SOL: State of the Project and Release?!#??

[Rutabaga22]

Is that Australia 

[G'th]

14 minutes ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Is that Australia 

Its almost always Australia lol. In those instances though it was northern South America and the Caribbean. 

[Rutabaga22]

6 minutes ago, G'th said:

Its almost always Australia lol. In those instances though it was northern South America and the Caribbean. 

Why? I get australia is cool, but why is it so good to take pics of? Also, will you be utilizing EVE's volumetrics?

[G'th]

1 hour ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Why? I get australia is cool, but why is it so good to take pics of? Also, will you be utilizing EVE's volumetrics?

The classical volumetrics most likely not, as I'm banking on the new volumetrics to be out before I feel like this is finished enough to try releasing again, and if that ends up being the case then this whole thing could end up being redone again as I start to break and tweak and intuit and inspire myself with the new system. 

BUT, if its still in development by that point, then I will at least turn on the classical volumetrics and get them looking as well as they can, which is pretty easy compared to the endless tweaking for everything else as I already figured the limits of that system years ago. 

And as for Australia! IDK! I like to think its because the way the Outback looks it just provides a nice contrast with the surrounding ocean and clouds, even in the dullest of textures. And that effect only gets more so when we hop over to the Vibrance version, which if it wasn't mentioned earlier is based on live-ish imagery from the Himawari 8 satellite. 

OH, and on that note, here's the 13094813048th version of Vibrance Earth, which has now been, I think, perfectly color matched to that of the Himawari 8 Satellite, as you can see in this neat comparison (Do note my Earth is considerably brighter. Given that Australia is not actually this virulently red IRL, I'm chalking up the difference to the post processing on the Himawari imagery, and thus I go for the idea rather than a one-to-one recreation. This is also apparent because of how decidedly un-visible all the other landmasses are when they shouldn't be that dark compared to the surrounding oceans. Its probable that when I start looking at TUFX again we might be able to go for the 1:1 as an option):

Himawari-8

SOL


And just for fun on a more historical note, here's one of the earliest images of the mod compared to roughly the same scene as it is now. It is indeed quite fascinating how far this has come, considering the mod got cancelled twice lmao. 

Early SOL circa mid-July of 2022:

Present Day SOL:

[G'th]

Proof of concept for dynamic dust on Mars. The idea is that the planet would, slowly, flit between the beige and the orangeish red. It isn't exactly realistic to the real Mars, but it also isn't unrealistic either. Mars is just weird and you kind of have to just pick a point in time and make that your "look".  Course, we should know by now I'm too much of a perfectionist for that. 

[Rutabaga22]

OOoo...... Looking really good, G'th! Will the gas giants have dynamic clouds?

[G'th]

1 hour ago, Rutabaga22 said:

OOoo...... Looking really good, G'th! Will the gas giants have dynamic clouds?

Thats the eventual plan yep. 

[FinLights]

Sorry if this has already been asked but will this mod carry over to KSRSS reborn? 

[G'th]

3 hours ago, FinLights said:

Sorry if this has already been asked but will this mod carry over to KSRSS reborn? 

Already has. The pics since my return a week ago have all been with Reborn. 

[infinite_monkey]

On 9/19/2022 at 4:00 AM, G'th said:

The classical volumetrics most likely not, as I'm banking on the new volumetrics to be out before I feel like this is finished enough to try releasing again, and if that ends up being the case then this whole thing could end up being redone again as I start to break and tweak and intuit and inspire myself with the new system. 

BUT, if its still in development by that point, then I will at least turn on the classical volumetrics and get them looking as well as they can, which is pretty easy compared to the endless tweaking for everything else as I already figured the limits of that system years ago. 

And as for Australia! IDK! I like to think its because the way the Outback looks it just provides a nice contrast with the surrounding ocean and clouds, even in the dullest of textures. And that effect only gets more so when we hop over to the Vibrance version, which if it wasn't mentioned earlier is based on live-ish imagery from the Himawari 8 satellite. 

OH, and on that note, here's the 13094813048th version of Vibrance Earth, which has now been, I think, perfectly color matched to that of the Himawari 8 Satellite, as you can see in this neat comparison (Do note my Earth is considerably brighter. Given that Australia is not actually this virulently red IRL, I'm chalking up the difference to the post processing on the Himawari imagery, and thus I go for the idea rather than a one-to-one recreation. This is also apparent because of how decidedly un-visible all the other landmasses are when they shouldn't be that dark compared to the surrounding oceans. Its probable that when I start looking at TUFX again we might be able to go for the 1:1 as an option):

Himawari-8
SOL

 

Wait, what's that greenish/turquoise  hue around Australia? Variations in how the ocean looks? Maybe a special biome?  Does it look this way just from space or even when splashing down/diving?

[Rutabaga22]

Will you be adding parallax suppport to this? That'd be very nice.

[G'th]

5 hours ago, infinite_monkey said:

Wait, what's that greenish/turquoise  hue around Australia? Variations in how the ocean looks? Maybe a special biome?  Does it look this way just from space or even when splashing down/diving?

Most likely the coast line if I understand what you're referring to. Shallower waters means you actually see some of the ocean floor, hence, the water is more brightly colored than where its deeper and the sun doesn't penetrate. You can see the same affect all over the Caribbean and in some other places on the planet. You can even see what it looks like for Australia in that real sat photo from Himawari 8. 
 

2 hours ago, Rutabaga22 said:

Will you be adding parallax suppport to this? That'd be very nice.

Eventually yes. Thats most likely a post "1.0" thing, and will also need me to actually want to play KSP lol. Haven't actually played in a hot minute and don't see myself finding any interest in doing so anytime soon. 

[infinite_monkey]

On 9/20/2022 at 11:26 PM, G'th said:

Most likely the coast line if I understand what you're referring to. Shallower waters means you actually see some of the ocean floor, hence, the water is more brightly colored than where its deeper and the sun doesn't penetrate. You can see the same affect all over the Caribbean and in some other places on the planet. You can even see what it looks like for Australia in that real sat photo from Himawari 8. 

I know what it is in real life, I just haven't seen it in KSP in any mod, and didn't think it was possible. Looks fantastic!

[G'th]

My capacity for perfectionism is as exhausting as it is horrifying and exciting. 

These photos are at 100km in altitude. No zoom. 

[Rutabaga22]

Very, very cool! Can't wait for release. 

[G'th]

Its also just sad that I'm only able to figure this all out now, as I'm basically faking the 3D effect that real volumetric clouds would impart. 

[Rutabaga22]

3 minutes ago, G'th said:

Its also just sad that I'm only able to figure this all out now, as I'm basically faking the 3D effect that real volumetric clouds would impart. 

Hopefully eve get's that update soon...

[infinite_monkey]

22 minutes ago, G'th said:

Its also just sad that I'm only able to figure this all out now, as I'm basically faking the 3D effect that real volumetric clouds would impart. 

But this is needed for map view anyway, isn't it?

[G'th]

2 minutes ago, infinite_monkey said:

But this is needed for map view anyway, isn't it?

It is, though decidedly less useful given the details blur out at those distances regardless. 

[G'th]

Completely redid City Lights and the Earth Textures....again. 

 

Next up we're gonna finish all the new cloud patterns and then i'm gonna dive head first into completely redoing Scatterer, and then I want to move along to Mars. 

[G'th]

Initial goes at Scatterer + TUFX Updates. Still trying to find the perfect balance with bloom so that city lights look good without washing out the day side, and so far it looks like its going to be achievable. 

[G'th]

The Typhoon in the Indian Ocean has consistently been the one thing about this mod that I simply never touched again after, I felt at the time, perfecting it. 

So naturally I touched it:

Still going to need some color tweaking (and for testing purposes I also have the wrong texture in for detailing which isn't helping) as its too starkly white compared to the rest of the clouds, but its looking fantastic with my new cloud techniques.

[Rutabaga22]

You are adding hurricanes and typhoons?! Wow, this mod is going to be amazing.

[G'th]

25 minutes ago, Rutabaga22 said:

You are adding hurricanes and typhoons?! Wow, this mod is going to be amazing.

Actually the typhoon was one of the first things added, so its always been there. Unfortunately EVE is quite limited with spinny storms so at the moment its only possible to have the one storm in the Indian Ocean specifically, that only sort of spins like it should.. I've hit up blackrack about adding more options to fix this but obviously he has other priorities. I know exactly what I would need to be able to put a storm anywhere and have it behave properly, but I don't have any real ability to amend EVE, nor desire for that matter. 

Now proportionately sized and color corrected:

Also these views tho. As per the standard, all at 100km in altitude, the lowest of low orbits and we get some pretty good detail out of it:

[G'th]

You know, every time I went to research what Martian weather looks like, including the dust storms, for some reason all I ever found showed the storms as being blurry as all get out and not very detailed. Idk what it was about the pictures I was pulling up, but thats just all I ever got. Until today. 

These images just gave me, not only mind numbing amounts of inspiration, but also open up a lot of possibilities now as I can replicate these visuals with the cloud sources I have access to...

 

But in the meantime, even more insanely pretty Earth clouds to look at from low orbits:

A very important question for my regular Like pressers: If we presume that the above pictures of the City Lights are what I consider to be the best of that particular visual aspect, what are your opinions on it? 

I am inclined to do some more color tweaking on them, but I'm uncertain if I should touch them on that note. But I'm also curious as to the level of "shine" being shown. I have some means to up the amount of light coming off of these without it washing out the day side, but this is where I have it set to now. Do you think its adequate?