Graphics [HDRP-UPR ✅] Sky Master ULTIMATE-Physical skybox-Volume clouds-Weather FX-Ocean-Realtime GI-Mobile

UPDATE:

A few of the features planned after the v3.0 release, for v3.x cycle
- Starfield shader
- Local foggy lights and dynamic sunbeams
- FFT Waves option for faster systems
- Full Buoyancy system (wave height sampling is already done and buoyancy script adapted from my 2D water and works great, but will need extra tweaking so will come in v3.1)
- Extra layer of liquids running on the screen/window rain effect
- River creation with splines and flowmap usage
- Local water waves and splashes
- Complete mobile setup, accessible through the new configurator

 

Sky Master v3.0 and InfiniGRASS video

 

UPDATE:

Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0 beta hotfix v3.0.2

- Increased speed of water style shift and added control
- Fixed issue with Volume Clouds not grabbing Moon direction when Grab Sun Color is disabled
- Added option to only grab Y height of waves in wave height calculator and more precision
- Added option to control sky brightness, for pitch black nights

To do:

- Parent camera to boat as option
- Add sound control for sea
- Reflection controls
- Lake water preset
- Wavy water preset
- Add GUI controls for in game control and demos
- Add gradual addition of sky parts (e.g. have cloud options appear only after sky has been added etc)
- Add Red sun preset to sky library.
- Rain shader controls for sizing
- Add control for extra tiling of caustics (shader control, besides the current projector control)
- Add foam controls
- Add option for allow sun burn, otherwise cut cloud density back to normal to avoid the effect

 

WIP on the new sample scene / demo for Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0

I decided to take the wave height calculations a bit further and provide a first sample of the ocean use. There is a lot more to be done for this in v3.1 and v3.x cycle, so this is just a very first implementation and much more will follow on that aspect after v3.0 release.

I will post a webplayer with the demo early next week and include it in v3.0.2 hotfix for the beta.

 

The Beta for Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0 is available for download for all Sky Master ULTIMATE users.

Please let me know with a PM if you would like to participate in the beta.

Currently i am working on v3.0.2 hotfix for the beta and the final demo for the release.

 

Multiple objects cast on water, impact and water attachment

Please if you like the pack, when possible, leave a review for the v3.0 beta so i can work much faster on upcoming updates.
As i am a one man team, reviews help a lot in keeping the developement for packs full time and delivering extra features much faster.
Thanks a lot in advance for any reviews for the packs.​

 

UPDATE:

Local lights support has been added to the Ocean/Water shader and will be inlcuded with v3.0.

 

Sky Master ULTIMATE is in lower price until v3.0 is released.

Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0 is still under beta, make sure to grab the asset while in the current lower price !!!

 

UPDATE:

The volume cloud motion can now be decoupled from the performance system and the cloud motion can be 100% smooth for much better result in faster wind.

I will have this option enabled by default, as the performance is about the same and motion is much smoother.

Thanks everyone for bringing all the various beta issues into my attention and i will try to address everything for the final v3.0 release.

 

Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0.2 beta video, extended workflow, water depth manipulation for shores, new smooth cloud motion. Soon to be available for download

Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0 Beta and v3.0.1 update are available immediately to all current Sky Master users in dropbox

In the video the boat height is calculated with the system before the shore edge lowering system is applied (new system i made yesterday), so it may seem strange (boat goes up/down a lot in low waves), and i also show how to get the shore edge (still WIP) and how the actual waves are before the lowering is applied.

I am not yet sure if i will have the boat calculations for shore height in v3.0 yet, but i will have it in v3.1 for sure.

Sky Master ULTIMATE is in lower price until v3.0 is released !!!

 

Two things before I purchase it:
1) Performance on mobile? Version 3 seems to be extremely heavy for mobile systems.
2) Volumetric fly-through clouds are not very helpful demo. The problem is that you don't roll on your demos, you only go up/down left/right but I need to roll like an airplane. Most crappy cloud systems I've seen are just particles and the clouds will roll so it will look like the whole cloud is rotating with you. Basically it destroys the fly-through feeling. Does your rotate properly or you are just hiding that? Because you never roll on any of your demos and that wouldn't make the clouds fly through.

 

1) I have not tested on mobile, i can say that the sky is very fast and uses shader only in skybox, so no extra spheres etc for max performance. The volume clouds are generally heavy, but if there is no wind could be used on mobile as well, on stronger systems. Note that the new cloud shader is SM3.0, so mostly the v2.x volume clouds would be compatible.

The shade based cloud dome should be much lighter and probablt a good fit for mobile, probably used with a few particle clouds as well.

2) The system uses particle clouds and they indeed roll when camera rolls. This is happening with all particles in Unity and the system was always labeled as particle volume clouds.

I do have an experiemental roll lock mode, that has some other limitations (e.g. looking at clouds from ground up can cause some instant flickering) but it stabilizes the roll in general, so you can program your plane to not use such angles and get a steady game without resorting to DX11 and extremely heavy techniques that can create true volumes.

The other standard way to handle the roll, is to use smaller particles with even shape and roll fast enough so the roll effect on particles is unoticable.

I will post a video of both modes and limitations asap, with roll and other possible moves

 

yeah, if you make your particles almost circular you won't notice the rolling as much but that's a really bad trick (and obvious). Locking the rotation is a possibility. I've done something similar with the billboarded trees. You can definitely do something like that. I'll wait for the video to see how you handle it and then decide about the purchase. It's pretty expensive asset and my game is an airplane game so the clouds working properly is a vital thing.

 

If the game uses a plane, i would recommend the DX11 system to get perfect rolls. But if you need more platforms and good performance i dont think anything less will work.

Here is a video of the current system (it can probably get more stable with more tweaking), starts with normal billboards, which can look good if speed of roll is high enough (note that the cloud texture and size is not optimized for such use) and then i use the stabilize roll mode that turns from billboards (sorted) to vertical billboards and back again.

The roll is more stable in general if you dont look up where clouds change back to billboards and also the flip effect in the middle ground can be lessened by using smaller particles (flips from the camera facing billboard to the vertical one).

I will be working more on this mode for the v3.x cycle, so hopefully will get even better and i may have a cloud set specifically made ready for such use as well.

 

A few more videos of the WIP

Rain in water

Shore line blending and no blending for waves

Sky Master ULTIMATE is in discounted price until v3.0 is released !!!

The v3.0 Beta is available to all current Sky Master ULTIMATE users, on PM request.

 

how does the water perform on mobile? also would it be possible to turn off those big waves? the problem is that they are so symmetric I think it would be better without them. Just a slight movement would much better than seeing straight horizontal lines across the whole ocean. Another option would be if you could make waves less obvious on the center and more obvious as they approach the shore. That way if you put a lake that's a bit big, it won't be as bad (it looks really bad with those horizontal wave lines)

 

The horizontal lines are just one option, there are multiple wave configurations and extra waves that can be activated for variety

I have not tested the water on mobile, i will do so later and post results, this will be after v3.0 release though

The wave height is fully adjustable as well, for all waves (also frequency, direction etc)

I also now have a system to render the terrain depth and adjust the shader by it, so it is possible to enchance waves in middle and lower where land meets the water surface

 

Some of the wave and shore edge blend settings

 

I would like to know about mobile as well before I buy, on the same questions. Thanks.

 

yep, I mostly develop for mobile so it's the most important aspect for me. If it doesn't run smooth on mobile I just can't use it. I prefer no 3d waves or slight waves if that speeds it up. Also it should compare to the existing water asset from unity, which already has waves/shorelines... what's better on this water and what's the performance comparison?

 

I will be doing some tests and provide comparissons as soon as possible. I am doing the final tweaks for v3.0 and after these are all in, then i can compare Unitys water with my system and also check for the mobile performance with the final complete system.

Since everything is still WIP, this will take a bit to get the accurate comparisson with the finilized shader with all features, but not much as i am nearing the end of v3.0 beta and most features are already in.

 

thanks for the fast reply.. I will wait to buy until I see the results.

 

Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0 BETA is available for all Sky Master ULTIMATE users !!!

I can send the current beta version immediately upon PM request and the new v3.0.2 version will soon be available also, with many more enchancements.

 

I just got a new cellphone, that is much faster than my previous one (very low price again, but newer tech), and the old sky master demo works great on it, so i suppose will do fine even with volume clouds on a better mobile or a gaming mobile. I will be testing the new demo soon for the water etc and provide results as soon as possible.

 

Here is also some videos with the Unity airplane controller, showing cloud fly through. The camera controller does not yet support hard camera rolls though, so the rotation is not evident (this could be an approach too, have the camera more stabilized so rotation is less evident for example). I will also include a demo with the airplane in v3.0 release and the new beta (v3.0.2)

 

Pics from the new v3.0.2 demo

 

Lake mode has now been added and extra control over reflection power and color has been added to the Sky Master configurator for easy control of the effect.

Sky Master ULTIMATE is on discounted price until v3.0 release !!!!
Make sure to grab the asset before the behemoth v3.0 update arrives at the store.
The v3.0 beta is available on PM request to all Sky Master ULTUMATE users.

If you like the pack, please remember to leave a review to help me with keeping the asset development at highest priority and work on the cool updates faster. Thanks a lot in advance for any reviews !!!!

 

Thanks. It looks pretty neat. Just wondering how efficient this is on mobile. I wrote my own system years ago which I still use on the game www.dogfightplay.com

I'm looking into improving the cloud system, so if I don't have to rewrite it myself and yours works fast, I'm a buyer.

 

I will make sure to do some tests on the new mobile i just got and see what can go in for mobile and performance. This is an entry level non gamign mobile, so if it runs there well should be fine for gaming ones.

I tried the previous demo and is working very well, so i will be doing it for v3.0 too and see what works and how fast, soon after iupload the v3.0.2 beta

I can also send this .apk demo for Android so you can get a first idea of the current version performance on your target system

 

UPDATE:

A few more fixes for the v3.0.2 beta

- Fixed flickering sky at night, in sky preset 9
- Fixed small issue with moon light rotation giving a slightly wrong angle in the water specular
- Added control of cloud size (overall size, particle size also has a separate control)

 

Lake water preset in Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0



Sky Master ULTIMATE is on discounted price until v3.0 release !!!!
Make sure to grab the asset before the behemoth v3.0 update arrives at the store.

The v3.0 beta is available on PM request to all Sky Master ULTIMATE users.

If you like the pack, please remember to leave a review to help me with keeping the asset development at highest priority and work on the cool updates faster. Thanks a lot in advance for any reviews !!!!

 

Hi,

I think i have just managed to stabilize the particles perfectly and now camera roll is possible without any limitation. I will do a few more tests to make sure everything works ok in all situations and will have this system in the coming v.3.0.2 beta.

 

UPDATE:

The new particle rotation lock is working for all cases, besides the case where the airplane falls from very high towards the clouds in a steep angle (or comes up from very low) and rotates at the same time. This causes the clouds to rotate and/or flip momentarilly, so the controls in these approach angles must be made in such a way to avoid the very steep angles and make the approach more gradual/angled. With this limitation, the clouds are now perfectly stable and do not in general rotate when the camera rolls.

I will post a demo with the current progress soon, to evaluate the new stabilization possibilities.

I have also tested the water-sky-volume clouds on my new non gaming Android and everything works and performance seems good with some skips when looking at many clouds (my phone is non gaming though and basic model), and i can also provide the demo on PM request to gather more input on its performance from other devices.

This is an unoptimized version of the system, with lots of cloud particles and higher end water (disabled reflection), so there is still room for a lot of optimizations, but i would like to get some impressions on this demo to know whether it can run well on some devices with these settings (as my phone is an entry level and non gaming one)

I can send this first Android demo immediately, please send me a PM request and i will provide a link.

 

UPDATE:

I also have two extra older demos for mobile, so there is a total of 3 demos available for download on PM request.

Any help on gauging the performance on stronger mobiles will be extremely appreciated

 

UPDATE:

The new version 3.0.2 Beta is almost ready and i am doing the manual, so the download will be available very soon.

The new version has a big number of enchancements, a new shore line system, new smooth wind motion in clouds, all clouds are now affected by wind and there are two new demos, one with an airplane to showcase the new camera roll stabilized volume cloud particles system and an ocean demo to showcase the endless ocean option and boat / floating objects system.

 

Calm Lake preset video

Sky Master ULTIMATE is on discounted price until v3.0 release !!!!
Make sure to grab the asset before the behemoth v3.0 update arrives at the store.

The v3.0 beta is available on PM request to all Sky Master ULTIMATE users.

If you like the pack, please remember to leave a review to help me with keeping the asset development at highest priority and work on the cool updates faster. Thanks a lot in advance for any reviews !!!!

 

Lake video

Many more options have now been added to the volume cloudsfor v3.0.2, smoother color grading, smooth motion, performance controls, differential motion for variety and cyclone effects, fade in/out controls and much more.

The manual is also ready and i am doing the final checks and refinements for the v3.0.2 beta release, which will be the final beta version.

 

New Features in Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0​

Ocean - Water system
- New water system, for spectacular bodies of water, with full underwater emulation (fog, caustics, fish, sun filtering/beams)
- Reflection and refraction support
- Foam and shore edge detection
- Many presets that cover anything from ocean water to forest ponds.
- Extremely fast GPU based water
- Wave height calculator with boat and floating objects sample (full buoyancy system will come in v3.1)
- Tile based system for easy adjustement of water to various areas (infinite ocean and LOD support will come in v3.x cycle as well)
- Option to have water follow the hero, for endless ocean emulation
- Shore line wave height modulation, for realistic shores
- Local point light support
​

Volume clouds
- Volume clouds LOD system (near and far, reduces overdraw, especially useful for 1080p resolution and mobile)
- Volume clouds fade in/out for gradual appearance and sound (rain, thunder etc) fades
- Volume cloud fix (white cloud appeared when particle count was not divided exactly by cloud center count)
- New volume cloud shader with scatter effect for realism, new realistic presets
- Volume cloud vertical formation, for more variety in cloud bed arrangement
- Height based particle coloration (to emulate the effect of shadow on lower cloud layers)
- Big number of new presets and samples that showcase all the new features
- Point light interaction with volume clouds, for use with lightning
- Accumulation option, for thicker cloud formations.
- Smooth cloud motion and wind emulation
- Camera roll particle stabilization system, for hard rolls without particle rotation (few limitations only when plane comes down from very high up with a straight down angle)

Lightning
- New dynamic lightning system, with extra detailed branches and complete randomization
- New glow effect

Moon phases
- New shader based moon phase system, with multiple options for total control
- Optional moon coloration for red moon style etc
- Automatic per month and year moon phasing changes (not accurate system, emulates a shift during the month)

Latitude / Longitude based Sun Positioning
- New system to position sun based on time of day and geographic coordinates. This system can be used as an extra option to the default system where sun Y & Z position are user defined for versatility.
- Integration of all systems with the new TOD system (e.g. water, clouds, fog)

Snow
- New snow and mud puddle shader, for meshes and Unity terrain, SM2.0 and SM3.0 varieties
- Gradual snow appearance and melt away controls, integration with InfiniGRASS, Unity and SpeedTree trees and billboards, meshes etc

Liquids
- New water drops on camera shader, with refraction and water drop motion
- Screen freeze effect also integrated

Volume Lit particles
- Particle shader that receives light (directional and point/spot light)
- SM2.0 base (directional) for full compatibility
- Optimized for speed
- Atomic bomb example (bonus)

Shader Based Cloud Dome
- More realistic shader based dynamic cloud dome added, for emulation of higher clouds, above the volumetric cloud bed.
- Replaces the texture based cloud dome that was available from the initial Sky Master release
- Artistic features like glow and special motion blending

Sky Master Editor - Configurator - Library
- Global configurator of Sky Master prefabs and automation of prefab creation
- Particle scaler included and automated scaling (particles etc) for the whole prefab (particle scaler can be used as stand alone too)
- Library of ready to use volume clouds, sky moods, effects etc, all one click away and with preview images
- Global modifier controls to alter the environment look easilly

Volume Weather
- New Volume Weather module, that uses the volumetric clouds and fog for most realistic weather effects. Inner cloud lighting for lightning is just one of the many new posibilities.
- New refractive rain and splashes for even more realism
- New system to define weather patterns, per season with weather events
- Integration of the module with the configurator for easy weather event assignment
- Integration with the snow and ocean-water systems

New Airplane - Boat demo mini games
- Airplane demo, that showcases the new volume cloud shaders, stabilization system, soft cloud system for terrain integration and smooth look in intersection of clouds and airplane in the fly through.
- Boat demo, showcasing the new water system, wave height calculations, boat motion based on wave direction, floater system, underwater features and shore line wave adjustements. Also the new volumetric weather system (heavy storm, snow, rain).

 

UPDATE:

The final demo for Sky Master ULTIMATE v3.0 is now almost ready and all refinements have gone in the system.

I will release the demo soon (together with the airplane demo).

The v3.0.2 beta will also be availble very soon.

I am also uploading a few videos to show the new demo, so these will come in a few minutes

 

New demo videos (WIP)

 

UPDATE:

The demo is now ready and i will upload it and post links soon. The final beta will also be available for download soon after the demo is out.


Sky Master ULTIMATE is on discounted price until v3.0 release !!!!
Make sure to grab the asset before the behemoth v3.0 update arrives at the store.

The v3.0 beta is available on PM request to all Sky Master ULTIMATE users.

If you like the pack, please remember to leave a review to help me with keeping the asset development at highest priority and work on the cool updates faster. Thanks a lot in advance for any reviews !!!!

 

UPDATE:

A new feature has been added the system for v3.0.2 beta, the correct sun positioning based on latitude/longitude and time of day.

I decided to delay the beta a few days to have this system in, as it affects a lot of other systems which i would like to be ready for such use in v3.x cycle, i think this will pay off as it expands the sun system a lot and offers a first step towards a 100% realistic sky positioning.

This new system will be available as an option and the current system will remain the default, the current one offers control over the sun motion, and the new system ties it to the earth position and time, when such functionality is needed.

In v3.x cycle both moon and stars will also get a perfect positioning calculation.

Another idea i have is modulate the volume fog by a height map texture, for more variety and better terrain adaptation (since i have the depth rendering system ready for the shore lines, and is easy to add a noise mode too), but this will probably come in v3.1 as it is a bit advanced and would delay the v3.0 release.

 

UPDATE:

The latidute/longitude system has now been extensively tested and is working perfectly, all other system have also been adapted to work depending on the sun angle.

Also i have added a soft particle factor to the volumetric clouds, so there is no more hard lines when the airplane goes through them. This new shader version can also be used when clouds meet the terrain, for a super smooth effect (and i plan to have a rolling fog mode based on this later as well).

I am now finilizing the airplane demo and adding a few more controls for the new TOD system option and the final beta should be ready this Monday.

 

Soft particles in clouds, fly trough in the new beta demo

 

Demo WIP for v3.0 (included in v3.0.2 beta)


Sky Master ULTIMATE is on discounted price until v3.0 release !!!!
Make sure to grab the asset before the behemoth v3.0 update arrives at the store.

The v3.0 beta is available on PM request to all Sky Master ULTIMATE users.

If you like the pack, please remember to leave a review to help me with keeping the asset development at highest priority and work on the cool updates faster. Thanks a lot in advance for any reviews !!!!

 

UPDATE:

Fixes for v3.0.3 hotfix (so far)

- All tag requirements have now been eliminated by default, if the more advanced systems are required, they must be defined at that point.
- Added a radial ocean script, this will be integrated in v3.1 in the system
- Added a Shift dawn option in the Inspector to make the sun go up earlier if needed.

I will post more as i get the enchancements - fixes done

 

Some pics with the new ocean planes, there is now options for condensed detail near the hero (like a projected grid)

 

Hi, this project looks cool and useful.
I'm impressed by mainy features, but I also watched some of your vids where we can see that the sun is flying under a stanger azimuth, as if we were at the exact equator. Is it possible to set up a european winter sun travel?
Also, you make a heavy use of colors, ending in unexpected brown clouds... This might be of some heroic fantisay taste, but is possible to achieve something more realistic?

 

Extreme performance with endless ocean, shore line wave modulation, full reflections and much more (icluding wave height calculation for handling boats and floaters)

The cloud coloration is completly adjustable, in script and shader level. I use a bit vivid colors myself, but everything is fully customizable and in various ways. Also i have controls for real time color manipulation for some aspects, day time based coloration that assigns your choice of colors based on TOD and much more.

Same goes for water coloration. The system is made with full customization in mind, so i have all aspects available to change as desired.

I also have a system to position sun correctly based on geographics location (latitude/longitude) and time of day, so you can set specific places by lat/lon and emulate the correctsun position (in poles for example the system has to be set to around mid year to see day light and is always day during these months). Also this is an option, so if you later want to have customized control of the sun position, it can be disabled and rotate the sun around Y and Z manually (it is rotated in X by time of day automatically).

I also just added a special plane generator for the ocean, that creates a thicker plane grid near the hero, that gives a better result for the endless ocean case and solves the horizon issue and i will add this option in the Inspector before release as well.

Also the ocean is super fast, even with the coverage of the vast planes and all wave options, which is a major perk of the system.

Let me know for any further questions.

 

UPDATE:

The new wider ocean is now integrated as option in the Inspector and will be available for the v3.0 release, with scaling control to best fit the desired world scale.



Sky Master ULTIMATE is on discounted price until v3.0 release !!!!
Make sure to grab the asset before the behemoth v3.0 update arrives at the store.

The v3.0 beta is available on PM request to all Sky Master ULTIMATE users.

If you like the pack, please remember to leave a review to help me with keeping the asset development at highest priority and work on the cool updates faster. Thanks a lot in advance for any reviews !!!!