[WIP][1.9.x-1.12.x] Scatterer-atmospheric scattering (0.0838 - 14/08/2022) Scattering improvements, in-game atmo generation and multi-sun support

[blackrack]

Ah right, yeah that makes sense, I had the stock atmosphere turned off as it was replaced by the Eve atmo shader. Oh and regarding the atmosphere height I was referring to its entire vertical scale essentially not so much to the altitude of its start point. Maybe it's something that could be edited in the configuration editor? Or is it hard limited to being proportionate to a planets radius?

Not sure what you mean, are you referring to the horizon line being higher than the actual horizon? Or do you find the default atmospehre height setting too high in RSS?

[Ralathon]

Very minor little bug: The scattering effect does not show up on the IVA RasterProp Monitors if you look at it via a camera.

[pingopete]

Not sure what you mean, are you referring to the horizon line being higher than the actual horizon? Or do you find the default atmospehre height setting too high in RSS?

Yeah the latter, is there any way of altering that? Thanks

Edited July 27, 2015 by pingopete

[blackrack]

Yeah the latter, is there any way of altering that? Thanks

The default atmosphere size is taken off of earth's so I'd have thought it'd look perfect with RSS. Anyway, you can do it with the config tool, there's a short explanation in the OP on how not to get artifacts, if you get problems just send me a message.

[pingopete]

The default atmosphere size is taken off of earth's so I'd have thought it'd look perfect with RSS. Anyway, you can do it with the config tool, there's a short explanation in the OP on how not to get artifacts, if you get problems just send me a message.

Awesome thanks for the help man!

[Xenro66]

I installed scatterer via CKAN, and it also installed clouds from the Astronomer's pack... But it causes this when I load up. If I reload, the same thing happens. If I go to the tracking station and look in map view, the skybox is gone and replaced with this weird red texture. Can anyone explain what this is and how to fix it?

[_Augustus_]

I installed scatterer via CKAN, and it also installed clouds from the Astronomer's pack... But it causes this when I load up. If I reload, the same thing happens. If I go to the tracking station and look in map view, the skybox is gone and replaced with this weird red texture. Can anyone explain what this is and how to fix it?

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/2ioVNMuk.png

That's the result of installing any cloud mod through CKAN. Scatterer should install fine through CKAN.

[gkorgood]

I installed scatterer via CKAN, and it also installed clouds from the Astronomer's pack... But it causes this when I load up. If I reload, the same thing happens. If I go to the tracking station and look in map view, the skybox is gone and replaced with this weird red texture. Can anyone explain what this is and how to fix it?

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/2ioVNMuk.png

you might be out of memory. try reinstalling EVE and AVP manually (yes it's a lot to do. such is life )

[SmallFatFetus]

I installed scatterer via CKAN, and it also installed clouds from the Astronomer's pack... But it causes this when I load up. If I reload, the same thing happens. If I go to the tracking station and look in map view, the skybox is gone and replaced with this weird red texture. Can anyone explain what this is and how to fix it?

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/2ioVNMuk.png

This is an AVP bug. It's not an easy mod to install.

[blackrack]

So, can anybody think of an easy way to detect an eclipse? I need to hide the sunflare I'm adding when on laythe and jool occludes the sun.

If I cast a ray, will it work in scaledspace? Do the scaledspace objects have colliders?

Edited July 28, 2015 by blackrack

[Xenro66]

That's the result of installing any cloud mod through CKAN. Scatterer should install fine through CKAN.

Oh right. I can't remove the clouds and keep scatterer with CKAN, so I guess I'll have to do a manual install.

you might be out of memory. try reinstalling EVE and AVP manually (yes it's a lot to do. such is life )

I run at 2.7GB in the main menu, so I'm definitely not out of memory (yet). But yeah, I'll attempt a manual install.

This is an AVP bug. It's not an easy mod to install.

Well, I thought CKAN was meant to make it easier?! xD

[rbray89]

So, can anybody think of an easy way to detect an eclipse? I need to hide the sunflare I'm adding when on laythe and jool occludes the sun.

If I cast a ray, will it work in scaledspace? Do the scaledspace objects have colliders?

They should. I believe that is how the existing sun flare system works.

The only other way I have is using spherical intersection models in my shaders You'd have to pass in the body origin and the radius however.

[HafCoJoe]

Dude you have no clue how hyped I am for this xD just the weekly updates are getting me all riled up!

[rbray89]

They should. I believe that is how the existing sun flare system works.

The only other way I have is using spherical intersection models in my shaders You'd have to pass in the body origin and the radius however.

Actually, Now that I think about it, this would actually probably be much less computationally intensive than a ray-trace.

To detect if you hit the sphere:

float3 L = _PlanetOrigin - _WorldSpaceCameraPos; // Vector to Center of body from camera
float3 La = normalize(_SunOrigin - _WorldSpaceCameraPos); // Vector to the Center of the Sun (might also be able to use Vector3 La = Vector3.Normalize(Sun.Instance.sunDirection)
float tc = dot(L, La); // Component of L that is parallel to the view direction
float d = sqrt(dot(IN.L,IN.L)-dot(tc,tc)); //dot(x,x) gets magnitude squared. This just uses Pythagorean's theorem to get the distance from the center to the tangent of the view.
if ( _SphereRadius >= d && tc > 0) // Check to ensure tangent distance is less than sphere and that we are looking in the right direction.
{
  Collision = true;
}

I apologize for just using pseudo code here. Couldn't remember all the references to the math functions.

[Red Iron Crown]

If either of you figure out how to have a moon cast a shadow on a planet I will buy you a beverage of your choice.

[_Augustus_]

If either of you figure out how to have a moon cast a shadow on a planet I will buy you a beverage of your choice.

Agreed!

[blackrack]

Actually, Now that I think about it, this would actually probably be much less computationally intensive than a ray-trace.

To detect if you hit the sphere:

float3 L = _PlanetOrigin - _WorldSpaceCameraPos; // Vector to Center of body from camera
float3 La = normalize(_SunOrigin - _WorldSpaceCameraPos); // Vector to the Center of the Sun (might also be able to use Vector3 La = Vector3.Normalize(Sun.Instance.sunDirection)
float tc = dot(L, La); // Component of L that is parallel to the view direction
float d = sqrt(dot(IN.L,IN.L)-dot(tc,tc)); //dot(x,x) gets magnitude squared. This just uses Pythagorean's theorem to get the distance from the center to the tangent of the view.
if ( _SphereRadius >= d && tc > 0) // Check to ensure tangent distance is less than sphere and that we are looking in the right direction.
{
  Collision = true;
}

I apologize for just using pseudo code here. Couldn't remember all the references to the math functions.

I might be saying something stupid here, but if you do that whole check in the shader won't the same calculation be done over and over again for every pixel in the image? Isn't better to just compute it once per frame outside of the shader?

Also, what would make this less performance-intensive? Is the raycast checking for all colliders while this basically checks intersection with one body?

If either of you figure out how to have a moon cast a shadow on a planet I will buy you a beverage of your choice.

I believe rbray already has a good idea on how to do this.

[rbray89]

If either of you figure out how to have a moon cast a shadow on a planet I will buy you a beverage of your choice.

Already working on it. I'm re-jiggering the shadow mechanism I created for the clouds to work for moons as well

[Red Iron Crown]

*Hype intensifies*

Will definitely put my money where my mouth is.

[HafCoJoe]

*Hype intensifies*

Will definitely put my money where my mouth is.

You know I haven't given you a tip yet either. That will have to change soon.

[rbray89]

I might be saying something stupid here, but if you do that whole check in the shader won't the same calculation be done over and over again for every pixel in the image? Isn't better to just compute it once per frame outside of the shader?

I'm using it to actually perform depth checking on oceans, so it is required that I do this for the pixel shader.

Also, what would make this less performance-intensive? Is the raycast checking for all colliders while this basically checks intersection with one body?

There are a couple implementations of ray-casting that could be used... but they are all iterative and can be pretty performance hungry. I don't think 1 raycast will make a huge difference, but many would.

https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/intermediate/physics/physics-best-practices

Basically, ray casting has to loop over all the verticies/triangles in range and somehow determine which intersect the ray's path, and which is closest. My solution is an O(1) solution, ray tracing would be at BEST O(Log n) if it was heavily optimized in Unity.

So you would end up just doing this once for the center of the body each update of course

Edited July 28, 2015 by rbray89

[blackrack]

I'm using it to actually perform depth checking on oceans, so it is required that I do this for the pixel shader.

There are a couple implementations of ray-casting that could be used... but they are all iterative and can be pretty performance hungry. I don't think 1 raycast will make a huge difference, but many would.

https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/intermediate/physics/physics-best-practices

Basically, ray casting has to loop over all the verticies/triangles in range and somehow determine which intersect the ray's path, and which is closest. My solution is an O(1) solution, ray tracing would be at BEST O(Log n) if it was heavily optimized in Unity.

So you would end up just doing this once for the center of the body each update of course

Got it, but I just looked it up and it's possible to set a layer "mask" for raycasting so it shouldn't be much of a problem. Plus if I do it this way it will be compatible with multiple moons, mods that add custom systems etc... So it looks like I'll use the built-in raycasting.

[rbray89]

Got it, but I just looked it up and it's possible to set a layer "mask" for raycasting so it shouldn't be much of a problem. Plus if I do it this way it will be compatible with multiple moons, mods that add custom systems etc... So it looks like I'll use the built-in raycasting.

Ah, true... I've been trying to figure out how to *Efficiently* do the shadows on bodies. I'm pretty sure I want to keep using the projectors, but I'm afraid multiple bodies will eat up all my interpolators.

[HafCoJoe]

If either of you figure out how to have a moon cast a shadow on a planet I will buy you a beverage of your choice.

I want to add that SQUAD might also buy you guys your beverage of choice... They have yet to add true eclipses to stock and if either of you gets it working, I bet there is a high chance that they would look into adding it to stock. Or at least something similar.

We could finally see something like this:

Edited July 28, 2015 by Avera9eJoe

[Drew Kerman]

This conversation is epic