Jump to content

Moonlight


Recommended Posts

I don't think any other mods do this, but I think it'd be cool if planetary bodies could reflect light. For example, when the Mun is out on Kerbin, some of the light it's 'reflecting' would be visible on Kerbin. This could apply to other planetary bodies as well, such as Duna/Ike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Planetshine for ships in space.

 

However, I don't know any mods that will actively give reflections of celestial bodies in water, or something like that. Planetshine only works on parts (and hence vessels)

Edited by Astrofox
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the stock game makes a illusion of that if you set the ambient light to stock, since it makes the dark side of a planet bright enough to see everything.  Still, i would like to see a mod like planetshine that would enable planets to shine light on both parts and other planets, solong as its done in a way that doesnt make the game lag too much (planetshine is pretty good on resources).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think what you're asking for is raytracing, and it is about the most GPU demanding task there is :) You'd need quite the rig to bounce sunlight off the topographically-varied moon(s) and then use that light to light the main planet. And vice versa.

Though you could probably do some fair approximations based on orbital positions and how much of the moon is illuminated relative to the exact midnight point of the planet... Taking a good guess at intensity with a fixed colour per reflective body might not be too hard.

Or you can just bump up the game's ambient light setting. I find 20% is quite enough to see everything in the dark :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, eddiew said:

I think what you're asking for is raytracing, and it is about the most GPU demanding task there is :) You'd need quite the rig to bounce sunlight off the topographically-varied moon(s) and then use that light to light the main planet. And vice versa.

Though you could probably do some fair approximations based on orbital positions and how much of the moon is illuminated relative to the exact midnight point of the planet... Taking a good guess at intensity with a fixed colour per reflective body might not be too hard.

Or you can just bump up the game's ambient light setting. I find 20% is quite enough to see everything in the dark :) 

Wouldn't a simpler solution be an "On rails" version of Ray tracing?  

We don't care about the topography of the reflecting body, just that it's reflecting.  Treat each body like a sphere, and give each one a variable light source based on it's phase.  The Engine should already handle the light source stuff no prob, (Of course the inevitable bugs and kinks that come along with any "simple" coding solution).  A lookup table or calculated light intensity based on each bodies phase relative to the viewer should reduce computation drastically, and it just emits that much light. 

Now, hiding the light source so that the Mun or Jool doesn't appear to have a miniature star at it's core may prove difficult. 

 

I wonder if this is doable with a mod.

Edited by Gargamel
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...