Potential Improvements for Kerbal Space Program 2’s Re-Entry Visual FX

[IsaQuest]

Potential Improvements for Kerbal Space Program 2’s Re-Entry Visual FX

By IsaQuest, a KSP 1/2 Modder and 3D Artist

With Visuals made in Blender 

 

What works, and what doesn’t

The core system for the mesh that the effect is applied on is fine and is actually a very good system. The main problems are only in the visual rendering of the effect. There are two main problems with the most recent re-entry effect: The effect is very static, which makes the effect look almost glitchy and wrong, and the effect has very hard edges, making it seem less like hot plasma flowing and more like a solid object.

"Effect is static"

Source: https://x.com/KerbalSpaceP/status/1727445482476351655

The main section of the current reentry effect looks very static. This was a recent change, as the effect shown in the Reentry Heating Effects Dev Chat was much more dynamic and chaotic. The solution here would be to move the effect up and down the plume according to a random factor and adding some vertex displacement, like the original version of the effect.

 

Source: https://youtu.be/pXkabuiVjFg?t=147

"Hard Edges"

 

The most recent version of the effect has some very hard edges. This can be fixed relatively easily* with some Fresnel-based falloff. Fresnel is an effect usually used to emphasize reflections near the edge of a surface, but here, it is used to make the edges of a surface fade out. Here is a demonstration of a reentry effect with and without Fresnel falloff. 

 

Without Fresnel Falloff / With Fresnel Falloff (Made in Blender)   

 

Spoiler

Take note of the much softer edges with the Fresnel Falloff.

This can also be applied to the sparks that come off the effect as seen in the X post, which will make them much more natural. 

Source: https://x.com/KerbalSpaceP/status/1727445482476351655

 

Closing Notes

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I have thought about this for a bit, hence the late posting time. *Please note, I am not a shader programmer, I am a 3D artist. I do not know how hard this will be to implement into the current system, and I do not know if it will even work properly because I do not know how the system works. Hopefully this does give some ideas to the development team on how to improve the reentry effects. Keep going at it, devs!

Edited December 11, 2023 by IsaQuest
Fresnel Clarification

[Kari]

pro

[The Aziz]

I'd just wait 8 days and see what's actually out. No point giving feedback to unfinished feature which we don't know how it currently looks.

[Kerbart]

Looks good

[mindseyemodels]

your effect looks really good, i really hope the devs implement soft edges like you did. one detail i especially like is that the reentry flames are visible in front of ship parts which is not the case for a lot of instances in-game. the flames ingame have to be VERY bright for them to be visible at all in front of ship parts

[mindseyemodels]

here is one of my screenshots of reentry. note the heat shield not being illuminated the way the science jr jr is. and again the transparency issue i mention so much as the effect is almost completely invisible in front of ship parts

 

and below is my improvements to the above image made in Krita. note how the heat shield is now illuminated and the bright white ring goes all the way around the heat shield. and also blurs the edges of the science jr jr. also the sparks added are a much welcome improvement. makes it far more dynamic looking... basically these improvements not only make the reentry look better, they make it look hotter and more dangerous as well. as for performance, from my experience in other games sprite based particles like this have next to no performance impact. and once part occlusion for reentry is fleshed out more (having sparks and plasma only come from exposed parts) it will be far more performant as the number of spark particle emitters would be culled drastically

 

of course i must ask @Nate Simpson for his feedback about this and also feedback from the current technical artists... whoever it is that works with vfx like reentry and things of the sort

Edited January 5 by mindseyemodels