunset, etc.) based on the color of the light which I use for my sun? Or will I have to create a script to change the cloud colors at certain times of day? (using the day night cycle from this topic: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/70585-Skydome-for-unity3D-3.x )
     
  20. thellama

    thellama

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    No rush 3dDude, your helping me out so take your time :D
     
  21. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Ok, I lived up to my word ;)

    enjoy!
     

    Attached Files:

  22. Kotzu

    Kotzu

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    thks 3dDude ! keep up the Good Work !
     
  23. thellama

    thellama

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    Awesome 3dDude, just like I thought, it would look thanks!
     
  24. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Update!!!

    added some new smaller clouds with no lighting. So in these pictures there are 3 deferent types of clouds:

    1# normal solid clouds.

    2# light misty clouds (No lighting).

    3# hard small clouds (No lighting).





    Enjoy ;)
     
  25. pixelsteam

    pixelsteam

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    Look forward to this going into the asset store!!!
     
  26. Tofugames

    Tofugames

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    Awesome! I will most definitely purchase this once it goes on the asset store!!!
     
  27. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    thanks! I will get it on the asset store ASAP...

    I was wondering how I should make the generator script work... Should it use a specific prefab or should it generate a cloud object based on a few settings like: ParticleDensity(int), Range(Verctor3), use lighting, ect. OR should I use a prefab that you can set up and tweak in the project panel? Choice 1 sound a bit more user friendly, But I wanted to know you guys opinion.
     
  28. Allen0012

    Allen0012

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    Best and the most natural cloud ever since in unity! :eek: Awesome light effect!!
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2011
  29. Allen0012

    Allen0012

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    Absolutely setting some variables sounds much better...
    Go on your good work!
     
  30. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Thanks!!!

    Hmmmm, Thats what I was thinking to... It would be harder to implement, But It would be better.

    anyone else have a thought on the matter?
     
  31. Kotzu

    Kotzu

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    agreed :)

    @3dDude
    keep it the way u want and u think is better :)
     
  32. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Ok ;) I would like to know the communities ideas also.

    Looks like option 1 is king ;)
     
  33. Sollthar

    Sollthar

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    I really like the look of these. Would love to see them in motion.

    A little tip: Use smaller jpg compression. The images take ages to load here. :D
     
  34. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    I posted a webplayer somewhere on page 1... They are png files, I could post them at smaller size if you want.
     
  35. I Collective

    I Collective

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    This is very well done. I would pay around $20 - $30 or so for this. Other options are nice but $100 for one was way too steep for indie pricing. This is appears to be the same animal. I already have a good day and night cycle written but for 100 bones I would want a full blown environmental system like the demo by Paladin Studios with good docs so I could script changing weather, cloud parameters, and day night actions.

    Keep up the killer work, I will look for this on the store.
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2011
  36. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Thanks!

    I will keep the price low... I am working on a lot more things to add to it like weather ect.
     
  37. Tofugames

    Tofugames

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    I didn't notice anything about this earlier (but maybe I missed it). Is it possible for us to change things such as cloud density, darkness (for stormy clouds), number of clouds, cloud movement speed / direction, etc.??
     
  38. zumwalt

    zumwalt

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    All of 3D's work is worth buying
     
  39. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    all of these things can be modified in the material settings by changing the opacity you can modify the cloud density, for stormy clouds you can change the color to be darker. I am still working out the movement.

    The problem is that to make it look like the clouds look like they are every where in the sky, I have it generate in a dome. So if I just move then the hole dome moves...

    I will probably have to make the direction follow the curve of the dome... but it might seem to the player that the clouds are moving up then moving down...

    Do you guys have any ideas for this?

    thank you SO much!!! :)
     
  40. Allen0012

    Allen0012

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    Looking vertically up in sky and turning the camera around cause the several surfaces of each cloud rotate around its center (seems like its rotating according to camera.rotation) which make it kinda unreal. Am I right? Will it got fixed?
     
  41. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    it uses particles so thats whats expected.... There may be some workaround though.
     
  42. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Update!!!

    No pictures this time just news ;)

    I got realtime lights working!! yipee!

    So now you can rotate your Directional light and watch the clouds lighting smoothly adjust to the new lighting!

    This will help now for anyone who is making a day/night cycle.
     
  43. Allen0012

    Allen0012

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    That's wonderful! Any chances of new web demo? :p Looking forward... ;)
     
  44. JJJohan_legacy

    JJJohan_legacy

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    This plus the new 'pro water' coming in the next Unity update are going to completely transform projects. Keep it up! Any estimate on the price for when it's released?
     
  45. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    Depending on how much I get done before I think its finished probably somewhere between 30-45$ Sound good? :)
     
  46. Schlumpfsack

    Schlumpfsack

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    looks and sounds pretty good :)
     
  47. AshehRS

    AshehRS

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    Looks great! :-D
     
  48. caitlyn

    caitlyn

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  49. MythicStudios

    MythicStudios

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    3d dude quick question how did you get the fog to stay on the terrain and not even affect your skydome?
     
  50. 3dDude

    3dDude

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    The skydome is just a skybox. It uses a simple gradient from light blue to dark blue. Then generated a cube map from that.

    To make the clouds not get effected by fog you have to download the default shaders from unitys website then find the one you were using and make a few changes....

    Somewhere in your shader you should see this line:
    Code (csharp):
    1. Cull Off Lighting Off ZWrite Off Fog { Color (0,0,0,0) }
    notice how fog is set to "Color (0,0,0,0)". Replace that line with Mode Off. The finished line should look like this:

    Code (csharp):
    1. Cull Off Lighting Off ZWrite Off Fog { Mode Off }