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

Discussion in 'Tools In Progress' started by nasos_333, Nov 1, 2014.

  1. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Hazy in Autumn (Plus sun flares)

    Effect gifs:






    UPDATE:


    Some more "Powered by Particle Dynamic Magic" effects have been added, now particles can follow the terrain and conform in various ways as they move around. Will be usefull for mist like effects or other options. This will also be combined with the volumetric handle script.

    I think i will use a "Powered by Particle Dynamic Magic" logo in the pack, since most of the coolest and dynamic effects are actually PDM scripts adapted for the specific use.
    .
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2014
  2. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Real time Tornado manipulation


    A gif showing the real time Tornado manipulation. The Tornado follows the manipulated cube.

    The lightning is also fully dynamic and strikes at specific targets, which can be any scene item. These targets may also propagate with chain lightning if other lightning receiving systems are near.

    .
     
  3. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:


    GI Proxy has been implemented and will be released along with the first version. This first release is the Ultimate version, with all the cool dynamic and GI effects available and will be named properly when the "core" version gets released later.

    The hero can also now move around and look at all directions. The new demo is also almost finished.
    .
     
  4. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Without GI Proxy

    With GI Proxy

    With GI Proxy (Close up)

    With GI Proxy (At another time stamp)


    UPDATE:

    Some pics with GI Proxy enabled (and one without, top pic).

    The sound effects for the demo have been finished as well and I am puting the final touches before release.
    .
     
  5. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Volumetric particle cloud


    Matching volumetric cloud with the skybox (skybox uses the clouds to the right, the dark grey and reddish area is the volumetric cloud, lit by the sun at dusk).

    UPDATE:


    Volumetric clouds code is now final and looks amazing, the effect looks great when going through the clouds and seen from any angle. The lighting is also much more spectacular than normal clouds.
    .
     
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  6. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    Some extra modes for scaling have been added to the Sky Shader, to cover more possible combinations and provide extra control. A stars system with particles is also in the making for the sky, besides the textured star dome and are already in synch.
     
  7. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    GI Option in the upcoming demo.

    More pics from the attrium and one from the 2ond floor.

    I have also added a "GI" option in the demo, to adjust the GI Proxy parameters and lights, for complete control of the demo features. The volumetric clouds will also get their own demo with a fly through later.

    The final demo will be released today or tomorrow the latest.
     
  8. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    I have noticed that the outside world has different rquirements in GI settings to be optimal and this will be work for a later update, the GI system will receive regions that will allow switching of settings to better handle the different cases.

    As the hero transitions from inside that more detail is required to the outside, GI can be handled by less and higher placed bounce lights for example. Since this will take some major decisions as to how to provide the area definitions, will come later to get it perfect and as user and scene friendly as possible.
    .
     
  9. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Sunset gif, Autumn season with falling leaves, reddish tint in trees/grass/ground, Tornados, falling leaves and Haze.

    Each parameter is changed automatically as seasons cycle.

     
  10. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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  11. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    The Sky Settings Catalog will soon come in PDF, so it becomes easier to get the proper settings for a specific sky look.
     
  12. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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  13. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    Many new features are already planned (or evaluated) and are WIP

    - On demand change of seasonal effects (for application out of season or to expand the current cycle)
    - More shader options on clouds for extra detail in lighting, distance based lightning for mesh particle clouds
    - Screen effects for Unity Free
    - Height Fog on terrain and horizon in Unity Free
    - Two or more sun mode.
    - Moon phases
    - Extra details on lightning rendering, more dynamic options
    - Collection of even more clouds types, cloud formations and tornado types.
    - More variety in weather changes within each season and a chance system for various phenomena
    - Rainbows
    - Volumetric clouds demo
    - Weather zones

    And that is only the beginning :). The goal with all the above is always to bring the coolest effects possible in Unity Free and Pro.

    Also i would love to see suggestions for more effects and weather systems, or options for skies.
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2014
  14. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    Volumetric clouds rolling down the mountain, lit by the sun and with local lights. From the volumetric cloud demo WIP.

    Lit by two local lights.

    Lit by the sun
     
  15. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Varying lighting on volumetric clouds, based on sun color, intensity and position
    .
     
  16. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    New mode has been added, on Demand smooth weather changes, some of the types i am working on are shown in the pic. There will also be special effects included, like make a volcano errupt. These will override the automatically applied seasonal effects.

    Rolling clouds will be using the volumetric particle cloud system.
     
  17. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:


    Most on demand weather transitions are done and the more complex ones are the current WIP, like the volcano.
     
  18. IanStanbridge

    IanStanbridge

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    Those lit volumetric clouds are impressive. I'm surprised you can do that with unity free. If you are targeting unity free though I would suggest you make a way for it to generate a skybox based on the enviroment without using render textures. Since you can assume that all users of unity free are likely to upgrade to unity 5 I think most enviroment lighting systems will want to work well with the standard pbr shaders in unity. They will only ever look right if the skybox includes the clouds you have generated. Perhaps since you don't have render textures and clouds and the sun move slowly you could just update the skybox fairly infrequently. Also you should add those volumetric effects to particle dynamic magic so you can create smoke and other effects with it like you have done for the volcano.
     
  19. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Volmetric cloud and fog particles in Sky Master (work in both Unity Free and Pro)






    UPDATE:
    Some pics of the volumetric fog in Unity Free,
    can be local or follow the hero and rolls on the ground, plus height is adjustable and many more options will be available.

    Nearly all on demand effects are now in place and will come in the first version as it seems, since the pack has not passed review yet.

    Thanks :)

    The volumetric system will indeed come to Particle Dynamic Magic, in v1.8. I would like to add many new samples with it as well.

    As for Unity 5, for now i have a system in place to render the skybox to a cubemap, to be used as needed. I do it in real time, but will be doing it in intervals later. Also this is the only feature that requires Unity Pro, later i will see if i can roll my own cubemap renderer in Unity Free.

    I have not tested it, but i suppose since this is a render from another camera, it could include anything that can be updated slowly enough, like the slower moving clouds etc as well as the sun and sky.

    When i finally have access to Unity 5 Free, i will see to how i could further enchance the systems to take advantage of it, will be a whole new round of work on the system for that specifically.
     
  20. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:


    The on demand Weather Transitions system and demo is ready and will be submitted with the initial version of the pack.

    Volcanos and Volume Fog are also included. All working in Unity Free.
     
  21. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    The pack with all the latest updates and extra features has been submitted to the store for review and will soon be released. The new Weather Transition manager and effects like errupting volcanos and volumetric fog have been added and a new demo is also available (link coming soon).

    Hopefully will be out on the store this week.
     
  22. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Dark Storm mode, for dim sunlit atmosphere
     
  23. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    Some of the WIP for the next update is an extremly cheap distributed volume cloud bed, with correct sun light. This will be a variant of the current flat cloud bed current effect, when more volume is needed in the clouds. Pics coming soon.
     
  24. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:


    The system of extremely optimized ONE DRAW CALL !!! Volumetric Clouds (working in Unity Free & Pro) is now ready.The clouds are correctly lit from the sun.

    There is some more work to be done to the lightning (to give extra volume based on sun distance and some more variance) and more tests to make sure it works fine in all situations, but the one draw call full volumetric cloud bed is nearly done and will come in the next version.

    These are all fully dynamic, moving volumetric clouds, to fly through as well as look at from any angle.

    Pics are from my 4 years old, non gaming laptop, using Unity Free. The number and density of clouds has zero impact in the draw calls !!!
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2014
  25. nasos_333

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    UPDATE:


    A small fly through gif (10 pics in succession), to show the volumetric effect. A demo will come soon as well.

    The effect is completly adjustable, clouds can move at varying speeds, the size of cloud particles, color intensity of the sun highlights and density can all be adjusted for various cloud formations and looks.

    A shadow casting and rain system to match the clouds is also in the works.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2014
  26. junglejapes

    junglejapes

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    This is friggin' amazing...
     
    nasos_333 likes this.
  27. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Thanks :)

    I have also made first progress on the sun beam system, for Unity Free always, which will also take into account the volumetric clouds

    I post some pics of the (still early) work to showcase the concept. The beams will be dynamic and follow the sun course, plus will interact with the cloud scape and colliders.

    I still have some issues with the correct rotation of the planes, so i may have to use cones or cylinders, but hopefully i can make it work with the quads for as low impact on performance as possible (or even provide 2-3 solutions depending on the case and accuracy vs performance needs)
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2014
  28. nasos_333

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    Draw calls reduced to just two for the whole system (one for the volume clouds and one for the beams). I will keep this as the base mode for ultra performance needs.
     
  29. nasos_333

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    UPDATE:


    A bit of an update on the release history, the pack was submitted in the 17th and resubmitted in the 20th and then again with more features in 24th.

    Hopefully it will be out today, otherwise early next week.

    If it does go to next week, i will try to have the volumetric one draw call cloud bed and sun beams integrated as well. Otherwise they will come in the next update that will be submitted next week.

    About the new systems, the volumetric clouds were integrated perfectly to the demo and now i am refining the dynamic nature and fit them in the day/night cycle. The sun beam system also works great and only needs more refinement in the scaling system.
     
  30. nasos_333

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    UPDATE:


    Sunbeams through clouds. This will be one of the modes (the fastest one), that does not do cut off based on cloud volume. Still it gives some very interesting results and is very fast, so i will keep this one as an option, even if beams may appear through some of the clouds.

    The second mode i am working on will cut beams if obscured by the cloud volume and the third mode will scale them for effects that need the extra detail and angle dependency.

    Of course the sky is the limit with the sun beam and cloud controls and effects, i have many more ideas i am exploring, like noise in sun beam texture and cloud motion.
     
  31. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    Some of the work in progress on the horizon.

    As a base i use a far larger than the main terrain mesh with mountains (generated from Unity Terrain with Terrain Composer). Also I am working on a shader to enable fog in that distant terrain, i have basic fog (height based) and now i am trying to expand the shader with more cool features, like a camera based fade out and noise.

    More blend features and option will also be considered for later updates to the pack.
     
  32. Frednaar

    Frednaar

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    look forward to it, great job indeed!

    parametric volumetric clouds means that one can generate any cloud formation by changing some parameters ?

    that would be great, and a webplayer demo even greater!
     
    nasos_333 likes this.
  33. nasos_333

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    Thanks :)

    The clouds are particle based, so essentially the level of control can be as much as the user wants. I will provide a first system with a fixed randomized formation in a specified volume, with parametric cloud number and motion. Then I plan to update with more formation styles and dynamic effects later.

    The spectrum of possibilities is very wide, so i will start with a basic system that gives the results shown in the pics/gifs and have proper motion and will enchance from there with more options later, in order to get each new effect as polished as possible.

    A demo will come as soon as i finilize the sun beams dynamics, so i can showcase the whole pack of clouds plus sun beams. There will be two demos, one will be the full Attrium scene with the clouds and hero on the ground and the other will have a fly through scene to showcase the volumetric nature of the effect better.

    Both will come sometime next week.
     
  34. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Getting out of near cloud occlusion

    UPDATE:


    The sun beams occlusion is now working and is optimized further.

    There is an issue with "WorldToScreenPoint" function, that returns a wrong number when i am in the cloud (as some of the points i check are behind the camera plane)

    I have not solved this yet, but i am sure i will find a workaround. Would be much easier if the function projected the behind the camera objects to the screen space though :), now i will have to add another solution when the camera is in the cloud.

    EDIT: Solved, i just checked if the camera is in the cloud when WorldToScreenPoint returns behind the camera numbers.

    Up to this point clouds and beams work with just one draw call each (two draw calls for the whole effect). The next step is to adjust beam size based on occlusion. If i use scaling, the beams will go to more than one draw call, so i will first examine if there is a way to avoid it.

    I would also love to see suggestions on that and how i could cut off the beams without introducing more draw calls.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2014
  35. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Scaling based beam occulsion

    UPDATE:


    The occlusion based on material and cloud volume has been finilized and now i am working on the beam scaling and collider based occlusion options. The scaling one is a bit tricky, since i have to do all cals from scratch, the collision should be straighforward.

    After these two extra options are finilied, i will export a demo to showcase the near final effect.
     
  36. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    The Raycast based beam occlusion is now finilized and i have also added an offset parameter to control the distance from the obstacle when hit on terrain for example (two different scales shown in the bottom pics for the same arrangement).
     
  37. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Cloud Volume Sun Beam occlusion

    Terrain Sun Beam Oclussion


    Pics from the Terrain and Cloud Volume Occlusion that complete the Sun Beams dynamic effect.
    .
     
  38. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    These are the demos that will come in the first version, showcasing the weather transitions and sky system. They dont include the new volumetric clouds and sun beams. These will come in v.1.2 release that will be submitted this week.

    The attrium demo contains a full scene with the Attrium (very unoptimized model and not optimized at all for games, but free), so it is to showcase the effects in a complex environment, but is not for showcasing the performance.

    The Weather demo does not contain the Attrium and showcases the Sky and weather performance better and also shows the latest "on demand transitions" system.

    Attrium Demo

    Weather Transitions Demo
    .
    The volumetric cloud bed and sun beams demo will follow soon after the first version has passed review and the update has been submitted. Hopefully tomorrow the pack will be on the store, the sumission was done in the 24th of November.
    .
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2014
  39. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    I am now finished with the Volumetric Cloud and Sun Beams system and wrote the manual as well.

    If the review is not done today, i may re-submit the pack with the v1.2 update and volumetric one draw call clouds and dynamic sun beams.

    There is a risk that this would reset the review process (started on 17th November, with a re-submission in 24th) and maybe there is an extra wait for a number of days if i do it, so i still have not decided what to do, any input on this would also be appreciated.

    Now i am working on a demo for the volumetric effects and one that will include them in the main demos.
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2014
  40. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    The first Volumetric Clouds demo is almost ready, i will put the final touches and release it asap

    I have the option to recreate the cloud bed on the fly as well as the fly though/around modes and sun rotation.
     
  41. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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  42. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    The v1.2 release is almost done, code cleaned up and i will put back to the main submission project today. If all goes well i will submit again with all the new cool volumetric and sun beam effects before the first review is done :)
    .
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2014
  43. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    The v1.2 of the pack has been submitted for review, the initial release will have the new one draw call Volumetric Clouds and Sun Beams systems.

    These are the two new demos and the updated versions of the previous ones:

    Volumetric Clouds Fly-through
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Sky Master/1/SKY MASTER 1.2 DEMO FLYTHROUGH.html
    Volumetric Clouds from Ground level
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Sky Master/1/SKY MASTER 1.2 DEMO WEATHER.html
    Weather Transitions
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Sky Master/1/SKY MASTER 1.1.2 DEMO WEATHER2.html
    Attrium demo, seasons and Global Illumination
    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/79230236/Sky Master/1/SKY MASTER 1.1.2 DEMO ATTRIUM2.html
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2014
  44. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    The new version 1.2 of the pack includes an alternative sky shader (SkyMasterShaderF_Textured.shader), that can use directly a texture for clouds or any other. Preferably the texture should not have sun information, since the sun/moon are created by the core scattering shader.

    The plan is to also allow animation of the texture layer in a later version, this should not be hard i guess, but I will have to perfect it before release.

    I am also checking the option to have two suns, since the moon could be manipulated to become a 2ond sun, this will be added as a demo in the next update as well.
    .
     
  45. John-G

    John-G

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    Is there an option for those that have your GI pack already to get the ultimate edition?
     
  46. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    The pack is starting at half price, so essentially GI Proxy is free for the first customers. The plan is to later release a 35$ version that will not include the GI Proxy (and maybe some other features) and this first edition will be 60-70$ and be the "Ultimate" version.

    So this first version is the ultimate edition, it will get the complete SkyMaster updates and systems and is a gift to all early supporters.The value of the pack would be about 200$ if all systems that will go in are considered individually (GI Proxy, Particle Dynamic Magic systems like Turbulence, Ice propagation, Weather & Volumetrics, Sky system etc).

    The 35$ will stay for a few days, i may extend it a bit depending on how the pack does.
     
    John-G likes this.
  47. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Sky Master WIP integration in my RPG


    I have just finished the integration of the system in my RPG and is looking great. During the integration i added some extra color options to better control time of day coloring for clouds and all updates have been submitted in the upcoming version.

    I will post a series of pics in my RPG thread using the system later.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2014
  48. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    Pics from the system integrated in my RPG



    UPDATE:
    New features planned for the next update:

    - Shader based flat cloud bed dome, to emulate flat clouds without (or together with) particles
    - Many more options in volumetric cloud formations, more variance in shaping, motion and dynamics
    - More control options for fog
    - Option to have two suns at the same time

    These are the priorities for now, the list will grow as each of these is finished
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2014
  49. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    Some extra controls in the fog handling and transition speed have been added to the new submission. Hopefully the pack will be reviewed this week and be soon at the store.

    These new options allow the complete control of fog transitions, in case the in game time needs to be adjusted beyond the pre-defined value.


    Features planned for the next update:

    - Volumetric clouds will have local shadow, rain and lightning systems
    - More detailed lightning effect, with smaller line rendered based emissions from thecurrent effect
    - Shader based flat cloud bed dome, to emulate flat clouds without (or together with) particles
    - Many more options in volumetric cloud formations, more variance in shaping, motion and dynamics
    - More control options for fog
    - Option to have two suns at the same time
    .
     
  50. nasos_333

    nasos_333

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    UPDATE:

    The sun beam system will also be available later for any light source, so there can be dynamic light beams in Unity free by point and spot lights as well. I will release a demo as soon as the system is ready to handle the various sources.