Cloud based rings setup

[WAS]

Rings aren't perfect, because they're using the vortex warp shader, but of course image maps could be used on the density and colour. Project is based on a planet at elevation 0 (altitude limits in surface layers; but you could use a transform shader on this I'm sure)

You can crank the cloud quality up higher (I used 10 myself in my scenes) for a smoother look at lower AA.

[Dune]

I think the clouds need not have a very high quality, as the rings consist of stones or ice, so a bit of grain would nicely mimic that.

[Kadri]

Very nice example Jordan. Thanks for sharing.

[WAS]

I think the clouds need not have a very high quality, as the rings consist of stones or ice, so a bit of grain would nicely mimic that.

Depends on your resolution and tastes I suppose. At such great distances I doubt you'd be able to pick up a single feature rock wise. I know even fly-by images there was no definition to the rings of Saturn.

[RichTwo]

I'm a little late to the party on this one, but it's almost exactly what I've been looking for and thanks for sharing here.  Now a couple of questions before I run off and do something that obviously won't work:

Can the ring setup be used as a clip file for a planet object seen in the sky from the "home" planet?  I notice that that's where they are now.

Or can they be applied to a multiple disc objects in lieu of the SS shader?  I have one of my own making and it's fairly good, but not quite all of what I'd like it to be.


Anyway, here's mine if you want to have a look.  Once the clip is inserted, the planet should appear in the sky with the default startup.

[WAS]

Yeah you can translate the setup by switching to texture space from final position, for the altitude limits in Ring Altitude Constraints Surface Layer. Then just add Transform Input Shader to the end of the density and colour shaders to translate to planet location. So you'd just copy planet location and paste to translation inputs.