[Asset WIP] Dimensional Gate / Portal for Unity3d (Pro Standard)

After getting feedback from some fellow developers, I'm decided to release a Dimensional Gate/Portal asset Package In continuation of the Dimensional Gate / Portal of Island of Freedom.
Since it is quite complicated matter with LOTS of aspects that I've been researching on in the past time, I think I am now able to make a package.

In short you can render a full second 3D scene with fog, lighting, objects, particles, etc that can be viewed from a Dimensional Gate and can be walked trough. Any mesh can be used as a portal.

You can find it in the asset store here: http://u3d.as/5H6

Demo Video + Comments:

Try the demo scene yourself:
http://peculiardeveloper.com/u3d/DAP/ (115 mb)

Please see the following post for more info on the updates. I will clean this post soon.
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/19...mp-Standard)?p=1496683&viewfull=1#post1496683

What is done:

• [PRO/Standard] Create a Dimensional Viewing Gate in Forward Rendering
• [PRO] Create a Dimensional Viewing Gate in Forward Rendering /w Image effects in all dimensions
• [PRO/Standard] Create a Dimensional Tunnel Gate in Forward Rendering
• [PRO] Create a Dimensional Tunnel Gate in Forward Rendering /w Image effects in all dimensions
• [PRO] Create a Dimensional Viewing Gate in Deferred Rendering /wo Image effects (small bugs with pro water)
• [PRO] Create a Dimensional Tunnel Gate in Deferred Rendering /wo Image effects (small bugs with pro water)
• [PRO/Standard] A start kit to recreate "Portal" game Portals.

For upcoming updates:

• [PRO/Standard] Support per dimension fog (Fixed)
• [PRO] Fix image effects in all Dimensions in Deferred Rendering View and Tunnel
• [PRO] Create an interactive scene loading event where a Dimensional Gate is spawned. Once it is done loading, you can see the new level clearly and walk seamless trough the portal. Once trough the portal, the portal behind you can either keep existing or close (partly done).

Test scenes:
http://www.minitankbattles.com/IslandOfFreedom/DAP/SimpleScene.html
http://www.minitankbattles.com/IslandOfFreedom/DAP/SimpleScene2.html
http://www.minitankbattles.com/IslandOfFreedom/DAP/SimplePortal.html

OLD Test scene screenshots:
While in the dark dimension, you can see the light dimension trough the blue gate.

While in the dark dimension and standing in the gate, you can see the light dimension trough the blue portal.

Multiple gate can be active in one scene:

The orange gate you can travel through. When you travel through it the first time, you get to the light dimension. Once you travel trough it again, you get back to the dark dimension.

 

i suggest u can split asset for free and paid - free with 1 feature or max 3 for indie version unity and paid with all planned features with 20-30$ cost

 

I like the idea. I'll have to sort out what is going to be in the free version and what is going to be in the paid version. Most likely the free version will then reflect the "Unity3d standard".

Also thank you for pointing that out. I'll also try it out on my phone to see if the current shaders and scripts I wrote would work on android by any chance.

 

This is a cool asset and i really like it. Made me think about starting a project i can use this with.

 

Wooo!!!! Waiting for.

 

The following bugs have been fixed and uploaded to the test scene:

[PRO/Standard] Fix bugs with portal disappearing after using a Tunnel
[PRO/Standard] Fix bugs with collisions of the other dimensions interfering with the current one

I've also started the development package with a convenient editor.

 

Looks and sounds great, i would be buying it for sure when it is released.

Cheers,
Darryl

 

Mini status update:

About 50% done: [PRO/Standard] Create "Portal" (yes, the one from Valve) game Portals to either the same or another dimension.

I am now sorting some visual effects. I am also working on making the portals being able to be placed by players (however that is going to be very simple due to the design I use). It requires a lot of additional programming to keep it perfect for both pro and standard.

 

Hey. This looks good and I'm really looking forward for the Portal (actual Portal) addon.

Do you use a technique described here BTW ?
Stencils-for-portal-rendering

 

Thank you. I don't use that technique, however I was exploring on using that technique (or parts of that) to fix the image effects not correctly being transferred in deferred rendering (pro). Also, The portals are coming along nicely. I think I can post a demo of that next Friday. Do note that these portals are for both standard and pro. That technique only works on pro.

 

Forgot to ask : Does it works on DX11?

 

I think it already does. If not, I will make it work. I can try that tonight.

 

Tested and confirmed. DX11 renders it fine.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

interesting, I don't see why people would vote to pay more though

 

I wanted to see if the price I had in mind for the package matched the one other developers are willing to pay for a package of this sort.

Also the core of the portals are almost done.

 

I tried the webdemo, but it doesn't show the other dimension at all on my Mac mini (HD4000). Just a blue mess of static.

 

I've noticed this while trying it on my work. This is due to a forced deferred rendering in this webplayer that gets messed up on hd3xxx and hd4xxx. I've programmed a fix but have to test it some more.

 

Great, if you figure out a way to make this work for all versions of Unity AND on the latest integrated graphics, it's a definite maybe for me

Is it just the webplayer, or does it also happen standalone?

 

Specifically this webplayer since you can't override the quality settings here. It can be fixed for all players though and I intend on doing so.

 

I have interest on this if it can be used without compromising rendering of any Pro post rendering fx.
Including Dx11 rendering, not breaking Dx11 particles, etc.

 

Just tested this on android. The core works fine with no noticable performance reduction (SGS2 running 2.3, apk build 2.0.1). However I have to change the shader for the overlay of the dimensional gate (blue and orange effect) since they are missing. This is the same for the portal effect.

 

Hi,

Any news?

 

Unity 4.2 broke the multipart shaders. I've almost completely fixed that. I was also busy acquiring a team for some projects.

I will try to bring out the Unity3d Freebased version this week. Price is yet to be determined exactly but it will be around 15-20 euro's/dollars. If I won't make it it this week will be the week after.

This will contain:
- Forward lighted portals.
- Forward lighted dimensional gates (both for viewing and/or traveling).
- Will work on android.

 

Nice. Thanks for the reply.

 

Looks good. But I am curious, how did you do the "portal" effect? Do you use Render Texture?
If you do, beware that Unity "standard" ("Free") does not include Render Texture. It is a Pro only feature.
That means if you sell it and a lot of Unity "standard" ("Free") users would buy it and not get that effect.

 

I am aware. I use some advanced depth rendering effects. No render textures. I also keep doing test with the sets on free to make sure it works there.

 

Ok, I've come along nicely with the package and I am trying to finish up some stuff. I've also been delayed by study and other projects, my apologies.Another problem was that Unity 4.1 screwed up some of the mechanics that I've finally managed to fix today.

I've changed some items regarding the deployment:
There is going to be just one package. This package will first only contain the FULL Unity Standard items where most of these will also work with the PRO features. Later on I'll be expanding the packages to fix all the problems that arise with the pro version (no further fees).
The combined package will cost 20 euros/dollars and will contain the items as stated in first post.

I hope that tomorrow evening I can upload the first package to the asset store.

 

Here is a simple test scene: http://www.minitankbattles.com/IslandOfFreedom/DAP/SimpleScene.html

This is a simple overlapping scene with 2 Dimensional gates. You can look trough the blue and and look and travel through the orange one.
This type is ideal for having parallel universes or two time frames of a same location.

Small tweaking is required for:
- Nearby gates can distort the vision of the other. It is NOT recommended to have two gates you can see at the same time or are in each others line of sight.
- Other objects than the player traveling trough a gate have some small graphical issues.

Works for Forward rendering, Deferred rendering (without image effects) and mobile.

Edit: It lost the fancy models as seen in the previous screenshots since I can't put other peoples work with it in the asset store.

 

This is a good price. It remains only to wait for the availability on the Asset Store.

 

Works nicely even on HD4000, and at that price I can't resist it

 

Yep, it was a nasty bug, but it is fixed now.

Also here is a small preview of the 100% Unity3d Standard based portals. Do note that it still isn't finished. It just shows the proof of concept.
This only shows the ability to shoot portals on surfaces where you can travel through. Since I haven't implemented all physics yet, I've disabled moving through the floor and the ramp since it would result in weird behavior. You can also see the portal boxes if you shoot near the edges since portal landing isn't detected in this version. A mini hiccup can occur when traveling through a portal since the Update of the camera scipt in this version isn't before the camera render, etc.

TL;DR, Just a proof of concept version for Unity3D standard that contains bugs!

Here is a simple test scene 100% Unity3d Standard Based:
http://www.minitankbattles.com/IslandOfFreedom/DAP/SimplePortal.html.

 

This is a simple overlapping scene with 2 Dimensional gates. You can look trough the blue and and look and travel through the orange one. Different from the scene posted before, the objects of one world aren't overlapping the objects of the other world. This is ideal for "teleportation" based scenes or scenes with two different area's. Of course this version works in Standard.

For simplicity, the terrain is used in both worlds. Something I've forgotten to mention in the post with the first scene. You can have objects existing in the default world, the alternate world and those existing in both.

This principle also forms the basis of the async level loader for PRO.

http://www.minitankbattles.com/IslandOfFreedom/DAP/SimpleScene2.html

 

This looks soooooo awesome man, got already so many ideas for using this in my project...

you´ve just got another purchaser for this when it comes out

 

Question to all who are interested.

I can start cleaning the dimensions part now and put this in the asset store next Friday. This means without portals (for now, but WILL be added later for free).
I can also continue fixing the portal bugs and that would mean it would take about one week more.

What do you prefer?

 

The sooner the better mate

 

Cleaning up the dimensions code now. Also added a nice tip of how to use the package.
Use it to create a lens or special device your main character is wearing to see hidden clues, ghosts, history, etc.

http://www.minitankbattles.com/IslandOfFreedom/DAP/GlassOfTruth.html

I will temporarily remove the portals package from the asset so I can upload the dimensions package to the asset store.

Edit: I will keep on working tonight till I can upload this to the asset store!

 

Version is uploaded to the asset store. Do note this version does NOT yet contains portals, only dimensional gates. It is now awaiting review.

 

as soon as its available im getting it Any ideia on how much time a person has to wait?

 

It said about 3 business days when I committed the asset.

 

This...This is just plain awesome!

 

Looks great and what i had in mind for my game (although it was going be later due to needed a coder but now looks like i can move this forward) just wondering is there a way to only see portals etc if wearing an item etc like player A cant see the portal or use it but player B is wearing portal specs which show portals they can use

 

Thank you! I hope you will enjoy the package.

This is possible if you do your network coding yourself. Simply enable or disable the portals based on a variable the player has. This is more of a networking setup rather than a portal setup.

 

ok thanks just checking

 

Got a reply. I need to change a few things before it can be accepted. Will make those changes today and resubmit. These changes do not affect the package itself.

 

soo more 3 days of waiting id assume?

 

Yes, but portals also have been added to the package.

 

aww for the wait but woohoo for portals lol

 

how much time for waiting?

 

I expect today. They only check there submissions on business days.