Planetside Software Forums

Support => Terragen Support => Topic started by: StickerSticker on January 19, 2007, 03:45:07 PM

Title: stars
Post by: StickerSticker on January 19, 2007, 03:45:07 PM
Is there/will there be some way to make stars randomly positioned all over the place? I know there really isn't one right now... but maybe you could do it with the nodes somehow, lol.
Title: Re: stars
Post by: Will on January 19, 2007, 03:47:04 PM
no but you can place a starfield image in the backround to have stars int he scene.

search for it in the Terragen 2 disscusion fourm and there are sevral threads about it.

Regards,

Will
Title: Re: stars
Post by: Cyber-Angel on January 20, 2007, 09:08:52 AM
This is what the TG2 FAQ has to say on the subject of "Satterfield's".

"Will we be able to have star fields and the like? How will they be generated?

This is something we're looking at. We would like to have the facility to use real star map data, but of course generation of fractal star fields is certainly something we would include."

I think that since the FAQ was posted some time ago we should have one of the Planetside staff tell us the current thinking behind such a feature, and where necessary make the necessary change/s to the FAQ.

Regards to you. 


Cyber-Angel
Title: Re: stars
Post by: StickerSticker on January 21, 2007, 03:02:38 AM
Ya, because as great as importing your own image for stars is. Those stars aren't actually bright enough to effect the terrain and stuff. Plus i suppose you'd have to match all the atmo in terragen to match the colours of the imported star sky.

So ya, a generated starfield would be so cool
Title: Re: stars
Post by: David Burnett on January 21, 2007, 10:17:52 AM
There's a first go at stars without an image map.

No colours yet just distribution and shape.

Title: Re: stars
Post by: David Burnett on January 21, 2007, 03:58:18 PM
And there it is, being used in a quick scene.
Title: Re: stars
Post by: rcallicotte on January 21, 2007, 06:30:23 PM
Thanks David B.  Really nice.  This could be useful.
Title: Re: stars
Post by: Will on January 21, 2007, 08:23:02 PM
Neat man keep it up.

Regards,

Will
Title: Re: stars
Post by: Oshyan on January 21, 2007, 10:33:27 PM
Stars without an image map are already possible, as David showed. Nice work btw. :) We may include a special "starfield" shader or function, or simply include instructions/example files for how to use this existing technique to get the effect.

Stars don't really affect lighting in the real world in any meaningful, visible way. Although you may have ever so slightly more light on a clear, moonless night vs. a cloudy one, realistically speaking it's not worth trying to simulate star light when you could just slightly increase ambient and get the same effect with far less render time and effort.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: stars
Post by: StickerSticker on January 22, 2007, 05:27:20 AM
Ya. but if we're doing deep space asteroids or foreign planets then they could potentially have stars close enough to effect the lighting. Plus, would the stars David showed be 3 dimensionally all around the universe? Because a reflective object in the middle of space would reflect lights all around it.
Title: Re: stars
Post by: David Burnett on January 27, 2007, 12:22:33 PM
It looks like the background does not get reflected, unless I'm doing something wrong...

[attachthumb=1]


On the other hand I've added some colour to my stars., although to get a mix of white, yellow and
red I had to go to some over the top extremes.

[attachthumb=3]
[attachthumb=2]




Title: Re: stars
Post by: §ardine on January 27, 2007, 01:56:06 PM
Quote from: David Burnett on January 27, 2007, 12:22:33 PM
On the other hand I've added some colour to my stars., although to get a mix of white, yellow and
red I had to go to some over the top extremes.

Wow, that is extreme  :o
I played around trying to get multiple colors but had let it drop as it wasn't top priority.
Thanks for the post!
Title: Re: stars
Post by: Oshyan on January 29, 2007, 01:46:28 AM
Correct, the "background shader" is currently not reflected. This will be fixed, of course.

The current method of handling stars through noise shaders would not provide for lighting when you are closer to a particular "star" in any location, of course. It is merely a 2 dimensional effect. TG2 is not a galaxy simulator so such 'real star' functionality is not likely to be implemented any time soon. If you wanted local stars contributing to lighting, simply create new suns or light sources. The star background effect is really all that is needed for most cases considering the tremendous distance between stars.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: stars
Post by: RedSquare on February 03, 2007, 09:40:54 PM
Hmm, stars.

Well I was rendering this wet look terrain and decided to track back a bit.  Did a trial render and lo, hot spots sprung up willy nilly not exactly stars but decidedly odd.  I can't render larger than this as this .tgd always crashes.   ::)

Cheers

PS I realise of course that the reflective shader may have had some influence in this.  ;)