FX Gas Planet Starter Kit vA

[JBaldwin]

@BardicKowledge - The rings do cast shadows on the planets. However, it is important to note that the type of shadow casting methods will yield different results due to the fact that it is a translucent material (static|stationary/dynamic). For the absolute clearest and most versatile shadows, baked lighting is the best (and cheapest). Dynamic lighting requires proper scene scaling and the rings must use volumetric settings in order to cast shadows on other objects.

@Nawrot - glad you are excited to see it

@Praseodyl - For all the details of implementation, you will be able to strip apart the pack and learn to your hearts content. However, I will reveal the base methodology I am using. Please keep in mind, my main goal is to give a starter kit that is extremely versatile and able to produce an incredible amount of variation while supporting animation. For these reasons, I have developed the system in a specific way.

This kind of control would allow you to have a hexagon pole, or a unicorn shaped pole storm. Whatever your heart desired

It is important to note, that while these are called starter packs, they still deal with more complex equations and implementations. Therefor, I would recommend creating copies of the master materials and leaving the originals in tact for reference if you are interested in changing a foundational mechanic (especially if you are not familiar with shaders) - the MICs of course are the target object for modification.





-Jeremy-

[SaviorNT]

After this package is released (and your "pro" packages, iirc), will you be doing a asteroid/meteor/comet pack followed by a, shall we say, anomaly pack, ie: blackholes, quarks, etc..?

I would love to see a blackhole asset such as the one that was rendered out in Interstellar. I'm thinking that while it couldn't be done in real-time by the mathematics, as was in the movie, it could be faked so it does run in real-time (now that we know what it looks like).

[JBaldwin]

@SaviorNT - I will most likely be releasing all of the starter kits first (then the pro kits). And in regards to your question the simple answer is Yes
The goal is to make a set of starter packs that cover all major areas of space (both realistic and fantasy). I have not decided which one I will do next, however... I am leaning toward 3D Nebulas. This would be extemely challenging to do very well for real-time exploration. And I like a challenge, so this might be my next move.

Outside of the starter kits and pro packs, I also would like to do cinematic packs (such as a star explosion, the formation of a star/planet). However these will be extremely time consuming and quite a difficult undertaking, (especially to make them versatile for multiple styles). So this will probably be after the release of the other packages.

-Jeremy-

[JBaldwin]

Here are the current Contents of the package (it is still growing as development continues):

I thought it important to show you where I stand in terms of finished content creation. Enjoy

Material Functions/Equations:

• MFUN_Atmosphere
• MFUN_AtmosphereVector
• MFUN_CheapBandSystem
• MFUN_CircularMask
• MFUN_ExOP
• MFUN_FlowBase
• MFUN_Pi
• MFUN_PolarCoord
• MFUN_PolarStorm_Coord
• MFUN_RingCoord
• MFUN_SphereSegment2D
• MFUN_SphereVolume
• MFUN_UVSplit
• MFUN_VelocityVolume

Master Materials:

• MAT_BasicAtmosphere
• MAT_GasPlanet
• MAT_RingSystem

Meshes:

• GasGiant_A
• Rings_TypeA
• Rings_TypeB

MICs:

• MIC_Atmosphere_A
• MIC_Atmosphere_B
• MIC_GasGiant_A
• MIC_GasGiant_B
• MIC_RingSystem_A
• MIC_RingSystem_B

Textures:

• HexStorm_Fluid
• SK_Noise01
• SK_SurfaceFlow

And here is a sneak peak at one of the shader trees



-Jeremy-

[JBaldwin]

First video preview. Hope you all enjoy it!

-Jeremy-

[qdelpeche]

I hope you all enjoy the ability to customize, cause this is going to have more than enough controls to choke a horse with...

Not sure I have ever tried to choke a horse ... 8-}

This pack looks very cool and I can't wait to combine them all ... make a screen shot ... and print a new mouse pad for myself. Looking forward to it.

[Hospina]

jesus man another must buy!

I love you jbaldwin!

[ChrisTm]

Crazy work again

[YAMI]

U are a f*****g genius! Love your stuff!

i have 2 questions,
1. what is the difference between starter and pro pack?
2. when will pro sets be available?

because i need your stuff so badly XD

[TriNityGER]

My god this is so beautiful! After reading that you're doing more starter and pro packages, my team and I are more than hyped. But I wonder how long does it take to make such a package?

Anyways, phenomenal work!

[JBaldwin]

@YAMI
Starter Kits: are base assets that are given in their raw form to be used/modified/and constructed into a static or functioning state. These assets are also more user friendly to people who are not versed in shader languages or the implementation of systems. For this reason (and a few others), they are "Starter Kits".
Pro Kits: are fully functioning systems. For example - the Star Pro-Kit will be built into a blueprint system. Not only that, much if not all of the shader and mathematics will not be implemented via material nodes, but rather within high level shader language. There will also be more accurate fluid simulation calculations. Concepts will be pushed farther in the pro-kits as well. For example: Solar flares will be a bi-product of magnetic fields twisting and reaching a breaking point. (In the starter kit, they were simply randomly spawning particle systems). There will be many differences between starter and pro kits. Starter kits get your feet wet in some more complex ideas. Pro-kits will take those complex ideas and implement them in a more realistic manner.

**Package ETA's** I can't say how long development will be on any of these, or when the exact release date is. These Packages, Kits, and Packs are all side-projects. They do not take priority, and they are not all based on the best timeline.

-Jeremy-

[J. J. Franzen]

Hey there. Beautiful work. Can't wait to get my grubby hands on it. A couple questions:

1. Are you planning to include a moon system generator in the gas giant pack? I could have sworn I saw a moon transitioning in the video...

2. Would you be willing to give us a "roadmap" for the packs you currently have planned? For example, after you finish the gas giants, what's next? Rocky worlds? Asteroids or comets? Or will you focus on getting the Star Pro Pack finished? Just curious on what to look forward to. Cheers,

J^2

[Aphexx100]

man this is crazy brilliant. exactly what we need for our prototype.
i have a question concering interaction with light directions.
we have a galaxy with around hundreds of planetary systems. each time you come near a system, the one directional light in our world, will be shifted to the planetaries system sun and then faded in. and it will always point to your spaceship.
we can do this since other planets are too far away to recognize the wrong lighting direction towards their surface. is it possible to bind the direction of your planetary atmospheres to the directional light position? or any other dummy object?
or is it that your atmosphere's automatically is determining some kind of "fake light vector" from the present light source?
fyi we have to use the directional light, since point lights doesn't seem to work for these distances
. a planetary system of ours is about 30km diameter and a planet is about 20meter in diameter. so, it's far from being realistic, but it looks and feels ok and still is playable.

[JBaldwin]

@ J.J. Franzen:
There is no moon system with the Gas planet starter kit. (however you did see a sphere I dropped in to act as a moon size in order to better give the viewer a sense of scale). A moon pack will be coming though
In terms of a roadmap, I am not 100% sure yet but I think it would be safe to say these are my next starter packs:
- 3D Nebulas
- Galaxy Creator {this is most likely going to be one of the most challenging}
- Unique and Dynamic Space Domes
- Science Fiction in Space {this will be objects such as black holes/worm holes}
- Astroids
- Habitat Planets
My pro-packs will then begin somewhere around the completion of the above.

@[PB]Aphexx:

is it possible to bind the direction of your planetary atmospheres to the directional light position? or any other dummy object?

This is exactly how the material works. The atmosphere is driven off of an actual light location within the world (light vector). You can dynamically modify it at anytime, blend from one value to another, and do a lot more.
You can even link it to a dummy object and it will behave as if it is a light vector

-Jeremy-

[SaviorNT]

Black holes aren't science fiction