Aug
6
2012

Dynamic Clouds + Cloud Shadows on Terrain

An article by mgear

Adding more stuff to the previous cloud test, now with fake shadows. (scene works with unity indie)

New features:
– Animated sky cloud shadows on terrain
– Bugs: Currently the clouds are not perfectly aligned..
– Shadow strength can be adjusted (now its 0.5 for the webplayer, 1 would give total black drop shadow for the cloud)
– I think it would need some cut-off value for the shadows, as almost transparent clouds still make quite visible shadows..

Webplayer:
http://unitycoder.com/upload/demos/AnimatedCloudsSkyDomeShadows1/

Get current test version source (2-in-1 : Animated clouds & Fake cloud shadows : works with indie):
(Direct download link arrives to your email!)
4eur [digishop id=”3″]

*Note that this is “developer version”, the example scene “just works”, you might have to tweak it to make it work in your scenes.. (email me if you have problems)

** Note#2: Doesnt work well with LINEAR mode (gamma is fine), also some problems with DEFERRED mode

FIX for Unity5 (tested on beta11)

Open shader “CloudShadow3.shader”
Find line:
float2 uv_PerlinTex: TEXCOORD0;

Comment it out:
//float2 uv_PerlinTex: TEXCOORD0;

Find line:
perturbValue = tex2D (_PerlinTex, half2(IN.uv_PerlinTex.x+translation,IN.uv_PerlinTex.y));

Replace that line with:
perturbValue = tex2D (_PerlinTex, half2(i.uv_Main.x,i.uv_Main.y+translation));

Find line:
_ShadowTex (“Cookie”, 2D) = “gray” { TexGen ObjectLinear }

Replace with:
_ShadowTex (“Cookie”, 2D) = “gray”

—

Image#2: Testing in unity5, after adding blend mode to see skybox behind it “Blend OneMinusDstColor One // Soft Additive”
(see info about sun game window problems here)

fake_clouds

Tags: animated, cloud, clouds, dome, dynamic, indie, shadow, sky, skydome, system, terrain

About the Author:

.fi

13 Comments + Add Comment

Stripe103 08/08/2012 at 23:03

That looks really awesome!
I guess you would need Unity Pro for the shadows though?
Would be really awesome if you would actually finish and release this one though. You’re really great at all this stuff. You should do tutorials =)

Reply
- mgear 09/08/2012 at 01:38
  
  Doesn’t need pro (and i’m using unity indie too..)
  
  Thanks!
  
  Reply
meinspieler 13/08/2012 at 18:37

it looks awesome!! 😀

when you post the download link??

Reply
- mgear 13/08/2012 at 19:07
  
  Maybe in 4-6months.. still needs some work. (donaters get the current version as-is, that is might have some problems/bugs)
  
  Reply
mgear 22/10/2012 at 22:21

Direct purchase download link added for now! (so no free version atleast this year yet..)

Reply
Brandon 03/10/2014 at 23:48

Is this project still being maintained? Do the shadows work on a mesh (I.e. a terrain not generated in Unity)?

Thanks!

Reply
Brandon 03/10/2014 at 23:49

Also, what version of unity was this last tested on?

Thanks!

Reply
- mgear 04/10/2014 at 00:18
  
  Just tested on 4.6.0b17, still works (and no warnings), but there hasnt been any updates or improvements on this since release..
  
  It works on mesh also (shadows are made with projector in this version)
  
  Reply
Alastor 05/11/2014 at 19:28

Works with Unity 5 beta?

Reply
- mgear 05/11/2014 at 23:09
  
  tested on 5.0.0b11 (64bit), needed few modifications to work (adding them to main post now^)
  
  Reply
  - Alastor 07/11/2014 at 16:50
    
    Tried and it’s pretty cool, but I noticed that the projector doesn’t cast shadows on 3D object in the scene (of course, all this model has Mesh Renderer component). It’s possible for that objects to receive shadows? Thanks.
    
    Reply
    - mgear 09/11/2014 at 01:41
      
      Could be because by default the “CloudShadowProjector” transform Y position is so low? (try moving it higher, and also adjust the Near/Far clip planes if necessary.
      
      Reply
mgear 15/11/2020 at 16:55

Animated cloud shadows asset for Unity
https://github.com/EntroPi-Games/Unity-Cloud-Shadows

Reply