Full sized planets for Unity3D -- interesting?

Yeah sure Imerso, more than happy to help get this working properly on Mac and PC.. Send away..

Just a note.. I am using Unity Pro 3.4 for the testing

 

Bump

 

Hi psyclone, this is most probably to happen this weekend, when I'll be working on fixing issues and hopefully adding the atmospheres.

Thanks,

imerso

 

Totally worth solution for me, thanks again imerso .

 

Hey Stellar, very thank you for your support.

I will be installing a simple forum where I'll post some tips about the code (some are already here in this thread), how to get more speed, how to change some things according to your tastes, etc.

I ask all who are supporting the extension to remember that it's a preliminar release for you to have immediate access so you can already start playing with it, but there is a lot of enhancements to follow soon.

Of course all you who bought will get it first hand and always with full source.

Thanks to all!

imerso

 

Disabling Physics in Unity actually improves performance a lot, specially when you use more than "low" mesh settings. There is that another tip to increase responsiveness posted recently here in this thread. I will collect tips and post to a simple forum very soon.

Also, some of you may find the C++ version is available as well, just in case.

[]s

 

This is definitely very interesting looking. We will keep this in mind for an upcoming project! Nice work!

 

Hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of quick questions (I think other users will eventually have them anyway):

- Can you place items on the generated planets (trees, buildings), and can you do it manually or is it done proceduraly?
- How are you dealing with floating point precision issues (large scale -> jittering)?
- Can you "walk" on the planets (e.g. fly out to it, spawn a first person player)?
- How much control do we have over the planet's appearance (completely procedural, partially, can we sculpt terrain, change materials etc)?

Looking good, I flew around the demo a bit at work, fun stuff!

 

Currently with a few lines of code it is possible to place itens procedurally. Currently there is no efficient way to place items through the editor.

A first providence is already in place, another one that will almost completely eliminate any imprecisions will take place in the finished version.

Yes.

Manual editing is not the focus, so features like editing by hand are not available. There is a way to affect the shape of the terrain to resemble a country etc, but not sculpting by hand.


Thanks,

imerso

 

If you run your game with Wysiwyg on, the planet is currently totally buggy. Not sure if Edit-Mode and Wysiwyg should even be included in the final release because at first they were used just for debugging purposes.

Also, some may have noticed that only Turbulence and Ridged noise are currently implemented, the other are in the list but doing nothing at all.

We need another thread or a forum at etereo.com.br, I guess.

 

Is there up to-date unity test demo showing this in effect that I can try out the new version on?

 

I can't find it on the asset store, what's it called, searching "Full sized planets" could not find it

 

Just remembering:


This will include full source-code and priced at about USD 150.00 in the Asset Store. But will be submitted to the Asset Store only when complete and polished.

For those who *really* believe in my word when I say that it's still unfinished but really close now, is is available right now, with full but incomplete source-code (although already functional) for USD 99.00 through Paypal. The current version is functional but still lacks some visual features (like the atmospheres), and needs some polishment here and there.

Those who buy before the final release of course will get some special attention from me and may receive some gifts in the future.

IMPORTANT: the current version is for Unity Pro only, but a Unity Indie version will follow.

And here it is: http://etereo.com.br/index.php?pg=prebuy


Thanks,

imerso

 

imerso can you put up a webplayer version showing it working in unity? even with simple planet.

 

Although compatible with the webplayer, there is no web demo available.

What we have are two videos for the Unity3D version:

Youtube #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4YZc1cRlz0

Youtube #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjmoN8SpTiw

Videos were made with the current, unfinished version.


Regards,

imerso
http://etereo.com.br

 

Nice! If I could use it in my current project I would buy it now.

 

I can't wait till this hits the asset store. Nice work.

 

Nice job. I'll be picking this up when it's finished, although I hope you will add the atmosphere and some variation to the terrain (canyons, valleys, mountain peaks... not just a bumpy terrain).

 

Just a little update:


Time has been little to none here. Also I had a hardware fault and I'm using an old videocard which is prejudicing a lot of the last details. I only hope that you who bought the early code keep believing in the project. I am waiting for a Mac Mini and a GTX460 that didn't arrive at the expected time. That sucks and kills motivation a lot.

The demo scene which you got definitely does not show the real quality of the code you have in your hands! The lack of documentation prejudices a lot, I know. Please keep faith and you won't regret.


Etherea1 for Unity3D final is coming very soon.


Thanks,

imerso

 

A last note because I'll shut up now: final extension will be around $200 and won't include full source-code. Yeah, no full source-code for the final. Only early buyers will have final full source-code to change what you wish.

Thanks,

imerso

 

That's disappointing. $200 and no source code in the end? That just won't do. :|

 

Don't worrie imerso we still belive in you're work and we wait inpationtly for your updates.
Provide us with the info of every change if you can so we can keep track of everything.
Btw. imerso how about you will creat two products ?
175 $ without source code
and 225 $ with source code ?
Its only an idea. Because i am sure there are alot of talented people who would kill for that source code XD.

 

Ok, no source could be unfair, so lets keep the full source then, also $150 seems more like the sweet spot.

Thanks,

imerso

 

Thanks for the support, Thinker, we're near an update. I am curious to know if you experimented a bit with the builtin preliminar spherical physics support, as I unfortunately sent the sample broken. With a little fix you can have things dropped and rolling down the terrain.

Anyway, next update will include a fixed sample with better skybox! =)

[]s

 

Now this is a great news plus i have a question imerso, will you include a possobility to cut the terrain ? I mean do holes in it so i can set up an underground base. I'm not talking about advance cutting pixel perfect i mean as simple as square 1x1 or something like that.

Plus will you add in this update atmospheres or not yet ?

 

Hmmm there is only that preliminar gross shaping where you use a texture to coarsely affect heights, but I am not sure that'll do what you want.

Yes, I'm working on the atmospheres now.

[]s

 

Whenever you get it to a state you're OK with showcasing, I think a lot of us would like to see a webplayer up!

To me, one of the biggest unknowns is how you're dealing with large distances and the actual size of things in Unity's units. How big is an "average planet" in Unity's units (e.g., circumference or radius), and how many units is there between planets "on average". I say average because I'm aware of course it could change drastically, but Unity has some problems (as do most engines because of floating point) the farther you get from the origin. In particular lighting and animation tend to break down at larger distances. If you wouldn't mind giving some stats on the planets and overall distances in terms of Unity units that'd be great.

 

I suspect you could fake this effect if it's not possible. I.E. as the player goes "into" the base, simply either teleport them or use camera tricks (like in Portal) to make them think they're walking into a space that is actually somewhere else.

 

Looks really awesome, reminds me of what the game Infinity search for Earth is doing. Only thing I see is that there is not enough sky/atmosphere. It goes from the top of a mountain right into space. With a slight tweak in the height of the atmosphere it would be a solid plugin.

 

imerso can we have any info from you about the update ? When it will be and what exacly you will put in it ?

 

Hi i was wondering does the tool have the ability to make a flat planet into a round (eg square into round like in video) and is there a way to terraform parts like flatten area x or does this need new tools

 

Very cool. I'll be following development.

 

Woah. I could TOTALLY use this...you haven't released the indie version yet have you? It doesn't really matter...I can't use it in my current project anyway...and by my second project I hope to have unity pro I actually had several project ideas that involved full planets...this is insanely good looking! Good job man! Quick question...the default ground textures can be changed/replaced right? And how would gravity work? Also, is water "water" in the unity sense? Thanks

 

Oh, and how much longer do you think until the full version is released on the asset store? I kinda want to pre-buy it, to take a look and get some of the extras and support that you mentioned...but for any of the projects I'd need it for, I'd need a bit more money (not for the planets thing, for Unity Pro and such). Do you suggest I buy it now, play around with it a bit, and use it later; or should I just put off the whole thing because I don't have Unity Pro yet?

 

Even now, in beta state you can change the look of ground texture so you don't have to be worried about that. If it comes to gravity you can write simple script, that will work just fine.
Plus yes it worth to buy it now in earlier stage, you are not only support the creator but also will have excess to it much faster letting you play with it.

 

imerso will you give us some info about your work ? We are waiting long time now, and want to atleast know at what state you are in the work .

 

no demo ? how i know if is it worth or not

 

I bought a copy of this early to help support development, and with what I have seen in there it will be very worthwhile.

Unfortunately I haven had time to put anything together to demo. May try this weekend if people are interested.
But the code I have is still beta and has glitches (e.g. shaders not completely working on Mac).

Looks good under Windows though.

 

Like psyclone said it is worth to buy it to help development but even now when code still have a lot of glitches and problems it is very powerful.
The only thing i would only change would be that imerso spend more time on the forum telling us about every update and so on .
But besides that code is superb.

 

Ok, so after writing a long post, I just deleted it.


Resuming:

- still lacks atmospheres;
- lacks a water mesh or a separate water normalmap;
- some edges are still buggy;
- very hard to configure;
- still does not work correctly under nvidia cards;
- with a simple fix makes it work under nvidias but only in higher res (128x128 nmaps and above);
- still does not work correctly under mac;
- there is a bug running within the editor, related to the #if UNITY_EDITOR and Wysiwyg (FIXED);
- more bugs.

There is an update available, today I'll be sending a link to the people who are supporting the extension and want to get the update.


Thanks,

imerso

 

I dont know if you should even ask if we want an update, just send it to us .
But it would be nice if you would write whats your plans towards this plug-in, what i mean is that you write in points what you want to add change, repair, and so on. When ever you make an update you can just add to that point that its done. It will be easier for us to know the changes and on what you are working.
We help you with buying this extension, because we want to see this work rolling .
That's why we want to see everything you are doing, so maybe we could even help in some way.

 

I'd love to receive the update also. Also would be nice if it worked for Unity Free I keep believing in your work, lets make this an even greater success!

 

I think now plug-in works much better. So good update still i would like more info about future plans .
Happy to see the idea of subscription so people that help you by buying your work will have easy contact with you.

 

I think the order for enhancements is:

- Fix nVidia rendering;
- Fix Mac rendering;
- Fix the occasional edge spikes that still remain;
- Finish atmospheres;
- Add separate normalmap for the water (this one is really easy to do);
- Add a sample scene that is a full solar system with many different planet configurations;
- Add an alternative collision detection method faster than the builtin physics.

A Unity3D Indie branch is planned. iOS and Android are planned. If I even find the energy to do both of them, of course pre-buyers will get all them as a full source upgrade without any additional cost.

[]s
imerso

 

Hi Imerso,

Does your C++ version have the ability to do the land texturing like you did in the last youtube video for the unity version?

 

I just purchased this from your site to encourage further development and because it's something I've always wanted.

 

If you ask me i would say that its money worth spending. Not only it will help imerso develop faster but also gives us a chance to have head start in development of our game with this plug-in ( at least in my case ). Still if i am guessing right this is far from finish and yet already its just stunning.

Keep up the good work.

 

Not currently. When porting to Unity3D, I made an enhancement in texturing capabilities which is not replicated in the C++ code yet. []s

 

Very thank you!!!

 

Many thanks. You need to do a lot of experimentation -- like messing with maximum splitting level for instance -- recently I was toying around with lower levels like max 7 instead of high splits like 11 or 12, and it looked quite interesting to me, for example.

[]s