Just a quick status update. Project Eden is kinda on hold as I'm currently researching into character animation and games development.
However, I did edit a remixed video based on the reaction that I received when I showed my previous test shots to people. Seems that not all the shots were effective so I cut out the weak ones and added a bit of music to the remixed video.
As always, I'm happy to hear any comments on how to improve things. Until the next update!
Hi there. Have read some of your posts since Im doing a 3d earth myself for a live action short. Where did you find the hi-res textures? I didn't find anything larger than 8k and that certainly looks jaggy if you look as close as your screens above.
ReplyDeleteAt the moment Im just cheating using 3 spheres (Land+Water,Clouds,Atmosphere), but Im really interested in those clouds you got. Looks really good according to me (especially if not too close). Im thinking of using an alpha map as basis for some particlesystem with volumetric spheres or something, but I will try your method first.
Also, Im not familiar with Houdini, but I hope to be able to replicate it in blender.... (don't really know how to implement the rayleigh scattering, but Im sure its possible).
Thanks for all the tips, and good luck with your projects!
Cheers
Thank you for your comments Joakim!
ReplyDeleteMy textures are from NASA's Blue Marble collection, which can be easily Googled. But to save you some time, here's the direct link http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_cat.php?categoryID=1484
An easy way to fake Rayleigh scattering to get the reddish terminator line is to map a color gradient onto the atmosphere/cloud layer. Just make sure the gradient is always oriented correctly to the Sun. It won't give you totally correct results for every view angle, but for most purposes, it's an effective technique that should work with any 3D software, even for real-time games.
Also, I have been toying with the same idea you have of texture based particle scattering. However I could not get the volume rendering to look the way I wanted. Houdini has some new volume tools (OpenVDB) but I haven't gotten round to investigating them.
Artistically, getting nice specular reflections off the surface (land and water) and volumetric-looking shadows from the clouds are my two key goals.
Anyway, all the best to you and hope to see your results!
Thanks for the link (I had found another place with hi-res-maps at Nasa, but not THAT resolution). I'm kind of new to Blender but I'm sure it's possible with its node-based material editor, just have to find the way.
ReplyDeleteWell, I come back when I have anything to show :)