[SALE 20% OFF] Procedural Nebula

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Asset Store Link

Documentation

What is Procedural Nebula?
It utilizes GPU Accelerated 3D Noise to generate virtually infinite nebulae

Compatibility
VR, Windows, Mac, Android, WebGL

Features
- Adjust appearance of nebulae
- Explore nebulae by moving
- VR support
- High performance GPU shaders
- Seed support with caching
- Mobile friendly versions

Includes
- Nebula script/shaders
- Example scenes/prefabs
- Star skybox
- Inverse sphere mesh (Low/High Poly)

Video

 

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This looks pretty interesting but the description doesn't say much. Can you tell some more about it?

How do you generate the effect, what's the performance like? And do you have a (web) demo available?

 

The effect is generated using custom shaders so it takes advantage of the GPU's power. The only time the CPU is involved is generating seeded permutation tables on startup, which only happens once per seed because it's cached. The full effect involves using 3 layers of materials which might be a lot for low-end GPUs but I have had no performance issues with it. You can also only use 1 layer and tweak the settings to make it run faster on mobile for example.

I don't plan on making a web demo because the contents can easily be decompiled.

 

Hi- looks great from the preview. I have a few questions:

Is it VR friendly? How about mobile VR? How much control over the nebula creation is there? Is it totally randomized? I have a 3d shape I'd like to create a nebula out of. Is this possible? Doesn't have to be perfect, just roughly within the blob. How about multiple blobs within blobs? Thanks!

 

It is definitely VR friendly! I was using Space Graphics Toolkit nebulas but it wasn't good enough for my VR game and looked ugly in VR which is why I made this.

There are settings for controlling nebula generation. Later I'll upload the README.pdf included in the asset which details how to customize it.

It was originally intended to be on an inverse sphere but technically you can put it on any mesh, later I'll test it on different meshes and take screenshots of the results.
What exactly did you have in mind for using blob meshes instead of the Inverse sphere?

 

I was thinking that a blob mesh could have thicker bits of clouds, based on heavier geometry (instead of a uniform sphere). So if I wanted an area with heavy clouds, I'd put in more polys, but keep large areas of simple polys for a clearer space. In that way I'd be able to control the shape of the nebula. Is that how it works, or is it more procedural?

 

Oh I see. That approach is not nearly as efficient as letting the shader handle it. The shader procedurally generates regions with varying density (There are thick/thin regions). You can actually explore the nebula by either moving around or changing the offset to discover different mixtures of color and density. Not only that but you can tweak various settings to get the look your are aiming for.

 

Here is the documentation:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I16SCYnO99M8Xg5nZwRUF15Q-Z8MOjNQxJaphUTVglk/edit?usp=sharing

 

The images makes it look flat and not so 3d. And it doesn't create those more complex structures you see in nebula: https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=...GPq9rTAhXIrY8KHbCNCbsQsAQIPg&biw=1920&bih=990

Is there any way to make it create those dramatic swirls and pinches.

 

This initial release of Procedural nebula takes a more artistic than scientifically accurate representation of nebulae. Some regions of the generated nebulae do look similar to real life nebulae but don't contain some of the complex structures like crab nebula for example. It does have a layers that simulate simple emission/reflective/dark nebulae though. Future versions may include more complex structures eventually.

 

Version 1.1 released
- Improves platform compatibility
- Created mobile friendly examples

 

Version 1.2 released
- Implemented quality sliders for nebula layers (Useful for targeting low-end platforms)

 

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Is the source available for Xefier.noise.dll?

 

Have you already purchased Procedural Nebula? If so I'm curious for what reason you need access to the source code?

 

I am considering the purchase and I only purchase assets with source.

I have spent over a thousand on assets that are no longer supported.

 

I see, usually I would be hesitant to provide source code but most of the source for this asset is visible anyway (Such as the shader files).

If you purchase the asset and can prove your purchase by writing a review, then in return I can send you the source for Xefier.Noise.dll

 

Can the nebulae be flown through in 3D?

 

The video shows flying through the nebulae. But keep in mind the 3D noise is sampled along an inverse sphere at a fixed distance from the player. Which makes it appear like you are flying through the nebulae. This process is already fairly expensive for the GPU so sampling the noise for the entire inside of the sphere would be orders of magnitude more expensive.

Does that answer your question?

 

Yes, thank you. I'm actually making a 2D space shooter where we fly through some nebulae without actually going through it:

https://gfycat.com/ElegantNecessaryIslandcanary

Was thinking about if your pack would be useful.

 

Oh neat. You could use Procedural Nebula as a colorful backdrop behind your other FX, just make sure the top camera and ship are inside the sphere. The Nebula object can follow the ship (Script provided) so the nebula will change as you fly around resulting in a variety of different colors and patterns in the background as you fly around.

There are also mobile version in-case your game is for mobile.

 

Could you show a little more in this style? Maybe an animated video?

I am more interested in this "filament" veiny style than the cauliflower clouds...

 

Hello, this asset are discontinued ?

And he's working with Unity 2018 ?

 

When I get the chance I could check it it works in Unity 2018.

 

Hi, so ... does this still works in more recent Unity versions? This would greatly help my project but it seems it was not developed for long time and sadly i dont see any alternative.

 

I've tested it up to 2019.2.16f1
But it only supports Standard Pipeline.
Does not support LWRP/URP/HDRP

 

I see, thanks for response - its much appretiated.
Hmm thats fine for me atm i suppose but i have to ask - are there some plans to include support for those too? ... i know its probably a bit soon and its older asset but it would be great - this "shiny new stuff" Unity is adding is promissing, looks nice and its very tempting to start using it

 

Not enough people buy this asset for it to be worth my time, I have much higher priorities at the moment.
If I end up needing it in the future for one of my projects I might upgrade it.

 

Hi, I purchased the Nebula asset a little while ago, it's pretty great. Does it use compute shaders?
I'm getting the following warning in the player log:

Code (CSharp):

1. Warning: Compute shader will use scratch memory as not enough registers are available for the entire program, this could cause poor performance so consider simplifying the shader.

 

Basically it's saying that it's a complex shader, which it is since it generates a bunch of layers of noise so that's expected.

 

Are you confirming that this asset uses compute shaders?

 

Well it's a .shader file not a .compute file so I guess technically not compute? Not sure why it says it's a compute shader as it is a shader that's just used in a material.

 

Is it possible to use this package with the Universal Rendering Pipeline?