First pass on planet shaders
First pass on planet shaders
Over the last week or so, I’ve been working on the shaders that make up all the rocky and terrestrial planets and moons - over time, one of my goals for Teskooano is to have more physically accurate representations, but for now - having something close enough and be configurable is enough to complete my goals.
Technical Details
Section titled “Technical Details”The shader is applied to both planets and moons, and each one is then given a type designation (i.e Rocky, Barren, Lava, Ice, Terrestrial or Ocean) which defines the colours and physical properties of the body - each planet has 5 layers that are height configurable. The following type is used by the generator:
export interface ProceduralSurfaceProperties { /** Controls how quickly the noise amplitude decreases with each octave (0-1) */ persistence: number; /** Controls how quickly the frequency increases with each octave (typically > 1) */ lacunarity: number; /** Base frequency for the noise generation */ simplePeriod: number; /** Number of noise layers to combine for detail */ octaves: number; /** Scale factor for normal map/bump mapping effect */ bumpScale: number; /** Base color for the surface (lowest elevation) */ color1: string; /** Second color gradient point */ color2: string; /** Third color gradient point */ color3: string; /** Fourth color gradient point */ color4: string; /** Final color for the surface (highest elevation) */ color5: string; /** Height threshold for color1 transition */ height1: number; /** Height threshold for color2 transition */ height2: number; /** Height threshold for color3 transition */ height3: number; /** Height threshold for color4 transition */ height4: number; /** Height threshold for color5 transition */ height5: number; /** Surface shininess factor (0-1) */ shininess: number; /** Intensity of specular highlights (0-1) */ specularStrength: number; /** Surface roughness factor (0-1) */ roughness: number; /** Intensity of ambient lighting (0-1) */ ambientLightIntensity: number; /** Controls the amount of surface undulation/waviness */ undulation: number; /** Type of terrain generation algorithm (1 = simple, 2 = sharp peaks, 3 = sharp valleys) */ terrainType: number; /** Controls overall height scale of the terrain */ terrainAmplitude: number; /** Controls how defined and sharp terrain features appear */ terrainSharpness: number; /** Base height offset for the entire terrain */ terrainOffset: number;}The shaders work with the multi-light system within the engine, supporting up to 4 light sources currently, along with ambient lighting. There are still some improvements that can be done, but for today I’m happy with the result - I’ve learned a lot about shaders and what’s possible with them.
Real-Time Editing
Section titled “Real-Time Editing”The engine comes with a build in panel editor when you select a celestial body, giving a real time view of the changes made in the engine view, allowing for a live preview of changes. With this, I’ll work to find the sensible ranges for more realistic planets.
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”There are still a few improvements overall to the lighting and generation system I’d like to add, and some features I’d like to add:
- Atmosphere and clouds (there is a basic atmosphere for some planets currently)
- Improved lighting controls
- Additional calculations at generation time for impacts from asteroids and meteors.
- Smoothness and specularity for oceans and liquid bodies
- Biome support for more variation on terrestrial planets
My next major focus will be on stars - currently black holes are broken, and most stars are quite boring - but I’ve been working on some new shader code for these, with some varied results - with some improvement I’m hoping I can release these soon