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

Looking forward to it...

If I was to beg a feature then for 2.3/4 it would be some nice n simple Playmaker actions...

However, bring on 2.2!

 

I always keep this request in mind, it will make perfect sense after the Weather ULTIMATE module is complete, so will definitly be looking into it for v2.3

 

Excellent!

 

Another idea i got is to provide a localized way to affect clouds, like a attractor or repel force on the hero, so you could split the clouds and make the sun appear in the hole, something like in the above pics (these pics dont use the system, the clouds split due to wind motion, but this would be the target behavior if they were static)

This could also be great for gameplay purposes and would also be nice to have Playmaker actions for it.

Another cool concept i am working on is LOD in the clouds, like vanish in the far end and reuse non visible particles with a controlled smooth fade for emulating an endless cloud bed. This would allow for any number of cloud centers to be defined, but is rather tricky to get perfect and fully optimized, so will be considered for v2.3 or v2.4. This system could also use impostor clouds (that will be one of the texture sheet images for example) for far away clouds and fill with actual particles as distance comes closer in a smooth way.

 

Sounds great - can only imagine how superb a cloud parting for sun/god rays to descend on the hero would look...!

Are you working on effects/sound for lightning/thunder?

 

It is in the to do list for sure, i want to give a lot more on the lightning effect (like extra variety and branching in the line renderer version, glow shaders etc), but this will also be for v2.3 as v2.2 is already too loaded.

The Weather ULTIMATE module will also handle sound a lot better, with smooth in/out effects etc, so the sound part is to be handled in v2.2. Also i will try to add more variants of the thunder sound.

 

Excellent - as you say, Weather ULTIMATE module in Skymaster Ultimate will be major milestone forwards in itself...

 

UPDATE:

A note on the volumetric clouds.

I have recently come across an issue where the old sun beam system in VolumtricCloudSM script will create a heavy load due to the Camera.main calls.

I cannot reproduce it on my PC, but the issue has been reported in one case, so if there is a heavy load from Camera.main grabs in the profiler with the provided prefabs, the solutions are either:

1. Replace the Camera.main.transform calls with the cached version (already declared in Start() method) of the camera transform, in the VolumetricCloudsSM script

or

2. If there is no need to use the sun beam system, remove the Sun_shafts list items and uncheck "occlusion" parameter. The code runs only if the list has items available.

I hope these help if such a case comes up, this issue will also be fixed in the upcoming v2.2 of Sky Master ULTIMATE.

 

Getting closer to the final snow / mud / water puddles and screen droplets look and features.

These will come to Sky Master ULTIMATE v2.2, with mesh (SM2.0 for snow, SM3.0 with snow, puddles & running water) and Unity terrain varieties.

This is one of the many upcoming features in v2.2 of the pack. I will post a video showing the effects in motion soon (uploading to vimeo)

 

Sky Master ULTIMATE received another perfect review !!!!

Big thanks to everyone for the support for the pack, i cant even begin to describe how much reviews help when growing the system and with the morale factor on the countless hours that go into it.

The upcoming v2.2 will bring a huge number of new features, special effects and enchancements, plus a big ready to use sky/cloud/mood collection, Weather ULTIMATE system and new configuration options.

Also the extra morale boost (and growing heat here in Greece ) has inspired me to add a dynamic glacier effect in next versions, i will start working on that soon after the major v2.2 release is done.

 

As a big thanks to all the amazing support Sky Master has received, i decided to add a few extra bonuses to the new update.

The new volumetric particle shader now supports point and spot lights and a new A-Bomb effect has also been added.

 

Excellent! Can you post some piccies ol some further different types of volumetric clouds?

Also, what's the latest on the release date for 2.2?

 

I will post videos with the smooth fade in/out and LOD soon and more cloud types

Also i have added smooth sound fades for the storms etc and fixed some issues at game start where a white cloud would appear (due to a problem in division of particles when the particle count was not exactly divided by the cloud centers number, now is automatically handled)

I am working full time on v2.2 now, so should be up near mid August, if all goes as planned. This has become a major release, as there is a huge number of new features and enhancements that is going in, so i will take some extra time for polishing and testing, to make sure everything is perfect.

Here is a summary of new features in v2.2 that are ready and being polished

Volume clouds
- Volume clouds LOD system (near and far, reduces overdraw, especially useful for 1080p resolution and mobile)
- Volume clouds fade in/out for gradual appearance and sound (rain, thunder etc) fades
- Volume cloud fix (white cloud appeared when particle count was not divided exactly by cloud center count)
- New volume cloud shader with scatter effect
- Volume cloud vertical formation, for more variety in cloud bed arrangement
- Height based particle coloration (to emulate the effect of shadow on lower cloud layers)
- Big number of new presets and samples that showcase all the new features
- Point light interaction with volume clouds

Snow
- New snow and mud puddle shader, for meshes and Unity terrain, SM2.0 and SM3.0 varieties
- Gradual snow appearance controls

Liquids
- New water drops on camera shader, with refraction and water motion

Volume Lit particles
- Particle shader that receives light (directional and point/spot light)
- SM2.0 base (directional) for full compatibility
- Optimized for speed
- Atomic bomb example (bonus)

Shader Based Cloud Dome
- More realistic shader based cloud dome added, for emulation of higher clouds (that dont need to be true volumetric)
- Replaces the texture based cloud dome that was available from the initial Sky Master release
- Artistic features like glow and special motion blending


Features that are in development. Weather ULTIMATE may be pushed to v2.3, since the complexity has gone up and will probably need some extra time to perfect. I will push to have it in v2.2, but since this is the final Sky Master major module (along with SkyManager, Terrain and volume cloud systems), it will probably need the extra time.

Sky Master Editor - Configurator - Library
- Global configurator of Sky Master prefabs and automation of prefab creation
- Particle scaler included and automated scaling (particles etc) for the whole prefab (particle scaler can be used as stand alone too)
- Big library of ready to use volume clouds, sky moods, effects etc, all one click away and with preview images

Sky Master Manager
- Addition of volumetric cloud based weather transitions in the main Sky Master Manager, for use in automated weather, that will give the most spectacular weather effects.


Features that may appear in v.2.2 or v2.3

Weather ULTIMATE
- Use of the above transitions in Weather ULTIMATE module, to define weather patterns, per season or weather events
- Integration of the module with the configurator

Volume cloud shaping
- Define cloud positions manually using gizmos for special situations
- Conformation to terrain (per cloud or particle, using raycasting or Unity terrain height)
- On demand cloud (and cloud region) fade in/out, for spell effects etc (e.g throwing a magic sphere that will cut smoothly through the clouds and reveal the sun behind them)

Space (from earth)
- Asteroid field emulation
- Moon phases and orbit controls

The v2.2 release may be renumbered to v2.5, due to the very big amount of new content and systems.

 

Some more pics of the new v2.2 clouds in near final form

The second pic also has light from a point light source on the left

 

beautiful understatement...

 

Some new videos showing the clouds and new shading and LOD.

The LOD is exaggerated in the video to showcase how it works, the distances from cloud centers it happens are parametric, so it is easy to optimize based on cloud size and needs

 

Gradient scatter fog samples


NOTE 1:
Some tips on the gradient support, the v2.1 has an option to copy a gradient from a disabled GlobalFogSkymaster script that holds one, for each fog preset, so it is easier to customize during game play as fog changes. The gradient itself may also change in real time and the fog will be affected accordingly.

Also note that the gradient has a set resolution that balances performance and looks, but this can be changed in code to get a higher resolution for a more less visible steps in color grading, if the gradient spans a big distance. An option to directly control this resolution is also planned for later updates.

NOTE 2:
If in a new camera setup the sun is not visible, it is probably due to the camera view distance not set high enough to reach the prefab sun setup. This has two solutions

- Increase camera view distance
or
- Bring the sun object near the hero along its forward vector and within camera view distance. The same can be done for the moon (which has to be scaled accordingly so it matches the desired size)

 

Coloration of Unity Terrain trees in run time !!! (shader based) - Autumn
UPDATE:

I finally figured out how to support seasonal changes in Unity terrain trees. I downloaded the tree shaders and applied a global variable which is set through my terrain script and is multiplied with the final color, to give a tint.

The shaders that will come in v2.2 will be a templete, so if there is a custom tree system in place, just add this parameter in the shaders and multiply it in the end to get the seasonal color changes in any shader. I will post a detailed tutorial for this if needed, it is 2 lines of code change only and works like a charm.

 

I am trying very hard to imagine just how versatile this Asset will be and failing. Plenty of 'idiot-proof' (ie. me) tutorials a must.

Roll on 2.2 !

For 2.3+ Playmaker actions ++.

 

v2.2 is shaping to be huge , i keep adding stuff to make it as complete as possible for season and weather changes and is now all fiting together and is really exciting

I have "solved" the billboard update issue (i do a small camera rotation so the player cant see and synch it to the color change and have added it as option in the terrain handler script)

Also i have just solved the white flicker issue in Unity terrain trees !!!! which was a major issue and was a super huge problem for my RPG project too, as i used the trees heavilly.

Now i am trying to implement automatic snow in Unity terrain trees, should be hard but i am more knowledgable now as to how to control the shaders even when all seems lost

And playmaker actions will certainly be coming, nwo that the new weather system will be complete

After the atomic bomb in v2.2 (which btw has now gone leaps better looking and have added special FX on top), i plan to have a proper hurricane effect ( i mean a life altering hurricane, not just a twister ) for v2.3 and with each new version i hope to add a super spectacular such epic effect (e.g.tsunami etc)

 

Video with the finilized snow build system. The snow will build on both meshes and Unity terrain. Also works with unity terrain placed trees and their billboards and blend in an interesting way using the texture color variance.

In order to make this happen, i have replacement shaders in the pack that do the snow coverage for tree creator and terrain billboards. These may act as templete to integrate the solution to any shader (from a scripting standpoint, i set a global shader variable that dictates the current snow growth level, so this could be used as base for manipulating shaders that already have snow cover features)

The terrain snow cover shader, since it is applied to just one material, is handled separately and is not using the global shader variable, so it is possible to control the terrain snow growth rate independently of the meshes and trees coverage.

 

The new volume cloud shader enables local lights, and a full range of possibilities in coloration and fog/atmospheric scattering, so it will take the heavy storm (and all clouds) a huge step ahead in visual quality, with various epic looks and possibilities.

Note that these are true volumetric particle clouds, that support fly through and any number of customization and motion capabilities, plus a LOD system, a fade in / out system and much more.

 

Some pics and a video of the new snow coverage system that extends the seasonal system (coloration based on season).

The system now supports SpeedTree trees as well (the two on the front and one on the back left to showcase the billboard version). The rest are unity trees painted on terrain.

 

Big offer on Sky Master ULTIMATE. ​

With every Sky Master ULTIMATE purshase, a free $100 gift asset is granted (Advanced FX Creator), while vouchers last.

Note that Particle Dynamic Magic (included in Advanced FX Creator) will be essential for one of the modules/gameplay libraries in the new PANDORA gameplay asset.

Advanced FX Creator Vouchers left ($100 worth - free gift):
2/2

 

The offer has been extended to this weekend.

Enjoy

The price after v3.0 arrives is likely to go up, so make sure to grab the asset while in the current price.

 

Big offer on Sky Master ULTIMATE.

With every Sky Master ULTIMATE purshase, a free $100 gift asset is granted (Advanced FX Creator), while vouchers last.

Note that Particle Dynamic Magic (included in Advanced FX Creator) will be essential for one of the modules/gameplay libraries in the new PANDORA gameplay asset.

Advanced FX Creator Vouchers left ($100 worth - free gift):
1/2

First voucher has been granted, one to go !!! Please post after buying the pack in this thread, so the purshase time is confirmed.

 

The 100$ gift offer is extended until madness sale is over !!!

One voucher left for Advanced FX Creator.​

 

Just bought this awesome asset To get Advanced FX Creator on top made this a real no-brainer!

Do you have plans to provide temperatures along with different weather zones?

 

Thanks for buying , i will send a PM with the voucher asap. Please send me the invoice number in a PM or email.

There are plans for expanding the weather system in various ways. The next version (v3.0) has a completly new weather transition and definition system that will bring all new Sky Master features together (volume clouds, snow system etc), with an easy to use editor to define weather events.

The plans for v3.x are to offer an editor for weather systems themselves (in v3.0 weather systems will be hardcoded with an enum and transition among them with events, in v3.x it will be possible to register custom weather systems and have complete freedom to define everything, for users that want total control, though it will be easy to customize all individual systems registered in the enum systems in 3.0)

The temperatures system would be a level above all the above and should start weather events based on humidity etc, so this is planned after the perfected weather events/systems have gone in v3.0.

Weather zones will be easy to emulate with an expansion of the event system to register the global position of the weather event and start everything relative to that location.

Since i am currently making this system, i may have that in v3.0 since it is a great idea, or at the very least i will add the position option so it can later be implemented in 3.x. Currently weather events happen based on the map center.

Let me know for any questions on the system. Also note that the new configurator in v3.0 will streamline everything about the creation of the sky system, so this will bring the pack to a new level of ease of use, while keeping all the complexity and powerfull features intact. Plus will add a scaling system for particles etc to make things easier if scales differ from the sample items.

A note on GI Proxy, the system is included in both packs, with some extra updates in Sky Master, so if both will be in the same project, it is advised to install Sky Master after Advanced FX Creator, so the GI Proxy is updated to the latest version which handles sun light cutoff based on sun position.

 

The 100$ gift offer is now ended, all Advanced FX Creator vouchers have been granted.

 

Voucher has been sent in PM.

 

The new configurator editor, for direct access to all Sky Master systems.

 

Looking good... !

 

Offer extended with a new voucher, buy Sky Master ULTIMATE and get Toon Effects Maker voucher.

Please post here to validate the purshase time.

One Toon Effects Maker voucher left !!! (https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/30849)

Toon Effects Maker is a global FX creation framework, with powerfull tools like a sprite sheet generator to move 3D effects/animations (works with everything) to 2D animated sprites, various tools for beam generation /reflection, dynamic shields, a toon ocean system and much more, plus a very big library of ready to use effects and cool scenes (ocean, lava).

Enjoy

Thanks, i will try to make it as special as possible for v3.0 and of course keep updating these categories constantly as more updates come in.

 

Can you give us a preview of the options hidden in each section? I'm curious, and it looks really promising

 

This is the current WIP, so i will definitly be showing it in a few days, with details on how they will be used as well.

At them moment i have sky creations options (default skybox, skydome option, definition of sun system prefabs etc), particle scaling and the event system manager, so there is a lot more to add in the coming days.

I also polish and enchance all systems as i do the automated creation process, that is why it will take a bit to get there, but is getting closer , as all systems now work great and are in synch (like snow growth uniformly in all different items like Unity terrain, mesh terrain, meshes, Unity trees/billboards, SpeedTree trees/billboards etc)

As a bonus i will post first pics of my InfiniGRASS system, using Sky Master for lighting, which will also be used for SM 3.0 promo material.

 

All good things take time, so take the time you need

I already read about InfiniGrass. I think you have a strong competitor with VolumeGrass, but it seems that all your assets evolve to must-have packs for world design I'm really looking forward to this!

 

VolumeGrass is indeed a very strong system, but as usual i will be offering so much with the system that will (hopefully) be irresistable .

The visuals are directed to next gen, so that is a first important feature. Also there is a super handy editor to place rocks, trees, grass and a fence system included.

Interactivity is also very high, with real time grass manipulation with full control over the grass motion. I have a sample with spheres pushing the grass as an example.

There is also a custom LOD system, with grass fading to make it 100% smooth and much more.

I can PM a video and some pics if you are interested to see the current state of the system. Would be great to get an opinion on it

 

I'd be honored to take a look at it, thank you!

 

I sent a PM with some material, hope you like it . It is WIP, so some textures may seem strange.

Suggestions are most welcome. This system is planned from scratch as a major companion to Sky Master for top visuals (without the need for DX11 of course), so i am perfecting both in parallel ATM and i can implement suggestions for the initial release.

Note that all rocks, fences, grasses in the pics are placed with InfiniGRASS system for perfect terrain fit, top performance and auto randomization and can potentially all have LOD and fades based on the system.

The grass etc can be painted on any surface as well. Everything is scalable and controlable too, from LOD/fade distances, interaction distances, shadows etc

Sky Master ULTIMATE 3.0 is used for the fogging and lighting.

I will also send a video with the spheres crashing the grass later, with directionality and force based push.

 

Holy cow, talking about understatement, are we? The ones with the grass look amazing in my opinion! Do you have rough performance numbers?

To be honest, I can not imagine how you could place other non-random objects like fences with this. If there would be something like placing a line of objects with this, like it is usually done with fences, that would be a great thing, but would not correspond to the overall concept volumetric grass, right? Also, I think there are already some solutions for snapping gameobjects together out there, so maybe this should be an asset of it's own...

It would be nice if the grass would kind of "collide" with static objects. For example, you could place the grass very close to a house, and some straws of the grass would snuggle up to it. This should be different from force based pushes, right?

Also, how das this integrate with InfiniTree? I have been watching it for a while and like the idea of a growth-system there - for grass, it would add a nice pinch of detal. Imagine some dead animals laying around in the process of composting (is it called that when things die and transform slowly back into earth?), later on growing grass on a small mound that has been their body with only some bones remaining. Or a farmer planting some crops that you can actually watch growing. Not a core mechanic, but certainly a possibility for adding immersion!

 

The fence system is a separate one, it just uses the batching to reduce draw calls and is not random based, you define each fence point and has minor AI to decide where to not place fence. I just felt that a grass system cant do without a fencing option

The grass currently has checks to avoid placing blades on non terrain/included objects selectively, also an option to reduce size if close to an edge for extra controllability.

InfiniGRASS uses the backend of InfiniTREE to get the performance, so the packs are connected in a way, for example the grass is grown as a tree, in a horizontal spread way.

InfiniTREE will also get an overhaul after InfiniGRASS, since i now have a nice editor to provide better ease of use for that pack as well. I am still not 100% decided if InfiniGRASS will be part of InfiniTREE, that was my initial plan to add as free bonus and there is a base system already included, but perfecting it was very hard so it will be a separate pack and i am considering if i include in InfiniTREE and raise the price, or leave them separate.

InfiniTREE allows growth, and its main perk is the mltithreading batching system above anything else and i am also working on some cool spline based growth systems to enchance it later (WIP also included in the pack).

As for performance, in the static case there is no much impact at all, since it is all GPU based and locked at game start. In the dynamic case the local grids will open up to provide interaction and then it depends on the geometry of the initial items and shadows, the trade off between grid size and draw calls (you may have larger grids that take longer to open, but are fewer and thus have lower draw calls), plus there is some extra GC when objects are regrouped (discard of previous batched).

I will PM some pics showing performance in various cases.

 

@nasos_333,

Will there be Playmaker support and actions for v3?

 

In the screenies above what can you do with the water options in SkyMasterPro?

 

This is planned for v3.1 and beyond, so Playmaker support will come right after SM3.0 release in September. Right now i am focusing on total integration and events, so Playmaker action will step on the current work.

The water manager will add a water plane and configure it, plus make the specular follow the sun and add all required scripts. I dont if i can sqeeze some extra things i have in mind for this, but many more options will come later.

 

New offer on Sky Master ULTIMATE.​

With every Sky Master ULTIMATE purshase, a free $50 gift asset is granted (Toon Effects Maker), while vouchers last.

Toon Effects Maker Vouchers left ($50 worth - free gift):
1/1​

Toon Effects Maker is a global FX creation framework, with powerfull tools like a sprite sheet generator to move 3D effects/animations (works with everything) to 2D animated sprites, various tools for beam generation /reflection, dynamic shields, a toon ocean system and much more, plus a very big library of ready to use effects (200+) and cool scenes (ocean, lava).

It is also ideal to use with Sky Master, since it supports Particle editing, property copy from the library, scaling and much more.

Enjoy

 

@nasos_333,

Excellent. . The more water plane and Shader support in SkyMaster Pro the better. . I'd rather trust to you and none of the other water assets are quite what I'm after anyway.

Can understand getting the v3 platform in place before the Playmaker support....

 

Sound like some great additions. Have you thought about using your particle dynamic magic package to make it so that you could add splashes to the water plane too ? Where if something collided with the water it would throw up some particles as splashes and then destroy them when they went back into the water.

 

Thanks, i think the water will make for a great addition, as it will provide a complete system that will play nice along with the sky and fog. I cant guarantee that it will be up to some other packs in the store, but i will be upading it until it comes as close as possible

I am happy with it as i have got the waves, underwater and depth coloration look very nice, so it is a great start for v3.0 and i will be tweaking it more until release as well.

 

Thanks Ian

That is a very nice idea, the water does not support collisions iteself, but i could write some code to emulate its motion and "detect" a collision based on each particle height (solve the wave equation for the specific spot for example)

This would also be required for bouancy etc

I will add that for v3.1 to do list, will be really cool to have, if i manage to synch them well.

When waves are used in a x-z plane, the collisions can be emulated with a plane i suppose (like shown in my demo), so local rain may create splases (and ripples as in the demo as well) based on that. I will have a sample in v3.0 demo for this functionality and add the extra for covering all detail and Y displacement in upcoming versions