I wanted to make a planetary render and was wondering if there is a way to apply a cloud map to the entire planet. I saw that there are ways to do it using an image map shader to drive the clouds, but that needs to be projected through the camera as I understand it. Is there a way to let the whole planet take up a cloud map? I did something similar in Vue, with decent results but after seeing the planetary renders from Terragen it's nothing in comparison.
You can use a spherical projection from the center of the planet, but you'll need a special sized map.
I tried that using a NASA cloud map. Decent results but not exactly what I expected. So I went back to the camera projection method.
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The correct way to do this really depends on what kind of cloud map you have. IF it's a full planet cloud map *and* It's in a spherical projection format (the top and bottom of the image will appear stretched), then you should use Spherical Projection in the Image Map Shader and set the Position of the Image Map to be the same as that of the Planet. If your image is not already of a complete planet or not in spherical projection then camera-projected may be better.
- Oshyan