Outerra forum

Outerra Engine => Development screen shots and videos => Topic started by: cameni on August 27, 2013, 09:05:29 am

Title: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on August 27, 2013, 09:05:29 am
A peek at the clouds being developed for OT. Note these are WIP shots, the rendering is incomplete and there are still many bugs and other issues with it.

(http://i.minus.com/j6yeqSmBnjUdC.jpg) (http://minus.com/l6yeqSmBnjUdC)(http://i.minus.com/jjlslEY3Zf3SL.jpg) (http://minus.com/ljlslEY3Zf3SL)(http://i.minus.com/jbtYgXbg1n7tq4.jpg) (http://minus.com/lbtYgXbg1n7tq4)
(http://i.minus.com/jBesZU0FpgFN3.jpg) (http://minus.com/lBesZU0FpgFN3)(http://i.minus.com/jbmHqWUNBcbKmJ.jpg) (http://minus.com/lbmHqWUNBcbKmJ)(http://i.minus.com/jH4bkcR0rHnUJ.jpg) (http://minus.com/lH4bkcR0rHnUJ)
(http://i.minus.com/jBX1SR2zCIbby.jpg) (http://minus.com/lBX1SR2zCIbby)(http://i.minus.com/jr5alCLgJsWb3.jpg) (http://minus.com/lr5alCLgJsWb3)(http://i.minus.com/jbgHKpqfluiMFg.jpg) (http://minus.com/lbgHKpqfluiMFg)
(http://i.minus.com/jKwS8EM79EnUu.jpg) (http://minus.com/lKwS8EM79EnUu)(http://i.minus.com/jmL3jHZSVrPxE.jpg) (http://minus.com/lmL3jHZSVrPxE)(http://i.minus.com/j6G706hEPw16E.jpg) (http://minus.com/l6G706hEPw16E)



TODO:
Apart from a variety of bugs and glitches that have to be addressed before the release, there are also other things that have to be implemented:

Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Majority on August 27, 2013, 09:23:36 am
best clouds ever, cryengine be afraid, be very afraid....
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: zaelu on August 27, 2013, 09:30:30 am
Looking great!!!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: knorko on August 27, 2013, 09:41:40 am
you guys are amazing. everytime it gets a little silent around ot, i fear you have run into some serious dead end. and everytime you come around with some major breakthrough afterwards. outstanding i must say. especially the cloud topic was very interesting for me. i have gotten into it a little myself lately by lecturing david eberts book on procedural texturing and modeling and found the chapters on gaseous volumina and clouds particularly interesting. i have ever since been thrilled to see what solution you woud be coming around with. can you give a little technical details on which exact methods you chose, and why?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Chaoz on August 27, 2013, 09:43:53 am
well their silence means they're hard at work ;)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Majority on August 27, 2013, 09:52:47 am
please make a SDK game engine, i don't mind to wait 5 years for it!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aWac9 on August 27, 2013, 09:54:43 am
we're getting there ..
the question is .. Is there something that they can resist?

 :)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: adriaan on August 27, 2013, 10:08:02 am
Amazing work Cameni and Angrypig! Can't wait to see these in-game. Wouldnt mind if they aren't finished  ;).
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: kokutouchichi on August 27, 2013, 10:29:44 am
WOW.... just wow! I've never posted on here since I purchased the beta but holy crap I had to post for this! Ammmmmazinnng
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on August 27, 2013, 10:50:02 am
The shadow absence and biome-weather system aside ...

(http://2nd2nada.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/people-are-awesome-vol-3-460x345.jpg)

 ... AWESOMENESS ITSELF ... getting hungry for more !


P.S. : Could you make an photo from the space ?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: ZeosPantera on August 27, 2013, 11:30:54 am
Yep. It is time for a New PC that can actually play this again. Cloudtacular, Cloudmazing, Cloud of the walk.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Bartolomeus on August 27, 2013, 12:33:00 pm
Wow....that looks awesome! Looking forward to the release of the clouds. Great work! :)

Marko
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: foxfiles on August 27, 2013, 12:42:07 pm
Magnifique !
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Deutschmark on August 27, 2013, 01:01:29 pm
Very nice they look GREAT!!!  :)

Deutschmark
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: knetur on August 27, 2013, 02:10:46 pm
These clouds with the sun shining trough... It will be epic!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: James on August 27, 2013, 02:57:38 pm
Looks amazing, great job! :D

Do you plan on making the clouds effect the light on the ground?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: ZeosPantera on August 27, 2013, 03:42:16 pm
Do you plan on making the clouds effect the light on the ground?

See the first post. He lists the TO-DO's.. Three of them are about lighting.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: James on August 27, 2013, 03:53:37 pm
Do you plan on making the clouds effect the light on the ground?

See the first post. He lists the TO-DO's.. Three of them are about lighting.

Oh, I did read it. I must be derping or something. :(
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Abc94 on August 27, 2013, 06:24:22 pm
Nice!  Can't wait to see what it's like it once you implement everything on that todo list! :)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: FeralCircus on August 28, 2013, 07:27:55 am
I'm expecting to wake up any minute to see my old Commodore VIC-20 staring at me and this was all a fantastic dream.

INCREDIBLE WORK!!! :-)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on August 28, 2013, 08:02:09 am
you guys are amazing. everytime it gets a little silent around ot, i fear you have run into some serious dead end. and everytime you come around with some major breakthrough afterwards. outstanding i must say. especially the cloud topic was very interesting for me. i have gotten into it a little myself lately by lecturing david eberts book on procedural texturing and modeling and found the chapters on gaseous volumina and clouds particularly interesting. i have ever since been thrilled to see what solution you woud be coming around with. can you give a little technical details on which exact methods you chose, and why?
The algorithms aren't yet completely stabilized, as I tried to devise a new technique best suitable for OT and GPU processing. There were many problems along the way and at times it didn't look as the right way at all, but most of them got resolved and I believe the remaining ones will be dealt with as well.
Once it's all final and working as desired I shall write a blog about the technique.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cynics84 on August 28, 2013, 08:29:03 am
Look a bit of catoon-ish,especial the edges, but still way better than "all clear sky through  the globe". Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: seppen on August 28, 2013, 09:43:17 am
best clouds ever, cryengine be afraid, be very afraid....

This looks more and more promising, I use cryengine, and is very happy with the new ver, but for large scale stuff it´s still not there it seems.

The genious with Outerra is the planning/forsight that Cryengine in some departments lack badly.

Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: DivineSense on August 28, 2013, 11:06:36 am
Very cool! :)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: jimbalny on August 28, 2013, 12:48:00 pm
Beautiful! Excellent work :D
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Luishi5k0 on August 28, 2013, 04:35:05 pm
This has made my day! I am an avid lover of clouds and these are the best real-time virtual clouds I have seen! I absolutely cannot wait to see them for myself. It seems like the GTX 660 Ti 3GB I bought after the engine was released is going to continue to pay off. After seeing these clouds I ordered an additional 6GB of RAM for my computer... not that it'll directly help, but every time I see cool stuff like this I upgrade.

You guys did an amazing job, keep up the fantastic work!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jagerbomber on August 28, 2013, 05:20:42 pm
*drooling*
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: mctash on August 28, 2013, 11:09:35 pm
I'm going to ask it, spank me if you must, any sort of ETA on when these will make it into the public build? (amazing stuff btw)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: lromaniuk on August 29, 2013, 05:51:16 am
First post here on the formus so hello everyone!

Clouds are looking great, even in that early dev stage! I would like to ask you one question about the technique. What is the rendering method you're using? Is it some kind of ray marching the volume data or sampling it with proxy geometry? Thanks in advance for the anwser, and good luck polishing it!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Orion on August 31, 2013, 11:11:10 pm
Looking great! :)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on September 01, 2013, 03:20:36 am
Clouds are looking great, even in that early dev stage! I would like to ask you one question about the technique. What is the rendering method you're using? Is it some kind of ray marching the volume data or sampling it with proxy geometry? Thanks in advance for the anwser, and good luck polishing it!
As I wrote earlier, the technique is not yet fully stabilized and will undergo some revisions, but roughly it works by creating geometry from noise textures that is then rendered in one pass into a smaller buffer to get the optical depth, which is later used to compute attenuation and inscattered light from clouds. Together with computation of atmo and cloud lighting it's then applied in the final framebuffer pass.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Atrax on September 02, 2013, 05:55:32 am
Looks beautiful, can't wait to see them for myself in Outerra! :D
Great work guys, keep it up!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Revolver on September 02, 2013, 12:36:01 pm
Oha, we soon have clouds :o....nice news.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aaronsb on September 05, 2013, 12:52:16 am
This is really exciting news - I believe this is the first "full world" engine I've seen so far that has volumetric clouds. Proland sort of does it, but it's not in the same league. Did you take any cues from the Real-time realistic illumination and shading of stratiform clouds white paper? (http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/inria-00402100_v1 (http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/inria-00402100_v1))
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: deathevor on September 10, 2013, 02:18:08 pm
Clouds are looking great, even in that early dev stage! I would like to ask you one question about the technique. What is the rendering method you're using? Is it some kind of ray marching the volume data or sampling it with proxy geometry? Thanks in advance for the anwser, and good luck polishing it!
As I wrote earlier, the technique is not yet fully stabilized and will undergo some revisions, but roughly it works by creating geometry from noise textures that is then rendered in one pass into a smaller buffer to get the optical depth, which is later used to compute attenuation and inscattered light from clouds. Together with computation of atmo and cloud lighting it's then applied in the final framebuffer pass.


As I understood it is something like was mentioned earlier in forum - Animated short "Paths of Hate" type of workflow.
If so, it would be a huge advantage to give users a freedom in adjusting or creating the geometry that is used for clouds.

Not in many, but some scenarios (cut scene or gameplay - volcanoes or even nuke explosion) requires a specific cloud to present on scene.
So by letting to import a custom mesh that can be checked as cloud and turned into cloud by engine would be extremely helpful and unique.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on September 11, 2013, 06:50:09 am
I FREAKING KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: montify on September 13, 2013, 07:32:51 am
Wie sehen die Wolken vom Weltraum aus aus?

Can you post a Image? :)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on September 13, 2013, 10:15:26 am
Yes please! Can we have a shot from space?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: 2eyed on September 13, 2013, 10:48:25 am
Any estimated time frame  for a "cloudy" update?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on September 13, 2013, 12:14:35 pm
Any estimated time frame  for a "cloudy" update?

Think that will take some time ... they're done just the easy part now.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on September 13, 2013, 12:51:52 pm
Yes please! Can we have a shot from space?
Not yet, there's a bug and the clouds vanish when you get too far up. Besides there's no global cloud map yet, so they would make just a uniform carpet.

Any estimated time frame  for a "cloudy" update?
Clouds won't be in the next update yet, still too many issues there. There may be an experimental build some time after that, not with all features yet (no global map etc), but at least with fixed rendering issues.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on September 13, 2013, 01:04:44 pm
Alright, good to know. I wish you a good progress!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: knorko on September 16, 2013, 08:38:05 am
Gosh, this is worse than waiting for GTA V... But considering the enormous advance in visual fidelity 'waiting' seems pretty low cost for this.
Btw, is there any implementation of "fixed" volumetric clouds at this point of time anyway?
I was always a little ... surprised, for how long this topic has been ditched in the Videogames Industry for now.
Take Arma3's weathersystem for example.
It looks incredibly versatile in still images, but once set in motion, there is so much ghosting that you are guaranteed motion-sickness when engaged in air vehicles.
No offense, arma.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on September 16, 2013, 11:57:20 am
Well, at least you dont have to wait for GTA V anymore, right? As you can see, patience is everything!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jagerbomber on September 16, 2013, 05:13:54 pm
1 more day.... not... gonna... make it.......
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: James on September 16, 2013, 10:30:32 pm
1 more day.... not... gonna... make it.......

I didn't even realize GTA V came out tomorrow... It's kind of funny because I'm suppose to get my parts to build a new computer Wednesday, which means I can play actually GTA V.. and Anteworld with high settings! :D
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: necro on September 17, 2013, 01:45:17 am
This thread is addressed to the clouds and GTA V will be released for console first. You'll have to wait a long time to get the pc version.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on September 17, 2013, 01:51:00 am
True!

BAck on topic though, with the water physics in place I hope to see some interaction between clouds and sea.
Storms, big waves, hell even water sprouts could be added! That would be so cool!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Atrax on September 18, 2013, 03:50:09 am
You'll only have to wait a month or so for PC version of GTA5. That's not a long time.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: ZeosPantera on September 18, 2013, 08:17:30 am
You'll only have to wait a month or so for PC version of GTA5. That's not a long time.

Actually it has classically been a 6 month wait. And this time Rockstar isn't even saying they are doing one. There is a petition with 500,000+ signatures for a PC release.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Sam on September 18, 2013, 08:46:59 am
You'll only have to wait a month or so for PC version of GTA5. That's not a long time.
Actually it has classically been a 6 month wait. And this time Rockstar isn't even saying they are doing one. There is a petition with 500,000+ signatures for a PC release.
And now there are 500,001 signatures.  ;D
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jagerbomber on September 18, 2013, 05:38:19 pm
Well there's today they found more evidence of a possible PC version as well as possible PS4 version (more specifically the code said "Orbis," the PS4's codename before it was announced) in the code on the 360 disc.

I mean, it IS too late in the current console generation for, at least, GTA Online to not to come to next-gen in some form.  I just hope they do what some publishers are doing and let you upgrade to the next-gen version for $10.  But I fear that discount might not happen for the PC version... :(  If not, they REALLY should have announced the PC version before launch, because that f-ing sucks.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: zwd on September 19, 2013, 01:03:36 am
To the dev folks.  Will there be different algorithms for different types of clouds?  Clouds are formed differently based on their distance from the ground.  There is a low, middle, and high cloud layer with only the cumulonimbus (thunderstorm cloud) being in all the layers and above them.  Rain only comes from 2 types of clouds also: nimbostratus and the cumolonimbus.

Perhaps it would help you to know the types of clouds and the places/time of year they are most likely seen.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Atrax on September 19, 2013, 06:10:57 am
You'll only have to wait a month or so for PC version of GTA5. That's not a long time.

Actually it has classically been a 6 month wait. And this time Rockstar isn't even saying they are doing one. There is a petition with 500,000+ signatures for a PC release.

They said in an interview couple of months ago that there will be a PC version of GTA5 like there always was. But you'll have to wait couple of months. reason why they didn't announce it properly is cause they want to sell as many console copies of the game as possible, cause games for consoles are more expensive. In my opinion Rockstar has lost something that was making them awesome before and are getting to the point to being as EA is. Which is sad to say the least.
Again this will be another pathetic console port like GTA4 was, I'm pretty much sure about that (that doesn't mean game itself is bad, I want to point that out before someone says I'm dissing the game).
But yea, there will be a PC version of GTA5 100%. That is certain.
Also when ppl were asking for Red Dead Redemption for PC, Rockstar said, that PC gamers will get their fix of Rockstar games between L.A. Noire, Max Payne and GTA4 to keep them busy until GTA5 is released for PC. They said that before we even saw first screens of GTA5, right when they announced GTA5. So PC version is not in the air, it's guaranteed. No need to loose sleep over it. So I don't get why ppl are making petitions for no reason.
But we're getting off topic here.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: foxfiles on September 19, 2013, 07:45:21 am
sorry guys but this post about clouds in Outerra is of prime importance for many of us...who are interested in OT and not in other stuff.
I'd like you open another thread about GTA somewhere else...
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jagerbomber on September 19, 2013, 05:09:29 pm
Yeah, sorry about that...  :-[ :-X
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: ZeosPantera on September 19, 2013, 09:06:54 pm
We have to distract ourselves from the topic or we may all go mad. MAD!

Until we have clouds just put it into the back of your mind.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: foxfiles on September 20, 2013, 04:07:18 am
 ;) I do understand what you mean in saying "we need to distract with something else"
I did not want to be aggressive...  :D
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: skyman on September 20, 2013, 11:14:41 am
It would be really awesome if the clouds are moving in the sky and I can't wait to see slowly moving clouds on the evening sky!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: ZeosPantera on September 20, 2013, 11:28:29 am
I'm interested in seeing what the clouds do when they are in line to smash into a mountain. They can't just pass through so some weird and awesome scripting to bypass and shape the clouds around the mountains.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on September 20, 2013, 11:43:27 am
I'm interested in seeing what the clouds do when they are in line to smash into a mountain. They can't just pass through so some weird and awesome scripting to bypass and shape the clouds around the mountains.

I guess that the wind will take care of that, if it is made to follow the terrain. Wind hitting the side of the mountain will be forced upwards, making an invisible wall for the clouds.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aaronsb on September 20, 2013, 12:48:11 pm
My guess is that for a while, nothing will happen. It is computationally prohibitive to determine how the clouds bypass the terrain. Most likely they will just intersect the terrain and that will be that. It may be possible to craft some ways to cheat around the issue by setting cloud levels in certain areas, or possibly some sort of displacement map, but anything computed on a global scale will most likely impact performance considerably. I strongly believe that's a reason why atmospheric effects are fairly limited in games currently.


I'm interested in seeing what the clouds do when they are in line to smash into a mountain. They can't just pass through so some weird and awesome scripting to bypass and shape the clouds around the mountains.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on September 20, 2013, 01:15:44 pm
To the dev folks.  Will there be different algorithms for different types of clouds?  Clouds are formed differently based on their distance from the ground.  There is a low, middle, and high cloud layer with only the cumulonimbus (thunderstorm cloud) being in all the layers and above them.  Rain only comes from 2 types of clouds also: nimbostratus and the cumolonimbus.

Perhaps it would help you to know the types of clouds and the places/time of year they are most likely seen.
The same algorithm will be able to handle multiple layers and shapes, ultimately creating complex stuff. There will be probably a problem with the lighting it all correctly though.
Initially we'll go after a relatively simple configuration, one high thin layer and one thicker lower cloud layer, modulated. Once the rest of the engine grows up we shall move it further too.

I'm interested in seeing what the clouds do when they are in line to smash into a mountain. They can't just pass through so some weird and awesome scripting to bypass and shape the clouds around the mountains.
The clouds aren't really simulated as bodies of vapor, that would be too costly. However, what can be done is a modulation of the density function that determines the cloud coverage. This will work on a much coarser scale, so in theory it could be possible to simulate the flow of the density, and use it to modulate the cloud algorithm.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on September 20, 2013, 01:30:50 pm

The clouds aren't really simulated as bodies of vapor, that would be too costly. However, what can be done is a modulation of the density function that determines the cloud coverage. This will work on a much coarser scale, so in theory it could be possible to simulate the flow of the density, and use it to modulate the cloud algorithm.

I almost didn`t understand a thing, but still I believe that is the best solution!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: monks on September 20, 2013, 08:03:54 pm
 ;D  8) ...great to see things ticking along! Looking sweet.

monks
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: James on September 21, 2013, 10:24:23 pm
Quick question, does or will Outerra ever use or be able to use DirectX 11? I love the glossy realistic look.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jagerbomber on September 21, 2013, 10:52:06 pm
glossy realistic

Oxymoron.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: James on September 21, 2013, 11:13:41 pm
No, something can be realistic and look glossy. At least it does to me sometimes.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jagerbomber on September 21, 2013, 11:15:04 pm
It's your glasses.  8)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on September 22, 2013, 03:09:51 am
OT won't use DirectX, no need to give up portability for ... nothing?
Graphics API doesn't have anything to do with ability to implement glossiness or anything. "DirectX11 effects" speak mainly about the hardware capabilities, not about the API.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aaronsb on October 09, 2013, 12:40:36 pm
Any more progress on clouds? I noticed in the update notes you made changes to rendering pipeline, perhaps to support efficient rendering of a certain...difficult to illuminate volumetric shape?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on October 11, 2013, 07:42:57 am
No, those weren't related to the clouds. I managed to fix just a few minor bugs, but there's still some work to get them from the preview mode to being globally usable. I've made a few compromises here and there, to see if the approach works at all. Now I have to redo it properly, with other things that are affected.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on October 11, 2013, 07:44:42 am
I cant wait to fly around a towering rain cloud.
(You know the weird-named one)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on October 11, 2013, 08:35:55 am
I cant wait to fly around a towering rain cloud.
(You know the weird-named one)

 ... those are not weird names ... those are awesome nature-scientific expression-indexes to certain specifically defined natural geometrical hi-density atmospheric humidity accumulation patterns. :D Don't be so rude to them cloud-names. :D
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aaronsb on October 11, 2013, 05:51:15 pm
Cloud Surfing in Boeing 747-200 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBcsTFelM-U#ws)

I cant wait to fly around a towering rain cloud.
(You know the weird-named one)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on October 12, 2013, 02:15:26 am
Amazing video aaronsb, thanks for posting.
Also, welcome to the forums.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aWac9 on October 12, 2013, 04:33:44 am
clouds, is another driver, ... esamblar engine is inside another.

https://vimeo.com/24134885
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on October 12, 2013, 05:21:30 am
nice vid .. made me envy pilot-work ...
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: UR67393 on November 10, 2013, 05:43:30 pm
At first- I thank the developers for a very good news with clouds, looking quite good for start.
At second- I did not understand some of the little things from topics and so let me know please - afternoon on a sunny day usually seen realistic cloud edges that glow in the sunlight, and the clouds are placed above(over) the horizon at sunrise and sunset pink highlights ( red ) rays of the sun.
Notice, if the clouds above the horizon, then they should at sunrise and sunset illuminated pink ( red or yellow ) rays of the rising or setting sun - color of clouds which are placed above the horizon has a dependency , you probably know which one.
Will  You improve such clouds illumination in sun light day, at sunrise, sunset and at the night?
And need clouds illumination in the night, under moon illumination, at the tops of clouds. 
And third, due to some types of clouds have danger meteorogical phenomenas(under clouds) I have question- will modeled by developers in future squalls(SQ), duststorms(DS), sandstorm(SS), PO(dust/sand whirls)) and funnel clouds(FC- tornado and water spoul)?
I believe that the voxel graphics can accurately generate the appearance of such danger meteorogical phenomenas in OT. This will look very effectively in OT(nobody have not such now!).
Thank You in advance. Best regards!
PS- If You owner msfs2004- You can look at animation of waterspout/ tornado which created by Ron Jeffers... Search file waterspouts05.zip at avsim*com. By the way, in msfs have animated volcan. And volcanic ash can generate massive, dense clouds in real world.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Ryan10427 on November 10, 2013, 06:48:37 pm
Im soooo psyched for the release of the bad boys!! doing a great job! i'm in full support
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Concussion on November 13, 2013, 09:41:08 am
Will there be godrays to accompany these impressive volumetric clouds?


(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xynXYEzqD_M/TGgsp1v0JwI/AAAAAAAABNo/WAW41jc-J0I/s1600/ouddorp-2.jpg)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on November 13, 2013, 10:30:37 am
Yes, God Rays will be there.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on November 16, 2013, 03:27:19 am
Just found this nice thing out somewhere in New Zeland.  :D

(https://scontent-b-vie.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q71/s720x720/1460265_636504146401841_1711050024_n.jpg)

Would be interesting if such shapes would be possible in OT.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aaronsb on November 17, 2013, 03:00:35 am
You could probably approximate it with a 3d perlin function coupled with some turbulence, but it still wouldn't look right or behave like "atmosphere"

Simulating fluid dynamics on that scale in real time would be daunting and probably beyond the ability of a current workstation.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Foxiol on April 22, 2014, 08:31:33 pm
So...how is the progress going with the lovely clouds Mr Brano?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Acetone on April 23, 2014, 03:27:16 am
So...how is the progress going with the lovely clouds Mr Brano?

I had access to a hidden screenshot folder on Angrypig's i.minus (see this thread : http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2602.0 (http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2602.0)). It was full of unreleased pictures, nothing really new but by loocking closely to them, it was pretty clear to me that improvement have been done on clouds in the past months. In the firsts pictures with clouds (dated of 6-7 month ago), they were really pixelated, with a lot of rendering artifacts.
In the most recents ones, clouds were a lot more smooth and less pixelated. Seems to me they are still fixing the lasts rendering issues, but since clouds are activated in all the videos they have published in the last months, I'm sure it's just a question of time  ;)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on April 23, 2014, 03:42:39 am
Clouds work reasonably well from the ground, that's why the videos have them. Up high and above the planet they do not work yet.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on April 23, 2014, 04:39:52 am
Clouds work reasonably well from the ground, that's why the videos have them. Up high and above the planet they do not work yet.

Ahh ... there is the one sided mesh problem again. Just forgotten to flip the normals or add another face for the other side ...

... dont worry, just Blender joking. :D Interesting stuff. You do it that way to have separate lighting effects from both perspectives ? ( ground side for atmospheric stuff and upside for additional Earth-based light sources like city-light reflections, hi powered AA lights (WW II style), aviation lights etc. ? ) ... or just non-final script going bad from space ?

Also, when the talk is about lighting - how are you planning to do transparent material-based things. Like, if you have an back-light of a car and you just give a white light behind the red/yellow/white partly tansparent
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on April 23, 2014, 08:00:17 am
Seriously, the developers have gone quiet......
There either having a nice vacation, so good for them!,
or they`ll be releasing a big update, so good for them! (again :P)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Acetone on April 23, 2014, 10:35:12 am
Also, they are showing Outerra during the FMX2014 (computer graphics event): http://www.fmx.de/program2014/event/3482 (http://www.fmx.de/program2014/event/3482). Three of the pictures on the slideshow gives an interesting perspective on clouds (especially the last one) :

1- http://ev3nts.animationsinstitut.de/rs/fmx/3/image/event/3482/0?mode=EF (http://ev3nts.animationsinstitut.de/rs/fmx/3/image/event/3482/0?mode=EF) (ground level)
2- http://ev3nts.animationsinstitut.de/rs/fmx/3/image/event/3482/2?mode=EF (http://ev3nts.animationsinstitut.de/rs/fmx/3/image/event/3482/2?mode=EF) (same location, you can still see the road)
3- http://ev3nts.animationsinstitut.de/rs/fmx/3/image/event/3482/3?mode=EF (http://ev3nts.animationsinstitut.de/rs/fmx/3/image/event/3482/3?mode=EF) (again, same location, but hight altitude, check the mountains)

Edit : annnnnnd I realised they have a livestream player but Ladislav Hrabcak presentation is already over :(
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Foxiol on April 23, 2014, 07:38:09 pm
Very nice, thank you all for the replies. ;)

Also those screens looks really good, maybe from the top there is still some work to do as far as I can tell. But very nice progress so far.   
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jonathan on June 04, 2014, 10:09:18 pm
Hey I found this.
clouds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LFoHHn30Fw#ws)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: HiFlyer on June 04, 2014, 10:21:53 pm
Nice vid, but quite a bit of artistic license taken.  :)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: TimXWB on June 06, 2014, 02:56:58 am
Just found this video on youtube yesterday, looks pretty cool. Clouds like this in outerra an a nice plane like the basler or an airliner.... *waiting patiently* :-)

trueSky (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnvBF5Nu5gw#ws)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: OttoPus on June 06, 2014, 03:15:38 am
Stunning!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: soulunite on June 06, 2014, 09:14:39 am
It is hard to imagine how much more advanced we can get with PC graphics..  Then you see engines like Outerra and videos like this.. Absolutely Stunning Indeed
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: foxfiles on June 06, 2014, 09:36:29 am
Yes but be aware that this video is of 2011
If I remember well this company with its technology was discussed somewhere in the past on this Forum...
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Fighter117 on June 07, 2014, 04:45:46 am
Very nice !
I wait clouds impatiently ! ;)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Unsurt on August 11, 2014, 05:28:22 pm
Awesome work, go ahead and beat all other 3d engine.

Best Damn Engine Ever
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PRiME on August 29, 2014, 07:45:43 pm
If outerra can get clouds to the quality of truesky I be impressed.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: TimXWB on October 05, 2014, 07:37:58 am
Hey cameni, is there a chance to get a few new screenshots about the cloud development? :-) I was just wondering about that. Would be awsome :)
nice sunday everyone!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: tknudsen on October 05, 2014, 12:32:32 pm
All I can say is wow
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: CaptTrego on October 06, 2014, 11:28:44 pm
Wow!  Impressive environment generation.   
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Steve.Wilson on October 07, 2014, 12:10:08 pm
The videos on this page are not examples of Outerra, unfortunately. 

Brano....I'll echo TimXWB's request...how about some new progress shots of clouds in OT.  I'm particularly interested in how they look from high altitude and long distance.  :)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on October 07, 2014, 04:17:03 pm
Hopefully in short time. The preview version was originally used in a simulator prototype as a proof of concept, but the simulator was ground based and didn't need the full scale rendering modes for the clouds, so we took some shortcuts to save time.

Recently I started working on it again, this time also incorporating a global cloud density map and addressing some of the problematic points of the prototype. When there's something presentable I'll surely post it here.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: HiFlyer on October 07, 2014, 04:29:38 pm
Hopefully in short time. The preview version was originally used in a simulator prototype as a proof of concept, but the simulator was ground based and didn't need the full scale rendering modes for the clouds, so we took some shortcuts to save time.

Recently I started working on it again, this time also incorporating a global cloud density map and addressing some of the problematic points of the prototype. When there's something presentable I'll surely post it here.

Great! There was a request for a gliding video, but essentially way up high, a glider appears almost motionless at high Frame rates, and it would be much better to do things like that with some clouds gliding by to give a sense of motion/speed.  8)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Acetone on October 08, 2014, 10:46:40 am
Hopefully in short time. The preview version was originally used in a simulator prototype as a proof of concept, but the simulator was ground based and didn't need the full scale rendering modes for the clouds, so we took some shortcuts to save time.

Recently I started working on it again, this time also incorporating a global cloud density map and addressing some of the problematic points of the prototype. When there's something presentable I'll surely post it here.

Great news :)
Good luck with it, no doubt it must be fairly complex to get everything working fine considering your objectives !

I'm particularly interested in how they look from high altitude and long distance.  :)

There is this old shot from the FMX presentation page, in case you didn't see it already :
(http://ev3nts.animationsinstitut.de/rs/fmx/3/image/event/3482/3?mode=EF)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aWac9 on November 26, 2014, 03:25:02 pm
Time-Lapses outerra

see 720pHD

http://youtu.be/lv84hZBEE5s

 ;)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on January 15, 2015, 02:02:00 pm
WIP clouds time lapse video with static camera above the clouds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2k1iKRNWkM

This is using a global cloud density map with resolution around 5km, which is driving the fractal cloud generator. Both the speed of clouds and dynamics of shape change are adjustable, although the wind speed is global and blowing always to the west.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Jagerbomber on January 15, 2015, 02:24:25 pm
It'd be cool if you got some wind direction effects on the clouds other than just all moving entirely at the same speed in a general direction.  Whispy clouds, cirrus clouds and whatnot.  (I don't exactly know what to call them).
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: M7 on January 15, 2015, 02:53:40 pm
It's looking really good from that point of view. I presume clouds dont cast shadows yet, will they in future update?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: John514 on January 15, 2015, 03:26:16 pm
Awesome! Good to see some major progress being made. We`re all about eye candy it seems! :P
How complex are the cloud formations that can be made? Or is it just a layer of clouds at a certain altitude?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Steve.Wilson on January 15, 2015, 03:52:56 pm
I have a hunch that the resources used here might be of use, Cameni:  https://www.windyty.com/?surface,wind,now,42.064,-87.992,4
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Foxiol on January 15, 2015, 08:19:32 pm
This is incredible. Hands down...developer of the year...heck, of the decade, right here ladies and gentlemen. ;)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Abc94 on January 16, 2015, 01:04:46 am
Brano, those clouds look awesome! Are you using 4D noise to generate them?

I have a hunch that the resources used here might be of use, Cameni:  https://www.windyty.com/?surface,wind,now,42.064,-87.992,4

Very, very cool. Lots of information there and it looks fantastic!  8)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: KW71 on January 16, 2015, 01:49:25 am
This is beautiful! I really mean it!

The engine, as is now, is incredible for me... And when this clouds arrive...

Where is another engine that give you an entire planet out of the box to explore?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on January 16, 2015, 03:19:08 am
It's looking really good from that point of view. I presume clouds dont cast shadows yet, will they in future update?

Not yet, but some shading will have to be done even with shadows off, because terrain lighting is wrong with overcast.

(http://i.minus.com/jgXNTvpICA6nm.jpg) (http://minus.com/i/gXNTvpICA6nm)

(http://i.minus.com/jrSRXKTJI71fr.jpg) (http://minus.com/i/rSRXKTJI71fr)

It should be not only under shadow, but also the atmospheric scattering should lose bluish tones, unless the sun is actually below the clouds. Also the ambient lighting now must be different for stuff under and above the clouds.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on January 16, 2015, 03:27:51 am
How complex are the cloud formations that can be made? Or is it just a layer of clouds at a certain altitude?

Right now it's just a single layer. High altitude clouds will be in other (simpler) ones. Some other clouds will be probably created on top of this layer but using a different technique. The used fractal gives it somehow unified look, so I would like to use some predefined patterns broken by fractals in the future, but there's a problem how to map these onto a spherical world.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on January 16, 2015, 03:51:13 am
I have a hunch that the resources used here might be of use, Cameni:  https://www.windyty.com/?surface,wind,now,42.064,-87.992,4

Yea that would be ideal as one of possible weather drivers. Right now we are using a single 8k*4k texture with cloud densities (~5km res), and rotating it. From weather plugins we would need at least two such maps, each representing a snapshot at different time. The density will be interpolated between them; meanwhile the plugin would prepare the next one. This would provide weather that predeterminedly lags behind the real one.

Another option, that also allows weather modification, is to simulate weather cells and precipitation transfers, winds, sources and sinks.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Levi on January 16, 2015, 09:38:10 am
Absolutely stunning!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: monks on January 16, 2015, 09:52:09 am
 8) looking really great!

monks
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: tknudsen on January 18, 2015, 08:34:08 am
WIP clouds time lapse video with static camera above the clouds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2k1iKRNWkM

This is using a global cloud density map with resolution around 5km, which is driving the fractal cloud generator. Both the speed of clouds and dynamics of shape change are adjustable, although the wind speed is global and blowing always to the west.
What, are you God? Never seen such realistic clouds in a grapgic engine before, my life would be empty if Outerra do not end up as a flight simulator. In love for sure
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: 2eyed on January 18, 2015, 09:03:41 am
Cameni, could we possibly see such a time laps video from below the clouds (at ground level). Would be great!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on January 18, 2015, 10:00:26 am

although the wind speed is global and blowing always to the west.

 ... actually, whyte that one-sided global wind, what is it doing on the north and south pole ? ...
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: HiFlyer on January 18, 2015, 10:55:55 am

although the wind speed is global and blowing always to the west.

 ... actually, with that one-sided global wind, what is it doing on the north and south pole ? ...

And that explains why most weather engines use cells........
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Revolver on January 18, 2015, 11:16:09 am
very nice... we have clouds soon...thanks :)
do they make then flashes, rains and snow?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on January 18, 2015, 12:43:10 pm
Cameni, could we possibly see such a time laps video from below the clouds (at ground level). Would be great!

Here is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUOgf3YPgfw

Note that clouds reach only to 100km distance now, so the horizon is always lighted up even though heavy clouds went there.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: M7 on January 18, 2015, 12:52:12 pm
Impressive!!!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: ZeosPantera on January 18, 2015, 12:59:34 pm
When you are done, I'd like to see a non-time-lapse video.. Something like 40 minutes long. That is where the impressive happens. In real time.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on January 18, 2015, 01:07:46 pm
I just held alt+ctrl+right arrow to speed up the time, which is the slowest speedup there, but the clouds are moving quite fast even normally (currently set to around 100m/s).
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: PytonPago on January 18, 2015, 02:09:19 pm
The sunset was beautiful ...
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Foxiol on January 18, 2015, 02:53:56 pm
Beautiful. Very nice work. ;)
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: sniperwolfpk5 on January 18, 2015, 11:17:05 pm
Amazing
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: Levi on January 19, 2015, 03:40:19 am
Spectacular!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: 2eyed on January 19, 2015, 12:01:20 pm
That looks promising! Will it be possible to alter the shape from stratus-like to cumulus-like?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: HiFlyer on June 04, 2015, 09:16:07 am
An interesting read on clouds. https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2014/08/31/cloud-rendering-sample-updated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnyR0Bfx01c
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: 2eyed on June 04, 2015, 12:32:52 pm
Tried the demo. Quite good!
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: josem75 on June 04, 2015, 01:22:29 pm
Tried the demo. Quite good!

I did too. I have an incredible flickering effect in the clouds. But in the video i dont see that effect at all..
Do you have it too?
While opening the demo, its saying me my drivers or card are not compatible with Pixel Shader. Dont know if this is connected with the flickering.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: HiFlyer on June 04, 2015, 01:40:22 pm
Tried the demo. Quite good!

I did too. I have an incredible flickering effect in the clouds. But in the video i dont see that effect at all..
Do you have it too?
While opening the demo, its saying me my drivers or card are not compatible with Pixel Shader. Dont know if this is connected with the flickering.

Its very likely. And also very likely to be correctable. Thats if the guys even find it interesting.......... I thought it might be, because it apparently works well with the dreaded intel onboard graphics, and like their own solution apparently has a very wide range with minimal overhead.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: KW71 on June 04, 2015, 01:52:21 pm
The animation don't look like the clouds are moving; instead these are growing in one side while decreasing in the opposite.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: HiFlyer on June 04, 2015, 02:01:15 pm
The animation don't look like the clouds are moving; instead these are growing in one side while decreasing in the opposite.

No wind speed. Also, after I played around with settings the shimmering went away. Wow. There are a heck of a lot of controls to play with on this thing. I dont know what half of them do!  :o
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aWac9 on August 07, 2016, 12:01:18 pm
outerra animation is a layer ..
perhaps the clouds are low layers .. I guess when to add more screens these change depending on the height.
we know something about the clouds? He is working on it, or folder still outstanding issues.?

(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8113/28209458264_a45f72f7da_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/JYLR95)clasificacion-nubes (https://flic.kr/p/JYLR95) by Manuel Goya (https://www.flickr.com/photos/awac9/), en Flickr

(https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8856/28795538396_96b13d0ab8_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/KSyEkW)ceilometer (https://flic.kr/p/KSyEkW) by Manuel Goya (https://www.flickr.com/photos/awac9/), en Flickr
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: aWac9 on August 09, 2016, 05:20:37 am
https://youtu.be/vxNkk-A2TXk
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: 2eyed on August 09, 2016, 12:18:20 pm
But after all, their clouds are still spinning photo billboards, I would presume.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cudd on November 02, 2016, 06:29:46 am
Fantastic clouds with what I imagine is a negligible performance impact. Seems to be a good compromise between full realistic cloud-lighting via ray-marching and just using billboards.

I can't for the life of me figure out how you're getting the details to light correctly without doing some sort of ray-marching. Is there some sort of hacky way of doing it?
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cameni on November 03, 2016, 08:14:54 am
There's a simplified ray marching done in the projected 2D cloud height space, where we are computing the light scattering and absorption from sun.
Title: Re: Clouds - a peek at the work in progress
Post by: cudd on November 07, 2016, 05:12:45 am
Ah that makes sense. Having tried it myself I got some decent results from just marching through the full depth of the clouds assuming no incident extinction. This doesn't give the nice shadowing effects however.

From what I can gather your projected 2D cloud height space consists of the closest fragments in the geometry to the viewer and you march from there?

I'm impressed, even when running my basic toy I'm seeing some great frame rates.