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[Released] Physically Based Area Lights - redLights 2.0

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by MPanknin, Feb 9, 2015.

  1. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Hi there,

    the team of redPlant is excited to announce the upcoming release of the new redLights 2.0 plugin. In order to support the new rendering goodies in Unity 5.0 we have rewritten our area lights from scratch. The new version 2.0 is not based on SSAL anymore and follows Unity's rendering pipeline more closely.

    The new lights support most of what the stock lights are capable of (forward/deferred, mobile/web/standalone, light culling masks etc.).

    redlights 2.0 are more flexible, faster and better looking!

    https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/29575

    Features of current version:

    - Supported emitter types. Rectangular, Spherical, Disc, Tube


    - Supports the new physically based Standard Shader




    - IES light profile integration


    - Deep editor integration


    - Works in Forward & Deferred Shading rendering path
    - Works on Windows / Mac
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Roadmap for future updates:
    - Mobile support. Mobile export is already working, however we still need to do some performance tuning, before we support it officially.



    - Support for textured emitter (Rects & Spheres). We have a working version for this, but we need to eliminate a couple of minor rendering glitches, before we support it officialy.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Web Demo

    http://de.redplant.de/lab/pbal.html





    Small teaser







    Content Credits
    Models:
    Mannequin: http://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/74733
    Studio: http://www.blendswap.com/blends/view/50740

    Sound:
    http://www.freesound.org/people/arnaljl/sounds/67878/
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2015
    DotTeam, Gozdek, elias_t and 5 others like this.
  2. Play_Edu

    Play_Edu

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    Cool one
     
    MPanknin likes this.
  3. AlteredPlanets

    AlteredPlanets

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    are they skyshopp ready?
     
  4. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Not out of the box, I'm afraid. Skyshop uses it's own suite of material shaders, while we only support the new PBS standard shader that ships with Unity 5.0.

    Not sure, how complex it would be to integrate our lights with Skyshop, but it should be certainly possible. We'll do some tests after we have released redLights 2.0 and keep you guys posted.
     
  5. hippocoder

    hippocoder

    Digital Ape

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    Do you use command buffers to do this? I'd imagine they were a brilliant way to get a robust area lights system going, with examples in the blog.
     
  6. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    No, we don't use CommandBuffers. We've read that article with great interest, but right now we use a different setup that avoids any pro features.

    We might switch to CommandBuffers in a future update, since they certainly simplify a couple of things but beforehand we need to figure out if/how they can completely replace our current setup (in forward rendering for instance).
     
  7. Tjomas

    Tjomas

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    Last edited: Feb 13, 2015
  8. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Hi there,

    small update for today. We survived carnival and will upload our package to the assetstore this week (probably tomorrow). We are currently finishing the documentation and are preparing the key images for the store entry.

    However, we have decided to release the package in two phases, since there are still some minor glitches that we want to get rid of, before releasing all the functionality.

    It will most probably look like this:

    Features release 1:
    - 5.0 Pro only
    - Monochrome emitters (Rect, Disc, Sphere, Tube, IES)
    - Support for Standalone & Webplayer
    - Support for new PBS Standard shader
    - Forward & Deferred Shading
    - Shader Model 3.0 and above

    Additional features release 2:
    - Indie Version. I don't see why this shouldn't work, but we need to wait for 5.0 release in order to test this
    - Support for mobile. Done 90%. This needs to be fixed from Unity side first
    - Textured emitter (Rect, Sphere). Done 90%. See screenshot above. Still minor rendering artefacts on grazing angles
    - Legacy shader support. Done 90%. Some minor glitches in Forward rendering of Legacy shader, nothing serious though
    - 4.6 Support


    Additional features release 3
    - We are open for suggestions... :) (For example Skyshop integration)

    Thanks for reading all of this!

    Cheers,
    Martin
     
    FreakForFreedom likes this.
  9. FreakForFreedom

    FreakForFreedom

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    Wow, this sounds awesome! Can't wait to test it out with Unity5.
    As for release 3: How about a Shader Forge integration? :)
     
  10. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Hi there,

    redLights 2.0 has been uploaded for review. We let you know, as soon as it is available for download.

    Big thx to the team!

    Cheers,
    Martin
     
  11. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Sounds interesting.
    I don't know anything about Shader Forge, but we will take a look at it.

    Thanks
     
    FreakForFreedom likes this.
  12. SteveB

    SteveB

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    Just to be clear, this works just fine then with Enlighten? (understanding as you say this is no different than standard unity lights)

    As it is now, Area Lights appear broken in U5.x, where intensity is dictated by the size of the emiiter, yet you clearly have area lights with an intensity parameter. Your emitter strength is independent of emitter size?

    Thank you!

    -Steven
     
  13. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Hi Steve,

    our lights can not be baked into lightmaps at the moment. However, they can be used on top of other lightmapped materials. We are currently investigating several ways to support enlighten. But this won't be included in the current release.

    This has also been asked by another user in the old SSAL thread. A possible workaround is to use a couple of point lights to fake GI.

    I'll update the first post to avoid any future misunderstandings. Thanks!

    Yes, the size of the emitter influences the lights intensity. However, if you want you can still attenuate / amplify the lights intensity with the respective intensity parameter.

    Martin
     
  14. SteveB

    SteveB

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    Okay and to be even clearer, I was referring only to real-time Enlighten. I figured if it's not much different than the Standard Light model in Unity, it would work with their Standard Shader thus contribute to the lighting solution.

    Thanks Martin!
     
  15. Kasaie

    Kasaie

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    Looks very interesting. Keep up the good job Martin :)
     
  16. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Yes, it does work with the new Standard Shader. But to be honest I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly. If you can explain to me what exactly you are interested in, I'm happy to do a quick test.
     
  17. elbows

    elbows

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    A silly question for you - is this a new product that I have to buy again, or a free update for owners of version 1?

    Cheers
     
  18. SteveB

    SteveB

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    Using the Standard Shader/Emissive, you can make any object an Area Light that then contributes to the GI solution and lights the scene, in real-time. Do your lights behave like emissive "Area Light" objects in Enlighten? This has nothing to do with baking lightmaps, just how they render with Unity's new core PBS and Enlighten lighting system.

    Thanks again Martin!

    -Steven
     
  19. kurylo3d

    kurylo3d

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    the ies stuff looks promising :)
     
  20. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    I'm afraid, it's a new package, that you have to purchase separately. There isn't much left of the old codebase (maybe 5%) and therefore we can not simply release it as a free update.
     
  21. kurylo3d

    kurylo3d

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    If you can , you might want to mark the old one on the asset store as not for unity 5. Or remove it altogether.
     
  22. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Good point!
     
  23. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Ok, got ya. This won't be in the first release but we're working on it.
    We'll post some results of the current state soon.
     
  24. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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  25. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Hi again,

    the next release will also include support for the new Enlighten realtime GI.

    Lighting in the following screenshots is 100% realtime.





    Stay tuned!
     
    SteveB and elias_t like this.
  26. kurylo3d

    kurylo3d

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    awesome!
     
  27. SteveB

    SteveB

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    Awesome!! Oh this is huge... :D
     
  28. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Good evening.

    Here comes the usual weekend update. We have been working diligently on Enlighten support and would like to share some screenshots. The following is a breakdown of our light rendering. Please note the subtle color contribution above the floor.

    Again, the lighting in the following screenshots is 100% realtime. We do not use any static emitter geometry or emissive materials.

    The order is.
    • Direct light
    • Specular
    • Indirect light
    • Direct Light + Specular
    • Direct Light + Specular + Indirect

    Disc emitter.


    Rect emitter.


    Sphere emitter.


    Tube emitter.


    The screenshots are taken from another sample application, that we are currently preparing. It will be uploaded next week.

    Have a great weekend!
     
  29. SteveB

    SteveB

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    Those look wonderful! I'm especially taken with the final tube emitter shot... :D
     
  30. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Good morning!

    Unity 5.0 is finally out! To celebrate this wonderful event we uploaded our new demo, that shows off enlighten support for our area lights.

    As usual you can find it in our lab:

    http://de.redplant.de/lab/pbal.html

    Enjoy.
     
  31. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Today we will update redLights 2.0 to the stable 5.0 release and submit it to the assetstore.

    If approval doesn't take too long you should be able to get it by the end of the week.

    We will keep you posted!

    Cheers,
    Martin
     
  32. Licarell

    Licarell

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    Martin, do the area lights cast shadows...
     
  33. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    No, they don't cast any shadows.
     
  34. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Version 2.1 has been submitted just now.
     
  35. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Meanwhile we have continued working on mobile support and successfully ported the latest web demo to Android with some minor modifications. Until now we tested on Xperia Z3 smartphone & tablet. More to come.

    You can get it here.



    We still need to adjust a couple of parameters for mobile, but you get the idea.

    Mobile support will be included in the upcoming 2.2 release, that we will probably upload next week.

    Have a nice evening!
     
  36. FreakForFreedom

    FreakForFreedom

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    Will they cast shadows in a future update or is this not an option due to their nature?
     
    twobob and OneManStoryBook like this.
  37. DarkRides

    DarkRides

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    Hello redLights 2.0 Support Alloyshader it ?
     
  38. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    We might look into shadow support in a future update. But this is not a high priority task at the moment. There are a couple of algorithms around, that seem promising, but we haven't really started implementing anything in this direction. (Except for SSSS, that was partially implemented for SSAL a while ago).
     
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  39. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    We will test this.
     
  40. mrbdrm

    mrbdrm

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    do you support casting real time shadows? or planing to?
     
  41. FreakForFreedom

    FreakForFreedom

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    OP already answered this subject. ;)

     
  42. mrbdrm

    mrbdrm

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    oh thanks!!
    my bad didn't read the whole post
     
  43. Licarell

    Licarell

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    Keeping my fingers crossed... mouse pointer hovering over buy button....
     
  44. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Hi there,

    unfortunately 2.1 is still pending in the review process.

    Meanwhile we did a first test with Skyshop.



    So yes, integrating redlights with Skyshop is certainly possible, but includes a little bit of manual tweaking. We are currently looking for a more "automatic" way for integrating their shaders with our lights.

    We'll keep you posted.
     
  45. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Good morning,

    version 2.1 is online.

    Have a nice day!
     
  46. Tjomas

    Tjomas

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  47. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Hi guys,

    we prepared a new demo video, that shows redLights 2.0 along with Enlighten realtime GI.

    Enjoy!

     
    JamesArndt likes this.
  48. FreakForFreedom

    FreakForFreedom

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    This is really impressive! I was not sure if I should buy it due to the lack of shadow support... but you got me with this video. ;)
     
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  49. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    Great! Then it has fulfilled its purpose :)

    Meanwhile skyshop integration is making good progress. It will be included in the next release.

     
  50. MPanknin

    MPanknin

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    And for the sake of completeness - the inevitable sponza scene.

     
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