BETA Release for less 'pixely' clouds

[Moach]

well, just to let ppl in on what i've been playing around with.....


HLSL is a really versatile tool... so once i found there were .fx files i could do stuff with laying in the graphics client folder... well, i had to try


so far, i got this:

it ain't much - but i find my low orbits are really more involving without all those square-looking pixelated clouds

actually, they're still there.... but i've added a couple more texture lookups with different UV scales to get a more interesting look, and did a few changes to the alpha channel output as well...


now, i wouldn't really call this an "addon"... it's more of an "idea", really....

this is the code i altered - it goes in the modules/d3d9client/Planet.fx file

struct TileVS
{
    float4 posH    : POSITION0;
    float2 tex0    : TEXCOORD0;
    float2 tex1    : TEXCOORD1;
    float3 normalW : TEXCOORD2;
    float3 toCamW  : TEXCOORD3;
    float3 posW    : TEXCOORD4;
    float4 aux     : TEXCOORD5;
    float4 atten   : TEXCOORD6;     // Attennuate incoming fragment color
    float4 insca   : TEXCOORD7;     // "Inscatter" Add to incoming fragment color
    float4 diffuse : TEXCOORD8;
};



TileVS PlanetTechVS(TILEVERTEX vrt)
{
    // Zero output.
	TileVS outVS = (TileVS)0;
	
    // Apply a mesh group transformation matrix
    float3 posW = mul(float4(vrt.posL, 1.0f), gW).xyz;
    float3 nrmW = normalize(mul(float4(vrt.normalL, 0.0f), gW).xyz);

	// Convert transformed vertex position into a "screen" space using a combined (World, View and Projection) Matrix
	outVS.posH = mul(float4(posW, 1.0f), gVP);
	
	// A vector from the vertex to the camera
	float3 tocam  = normalize(-posW);
    float3 sundir = gSun.direction;
    
    float diff    = saturate(dot(-sundir, nrmW)*1.5);
    float dotr    = max(dot(reflect(sundir, nrmW), tocam), 0.0f);
    float spec    = pow(diff,0.25f) * pow(dotr, gWater.specPower);
    float nigh    = 0.0f;
    float ambi    = 0.0f;
    
	outVS.tex0    = float2(vrt.tex0.x*gTexOff[0] + gTexOff[1], vrt.tex0.y*gTexOff[2] + gTexOff[3]);
    outVS.tex1    = vrt.tex1;
    outVS.toCamW  = tocam;
    outVS.normalW = nrmW;
    outVS.posW    = gCameraPos*gRadius[2] + posW*gDistScale;
   
    LegacySunColor(outVS.diffuse, ambi, nigh, nrmW);

    outVS.aux     = float4(spec, diff, ambi, nigh);

    AtmosphericHaze(outVS.atten, outVS.insca, outVS.posH.z, posW);

    outVS.insca *= (outVS.diffuse+ambi);

    return outVS;
}



float4 PlanetTechPS(TileVS frg) : COLOR
{
   
    float4 diff  = frg.aux.g*(gMat.diffuse*frg.diffuse) + (gMat.ambient*frg.aux.b); 
    float  micro = 1.0f;
   
    if (gMix>0.0f) micro -= tex2D(Planet3S, frg.tex1).a;
    
    float4 vSpe = frg.aux.r * (gWater.specular*frg.diffuse) * micro;
    float4 vEff = tex2D(Planet1S, frg.tex0);

    if (gSpecMode==2) vSpe *= 1.0f - vEff.a;
    if (gSpecMode==0) vSpe = 0;
    
	float3 color = diff.rgb * tex2D(Planet0S, frg.tex0).rgb + frg.aux.a*vEff.rgb + vSpe.rgb;

    return float4(color*frg.atten.rgb+gColor.rgb+frg.insca.rgb, 1.0f);
}



float4 CloudTechPS(TileVS frg) : COLOR
{
    float mic = 1.0f;
    if (gMix>0.0f) mic -= (1.0f - tex2D(Planet3S, frg.tex1).a) * gMix * 0.65f;

	
    float4 data  = (gMat.ambient*frg.aux.b);
    float4 color = tex2D(Planet0S, frg.tex0);
	
	
	float amt = (1.0f - tex2D(Planet3S, frg.tex1*0.885f).a * (1.25f-color.a*.85f));
	mic *= 1.0f - tex2D(Planet3S, frg.tex1*8.2f).a * (.6f-color.a*.45f);
	
	
    if (dot(frg.normalW, frg.toCamW)<0) {    // Render cloud layer from below
        float4 diff = (min(1,frg.aux.g*6) * frg.diffuse) * gMat.diffuse + data;
        return float4(color.rgb*(1.0f-mic*.45f)*diff.rgb+frg.insca.rgb, saturate(color.a*mic*1.25f)*amt); 
    }

    else { // Render cloud layer from above                            
        float4 diff = (min(1,frg.aux.g*2) * frg.diffuse) * gMat.diffuse + data;
        return float4(color.rgb*(1.0f-mic*.18f)*diff.rgb+frg.insca.rgb, saturate(color.a*mic*1.25f)*amt); 
    }
}









// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Cloud Shadow Techs
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------


struct ShadowVS
{
    float4 posH    : POSITION0;
    float2 tex0    : TEXCOORD0;
    float2 tex1    : TEXCOORD1;
    float4 atten   : TEXCOORD2;  
};

ShadowVS CloudShadowTechVS(TILEVERTEX vrt)
{
    // Zero output.
	ShadowVS outVS = (ShadowVS)0;
	
    float3 posW = mul(float4(vrt.posL, 1.0f), gW).xyz;
	outVS.posH  = mul(float4(posW, 1.0f), gVP);
	outVS.tex0  = float2(vrt.tex0.x*gTexOff[0] + gTexOff[1], vrt.tex0.y*gTexOff[2] + gTexOff[3]);
    outVS.tex1  = vrt.tex1;

    float4 none;

    AtmosphericHaze(outVS.atten, none, outVS.posH.z, posW);
   
    return outVS;
}

float4 CloudShadowPS(ShadowVS frg) : COLOR
{
    float mic = 0.0f;
    if (gMix>0.0f) mic = tex2D(Planet3S, frg.tex1).a * gMix;             
    return float4(0,0,0, (1.0f-mic)*tex2D(Planet0S, frg.tex0).a * frg.atten.b);   
}





// This is used for high resolution base tiles ---------------------------------
//
technique PlanetTech
{
    pass P0
    {
        vertexShader = compile vs_3_0 PlanetTechVS();
        pixelShader  = compile ps_3_0 PlanetTechPS();

        AlphaBlendEnable = false;
        ZEnable = false; 
        ZWriteEnable = false;
    }
}

technique PlanetCloudTech
{
    pass P0
    {
        vertexShader = compile vs_3_0 PlanetTechVS();
        pixelShader  = compile ps_3_0 CloudTechPS();

        AlphaBlendEnable = true;
        BlendOp = Add;
        SrcBlend = SrcAlpha;
        DestBlend = InvSrcAlpha;
        ZEnable = false;
        ZWriteEnable = false;
    }
}

technique PlanetCloudShadowTech
{
    pass P0
    {
        vertexShader = compile vs_3_0 CloudShadowTechVS();
        pixelShader  = compile ps_3_0 CloudShadowPS();

        AlphaBlendEnable = true;
        BlendOp = Add;
        SrcBlend = SrcAlpha;
        DestBlend = InvSrcAlpha;
        ZEnable = false;
        ZWriteEnable = false;
    }
}

make sure you back things up before copy-pasting over the whole file.... then just fire up OrbiterNG and look out the window (in LEO, lest you won't see much)

if you got any thoughts on how to take this further and make Orbiter look even better - let us hear it

 

[Grover]

could you please give a quick "how to install this addon-that-isnt-an-addon" for those of us not graced with the language of the probe?

thanks

 

[orb]

could you please give a quick "how to install this addon-that-isnt-an-addon" for those of us not graced with the language of the probe?

You need D3D9Client and notepad. The path to effect file from D3D9Client you need to modify with notepad by copy pasting the code and replacing the text is posted in the OP.

 

[Weirdo Earthtorch]

Looks good - not had chance to test yet. Does it alleviate this problem, or is it still an issue with the cylindrical texture projection?

 

[Moach]

yeah, those seams appear to be something to be checked with Jarmonik (the guy making the D9 client).... btw - they also appear with inline graphics, so it's a bit of a long standing problem

probably not big enough to be a bother sufficiently large to justify the trouble of fixing it... but still enough to be annoying


to install - no need to compile anything, this is a shader, not C++ code
so it's quite easy to get set, really


open the Modules/D3D9Client/Planet.fx file

replace all its contents with the code above (backup the original first, just in case)

save, close and run orbiter

 

[Felipi1205]

Hey, I tried again, it worked! It's very beatiful!

 

[Felipi1205]

Hi Moach! Can you make an ambient light using the HLSL? This would be awesome!:hmm:
Thanks!