Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

[RELEASED] SPACE UNITY - Space Scene Construction Kit

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by imphenzia, Feb 19, 2013.

  1. Ruggedlegs

    Ruggedlegs

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2012
    Posts:
    8
    Okay, I've been a silent supporter of this for a long time and have purchased both the space scene and planet assets (which I love btw) but that video of your recent stuff just made me almost explode all over my monitor.
    Have you got any sort of ETA on that update? I'd probably hold off or redirect my workflow just to use some of the stuff that is coming, absolutely amazing, well done. I'm glad someone out there is actually making space stuff for unity.
     
  2. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Haha, thanks =) Glad you like the video!

    Due to how unpredictable my time is that I can put into the asset (with normal work and commute and house renovation), I can't put a date on the release yet. I'm able to put 0-2 hours into the asset per day as it is now and in January I'll finally be able to dedicate 20-30 hours per week to asset development as I go down to 50% in my job as an IT consultant. I'm hoping to release the update around Christmas or in January if I was to guess.

    I'll release a minor update shortly to address some issues in 4.2 and 4.3, namely:

    * Asteroids not rendering in build:
    It seems like when doing a Build in 4.2 with asteroids results in no asteroids being rendered if they are configured to fade in/out. It works in the editor, but compile will keep opacity at 0. For the time being, this can be worked around by disabling Fading asteroids on the AsteroidField prefab.

    * Planets may flicker in certain angles:
    This has to do with range of the Point Light of local stars. You can manually fix this by changing the range of the point light of local stars and lower it from 100000 to 20000. On my rig it takes away any issues. It's odd because going from 3.5.x to 4.0 I had to reduce the distance from "Infinity" to 100000 - and with 4.2 it seems like it needs reducing further. Hopefully it's not a trend that continues.

    Thanks for your patience guys.
     
  3. Ruggedlegs

    Ruggedlegs

    Joined:
    Sep 13, 2012
    Posts:
    8
    No problem, I'm the same, balancing new born baby, work and trying to create a game.

    Thanks for the reply on the ETA, I'll probably still hold off, lots of behind the scenes unexciting gamelogic rubbish I can be doing in the meantime!

    Thanks again.
     
  4. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    I've uploaded a minor update to fix some 4.x warnings, flickering atmospheres, and a problem with fading asteroids not appearing in builds.

    $Custom-Sale.jpg

    The asset is also on SALE for $40 (was $85) for a limited period of time so grab it while there's a discount: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/7095

    Meanwhile I'm working away on the big update, hopefully to be released in January or February.
     
  5. shwa

    shwa

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2012
    Posts:
    461
    Upcoming features look great.
    Are we going to be able to land on a planet and move around on it?

    tx.
     
  6. dreamlarp

    dreamlarp

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Posts:
    854
    Ok you got me I just could not wait till the new update. I just bought this kit..
     
  7. dreamlarp

    dreamlarp

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Posts:
    854
    Looking through the kit I would like to suggest a feature.
    Add to the editor the ability to add a prefab to be spawned randomly throughout the scenes so we could add things like man made space objects like space stations or mobs like enemy ships ect..
     
  8. crafTDev

    crafTDev

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2008
    Posts:
    1,820
    Can I use on mobile yet?
     
  9. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Thanks, it's on the list from before. In the new coordinate system you'll be able to use to tool to instantiate any prefab within the Planetary System coordinate system.

    It can be used on mobile but volumetric atmospheres are not supported and performance is not addressed in the current version, it's in the major release branch.
     
  10. crafTDev

    crafTDev

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2008
    Posts:
    1,820
    I don't need much from this besides just being able to have space background images that I can customize how I want. What is volumetric atmosphere and why would I need it, which I think I won't; I just want nice space like backdrops to put in game levels.
     
  11. Steve-Tack

    Steve-Tack

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2013
    Posts:
    1,240
    If you're OK with having static skyboxes and you have Unity Pro, there's a way to can create six "snapshop" images of any scene that can be used to make a skybox. So you can set up whatever background scene you want with "Space for Unity" and convert it to a pre-calculated skybox. My game isn't geared toward mobile, but having traditional skyboxes fit better with how I'm rendering things. I can post the details if you're interested; it was surprisingly easy to do.

    I would think that's what you want for mobile. I was originally thinking of pushing my game to OUYA, and the normal Space for Unity technique of laying a bunch of stuff was too much for it. But after baking a scene to a traditional skybox and using that instead, it was 100% smooth. I'd guess that would be a similar situation on mobile.
     
  12. crafTDev

    crafTDev

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2008
    Posts:
    1,820
    Unfortunately I don't have Unity Pro so the above might be out of question. Thanks for trying to help though.
     
  13. LaneFox

    LaneFox

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2011
    Posts:
    7,462
    Is there a workaround for the depth issue with using Deferred rendering mode?
     
  14. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Yes - it requires Pro. How many scenes do you need to use in your game? If you want I may be able to bake them to skyboxes for you for the time being. In development I have now reduced drawcalls for the static stars to 1 (from 6) and nebulas can be combined to an atlas which also reduces the number of calls for nebulas to 1... But there is a side effect, for mobile where this is especially needed Unity will not compress the atlas texture as it was created during runtime so it consumes A LOT of VRAM instead - very frustrating.

    No workaround that I have been able to find yet I'm afraid.
     
  15. LaneFox

    LaneFox

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2011
    Posts:
    7,462
    Man thats a bummer. I know it's been an unaddressed issue for like 4 years so it's not really your problem but being stuck in Forward sucks.
     
  16. LaneFox

    LaneFox

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2011
    Posts:
    7,462
    I did some testing and it looks like whats failing to work is the Space Scene Camera.

    So I made a new camera like the space camera, setup the rotation to follow the Main Camera and the scene renders fine in Deferred.

    *edit*
    its broke again, I dunno wtf is going on, totally just works fine half the time and breaks for no reason.
    http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/21...ltiple-Cameras-producing-inconsistent-results

    *edit again*
    It's borked because of something unrelated, you can use Deferred fine with the multiple camera setup but it might break down in Deferred because of some bugs with shaders and post effects not playing nice. Those problems are not evident in Forward mode or in either mode if you're using only one camera.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2013
  17. dreamlarp

    dreamlarp

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Posts:
    854
    Any idea on the update timing?
     
  18. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Seems really odd that it behaves differently. I have Pro now but with the lack of anti-aliasing support in deferred I didn't look much at it (not sure if anti-aliasing is now supported.) I hope someone with more knowledge about deferred and post shading effects may be able to help. May I ask what your main purpose of choosing deferred lighting is?
     
  19. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    The new year is here and I'm dropping to 50% in my day job (whee!) so I can focus some solid days on development now. I'm hoping to release something in February!
     
  20. LaneFox

    LaneFox

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2011
    Posts:
    7,462
    Real time Shadows on Point Lights.
     
  21. dreamlarp

    dreamlarp

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Posts:
    854
    Perfect timing, second week of Jan we are getting the ground levels done and setup. I was hoping you have make the multiplayer and other updates by Feb.
     
  22. Planerunner

    Planerunner

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2013
    Posts:
    2
    After watching several of the asset and tutorial videos, I've got a couple of questions about the asset before I plunk down and buy it:

    1) I'd like to put in some of my own custom meshes for planets. What I'm looking to do is make planets you can land on seamlessly. I've already got those from the Planetary Terrain asset (which does some interesting things with subdividing a cube to make a LOD sphere). I think, from the demo video, that SfU's planets are game objects. At least they appear under the Unity hierarchy pane in the demo video. Not sure how those work. Would it be possible to drag my own Planetary Terrain assets onto SfU's planet objects, and not have SfU's planets render?

    2) If #1 is true, is it possible to make PT work with the new double vector3 class you are using for the new update? Both of these assets each have their strengths, and I'm hoping I can use both of them together to make something interesting.

    Thanks for the great work you've dome so far. This asset is the best looking space asset I can find. Still trying to mix and match other assets with this to make it all do what I'm trying to do.
     
  23. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Thanks - here are answers to your questions:

    1) The planets in SfU are normal game objects but they are assigned to a layer which is only rendered by the dedicated Space camera. This camera renders everything first in order and provides a background to your main camera. You can assign any object to the dedicated space layer and it will be rendered by the camera just fine. The issue (I suspect) you will probably run into by rendering a PT planet is that since your spaceship and planets operate in two different coordinate systems it's necessary to address interaction between the two. For example, your spaceship may be at (XYZ) 5000,6000,7000 and be 100 units long whil the planet is at (XYZ) 20,30,50 and only 10 units in diameter - it looks right because the space camera is at 0,0,0 and rendered first. If you want to be able to interact with the planet (as a collider) that subdivides as you approach you may have to transition from a space camera render into your normal camera render at some point.

    2) Yes, the coming double vector3 class can be used by any object in space whether it is a huge object rendered by the space (background) camera or the main camera.
     
  24. DSebJ

    DSebJ

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2013
    Posts:
    101
    Really looking forward to this feature; I know it's not here yet but knowing it's coming is one of the main reasons I bought Space for Unity, that plus the beautiful backgrounds :)
     
  25. BuildABurgerBurg

    BuildABurgerBurg

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2012
    Posts:
    566
    Hello,

    I've just purchased this and have followed the instructions. but I'm having a problem with everything is smeared when moving the camera. Do you know what is causing this?

    Thanks
     
  26. dreamlarp

    dreamlarp

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Posts:
    854
    The planet packs on sale also!!! Must get today.
     
  27. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Are you using deferred lighting? That can cause such effect unfortunately. Also, make sure to use the empty template scene when you begin as that will ensure the camera depth and clear flags are configured correctly.
     
  28. dreamlarp

    dreamlarp

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Posts:
    854
    The planets ex-pack is fantastic. Thank you for another great asset.
     
  29. BuildABurgerBurg

    BuildABurgerBurg

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2012
    Posts:
    566

    Yes I'm using deferred lighting, is this asset not compatible with deferred lighting?
     
  30. Tairun

    Tairun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2014
    Posts:
    1
    I think the problem does NOT lie within the asset. The problem might origin from the culling masks used in conjunction with the camera in the spherical "skybox". If you read the Documentation about deferred shading/lighting/rendering (3rd paragraph), there is something mentioned about seing graphical artifacts. Don't know if this helps, but definitely check out the article.

    Greetings, Tairun

     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2014
  31. Lostlogic

    Lostlogic

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2009
    Posts:
    693
    Has anyone gotten the planet shader to work with Mobile (iOS7)? The PlanetSelfIllum shader has large black bands on my iPhone and iPad.
     
  32. GregMeach

    GregMeach

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2012
    Posts:
    249
    @imphy can we get an update on the update... Sure would be nice as a birthday present! :)
     
  33. runningbird

    runningbird

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2009
    Posts:
    382
    Any updates?
     
  34. Jacob-Williams

    Jacob-Williams

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2009
    Posts:
    267
    Hey imphy, I am really looking forward to the procedural stuff. Any ETA on when that is going to be ready?
     
  35. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Odd, I'm not sure why I don't receive updates when this thread has new posts - I keep getting notifications from other threads that I've been active in, but not for this one all the time.

    I've got another asset about to be released soon (not space related) that will hopefully assist to fund my asset work. I did drop down in time in my day-job to 50% only to have to go back up to 100% again as the other architect I'm working with left his position. I will reduce back to 50% in the end of June when they employ a new architect, just in time for our third child to arrive, haha. This means I'm still battling with time and I keep running into compatibility issues with the procedural stuff that I have to sort out before any release. If I don’t it would most likely generate a lot of support issues with a negative impact on the asset which I really want to avoid.

    At the same time I am realizing that time keeps passing by and I understand that many of you are eager for the features. I work on my assets in the late evenings and nights when I’m not working as a consultant, renovating the house or spending time with the children so I really appreciate your patience because I know I probably come across like an excuse-machine at the moment =)

    I will be going to GDC in San Francisco next week – are any of you going? I’d love to meet up and have a chat!
     
    Last edited: Mar 11, 2014
  36. Steve-Tack

    Steve-Tack

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2013
    Posts:
    1,240
    Just knowing that the procedural features are still even on the table brought a smile to my face. Not having those features is not holding me back, and I can produce an initial version of my hobby space game without them. But those features sure would open up a lot of exciting opportunities. I can only speak for myself, but an occasional update that simply mentions that the procedural planets and such are still "a thing" coming someday means a lot, even just to verify that you haven't abandoned that idea.
     
  37. NandusMasta

    NandusMasta

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2011
    Posts:
    63
    You can also speak for me in that regard, I feel the exact same way about all of it. Any news is good news.
     
  38. ChrisMaster

    ChrisMaster

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2013
    Posts:
    87
    The search system is bit weak here on unity forum. That is why I will ask, are all graphics provided with asset free to use in commercial product(of course after buying the asset)?
     
  39. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Hello - you can use the graphics as you wish in commercial games and applications. If you decide to use textures of planets, stars, and nebulas separately to suit your needs that is fine too. (The limitation is that you can't create and sell an asset or similar tool with the graphics that in turn would be used by other developers to create games.)
     
  40. ChrisMaster

    ChrisMaster

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2013
    Posts:
    87
    thanks for the info :) waiting for sale :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2014
  41. ChrisMaster

    ChrisMaster

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2013
    Posts:
    87
    Its on sale, nice :). Just before I buy, I have a question, will this work with ortographic man camera? And can I rotate the background sphere (I am doing 2,5d space shooter).

    Thanks for the replay.
     
  42. dreamlarp

    dreamlarp

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2011
    Posts:
    854
    I know it has been some time but do you have any progress on the features you where working on?
     
  43. imphenzia

    imphenzia

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Posts:
    413
    Yeah, on sale for a while =) It's not really designed for ortographic so it would require some tweaking. For top down / 2.5D it may be better to use the nebula and star textures on flat quad polygons and pan them as parallax layers instead. Some users have used it successfully by rotating the space sphere for 2.5D games though, but not in orthographic I believe.

    Hi, after releasing the work in progress in November I noticed potential in the asset store with a multi-genre sound effects pack so I put a lot of time and effort into creating and releasing that asset while the opportunity was there. It has a wider target audience than SPACE so I am hoping it can help fund me spending more time with assets. Now that sound effects pack (Universal Sound FX) has been released so I can share my time between SPACE and USFX again. I also ended up having to go back to full time in my day-job as a guy left so I'm covering a 150% workload at the moment, until august... life always seems to throw challenges =) In short, no ETA I'm afraid. I probably should have kept quiet about updates because I wasn't aware of the complexity and challenges it would entail. So, I'll keep hacking away as much as I can!
     
  44. ChrisMaster

    ChrisMaster

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2013
    Posts:
    87
    imphy thank you for your replay. I made it to work :) needed some tweaking but its working 95% :)
     
  45. huxley

    huxley

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2009
    Posts:
    334
    I was planning on using your system for a VR rift build. Unfortunately, by using camera space skyboxes, this does not play so well with the dual camera system that VR uses. Would there be any way to fix the skybox so that each camera renders out the same result?
     
  46. themrcul

    themrcul

    Joined:
    May 30, 2014
    Posts:
    1
    Hi Huxley,
    I just noticed in the release notes for Unity 4.5:
    Fixed Skybox rendering when using custom camera projection matrices (e.g. when doing stereo rendering like Oculus Rift).

    Does this fix the problem for you? I don't have an Oculus so I can't test...
     
  47. Weltista

    Weltista

    Joined:
    May 6, 2014
    Posts:
    9
    Hi imphy,

    First of all, thank you for this great asset. It helps me a lot with my project. I'd like to particularly note the excellent documentation and tutorials -- very thorough and detailed.

    I've got this question though -- I'm thinking of migrating to linear color space mode from gamma in unity. Straightforward switching of color modes yields some unpleasant results in your scenes (see attached).

    ColorSpace-GammavsLinear2.jpg


    Maybe you can give some advice regarding steps that should be taken to get the result similar to one achieved in gamma, in linear color space? Thanks.
     
  48. DocEvil

    DocEvil

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2014
    Posts:
    3
    Hi all,

    I just recently started my Unity-carreer and I am now stuck in programatically creating/modifying the prefabs from the kit.

    I am able to load and display a prefab that i created with the space kit editor and saved in my resources.

    What I am not able to do is (eg):
    - Adding an Asteroid field to a scene and manipulating it's paramters (size, roid count)
    --> Do i have to create an asteroid field prefab for each parameter setting i intend to use in game?

    - Adding a planet and change its texture or adding a textureless PlanetHighPoly-Prefab and then applying textures to it.

    I can't seem to find ways to generically create scenes on runtime :-( My overall approch is to create a procedural universe on runtime and "translate" the generates objects (eg. SolarSystem with Sun(s), Planets, Moons, AsteroidFields and so on) during runtime in Scenes.

    Can someone please point me in the right direction?
    Thanks!
    Malte
     
  49. JPOnion

    JPOnion

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2014
    Posts:
    7
    I hate to be "that guy", but it's been a few months now since the thread has really had an update. Are there any updates? I understand you have a lot of other commitments (3 kids, wow! and congrats :) ) but I'm really antsy about what I saw of the new major update. It's *exactly* what I need for the game I'm working on.

    Update or no, the asset as is is already amazing.
     
    runningbird likes this.
  50. Binary42

    Binary42

    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2013
    Posts:
    207
    Hey Steve, i would be interested in how you do it the painless way :)
    Atm i use a custom inverted Box that uses one cross-texture ( 1 drawcall instead of 6 ) that i bake in max. But its a lot pixelpushing to get it right.