Create Stunning Environments with Quantum MetaClouds

Quantum MetaClouds - 3D Cloud Models​

Webplayer Demo
Asset Store Link

The package contains:

* 15 low polygon models: Duplicate, move, rotate, and scale the clouds in your scene to create an epic artistic direction.

* 3 custom shaders: Hard-edged Alpha Blend, Soft-edged Alpha Blend, and Alpha Clip. These shaders use just the RGB channels of the texture and not the alpha channel, keeping memory footprints low.

* A special Editor Script to make editing your clouds fast and easy. Dynamically change the ambient and sun color of the clouds. Also modify the contrast, density, thickness, and opacity. Easily orient them towards an object or the scene camera.

Questions? Comments? Need Help? Contact support@quantumtheoryentertainment.com.

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*The Quantum Cold terrain models and the background skybox featured in the demo are both sold seperately.

 

Webplayer didnt work for me..? (error: Failed to update unity webplayer)

Version of your web player
Unity Plugin version: 3.5.3f3
Unity Engine version: 3.5.3f3

Then did manual update,

Version of your web player
Unity Plugin version: 3.5.4f1
Unity Engine version: 3.5.3f3

same error..

Details:
"Unity web player update finished, but installed revision (3538003) is less than required revision (3548001). please reinstall."

 

Unity 3.5.4 needs to be installed on your machine. You don't have the latest engine build.

 

I hate those. Usually I re-install directly from the website, then I'm fine.

@QuantumTheory: Those look really nice, but why use this as opposed to a dynamic skybox?

 

With a typical dynamic skybox, the clouds always tend to look very 2-dimensional as the depth is constrained and they scroll above your head, even with a parallax shader. The texture tiles, so that also gets in the way of achieving a natural look to your scenes. The MetaClouds clouds are likely cheaper on the cpu/gpu as it doesn't require you to not cover half the screen with an alpha texture. In that case, the metaclouds make it easier to get your game running smoothly and still maintain great creative control.

With Metaclouds, you can place clouds exactly where you want them. For example, if you're making an epic first-person rpg, you may want a really threatening, dark cloud over the distant mage's tower. Or if you're making a side scroller like a shootem-up, these clouds are perfect for hiding or revealing objects and giving a sense of speed as they scroll by.

Thank for the complements! Be sure to check out the Quantum Terrain packages. They go nicely with the Metaclouds.

 

I think these are beautiful.

 

Just an idea: I guess you could add normal maps to the clouds to get some lightning effects

 

Cool idea, but that would make it even more expensive on the gpu. Besides, the controls that already exist give more flexibility.

 

You could also simply write a script to modify the ambient or sun colors, or the contrast and densities to achieve the same effect. Scrub the sliders quickly in the webplayer demo to try it out.

 

Could I also use this for things like ground fog?

 

They're all standard gameobjects with mesh components just like any plain 3d model, so you can do whatever you like. Attach scripts to move them, fade them, scale them, anything a regular game object can do.

So yea, you could use them for ground fog.

 

I just tried out the demo on the MacBook. This looks great; it would be perfect for things like a airplane/jet where you can realistically fly through clouds.

 

Thanks Sevenbits for the complements! Using these for flight sims or shmups is a great idea.

The Quantum Theory website has been redesigned, btw. Cleaner interface, better navigation, more to read.

 

Thank you to all that has supported Quantum Metaclouds. As a reminder, please leave any positive feedback in the Unity Asset Store. And if you have specific needs or any other questions, feel free to email support@quantumtheoryentertainment.com

 

Hi,
is this asset compatible with Unity 4 and DirectX 11?
Thanks

 

All packages are compatible with Unity 4 and DX11. I test them regularly, but if you encounter any issues simply email me and I'll help.

Thanks!

 

What about mobile? Have the alpha blend shaders been tested on Android and iOS for performance and other issues?
Also, I've been looking for a good hair shader for mobile, would you recommend your alpha blend shaders for hair? Have you tried them for hair?
Thanks in advance for your response! I've purchased some of your terrain assets and I love them!

 

Many customers are using these on mobile devices. Just be sure to enable high enough quality settings for your mobile build.

 

Links and images are dead.

 

[SOLVED]The clouds doesn't show on Ipad

Hello,

I have just created my first scene with the Quantum meta clouds (which are really beautiful), but on build the clouds simply doesn't show... Do you have any clue on this ?
I am on IPad 2 with the Highest quality settings.


Edit
The solution to this problem is to change the default quality settings for IOS (marked in green). Everything works fine now.

 

Hi

For some reason the clouds show as black shaded assets within my scene? I am using Unity 4.2 Pro. I don't see any errors, so maybe I am doing something wrong?

Many Thanks

 

Sounds like you're using DX11 which the cloud shaders do not currently support. If you don't need to use dx11 simply disable it in the build settings. If you need dx11, I'll look into modifying the shaders this evening.

 

Yep, that fixed it, many thanks!

 

Updated the first post with fresh links, imagery, and video of what the clouds can do.

 

I really love how you did for the meshes, but is there a way you could make the lights and shadow controllable? Like for example, the second images, at the bottom left shows that the sun is facing nearly towards the camera, but the other cloud in the main showing that there's another light coming from behind the camera.

 

These are really beautiful clouds - I love them! - but I've been struggling to figure out how I can use them. The package seems to be designed more for set scenes, but I have dynamic scenes.

If I could make a few requests for improving the package toward what I would like ...

First, cloud tinting. Sure, there's the manual tinting available in the kit, and it is easy to use this to make a great looking static scene. However, under dynamic conditions it becomes more difficult, at least for a novice like me.

I'd like to have the clouds tint according to calm / stormy weather and according to time of day. I have the Time of Day asset, and I'd like to have a way of taking the sunrise and sunset colors from the atmosphere mesh and placing them as the appropriate tints on the Quantum Metaclouds. During midday I'd like to take the sun's own color and apply it to the "sun color" of the cloud, while the "ambient color" would come from the blue part of the atmosphere mesh. At night a similar process would occur, though the "sun color" would come from the moon halo or something probably not quite as bright as the moon, but not as dark as the rest of the sky.

I have no idea how to get this to work. I suspect the shortest path is to ask the Time of Day dev if he can make these colors available for use with Quantum Clouds, so that as the day / night cycle progresses the colors automatically update.

Additionally, I think I'm going to need a camera / layer especially for the clouds, because no matter how far the player goes in my open world-ish scene (in which there is also flying), not only will these clouds need to be always out of reach, they need to be outside of my character's camera clipping range.

I can see where this might be a common need, so if it's not too much trouble, maybe an optional camera kit could be included with the clouds ...?

It would also be nice to have a script that would cause selected clouds to appear and disappear according to a specified randomness or event.

There might be several ways of going about this. Maybe one way, considering how some of the clouds require a specific positioning, would be to have each game dev place multiples of the clouds in different spots on a layer by themselves, each with their own contrast, opacity, and other attributes set separately in the inspector, and in starting positions from which they can drift in a wind direction and appear in a different size each time according to random numbers within parameters. Then a script could make them slowly fade in and maybe recede while fading out - randomly and/or according to a parameter like the time of day - resetting themselves to their original space and size after fade out. In a way, it could be kind of like a cloud pool, where a small number of the set clouds are active at a time, with the ability to fade out the current group en masse and fade in a specific cloud group for a storm or other event.

Anyway, I'd like to use the Quantum Metaclouds to pretty up my game, but it seems so complicated to get them working for a dynamic scene that I'm not sure it's going to happen if I'm left on my own. Maybe one day ...

 

Those clouds are beautiful! Great stuff!

 

Hi, I am using your clouds to great effect in my games but have a question: in the Unity quality settings, if I change to fastest then the clouds do not show.. how can I make them show even in fastest mode? Thanks for your help.

Another question is, I added some clouds to a mobile game, android but they are not showing there.. I guess I need to make then show in fastest quality setting

 

v1.5 uploaded to the store:

- Shaders redone in Shaderforge. Now includes cloud growth effect
- Editorscript changes and fixes
- Works in "fastest" quality mode.

 

I can't see any changes when using the slider for cloud growth. How is that supposed to work?

Also, is it possible to have functions of the cloud mode window be in a script that is attached to each cloud? It seems like it would be easier to manipulate each cloud separately that way.

 

You'll have to change the shaders for each material. There are the shaders marked as "Old" and there are new ones labeled "3D Cloud Models." Those are the ones with the growth effect.

The script is useful for modifying multiple clouds at once. If you want to tweak one at a time, just edit the material.

 

Hello, demo scene doesn't work. I need to see what happens when you get in them I wish to use them in a flight simulator/dogfight project, do you recommend this asset for such purpose? Players will get in clouds flying their planes. It will be a mobile project.

 

The clouds are billboards for use in 3D, but they are not 3D themselves. You could have airplanes fly at cloud level and see these billboards on the horizon, but you can't fly through one because they are flat (well, slightly curved if you run the appropriate slider).

On the plus side, because they are billboards they are performance-oriented items, and they look beautiful. They can be scaled way up (several hundred game meters wide) and still look great.

They are more for static skies than dynamic ones, though if you do some coding could probably do a little fakery with moving them, changing their scale, and changing their lighting / transparency.

 

@QuantumTheory it's been a long time since I purchased and used this asset (2013 lol) and I don't have it currently in the game project I'm working on because I'm using volumetric clouds for my world sky. I was thinking bout revisiting the idea of using physical clouds for a certain area in my map that will be permanently stormy and I thought of this package and wondered how hard it would be for me to make customized textures that would work with your shaders.

 

Not hard at all.

With regard to the textures, the Red channel is a desaturated version of the diffuse color of a cloud. Green channel is meant to be a hard-edged, alpha clip mask of the cloud. Blue is a softer-edged mask for alpha blending.

 

@QuantumTheory Awesome. Thanks for the quick reply and the details about how the texture should be broken down.

 

Can I use it on unity2018 ?

 

Hi, Is there any way of making the shaders work on URP?