The air we breathe

One of the earliest goals I set out since the beginning was to have an atmosphere that is not simply a thin shell layer. It's an old trick, but by using multiple layers of closely packed concentric spheres and mapping opacity data onto each layer, a spatial sampling can be achieved which will allow the air to have apparent volumetric density.

Here are some early test shots (dated 3 Sept 2011). Imagine the spikes as mountainous terrain and the dense air forming clouds which gather at lower altitude:

While this technique has its value, it's a case of looking nice from afar, but being far from nice close up

Eventually, I moved on to another alternative method for rendering volumetric clouds, but until this day still have not found a satisfactory solution to create properly nice clouds for this project. More R&D ahead... ^^;;