Mun phases?

[iDan122]

Just now I realized I have never actually seen Mun phases(any moon), it is always round in the sky!

Why don't we get to see beautiful crescents? Or a non-full Kerbin on the Mun?

[NovaSilisko]

Because the ambient light system in the game is kinda problematic. Unity's ambient light is global, it can't be filtered by layers - so if there's ambient light on the surface of Kerbin (which there ought to be, because it has an atmosphere), it lights up the entirety of the rest of the universe, among which is the dark side of the mun (heh), so you always can see it a bit. Even in vacuum though there's still some ambient light.

Although, from what you're saying, it seems like your monitor is bright enough that you can't discern between light and shadow, so I would suggest turning your brightness down a little

[SkyRender]

Mostly because the distant terrain lighting system doesn't currently handle that, I believe. The complete lack of axial tilt on Kerbin might also factor in somehow, but I doubt it.

[ProjectXMark1]

I always thought the Mun wasn't tidally locked and that had the effect of doing that, but maybe that would just cause erratic phases.

[Rocket Farmer]

Unfortunately being tidally locked or not would have no impact on this not would a lack of axial tilt.

Moon phases occur when a portion of the moon facing us (the observer) is not also directly facing the sun. That portion Would be dark while the portion facing the sun should be light. It forms crescents because you are observing this effect on a sphere.

Therefore if the moon is farther from the sun than earth the moon will be mostly or totally full and if the moon is closer to the sun than earth it will be a slim crescent or a new moon.

Relating to kerbal the graphics aren't that advanced as that would take ray tracing which would take vast amounts of graphical power.

An even funnier occurance is orbiting Laythe when a jool eclipse occurs blocking the sun. No solar power and your craft is dark but the planet below is still fully lit.

[SkyRender]

At one time (around 0.12; I think it was gone by 0.13) there was actually an eclipse shader in KSP. It only worked when you were about 500 meters from the surface, however. I remember asking about it at the time and getting a very angry answer back from a fellow forum poster for questioning why a sudden huge black spot appeared below my ship as I landed on the newly-added Mun.

[NovaSilisko]

At one time (around 0.12; I think it was gone by 0.13) there was actually an eclipse shader in KSP. It only worked when you were about 500 meters from the surface, however. I remember asking about it at the time and getting a very angry answer back from a fellow forum poster for questioning why a sudden huge black spot appeared below my ship as I landed on the newly-added Mun.

Yeah, I remember documenting the approach of an eclipse as I landed on the surface. This was before timewarp on the surface was even possible, so it was a long wait, but I finally saw the sun blink out, then a second later, a shadow flew across the terrain at an extreme pace.

[Luckless]

Relating to kerbal the graphics aren't that advanced as that would take ray tracing which would take vast amounts of graphical power.

You don't need complex ray tracing to get a reasonable solar system lighting effect. You can get away with some very basic cone-sphere intersection, which can be simplified further by projecting your spheres as disks and then converting the lighting effect back to the sphere.

It would be neat, and only a small hit to general performance, but I really don't see it as overly urgent to add. I would like to see it at some point, as it would be great for students to be able to better visualize how light actually works. (I've known adults who held science degrees who still thought that only one side of the moon ever saw any light.)