I would like to have planets with "The Rings of Saturn", I have drawn up a visual guide on how i'm getting this effect in other software so you can add it to your engine tech if you would like it. I create a massive double sided panel/vertice whatever the programmer word for it is. The size of the panel's/vertices will need to be linked to scale with the planet size so it grows/shrinks with the different planet sizes. I then attach "The Rings of Saturn" Texture to this panel/vertice (both sides it double sided). I make the white invisible with an alpha mask, (you could easily skip this by using an alpha key in the engine, which im sure you already do) I align the panel to the center of the planet, so the rings go around the planet. I then crate a second panel/vertice for the dust (i use 2 panels because this we spin the second panel on its center point/axis to make it look like the dust texture is caught in the gravity of the planet and flowing around the ring) The dust texture( use alpha key or mask to make white invisible) Move it next to the other panel that has the rings on it.(i recommend a tiny tiny gap so they don't interfere with each other) End result should be something like this (I'm using bryce5 to demonstrate this technique so sorry for the unusual background visuals but you guys and the artist's should get the idea) Also if the planet spins on its N/S axis the rings should wrap around the equator like this It looks like the rings are formed by the spinning planet then like Saturn's ring's (If the dust layer's rotation is the same direction as the planet but at 75% of the speed it looks AMAZING!!! and if the rings are much wider than in my example it looks better too!!!) -- Edited -- I forgot to add this. How i get an AWESOME EFFECT by animating the texture for the dust layer!!! This could be good for the high and Uber graphics settings The dust closest to the planet should be Static i highlighted this area with a red ring, and the green areas would flow in the opposite direction of the planet spin, slow closest to the planet and each step out from the planet would be slightly faster. If the vertice that holds the dust layer spins at the same speed as the planet, then an animated texture for the dust makes a swirling effect that makes the rings look more appealing, and makes it look like the gravity of the planet weakens toward the outer edge of the rings I hope sharing the technique i'm using in some of my game tech and other animation software with you for rendering the "Rings of Saturn" helps. Doing it this way has almost no impact on graphical performance. This could be added to every planet (not the moon though!!), and you could have a checkbox or true/false so you can make planets with or without rings It would also add a lot more randomness to the procedurally generated galaxy, and more diversity to the system editor This is the best i have to offer ATM , and only reason im posting this now is because this may be of importance at this point of development. ----Edited----- Here's a video i made of this effect!!! http://www.sendspace.com/file/fe9tcg Ring of Saturn.avi (17.76mb) @1280x605 res (Divx) Sorry about the quality of the video My PC is crap!! I improved the ring and dust textures to make them more like Saturn's in this rendering. I have to post the video to sendspace as any other video hosting site compresses it and reduces it's quality even further. Youtube link, Looks best when using the 720p setting in youtube player
I'm hoping that when it comes time to doing visual polishing of the game engine this will be implemented!!! . These kind of visual additions don't usually come till near the last few weeks of development when the developers aren't so busy bug fixing and implementing more important features that affect gameplay. After watching the development video for Outland Games, i have an idea of the sort of development flow that PA might be going through, and Visual Polishing is usually one of the last items to be done in development
One last note,, Spawning the Ring and Dust layers at the center of the planet is more efficient than spawning them elsewhere and moving them into position like how i explained it above. I explained it that way mainly to give a good visual impression on how it's constructed and functions I would have suggested some code but im not sure where or how the planets are generated in the game code yet, i have looked and only found shaders and brushes for texturing the planet. Also i use UNITY 3D as my game engine base and also i use it for the GUI i to make my games, for me its just drag and drop to construct this effect, not much help for code there either Once again , its the best i can offer at the moment for a game as awesome as this In the end, I would really love a "RingEffect.papa" and "RingDustEffect.papa" textures to be able to change and mod . I can't imagine the possibilities for making my own rainbow rings and hippie dust and all kinds of after market mod effects for this kind of feature.. LOL
Easy way to increase the Quality and Resolution of the rings an dust layers. If the ring texture stretched around BIG planets looks ugly or pixelated, cutting the ring into quarters will increase the resolution 4 times. Example. My original ring texture. Cut into quarters and the up-sampled to the same resolution looks like this If you then Spawn a layer to hold this and then copy it 3 times and rotate them 90, 180, and 270, degrees to link up into one big tile, it will reform the original ring but @ 4 times the resolution Example pic of the tiled vertices rotation, or tiled image placement. I hope these little hints and ideas help or are useful in anyway.
@Culverin, I'm using Unity 3D as a game engine, Bryce 5.5 and DAZ Studio for graphic animations, and Autodesk's 3DS Max for making base models. I will render an animation of this effect tonight and post it here after i return from the hospital (I'm injured at the moment so my Mod development and this effect's development have been on hold for the last few days)
@Culverin and @UberDev Team/Artist's. ---Edited to Change link to better quality video---- http://www.sendspace.com/file/fe9tcg Ring of Saturn.avi (17.76mb) @1280x605 res (Divx) Sorry about the quality of the video My PC is crap!! I improved the ring and dust textures to make them more like Saturn's. I have to post the video to sendspace as any other video hosting site compresses it and reduces it's quality even further.
Yeah, it keeps me occupied. Tell me what you think of the rendered animation i posted above if you watch it I had to host it on sendspace because every video hosting site was processing and compressing the animation and making it too blurry to view, so i just shared the original AVI i made. It's just a first pass run at making the effect, i can do a lot better if i put a bit more time and effort into the textures and animation (Example: Camera movement for better viewing angles).
Youtube link of my rendering!! I managed to get a partially decent copy to upload to youtube (plays back in 720p) Looks best at when you select the 720p option in youtube and use the large player (not fullscreen)
Second rendering of my effect with more solidness to the ring. (Needs to be viewed at the 720p setting or the rings don't spin in the video)
The youtube videos still compress everything and make it look nowhere near the quality i have this end. So I'm uploading screenshots of the renderings. Images are 1280x648 resolution
@Kvalheim, lol, I like that, planetary racism, made me smile In reply to that id say "Nooo", "Rings of UrAnus", Just sounds bad. Imagine saying to your friend, "Hold on a sec, I'm just going to put a ring of uranus on this planet," Almost sounds like someone is about to attach an image of a bum hole to celestial bodies. *jokes*
OMG, i have 4 friends here and they are all making lewd jokes about uranus now *sighs*. :0 you wouldn't think we were all 30 years old and over, were acting like children making funnies about childish stuff.. A good laugh does help one recover from injury though
