Planet Surface Shader Missing in 1.9.99.1?

Started by commorancy, August 03, 2008, 01:37:57 PM

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dandelO

QuoteSo they can make something new to replace it. Something better

Yup, and they have, they're called 'surface shaders' ;)

Oshyan

I have to believe that what you guys are talking about is the *potential* of the Planetary Surface Shader as the shader itself, in its current form, is extremely limited and difficult to use. It was removed because it was not of a great deal of *practical* use, and would have been more difficult to fix even to work in its current, limited form, than would have been worth the development time, let alone expanding and improving it.

Of course the idea is great, but the reason we have not yet replaced it with something better is that it's extremely difficult to create a system for this purpose which is both realistic and versatile. Hopefully we will be able to work on something more useful in this area in the future, but it would really just be a convenience as the existing functionality is capable of making very realistic complete planets with reasonable effort. This is another reason why priority is low on development in this area - the existing solutions, while not convenient or easy, are effective and extremely versatile.

- Oshyan