[ON $20 FIXED PRICE SALE!✅]Sky Master ULTIMATE: Sky, Ocean, Volume Clouds-lighting, Weather, RTGI

Yes, this scene is used in both the Cardboard stereo sample and the dual sun sample.

The planets scene uses a trick to emulate sun light on the planets in a unique way. The planets are self illuminated (so if filters are removed they actually glow and look strange). I use the gradient method of the volumetric global fog to define their coloration and cut back on their glow at the specific distances, this way they are like entering/leaving the color / atmospheric layers zones.

Note that the planet texturing can only be used from the ground, as the textures do not tile seamlessly. I plan to do more planet texture work for a Space module that will have the proper textures for flying through planets and also regulate all effects to allow the transition from earth to space later.

I have also added an option to define a gradient per preset in the fog, which is very useful and also have included the Bloom effect with the proper settings to get the above feeling.

 

Busy guy! .

 

Indeed , hopefully it wont take me a week to find time to write the manual like with the last update

PS. I fogot to mention that the system can support any ammount of suns (up to the shader limitation), i will write a small tutorial on how to change the code to add more (it is just a 5 lines of code addition to add a new sun)

 

Some of the current WIP on the new Anime scene cloudscapes

 

Superb. . Wish you'd do some demos of volumetric clouds in Alpine terrain with lake, trees, mountain. . Interested to see how that would look...

 

I will try to put together some cool terrain at some point and add the clouds over it. I need to learn to use Terrain composer at last , have not found the time for a long time now unfortunately.

The clouds in the pics above would be a nice fit for testing in such environment.

I plan to also have an option to give a lot more cool formations to the clouds in the next version (like the towering ones, with the wide base and smaller tops etc)

Also i am currently playing a lot with new cool shaders, ones that will enable scattering and other lighting tricks for even more amazing results.

I finally managed to finish the manual for v2.1, so should be submitted very soon with the stereoscopic and dual sun support and other cool features (like the planets scene/assets) and a few fixes (also a major fix in the sun positioning that is now locked in all starting angles and wont create a displacement upon entering the game in some cases).

 

It's looking really great!

 

New volume clouds shader WIP, with self shadowing & atmshperic scattering integration, plus inner motion, masking and detailing, noise and much more

Thanks and it will get a lot more spectacular with the new shader work.

I have been integrating the scattering and shadowing in a transparent shader that will also handle inner particle motion, super detailing and noise and is going very well, so a whole new range of options will soon be unlocked, especially as far as lighting and super in cloud detail goes.

The new formation options will also create some cool new options for various looks and use cases.

 

So these clouds do cast shadows on other objects correct?

 

Yes and can use various modes for various performance requirements. There is no limit to how you cast the shadows, both cloud centers/size and particles are well defined and accesible to do the casting with exact or proxy approaches.

I use planes in the current implementation for each cloud center, these can also hold any texture or UV cycle shader/method for extra detail in shadows.

 

Awesome, will I be able to achieve an effect like this with this plugin as well?

 

Most definitly, that is the model i use and the volumetric fog will handle the terrain fog as well. Both are fully customizable too and have presets to change them during various times of day.

Also the sky rendering works directly on the skybox, so is fully integrated with Unity 5 functionality and is globally compatible as it is SM2.0 and also supports orthographic camera and stereo mode.

The system does not need a sky dome sphere, but has an option (Unity 4 system) to use a spherical dome, so every option is there to use if needed.

I am uploading the new version right now, so should be up for review soon.

 

So let me get this straight... full day/night realtime support, volumetric clouds/shadows, rain support, soon to be rain window surface shader support, cloud customization, sun customization, ect...

And constant support... including progress on amazing anime clouds.

I'll buy this within the week my friend

Now if I could just get the creators of Spine to update there Unity Support with ambient light and normal maps.

 

Great , i will probably keep updating this system for years to come, the possibilities are endless, especially with the clouds and weather.

Also the pack contains a lot of particle manipulation systems, like gameobject particles, custom batch system, ice stick/melt/propagation systems, Turbulence and forces and much more, plus GI Proxy for real time global illimunation.

 

Now if you ever do combine the particle manager with the sky system, will there be a discount for owning one of the packs already?

 

I dont currently have plans for that, as the two packs serve rather different purposes and there is no way to do such a discount with the current store system.

I will hold a sale for some of the packs soon though, including both my particles packs, so they will be lower price for some time.

 

The particle manager does have the capability to do some of what those other extreme particle systems can do right?

They just look a lot more advanced and slightly better in some ways, but I'm wondering that mainly has to do with the particles you chose to create and with slight adjustments you could create particles that look like theirs. My game relies on awesome looking particles, and I don't care for pre-packaged asset packs with already made particles, I'd like to make my own that can modular change based on spell level, and sync to music. I'd also prefer to buy it from a developer I trust (currently I've found you having amazing support.) so if I could get most of my systems from the same supportful devs, I'll know I have no problem using them in my project

 

I have covered most of the particle related features and as you suggest with the proper art you can indeed emulate anything seen in the store in the non DX11 department and of course i dont do real fluids either.

The strongest aspect of the pack is that it can do all the dynamic effects using any Shuriken system in the store, so you wont have to remake everything from scratch if you have found some cool artistically particles you want to use and also oprates on gameobjects (scripted, animated and everything in between), that take the system a step further than other particle only solutions.

The system packs a lot of things other than just particles, like a full dynamic decal system, ice/fire stick/melt/grow/propagation, AI particles fully integrated to the system, gameobject particles with custom batching system, multithreaded turbulence with extra vortex generator, hardware accelerated grass particles with wind support, spline system with gameobject support and much much more.

For example you can paint full 3D grass anywhere and have it batched (or custom trees in a 3D planet etc), or gravitate gameobjects in a point in space, spread a fence in a spline etc

I have a music synch sample too and is integrated in the Transitions manager, that can do Dynamic State transitioning of particles and even change particle type and use gameobjects, all on the fly.

 

Sky Master ULTIMATE v2.1 has been submitted to the store and is pending review !!!!

New features:

- Dual sun support, with extra controls for the 2ond sun size and scattering
- Steroscopic mode support, image effects update per left/right eye cameras and sample scene (requires Google Cardboard for Unity)
- Gradient per fog preset, it is now possible to define a custom gradient to load from a deactivated GlobalFogSkyMaster image effect for each fog preset.
- Planets scene, with new assets and a unique way to render/light planets using the volumetric fog and emissive materials. The planets are meant for a "from ground" view.

Fixes:

- Fixed sun displacement at game start at certain angles in editor, also limited the horizon factor to only in game use (will be zeroed when starting the game, also use zero in editor)
- Fixed issue where the Refractive Rain would create a transparent rectangular artifact at deferred rendering above certain image effects (turned Z-Write off in shader).

 

@nasos_333 ,

Excellent - looking forward to downloading that!

 

The new version is now up on the store.

 

... and downloaded.

 

Great

Let me know for any question that comes up about the new setup.

 

Some WIP pics of the upcoming Rain streaks and Snow accumulation systems.

 

@nasos_333 ,

Explain to me the above rain streaks and snow accumulation systems - are they going to be part of SkyMaster Pro? They look potentially great.

 

Yes, both will be in the next (always free) update of Sky Master ULTIMATE.

Rain streaks will be enabled when in rain condition for extra cool effect in camera or other surfaces. I will make sure to make it as versatile to use as possible, so it can have rain streams run on anything.

The snow is a height blend shader and can control snow height and accumulation depending on season etc. This will be made to deliver a smooth snow growth/melt effect when snowfall starts/end. I may also include a system where this shader will be applied to all objects that should accumulate snow automatically, but this is TBD as it needs lots of testing to see if it makes sense.

This is only a few of the stuff coming in the shader side, there is also plans for water puddles and special volume cloud shaders (also WIP)

 

Can't wait! (well, I can and I must... )

 

@nasos_333 ,

Just a thought - some Playmaker/Playmaker actions compatability?

 

Would be interesting to have something like that. This would come after i have all the gameplay related elements out though, like the higher level weather controller and some other cool stuff i plan to do on gameplay side.

Then these could get an implementation with Playmaker.

 

That makes sense - in a sense, get the Skymaster actions out of the way and then implement all with Playmaster actions.

 

Indeed, that is also the logic behind the Weather ULTIMATE and the configurator editor as well.

Get all features in first, so i can provide a global and complete way to put prefabs together and control weather with every single feature possible, like control snow coverage, sky, clouds, lightning, wind, refractive rain, mud puddles, tornados etc all in one tidy pack and have all the spectacular detail like volume clouds, haze, particle systems etc than use a simplistic approach which would be easier to handle overall (for both me and the users) but would come nowhere close to the versatility, variety and the spectacular skies and effects i can get with Sky Master with the current approach.

 

How is next release coming along?

 

I have a lot of stuff ready and need to find the time to polish and integrate. For example the volume lit particles, snow, mud puddles and much more are working great already, but the refinement process always takes lots of time to do.

Hopefully sometime after the middle of the month i will have done the integration and allow snow building and mud puddles all over

 

Excellent. As I say, it just occurred to me, but some sort of Playmaker implementation would be enormous - it would allow duff scripters like me to call in all sorts of effects and Sky in our scenes easily...

 

Here is a first view of the Configurator that will make all that easier . There will be multiple categories with visual presentation of the effects in what is planned to be a vast library of ready to use moods/weather configurations and effects.

The Weather ULTIMATE system is also made in parallel, so it will be easy to define complex weather conditions and effects for specific periods of time and will also be configurable through the editor.

The sky library will use a 4 pics presentation (morning, day, dusk, night) for the preview. I am looking at enabling animations too as preview option, but this may be too much so it is not 100% sure.

Playmaker actions will also be added in the to do list, it is a great idea to have them indeed and will be great together with the new Weather Ultimate module.

 

@nasos_333 ,

Looks nice n simple. What kind of functionality comes with the selection 'Water'? (sorry, obsessing about Water at the moment)...

Also, what kind of stuff can you play with under 'Night'. 'Foliage', 'Clouds'?

Presuming some of these come from your other Assets but slot in? ie. 'Foliage'?

 

The goal is to be very simple to define a starting prefab, with the library items. What is not seen in the pic is the WIP left hand menu, that will give a very powerfull customizer and weather cycle definition system that will be used to refine these options.

Weather ULTIMATE module will bring all the cool features of weather (storms, volume clouds, wind, water puddles, ocean waves, particle clouds, snow coverage, seasonal changes etc ) under one roof and provide transition control for all of them with scheduling and a huge array of options per scheduled item. The cofigurator will directly use this module to define weather conditions, with the library items as start point for further ease of use.

The procedure for all categories is choose one of the library items and then refine them in the left menu and add them to the prefab.

Foliage will be about definition of seasonal materials, sample trees ready to use with seasons and the new grass/flower growth systems i am working on (that will be applied directly on Unity terrain) and that is only the beggining

I also plan to integrate this with InfiniTREE system, so many options for the users of both packs will have their own category there and also special scatter shaders for that grass.

The clouds category will be a vast one, i will provide sub categories as i will have shader based dome clouds (upcoming), stunning true volumetric clouds with a huge library (as i love playing with them, I have created a vast number of amazing samples and these will be increased exponentially with the new formation and shader options i am working on) and various other cloud options (particle clouds, rolling clouds etc)

Fog will also contain subcategories, as can be the image effect fog, the haze particle fog with terrain rolling and much more.

The night is a category about choosing night time items, like moon phases (upcoming), galaxy textures, define moon options, moon related image effect options etc

The Sun may also contain two categories, one for singe and one for dual suns.

Water category will have a sample water setup with reflections and customization of the look for starters, then will try to have underwater effects with fog, beams, caustics and add wakes, custom shore effect etc.

Note that at first i will try to provide as many options as possible, but will also update this library constantly with more functionality, configuration options, ready to use samples and cool FX options, so this will be just the beggining , as vast as it may seem in the first release

 

@nasos333,

The (hopefully not) million dollar question - What of the above will be Skymaster Ultimate and what will be additional purchase?

 

Everything will be Sky Master besides the InfiniTREE (and the included InfiniGRASS) system. InfiniTREE takes care of multithreaded batching, LOD and tree growth and interactivity and is a separate tree/forest generation, batching, growth and interaction system, but would work great with Sky Master for seasons and dynamic foliage etc.

The scatter grass shader will of course be included in Sky Master, so should you need to use Unity's or any other grass system will be possible as well, InfiniTREE main advantage is that this grass/trees can be dynamic during play time, have infinite shape variety and have customized LOD, but will not be nessesary to use Sky Master at all.

The seasonal changes, wind etc will be for every system, so you wont need InfiniTREE for that either. I have so far focused on support for the more common Unity trees and Speed Tree, so InfiniTREE will be an added bonus and come only after the general case (Unity and SpeedTree foliage) features.

I think will be cool for InfiniTREE and Sky Master customers to have an option at ready to use setups for maximizing the cool factor in foliage too , besides the sky / weather side.

 

Gotcha - makes good sense.

 

I decided to do a summary of the major Sky Master features, since i get asked a lot about it. Also i will create a summary pic for it.

Sky Master ULTIMATE - Major Features​

- DUAL solution - Both Skybox and Skydome options (Skybox is the default for Unity 5)
- Skybox mode allows direct use of all Unity 5 features (PBR, IBL, GI) directly and without extra calculations !!!!!!
- True VOLUMETRIC particle clouds with just one draw call !!!! with full control possibilities (wind, formations etc) and many ready to use setups and options. Possible to fly through and also apply cool shaders for even better results (many new ones are currently WIP for v2.2.)
- ULTIMATE Particle and Gameobject controls (contains a Turbulence/Forces pack, Gameobject painting/particles pack, custom batching pack and much more)
- GI Proxy included, for real time light spreading and GI emulation, ideal for emulating point & spot lights with GI in real time etc
- Dual sun support (or any number of suns with minor modifications)
- Stereo mode support (cardboard)
- Orthographic camera support
- Next gen solution with SM2.0 support
- Volumetric fog with GRADIENT support, for ultimate control over fog coloration nad grading
- Completly written in C# and code is open to adapt at will
- ULTIMATE artistic freedom, all options can be set with the preset system and switch at will to provide beautifull transitions
- Weather integration with environment, tree/grass color changing etc and much more to come
- Next gen refractive rain and effects !!!

And this is just for starters , much more cool features and editors for configuring Sky Master will arrive soon

 

Don't forget to mention multiple moons, celestials, etc.

 

I think you covered this off earlier - but does this support time of day ?

 

Sure, there is a day cycle and automatic sky rendering handling, plus presets to allow easy changes.

Multiple moons are not in yet , but is a great idea for future versions

 

Hi! Will this work with Jove, or just GI part of it will work with Jove point lights?

 

Hi,

I have a script that will enable the spread of Jove point lights instead of the Unity ones, so GI Proxy can work with Jove.

GI Proxy is a general light spread system, that may work with any light system as well, with equivalent middle scripts and would work best with true area lights instead of the point lights (i have not tried it though).

I cant say about the rest of the Sky Master system, since Jove uses very different rendering etc than Unity's.

Some of the systems might work, like the volumetric clouds since the logic behind them is global and if Jove allows to spread Legacy particles, a Jove shader could be used instead of the current ones to give the volumetric look.

The sky shader might also work with Jove specific modifications i guess, but since i dont own Jove i can say for sure or what (if any) modifications would be needed for that.

 

Hi everyone,

An update, I have receieved an email from Unity that the sample SpeedTree trees (the ones coming in the standard unity assets, that is) cant be included in the pack, so i will upload a version that will have them removed asap.

The full SpeeTree compatibility will remain of course intact in the pack.

EDIT:

Version 2.1.1 has been submitted to the store and is pending review.

This version is removing all SpeedTree assets from the pack, due to the fact that even though these are free in the Standard Assets, apparently their license does not allow redistribution.

These trees come free with Unity Standard Assets (e.g conifer tree), so they can be inserted directly from within Unity and were only used for demonstration purposes in Sky Master. Sadly i can no longer provide a ready to use SpeedTree setup sample in the pack, but i am always available in forums/email/skype for help with the procedure (which is also described in the guide/manual).

The steps to assign materials for the seasonal changes are few and straigtforward (assing the SpeedTree trees leaf materials for all LODs to a list in the SeasonalTerrainSKYMASTER script and check the option to update the materials).

 

New Volumetric Cloud shader work for Sky Master ULTIMATE v2.2.

Many new cloud formations and features are also in the making, more information and videos will follow soon.

 

@nasos_333 ,

Looking forward to those videos and piccies!

Love those god-rays and sun-rays.

Looking forward to 2.2...

 

I will create HD videos of the new clouds and post them as soon as possible, they look amazing in motion , the new formations and shaders bring them one step closer to realizing their full potential.

I am working around the clock for 2.2, there is a huge amount of things that are worked in parallel, and hopefully i will have all of Dynamic Weather ULTIMATE module, volume lit particles, snow/mud/water shader and integration, scatter cloud shader and controls and the configurator all in one go.

The individual parts are all in advanced state and most near ready, the hardest part will be integrating them all in the new Weather module that will be a global controller for everything and then adding all to the configurator, for the complete scheme and ease of setup.

Since this will be a major release that will finilize Sky Master big features (well, until i come up with something new at least ), i may hold a beta before the release on the store too, for anyone interested. I will announce when the beta may begin when i have concluded the first version of all the systems and polished enough.