Nebula Effect ideas...
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/Nebula Effect ideas...
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| I'm trying to create a Nebula type Environment in open space and from observing other games that have these types of environments, I have three options I can think of at the moment (if you astronomy nuts out there are curious...It's the Helix Nebula) A) Heavy Fog Effect (Global, probably the easiest of the three) B) Moderate Fog Effect with some semi-transparent "cloud" sprites C) Background with "Gas Cloud" Sprites and/or "Gas Veins" (I.E a large swath of thick gas) scattered around the environment If you have any other/better ideas then please by all means post them! |
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| Combination of all of these, each element having a subtle color variation to add interest. I would even suggest you make some really huge "distorted sheet" meshes and texture them with a smooth noise texture that has a smooth noise alpha channel, and put that texture as a Spherical Enviroment map (or one of the modes of Cubic - try them out!), so it varies depending on the position of the ship\camera. The outer edges of these sheets should have vertices with alpha zero (or gradually decreasing alpha from the center of the sheet, so it gives a smooth transparent gradient on the textured sheet and you can't see it's edges, so it looks more like a gaseous material. The perimeter vertices should have zero alpha so they are completely transparent). Oh and very important, make it so that when you approach one of those sheets it goes more and more transparent. It's like flying into a cloud, when you are inside it it doesn't look as dense as when looking from outside. It's what Microsoft's Freelancer used. Last edited 2010 |
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| so let me see if I am reading you right.... -Huge Mesh layers+smooth noise texture+ smooth noise alpha channel (spherical map or a cubic map mode) -Outer Edges: Practically for all intents and purposes...transparent...but a gradient-like effect in regards to the Alpha Value -And as the layers get closer..the less transparent it gets Did I get your points? |
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| Are these needing to be dynamic at all? As in, are the nebula going to be flown 'through', do they need to animate in any way? Overall, though, I would steer clear from sprites, they can cause slowdown when up close to the camera or if you have a lot of them. Check out single-surface quads instead. Perhaps some form of "Skybox"/"SkySphere" idea might work too? |
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| yeah they are going to be flown "Through"...again the original ideas were off the top of my head...kinda throwing caution to the wind EDIT: so you mean something similar to Idea 3? Last edited 2010 |
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| so let me see if I am reading you right.... Correct. Actually, making it a spherical\cube map might be overkill. If you have a really nice smoke\cloud-like texture and alpha channel, you'll get a nice visual.-Huge Mesh layers+smooth noise texture+smooth noise alpha channel (spherical map or a cubic map mode) The mesh layers should be in a warped, spherical shape. -Outer Edges: Practically for all intents and purposes...transparent...but a gradient-like effect in regards to the Alpha Value Correct, but be aware that I was talking about vertex alpha. If the "perimeter" vertices have zero alpha, the sheet will fade and you won't see where it begins and ends - coupled with the smoke\cloud texture, you have now a sheet of gaseous material. I suggest you make each vertex more transparent the farther it is from the center of the sheet (so you get a smooth gradation of transparency, and not just an invisible perimeter). -And as the layers get closer..the more transparent it gets [Optional] You could listen to this while you are making it. [Optional 2] Play Freelancer 1. It has a lot of nebulae areas where you fly through - and it's where I watched something similar. Last edited 2010 |
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| @ Kryzon I have and I love that game to death...shame it does not work on my pc anymore...I would still be playing it EDIT: and it makes perfect sense now thanks! EDIT: 2 and now I dissapear into the hole! my results will be on the b3D showcase when it is done (it might be a while...blame college) Last edited 2010 Last edited 2010 |
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