Can this be done in the free version of Unity?

I want to make something like this in the free version of Unity because I'm already familiar with it and from what I've seen, it's a lot more simple than XNA C#.

If the answer is yes, can you please provide some documentation for it? And if it's no, would you please provide some documentation to do it in XNA. I would really appreciate this, I don't even know where to begin starting something like this.

I know these topics are generally disliked, but I'm really not sure if it can be done. Thanks for any advice.

Edit: I know it will very complex either way, I was just wondering.

 

Yes. I believe people have already made space engines in Unity.

This is just procedural generation. The terrain on the planet is build in Chunks using perlin noise as they become relevant. Detail is added the closer you get.

 

There is no "documentation" on how to code really complex things. This isn't a 'feature', it's a possibility.

If you want to know how he did it, ask him. Then use that knowledge to create it in Unity or XNA as you wish.

 

It's a fair question, as LoD is only available in pro iirc.

Though I'm not sure if Unity's LoD is capable of doing what's in that video out-of-the-box.

 

I don't see a reason why you can't do a distance check to "Planet Object" in order to execute different code depending on distance in order to simulate the planet becoming more detailed as you get closer.

Only thing I wouldn't know how to do is to match the far distance texture with the proper terrain for the planet. You would likely need many different heightmaps and textures and build smaller and smaller more detailed chunks on the planet as you flew closer.

 

Rather, Unity's LoD implementation is only available in Pro. You're quite free to make your own LoD routines in Free.

--Eric

 

Hmmm, it does look like there are some packages on the Asset Store that do LoD on Unity free. I have no idea how good they are though.