Graphics Azure[Sky] - Dynamic Skybox

Hi!
Nice scene.

Well, the color of the fog in azure[Sky] is obtained from the result of many equations generating a different color for each pixel on the screen. So it's not possible to pick up the color of the fog.

On the "Fog Settings" you will notice the variables in the "Global Fog" section, the colors you select here will be multiplied by the final color of the fog generated by the equations and this will also affect the entire screen. You can use these colors to set the Unity fog. But this will not be the best solution.

You can do the following until I release the next version.

I created this simple script that will control the color of the Unity fog according to the sun's position. You just need to drag the directional sunlight to the Inspector and select the colors of the fog to adjust for each period of the day.

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using System.Collections;
3.  
4. [ExecuteInEditMode]
5. public class FogController : MonoBehaviour {
6.  
7.     public Transform SunDirLight;
8.     public Color sunsetFogColor = Color.white;
9.     public Color noonFogColor   = Color.white;
10.     public Color nightFogColor  = Color.white;
11.  
12.     void Update(){
13.         RenderSettings.fogColor = SetFogColor();
14.     }
15.  
16.  
17.  
18.     private Color SetFogColor()
19.     {
20.         float speedLerp = 1.0f;
21.         float lerp1 = Vector3.Dot (SunDirLight.transform.forward, new Vector3 (0,-speedLerp, 0));
22.         float lerp2 = Vector3.Dot (SunDirLight.transform.forward, new Vector3 (0, speedLerp, 0));
23.  
24.         Color lerpColor = Color.Lerp (sunsetFogColor, noonFogColor, lerp1);
25.         lerpColor = Color.Lerp (lerpColor, nightFogColor, lerp2);
26.         return lerpColor;
27.     }
28. }

I noticed that some elements of your scene do not draw to the depth buffer. If you are using the Unity's water, I usually add that little bit of code in shaders to force it to draw to the depth buffer. Make some shaders draw for the depth buffer sometimes becomes a difficult task, but this will work in most cases. Sometimes also is need to change the "Queue" and "RenderType" shader tag.

Code (CSharp):

1.      // Pass to draw to depth buffer
2.      Pass
3.      {
4.          Tags { "LightMode" = "ShadowCaster" }
5.      }

Spoiler: DepthWater Scene

 

Wow, thanks for the quick and thorough response! I think the fog solution works nice, at least until I learn more about shaders. (I'm using the free "Water4Advanced" shader and have had no success editing that.)
Thanks again!

 

I made this for Twitter and people really liked it


Also, when I import the cloud textures as "Truecolor" no compression, they look awesome - there is no pixelation. That makes me wonder if the artifacts are just due to compression? Maybe you could add a post-blur effect to smooth it out? I don't know, just trying to help. Thanks again

 

For some strange reason I also could not make the advanced water shader draw to the depth buffer.
One solution is to delete or comment out this line of code of the Fog_v2_0 script.

Code (CSharp):

1. [ImageEffectOpaque]

Located in the above line of "void OnRenderImage()"

This command makes the image effect ignore the transparent layers that do not draw to the depth buffer. Without this command the fog will use the reference point behind the object that does not draw to the depth buffer. For example in the case of water, as it does not draw into the buffer, the fog will use the ground which is under the water as distance reference. This may not give very accurate results, but if the water is shallow will have no problem.

In this image the fog is using the position of the underwater ground to calculate the distance instead of using the water position, but it is almost imperceptible.

It really was amazing!

Never crossed in my mind that it could be the compression mode causing the pixelated effect in the clouds. Actually you're right!

I took two screenshots to compare.
Automatic Compressed is possible see the pixelated effect in the clouds.

Spoiler: Automatic Compressed:

With Automatic TrueColor the pixelated effect disappears completely.

Spoiler: True Color

Thanks!

 

Your suggestion to remove "[ImageEffectOpaque]" worked, but introduced other weird issues. No worries. You've been more than helpful. Azure[Sky] made my scenes look really beautiful!

Spoiler: Video

Spoiler: GIF

 

Hi, I integrated Azure in my current project and have some issues / questions (animated cloud 2.0, Unity 5.3.2):

• Ambient Mode "Skybox" does not work, the ambient color is black if "Skybox" is selected
• using hdr results in a overbrigth sky and fog
• sun (blured in fog) is rendered on top (not occluded) in sky fog which looks very strange (sunset szenario, especially visible with hdr enabled)
• exposure slider has no effect when hdr is enabled
  
• is it possible to modify / reduce the cloud appearance?

 

Hi!

The current version of azure[Sky] was developed using Unity 5.0.0, when ambient intensity values was between 0-1, it is now between 0-8 in Unity 5.3. You can open the Script Editor and change the minimum and maximum values of the sliders.

The error you reported when using the Skybox Ambient Mode, is not an azure[Sky] problem, you may need to activate the option of Auto Baking of lightmaps or press "Build" to baking manually.

Spoiler: Skybox Render Mode

Azure[Sky] internally uses the Photography Tone Mapping Mode. It is totally normal the sky and fog become very bright when the HDR option is enabled, because It's for this that the option is used. When HDR is on the internal tonemapping is disabled, this is for you to choose the tonemapping technique that you prefer.
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/script-Tonemapping.html

The exposure slider is used for internal tonemapping. If HDR is enabled will disable the internal tomapping and consequently the exposure slider will not work.

The solar disk was a quick and simple solution that I created temporarily for a client. Improving the solar disk is already on my to-do list.

It has a lot of things I need to improve. Some are easy to do and others very difficult.
The next release of azure[Sky] will greatly increase the customization power and quality of the asset.

 

Thanks for your detailed response!

I always deactivate auto baking, it seems I forgot to bake the scene and to look at skybox ambient lighting again!
Also your hint with the ambient intensity (0-8) will help me. Glad to hear that improving solar disk is already on your to-do-list, customization power and quality increase sounds great, too! Really looking forward for the next release, do you have any rough release date in mind?

 

@MS80 I cannot predict when will be the next release. Because I intend to create a new cloud system and I'll need to do a lot of experimentation to get the best possible cloud system.


Now, I am working on the Inspector layout and adding the curves system.
Some images of how is the new interface.

Based on the Horizon[ON] interface.

Spoiler: Images

 

I intend to purchase Azure, but before that I`m really interested if it`s possible to render terrains with no fog at all. I`ve seen loads of screenshots pretty foggy, generally covering the objects placed far away at the horizon. To be more precise: is it possible to render very clear with barely visible fog far away in the distance like when you have a very clear sky with no clouds at all. Even in your web demo with no clouds the horizon it`s pretty foggy. Thanks.

 

Hi Mark_T!

Yes, it is possible to change the distance of the fog!

In the demo scenes I used dense fog to better show their behavior in the landscape and in the day change.

Spoiler: Fog Close

Azure[Sky] + Horizon[ON]

Spoiler: Fog Distance

Azure[Sky] + Horizon[ON]

 

Purchased. Thanks for your answer.
In your last 2 screenshots, with Horizon(ON) in the scene, the ground fog/mist is coming from Horizon? Or it`s azure?
I think your asset is simply gorgeous.
In your next update I really hope you keep the option to build ourselves the clouds. This was one of the strong selling points for me.
Again, thanks for this great asset. Cheers!

 

I was using the default configuration of the Horizon[ON], so it was a mixture of the two fogs.
Here's a screen only with the azure[Sky] fog.

Spoiler: azure[Sky] fog Only

The current system of clouds will remain, I will add an option in the clouds tab to choose the system you want.
The clouds and fog tab is not yet ready, but I created this screen to show how it will be.

Spoiler: Cloud Mode Selection

When you select.
Null: No clouds, just the sky.
Current System: The current cloud system will be used.
New System: It will be used the new cloud system that I will develop.

 

Hi! I'm searching for a dynamic sky asset to use in a installation that I've been assigned to make. The installation will consist of four projectors projecting a country-scene onto a wall. The thing on my mind is that will Azure[Sky] work seamlessly over four individual cameras? The cameras will each send the picture to screens 1 to 4.

In the earlier posts you say that the sky is drawn directly on the skybox without the usage of a skydome or other such mesh. I would buy this if it were drawn onto a skydome so I could use it in the project without problems.

 

Yes! Azure[Sky] will also work on a Skydome. But you must do only two simple steps.

1. Drag the azure[Sky] material directly to the field "Element" in the "Materials" option of the "Mesh Rederer" component in your Skydome.

Spoiler: See the Image

2. To sky be drawn on the inside of the Skydome sphere, is need to change in the shader the render culling side.
Change:

Code (CSharp):

1. Cull Back     // Render side

To:

Code (CSharp):

1. Cull Front     // Render side

In this image I used a sphere enlarged to cover the whole scenario. The scenario is the Horizon[ON] demo scene.

Spoiler: Skydome Screen

 

Working on a new scene with Azure Sky, I really like this asset. Going to be even better with the update to clouds.

 

Has anybody tried this with the Oculus Rift yet? Everything seems fine except for this strange texture distortion/pinching that occurs to one side of the Skybox (the rest is normal). This doesn't show in editor, only on Oculus VR builds. If it wasn't for this it would be perfect.

 

I've just tested it with Oculus and seem to be experiencing a weird pinching effect on the Skybox texture - can you confirm that you tested it both in editor and on a build and didn't experience what I'm seeing?

 

Hi!

As you know, I do not take the tests in VR devices. But this same problem a user had reported me by email. He resolved to increase the value of "Far Clipping Plane" of the camera.

 

Sorry for saying this repeatedly! but this sky system is wonderful almost no limit on the setup parameters

Hope new update come soon

Edit: Just about the price why it is cheaper than others sky cycle when It is better? I mean people may think it's cheaper then it's not better than others! but it is.

 

I understand, but I was only posting here in hopes that somebody would have found a solution to the issue, which thanks to your reply I will now try and test .

Thanks for the great tool buddy.

Elliott

 

How is the performance on Mobile?

 

The current price will remain until the next update after the release will go up a little, but I still want to keep a more democratic value and that it is possible for anyone to purchase.

It is a very complex system for mobile devices, if it works on mobile platforms I think it will consume a lot of processing. So I do not recommend the use on mobile devices, though I never tested.


If someone is facing the skybox distortion problem when using a very low value in "Camera Far Clipping Plane". This will be fixed in the next update, if do not want to wait until the release is very simple to fix.

Just change that line in the sky vertex shader.
Change:

Code (CSharp):

1. o.WorldPos = normalize(mul(_Object2World, v.vertex.xyz));

To:

Code (CSharp):

1. o.WorldPos = normalize(mul((float3x3)_Object2World, v.vertex.xyz));

It also has to do the same in the vertex shader of the cloud pass.

 

Thank you!

 

Hi! Is there a way to only move the clouds? Currently the clouds are getting in the way of the sunset and a beautiful full moon.

 

No, because if you rotate only the clouds the brightness and the shadows of the clouds will go out of sync with the sun rotation axis.

This is because the clouds are pre rendered, learn about the operating mode of the clouds on this post #22.

 

[WIP]​

The curve system is already almost fully implemented!

Remains to do the tab of the fog and clouds:
Fog: What I intend to do some experiments and corrections.
Clouds: What I intend to create a new system.

An image showing the curves editor. Horizontally is the time of day and vertically is the property value in the timeline.


In the animated GIF below shows the changes of "Raylegh" property with the same configuration as the image shown above. I kept the position of the sun static to show only the changes of Raylegh. By changing the time of day will also change the Raylegh value to the value set in the curve editor.
Gif Size: 14MB

Spoiler: See the GIF

 

[WIP]
I added a new curve on the "Time of Day" tab to control the length of day and night. This way you can customize the day and night with different durations. For example if the total cycle of the day be 15 minutes, it will be possible to make the day last 10 minutes and the night last 5 minutes or the value you prefer.

Thanks to Anton Paramonov who sent me an email with this suggestion and even with sample scripts.​

 

Hi @_7stars, just picked up azure[Sky] and started playing around with it. Got a few comments and some noob questions.

First impressions:

• When importing into a fresh project, I get a red error: "Could not create texture from Assets/azure[Sky]/Snow Mountain/snow_mountain/Height.png: File could not be read." Didn't seem to cause any problems, though it's perhaps not the best first impression of course.
• Importing azure is confusing. There's "azure[Sky]_v1_0 Very Old", "azure[Sky]_v1_5 Old", and "azure[Sky]_v2_0 New". Initially I figured I didn't need the old stuff, so I just imported azure[Sky]_v2_0 and stuff mostly worked. Some textures were missing and the demos weren't fully functional, so I imported those other folders and it fixed those things. Any plans on consolidating that stuff? Seems kinda messy and confusing.

Second impressions (much better):

• I figured out how to use azure pretty quickly. The quality of the fog, colors, and clouds is just fantastic. NICE JOB! I like the UI. There are quite a few settings once you dig in a little, so some documentation wouldn't suck.
• I put a Ceto ocean in a test scene and it looks great with azure.

Question:

• Is there a way to deal with "bird's eye" views and fog? Right now fog makes everything solid colored when far away, which isn't too good when there's no foreground objects. It seems that the "scattering fog" completely takes over unless I set Scattering Fog Distance to zero. What's the proper way to deal with that?
  
  For example, this shows fog off, then on. With fog on at a distance, everything goes solid color.
  
  
  The same settings, but at ground level (fog off, then on). In this case the fog looks right (I think?):
  

Comments:

• I didn't pick up on the "Linear To Gamma" option for Space Color right away. That would be a good thing to stress in at least some basic documentation too. In fact, it wasn't until I read a post earlier in this thread that I even realized I should be setting that if I'm using linear color space.
• There's a typo in Options -> Ambient properties: "Tansition Speed"
• Overall I really dig azure Sky!

Thanks!

 

Hi @Steve Tack !

I do not know why this error message appears, but is not related to azure[Sky], is the mountain asset that I used in my package. But this error message does not influence anything.
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/24690

In each folder has a different version of azure[Sky], I have not deleted the old versions because some users still use in their projects. So some textures and materials are perhaps shared between versions.
I'm thinking of removing the old versions in the next update. So will not cause confusion and will also decrease the packet size.

I did not create the documentation because I thought it would be simple to understand, but really for anyone who is not familiar with the asset can be a little frustrating not having the documentation.

The next update will change a lot of things and the documentation will be included and very necessary.

That was not to happen, not at a low altitude like is showing in your image. The fog of the current version only takes into consideration the distance of objects in the scene, and may vary according with the value of "Near Clipping Plane" and "Far Clipping Plane" of the camera.
I'll probably make some corrections and add new features in the fog, such as controlling the height of the fog, etc...
I think the ideal would I add the option to calculate the fog based on radial distance to solve this problem.

Even so, the current fog should not be so dense at an altitude which seems to be low.
I created an image using Horizon[ON] as landscape.
Here a screen with 500 meters of altitude.

Spoiler: 500

And here a screen with 3000 meters of altitude.

Spoiler: 3000

It seems to be working properly here.

Now another image with 6000 meters of altitude, and it is still possible to see the ground.

Spoiler: 6000

 

First, thanks for the reply! Sounds like some good things are coming.

If I could get results like your screen shot I would be very happy. My screen shot was from only 700 meters up. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

 

[WIP]
Another great feature added to azure[Sky].
The curves system already implemented, dramatically increased the customization power of azure[Sky]. Now the power of customization will be further enhanced with the ability to customize the days of the week.

With this new feature you can create a weekly cycle with seamless transition from one day to the other, due to the ability of customization of the curves system.​

Now it will be possible to get a different customization for each day of the week as you can see in the GIF below.
(View full size for better quality)
​

 

[WIP]
Added a button in side of each property to reset to the default value. This helps if you want to customize again a curve in particular starting from scratch.

In the previous version, there was a button to reset all properties at once. Now it is possible to reset only one property and keep the other exactly as they are.

The button resets only the property on the selected day of the week. The properties saved on other days of the week will remain the same. So there is no danger of spoiling the configuration that is ready on the other days.

Old Interface___________________________New Interface
​

 

For the night sky we can put a picture of galaxy. can we do the same with day sky? I mean is this possible to put a fade picture of real sky to make sky a lot more realistic?

In the The Blacksmith: Atmospheric Scattering we could do such a thing like that.
I think It could make Azure even more amazing

 

[WIP]
Output System added!


The sky system is all controlled by curves that are based on a timeline. Now if the user has an effect or any component that needs to adjust to these changes of the day, it will be enough just to create an output and call this methods from any other scripts:
azureSkyGetCurveOutput(index); // index is the Output element number
azureSkyGetColorOutput(index); // index is the Output element number

Thus it will be possible to customize properties that are not native of azure[Sky] through of the azure[Sky] interface. In the same way as are customized native properties.

For example, if u want the lights of houses and poles ascend at night and turn off during the day, just create an Output type "CurveAnimation" as shown in there above GIF. Just drag the curve to zero when is day and increase as begin to darken.
Then create a script and add for the lights to control intensity according to the value that you customized in the curve Output.​

To demonstrate I created a "PointLight" that changes its intensity and color according to the outputs in the azure[Sky] Inspector. So when the time of day goes on, it will changing the properties of "PointLight" according to the curve and gradient outputs.​

 

Are you still planning on implementing a new cloud system? What you have right now is very pretty, but offers almost no flexibility. I'm also looking to hide objects "behind" the clouds, as if they're in space.

You can see my problem here.

 

This is because the sky and clouds are processed in the same shader. To get around this will need to remove of shader the pass that process the clouds and put in a separate shader for later use in a Skydome. I can try to make this modification, if I can, I will send you the package by private message.

 

Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks for that and for the quick response.

 

Posted December 2nd last year.

How's that integrated reflection probe coming?

 

This asset looks great but I'm holding off until the new cloud / weather controls are added. Do you know when that might be?

 

Hi!

I'm finishing to implement the new system of the moon. Before starting the clouds, I have a few things to do first.

* Improve the solar disk;
* Small improvements in the night sky;
* Improve the fog;
* Create documentation;

They are simple things to do and I believe it will not be long to be done.

But I do not have how to stipulate a date, because this weather system will be very complex to do, I plan to release the update as soon as possible but unforeseen events often happen.

 

[WIP]
New Moon System.

I developed a more realistic system for the moon. Instead of using a static texture, I created a custom shader to simulate the sunlight on the moon dynamically.
Thus the moon phases change automatically depending of the moon's position in the sky.

A Web Player demo of the new moon shader.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29523611/azure[Sky]/MoonDemo/Moon Demos.html
Left Mouse: Change sunlight's direction.
A/D: Rotate the moon.

Spoiler: Screens

 

​

Are you going to calculate the phase based on an entered year and month (like some of your competitors do), base it on a value we set directly, or something else? The moon's phase cycle is around 30 days (I assume that's where we get the "month" concept), so it seems you'll need some kind of extra values we can set.

 

Yes! I intend to make a real system time and date for the solar and lunar position.

But this is not the most essential feature to implement at the time, I think I have more urgent things to improve, but I'm already keeping the road ready for the implementation of this feature. My priority now is the weather system.

[Edited]
I can do a simple interim system to rotate the moon around the scene (simulating the month cycle) to be used provisionally until the implementation of this feature.

 

[WIP]
Some improvements.
The ground color of the night sky can now be customized, this fixes the problem of brownish color that affect the fog at night. Now the user will be able to customize a color to make a smooth transition between the sky and the horizon greatly improving night scenes.

"The fog of this new version is not ready yet, so I did the test in version 2.0.1."

Spoiler: Before an Now:

Before:

Now:

Solar disk has also been improved.

Spoiler: Solar Disk

"(For best quality, see in full-size)"

​

Hi, again!

Your request about reflections made in old posts was very vague. I wrote a post asking you to explain in more detail about it, but maybe you have not seen and did not answer, so as I did not know exactly what it was I decided not to do, because you was the only one to ask for it.

For the next update I have already implemented a system to control a "Reflection Probe". You will be able to control by the azure[Sky] Inspector some of the main properties of this "Reflection Probe". Maybe that's what you're looking for?

 

Looks even better

 

When will the next update be published?

 

[WIP]
I want to make the next version of azure[Sky] work with "PlayWay Water System". The first tests were very encouraging and the result of azure[Sky] with PlayWay is amazing.

Spoiler: More images of PlayWay with Azure[Sky]:

The "Output" system will make possible azure[Sky] work together with many other assets and effects. With this system you can configure properties of other components and materials based on the timeline of azure[Sky].

I used the "Output" system for creating a gradient to control the "Specular Color" of playWay water, so when the time of day goes on will also change the "Specular Color" of water. The same can be done for all other Properties and components.

Spoiler: Specular Output

Web Player Demo: Still with the old clouds system!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...WIP/Azure_&_PlayWay/PlayWay + azure[Sky].html
​

I'm already working on the new cloud system, but still can not provide a release date! I'm working extensively to finish as soon as possible!

 

Beautiful, beautiful stuff! Is all this new stuff going in a single update? That'll be one huge update. I'm very excited.

 

Very nice job