Time of Day - Dynamic Sky Dome

Just imported TOD into a scene, added the skydome and the camera script and pressed play.
I get this error below. I only just bought this and tested quickly in another project file and had no problem.

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
TOD_Time.AddHours (Single hours, Boolean adjust) (at Assets/Time of Day/Assets/Scripts/TOD_Time.cs:101)
TOD_Time.AddSeconds (Single seconds, Boolean adjust) (at Assets/Time of Day/Assets/Scripts/TOD_Time.cs:156)
TOD_Time.FixedUpdate () (at Assets/Time of Day/Assets/Scripts/TOD_Time.cs:231)

Any ideas why TOD is not working?

Update:
Working now. It was conflicting with another package.

Is there a setting for how quickly the clouds change shape / composition?

 

This isn't possible out of the box, but you can interpolate your cloud settings in a custom script based on the camera or player position. You'd have to encode all cloud parameters into a render texture to truly use different cloud parameters in the western half of the sky dome without affecting the eastern half. This is certainly possible to do, but you'd have to write the backend logic of it yourself.

Does it happen on non-RTP terrain? Are you using global illumination?

In this setup TOD_Camera should be on the first camera that's rendered (probably "Main Camera") but not the other cameras - make sure that's the case. Since you're having issues with Unity's global fog image effect as well, are you on Unity 4 by any chance? There are known issues with fog image effects in Unity 4 that I'm afraid cannot be fixed on my end, which is why TOD_Scattering is only supported on Unity 5. If you're on Unity 5, try disabling the child cameras and make sure everything's working with just the main camera. Then enable the child cameras and see which one of them is causing the problem.

 

Okay, thanks for replying I am definitely using Unity 5 (5.2.2f1). I have done what you said and tried to find out which camera is causing the problem but it seems that both the First Person Camera and the Image Effects camera cause the problem. By this I mean the problem with the black sky, clouds and fog only doesn't occur when both camera are disabled; when both or one is enabled the issue persists.
I remember reading somewhere that there's an issue with multiple cameras all using differed rendering, image effects and depth only flags. Maybe it's something to do with that? I've tried setting all cameras to forward but there now seems to be some weird bug that causes the bottom of the screen to be place at the top:


As you can see above.

I also find this doesn't happen when the image effects camera doesn't use hdr (which is pointless because the effects use need both deferred rendering and hdr)

 

Had this too, not sure what exactly caused it but i remember that it was not the case in a build, only in the editor...

edit: it was in a scene without TOD though, so not sure if we are tlking about the same issue... mabye just the same symptomes...

 

This didn't get answered so I will ask again. (was probably missed)

Is there a setting for how quickly the clouds change shape / composition? I know it was a simple setting in the last cloud system I was using.
Or is it only possible by needing to write a script to change maybe the Coverage?

Thanks

 

Is it possible to dynamically adjust the up direction of the sky? Our game puts players on a large spherical planet. As they travel around the planet, I need the ability to adjust lat/lon and keep the sky above the player (instead of below the player, e.g. as the player reaches the South pole).

How many shader keywords are defined by TOD?

 

This is probably the bug about multiple deferred cameras then. There used to be a workaround which involved manually blit'ing a built-in render texture after every deferred camera - I'm sure it's still around somewhere on the forums. However, I recommend changing the 2nd and 3rd camera to forward rendering since they don't render a lot of geometry / lights anyhow.

There's a weather example script that adjusts the cloud coverage dynamically. Check out the "Examples" folder.

I just did some quick tests and everything seemed to work fine. You'll have to change the sky dome game object rotation and the longitude and latitude in your scripts. As far as I'm aware you'll be the first project to do this though, so it's a less tested use case than the other features. Should you run into any issues with it please send an email or PM my way and I'll iron them out.

At the moment Time of Day utilizes 6 shader keywords, two of which will hopefully soon be built-in keywords in Unity.

 

Hi there, I've just had a look at your changelog and saw this:
Added star catalog support (data for over 9000 real-life stars is included)

Does this mean that ToD now shows the actual star positions "out of the box" rather than just realistic star positions?
Thanks

 

Yes, Time of Day now uses the positions and sizes of over 9000 real-life stars out of the box. The amount of stars that are rendered is reduced on the lower star qualities. You can still use a custom cubemap at night via the "Space" child object should you prefer that. This cubemap can also be combined with the star catalog, which is useful for things like adding a cubemap of the milky way to your night sky while rendering the big stars via the star catalog.

 

Fantastic! Looking forward to getting it

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks for adding "Saturation" to Ambient-Section!

 

We recently switch our project to deferred and now need to use Global Fog instead of the "normal" fog. How would one best integrate ToD with Global Fog? At the moment there are two things we need to fix:
- Control global fog from ToD, should be easy.
- Ensure that global fog does not obscure the skydome. Have not looked at what is involved yet, possibly some shader editing.

I would rather not edit ToD itself to avoid having the changes overwritten on subsequent updates. Is this something you have or are planning to add support for? TIA!

 

If you're on Unity 5 and your global fog image effect is updated to the latest version it will simply use the scene fog color, like the normal fog does. This color can then be set by Time of Day, so you don't have to modify anything.

Regarding the fog / sky dome obscurance issue: This should also no longer be a problem if you're on the latest version of the Unity Standard Assets. There's now a checkbox called "exclude far pixels" on the global fog image effect for this exact purpose.

 

As from the photo in attachment, I'm getting a strange metallic effect during night... How can I fix it?

 

Hi, i have a problem with billboard not being affected by the fog. I am in deferred, linear color, i have the scripts on my camera and i tried the fixed you suggested somewhere else by commenting a line in the billboard shader.

I am using AFS for the shaders (but also tried with the default ones from Unity) and his shader for billboards are very similar to the default one:

Code (CSharp):

1. Shader "Hidden/TerrainEngine/BillboardTree" {
2.     Properties {
3.         _MainTex ("Base (RGB) Alpha (A)", 2D) = "white" {}
4.     }
5.    
6.     SubShader {
7.         Tags { "Queue" = "Transparent-100" "IgnoreProjector"="True" "RenderType"="TreeBillboard" }
8.         Pass {
9.             //ColorMask rgb
10.             Blend SrcAlpha OneMinusSrcAlpha
11.             ZWrite Off Cull Off
12.            
13.             CGPROGRAM
14.             #pragma vertex vert
15.             #pragma fragment frag
16.             #pragma multi_compile_fog
17.             #include "UnityCG.cginc"
18.             #include "TerrainEngine.cginc"
19.             #include "../Includes/AfsBillboardShadow.cginc"
20.  
21.             struct v2f {
22.                 float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
23.                 fixed3 color : COLOR0;
24.                 float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
25.                 UNITY_FOG_COORDS(1)
26.             };
27.  
28.             // AFS Billboard Shadow Color
29.             fixed4 _AfsAmbientBillboardLight;
30.             // AFS Tree Color
31.             fixed4 _AfsTreeColor;
32.  
33.             v2f vert (appdata_tree_billboard v) {
34.                 v2f o;
35.                 AfsTerrainBillboardTree(v.vertex, v.texcoord1.xy, v.texcoord.y);
36.                 o.pos = mul (UNITY_MATRIX_MVP, v.vertex);
37.                 o.uv.x = v.texcoord.x;
38.                 o.uv.y = v.texcoord.y > 0;
39.  
40.                 float factor = v.color.g;
41.                
42.                 o.color.rgb = lerp(_AfsTreeColor.rgb, 1.0, factor);
43.                 o.color.rgb *= lerp( ( _AfsAmbientBillboardLight.rgb ), fixed3(1,1,1), v.color.a );
44.  
45.                 UNITY_TRANSFER_FOG(o,o.pos);
46.                 return o;
47.             }
48.  
49.             sampler2D _MainTex;
50.  
51.             fixed4 frag(v2f input) : SV_Target
52.             {
53.                 fixed4 col = tex2D( _MainTex, input.uv);
54.                 col.rgb = col.rgb * input.color.rgb;
55.                 // shaded billboards
56.                 // col.rgb *= lerp( ( _AfsAmbientBillboardLight.rgb ), fixed3(1,1,1), input.color.a );
57.                 clip(col.a);
58.                 UNITY_APPLY_FOG(input.fogCoord, col);
59.                 return col;
60.             }
61.             ENDCG          
62.         }
63.  
64.     }
65.     Fallback Off
66. }
67.  

Do you see anything i should change that could help me ?

Thanks a lot!

 

You need to set Reflection.Mode in the TOD_Sky inspector to "Cubemap" in order to refresh Unity's reflection cubemap when the lighting conditions change. Also make sure you have the TOD_Camera script on your camera.

Only shaders that write to depth receive image effect fog. You need to use a cutout billboard shader for trees, i.e. "ZWrite On" + "clip(col.a);" in the fragment shader. SpeedTree trees do this automatically.

 

I need to bother you again. I am running the latest TOD version on Unity 5.1.1.f1. Rendering is on deferred in linear space. HDR is enabled. The main cam has the following stuff applied:
TOD_Camera, TOD_Rays, TOD_Scattering, TOD_Shadows, Ultimate Bloom, Deluxe Tonemapper.
The scene contains also one WaterProDaytime prefab from the standard assets and I took the shader you posted on page 23 in order to fix the treebillbord light issues.
However I still have three problems:
1. The tree billboards ignore the lighting condition when the light changes in playmode (not tested in build...)
2. When TOD_Scattering is active the tree billboards still get rendered unaffected, thought this is fixed by the modified billboard shader
3. TOD_Scattering removes the reflection of the skydome itself from the water but clouds are still there. I know you wrote something about this issue but regarding the TOD_Rays in post 1289 but I must admit that I have no clue what you meant by saying "You must have the "Clear" game object included in your reflection probe pass. Change its layer to a layer that isn't included in the reflection probe and everything should work fine again."

 

I'm concerned posting a question here - is there a better way to get help? I want my night time to be brighter instead of pitch black. Especially during a full moon.

 

In uSky asset, there is a variable to rotate the sun position, but in yours there're not.
I understand that you are using a realistic sun position by latitude, longitude, and UTC.
but for me it is very important factor to include manual change on the sun rotation position, coz the direction of my meshes (buildings) whether correctly face the north or south (the compass) must be changed in unity (I've created the environment in 3dsMax without considering the correct direction). So, how can i manually change the sun direction (rotation) to correctly position my buildings direction in Time of Day after i have correctly set the lattitude & longitude of my buildings location?

 

you rotate the sky object to align your north to the tod north

 

ok. i've tried it, and it works! thanks.. although the clouds are also rotated but overall i finally can adjust my buildings' north.. thanks ghiboz.

 

3. is actually quite simple...
The Clear game object is a child of the TOD Sky, put it on a layer that is not the same as the other TOD Sky objects.
Then in your Reflection Probe make sure that this layer is not selected in the Layermask.

 

Ah! Totally missed that. Thanks for clarification.
I also decided to go with SpeedTree now. Was a hard decision but it makes a lot of things easier. Its still not a very neat step of Unity to ditch the tree editor.

Adjust in the TOD_Sky script in the Night section the colors including Ambient and Light Color. There is also a Brightness value in the Moon tab having a lot of effect when HDR is enabled.

 

There will be any new update for Unity 5.3.0f1?

 

The betas worked without further adjustments, are there any specific problems you're running into? Independent from that there's a new update in the works which I'm hoping to release this year.

 

Sorry but I am still too stupid to make it work...
1. I added a new layer called ClearObject
2. Moved the Clear object of the Sky Dome to this layer
3. Tried in the Reflection settings in TOD_Sky including and excluding this layer in the culling mask without achieving anything.
4. Brewed a new coffee tested again, achieved the same "results". What am I doing wrong here? I feel like I've touched Unity for the very first time...

 

@plzdiekthxbye

Hi. When skydome is active - the particle play mode do not work. If i disable skydome in hierarchy - particles playing normally. Not critical - but uncomfortable.

 

Just purchased TOD
Created new scene.
Dropped Sky Dome prefab in scene.
Added TOD_Camera Script to main camera.
Run

The following errors occur:
NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
TOD_Time.AddHours (Single hours, Boolean adjust) (at Assets/Time of Day/Assets/Scripts/TOD_Time.cs:101)
TOD_Time.AddSeconds (Single seconds, Boolean adjust) (at Assets/Time of Day/Assets/Scripts/TOD_Time.cs:156)
TOD_Time.FixedUpdate () (at Assets/Time of Day/Assets/Scripts/TOD_Time.cs:231)

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
TOD_Animation.Update () (at Assets/Time of Day/Assets/Scripts/TOD_Animation.cs:71)

Please help.

 

Regarding the prior message - Re-downloaded to see if missing script would be picked up and it was. Re-added Object and camera script and all references are corrected.

 

What you're doing sounds correct, you need to exclude the clear child object from the reflection culling mask. Are you using reflection probes that you added manually? In that case you have to change the settings on those as well. Also, it's possible that you have something else included that messes it up, so I recommend adding a "Reflection" layer with the atmosphere, stars, sun, moon and clouds child objects on it and set the reflection culling mask to only that layer as a baseline test.

This is a Unity bug and I've already reported it to them. They're working on it.

So the problem is fixed? Good to hear!

 

Hi,
not very important thing but sometimes it could be needed. I see that from ToD you can set ambient multiplier from 0-1. But in Unity Lighting tab you set it from 0-8. So we are loosing some range.

I have updated TOD_Parameters script to get range from 0-8. But it could be still fixed.

Regards
Peter

 

Hasn't gotten an update in six months, so I'm debating whether or not to recommend it to a friend. Any plans to update it again?

 

In case you don't get a speedy official reply, just a few posts higher on this page he says he is planning a release he hopes will hit before the end of this year.

 

No mention of what's in it though, unless I'm mistaken.

 

I would like to see further cloud improvements if possible. I love everything else about the system but the clouds are a bit wimpy.

 

Sorry for the unhelpful description of 'wimpy' that I attached to the clouds, not very helpful for working out what exactly I'd like to see.

I think the problem for me is that I've been spoilt by seeing a couple of implementations of stuff using either layers of 2d textures, or 3d textures, and then ray marching through them and doing a whole bunch of clever stuff that I'd never be able to code myself, and ending up with some very photogenic clouds that actually begin to live up to the title of volumetric clouds. But I'm well aware that this technique isn't terribly cheap, and has some limitations.

Plus I'm a simulation kind of guy, I don't have to think about the full spectrum of hardware out there and so have some luxury when it comes to how often I have to resort to traditional 'fake it' approach to realtime graphics/games as opposed to harnessing things like GPU compute stuff. I am aware of the bias this gives me, and I don't confuse my needs with the needs of the broader userbase, so no arsey demands here.

I would like to think that somewhere away from this extreme, is a slightly cheaper approach somewhere between the various different techniques for cloud rendering, that in my book would be a lovely fit for Time of Day. But this sentiment is easy for me to express, I've no idea if such a technique exists, or how interested the Time of Day developer(s) are in anything approaching more expensive cloud techniques, or some cunning way to vaguely approximate/fake the sort of results that is possible with the likes of, to give a few Unity examples, Nuaj or Truesky? I don't want to get into the pros and cons of those other assets on this thread, I'm just namedropping them to make clear the sort of thing I'm on about that I've been spoilt with on the well lit, fluffy cloud front.

 

I'm thinking about buying this for my lighting but I wanted to know how it works with very large scenes and multiple terrains? My scene has 16 terrains.

 

I'm also considering purchasing this but I also was looking fir a realtime weather solution as well. Is this compatible with any of the weather solutions on the assetstore? If so which ones would you suggest? If not, is there still a realtime weather add on still planned and when is the ETA on it?

Thanks

 

Check this thread, see if it's what you want: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/fr...ers-realistic-weather-for-time-of-day.310180/

 

Thanks for the tips. Ich moved alle Skydome subobjects except the clear object to a new layer called Reflection and the Reflection settings in the TOD_Sky script to Cubemap, Skybox and the Culling Mask to only Reflection. Nothing changes. It works as long as scattering is deactivated but the water reflects still only the clouds ad nothing else of the sky. Very strange. Just in case I'm getting it wrong I also tried setting the Culling Mask to everything except the Reflection layer but I didn't notice an change.

 

This will be fixed in the next update.

Mostly cloud shading improvements (in preparation for a fully volumetric approach next year) and aerial perspective (global fog) improvements.

Yes, the number of terrains doesn't matter for the performance of Time of Day.

There are a few weather related example scripts included in Time of Day which can be used to plug in any of the rain and snow particle effects on the Asset Store. There's also the community project that's been posted above and a commercial solution called ARS Weather System on the Asset Store.

Can you try setting the clear mask in the reflection parameter section to solid color? Also, what water are you talking about? Is it actually using reflection probes or some custom planar reflection?

 

Tried your last suggestion but it did not help either. I am using Unity Water. Not Water4 or Basic. In detail the WaterProDayTime.prefab. Thanks for your patience.

 

A lot of my game takes place very high above the ground in floating islands; do you have any advice on how to set up the sky to make it look like the player is high up?

 

I'm actually having a similar problem, except not just with the ground but it seems like it is everything using the Standard shader from Unity. Unlike Teila, I'm not using RTP. This is just plain vanilla Unity terrain using Unity 5.1.3 personal edition with the latest ToD. In the screenshot below you will notice that the square portal platform from 3DForge Fast Travel Portal package, the stone columns from the free Stonehenge pack, and my ground are all the same shade of grey at night. The common denominator seems to be the Standard shader from Unity 5. I'm wondering if I need to change something in my lighting within ToD or somewhere else that will fix it? No clue what to do at this point.

I have the ToD Camera, Rays, and Scattering scripts attached to my camera and I have tried lowering Light Intensity, Ambient Multiplier, and Reflection Multiplier in the Night settings of my Sky Dome but it doesn't seem to help. I have no other lights in the scene other than what is part of the Sky Dome prefab.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Overall I'm having great results with ToD with this one exception.



EDIT: Disregard.. I figured out the problem. But leaving for anyone who may encounter the same issue. IF you have ever baked light in the scene, you will need to delete the lightmap/skyprobe files that are created. Once I realized those files were in my scene folder and removed them, everything now looks 100% as I expected it to look! Thanks for an awesome day/night asset!

 

As far as I'm aware the Unity water doesn't use Unity 5 reflection probes but a custom planar reflection instead? You can render the sky on that as well, but you have to add the sky layer to the planar reflection script. Correct me if I'm wrong, I can't check right now.

The most important thing in that case would be to add the TOD_Scattering image effect to your camera to make the ground below look good. If you're really far up in the atmosphere you'll also want to reduce the scattering parameters to get that "plane at high altitude" feel for the atmosphere.

Yup, that's correct.

 

Thanks for the input. Strange for me is, that the reflections work flawlessly as long as TOD_Scattering is disabled. When I enable it only the clouds are reflecting.

 

Are the planar reflections script also set to correctly exclude the layer with the clear game object on it? It's a different parameter to adjust on the water reflection script, it has nothing to do with the Time of Day reflection parameters.

 

Thanks!
It seems i´m having the same problem! There should be a place where all these common problems and solutions are collected .

Michael

 

Such thing exists: http://modmonkeys.net/dat/doc/timeofday/#faq

I'll add the folder thing to it with the next update.