Is it possible to invert the planet normal so that we render only the inside?
I would like to create a several km radius dyson sphere where the landscape is internal to the planet (artificial star in the center).
Any advice would be appreciated, as my experiments have not gone well;)
Andrew
It can be done ... but there is a world of problems.
The simple answer is to make the radius negative so a 10,000m radius become -10,000m.
Of course your surface layer height limitations will all need to be reversed so high hills will have a larger negative value than low valleys. I *think* the same is true of surface layer slopes, you'll have to check.
Your biggest challenge will be lighting. Disable the sun and place a light source at the centre of the sphere. Sounds fine but you will loose all your directional elements of the light, shadows will only happen under overhangs and trees.
Good luck
Richard
Thanks! That works. I'm not sure why I didn't think of negative scaling the planet. I tried nearly everything else! I may have to cheat the position of the "sun" to get more interest... but this is a functional starting point. Thanks again!
Andrew
Would love to see some WIP's
I've been wanting to do large space habitats - like O'Neil colonies, but constraining the atmosphere to inside the cylinder I'm not really sure how to do.
Messed around with POV Ray, which does a fairly decent job, but specialized rendering packages like Vue or Terragen just look better.
I'll buy the first tool that I can get to work :)
== John ==