Done in Thea Studio
Literally after years of experimentation I decided to sit down and figure this out. I've always wanted to make planets for space scenes and make them well. There are certainly better platforms to do that that then Thea but being those other platforms are expensive and take years to learn I decided to push Thea to see what it could do.
Tropical Moon Model mechanics:
6 spheres (each one slightly larger then the last):
Surface
Clouds
Low atmosphere
Medium atmosphere
High atmosphere
Super High Atmosphere
This is how I got the atmosphere effect. I used the four atmosphere spheres as a clear thin glass material, set to Interference ON, thickness at 0.00. This way the glass doesn't render but acts as a "container"
Each sphere then uses a Medium with gradually less density and darker shades of blue to fake atmospheric thickness falloff with altitude.
Here's the result (short render, forgive the render quality):
Two things remain unresolved:
- Amber dust color (sunset light) in atmosphere on terminator.
I've tried a number of things to get the effect. I've added an amber tint to one of the atmosphere layers but that unfortunately just tints the whole surface vs. just at the terminator. I think I've tried every single combination of settings and densities in the medium settings to get this to work and I can't get the effect I want. If I make one of the medium layer amber then that amber color shows on the edge of the planet in direct sunlight which isn't correct.
The light from the sun needs to create a color shift to the sunset amber the farther it passes through the medium. If you look at the image the thin "blue sky" ring on the sun side is picking up sunlight directly overhead.
Is there any way to get the color in the medium to shift the more of it the sunlight passes through? Or another method? This would give that sunset light effect on the terminator.
Getting the atmosphere to fall off with height from surface sphere:
Does anyone know any way to get the density of medium to fall off the farther away from the inner surface it gets or another method to accomplish an atmosphere effect so I can abandon the multi sphere approach? I want this because when zoomed in the multi sphere method obviously doesn't hold up.
Can either of these issues be resolved using a Fresnel Ramp texture? If so any suggestions on how to use and map it?
Literally after years of experimentation I decided to sit down and figure this out. I've always wanted to make planets for space scenes and make them well. There are certainly better platforms to do that that then Thea but being those other platforms are expensive and take years to learn I decided to push Thea to see what it could do.
Tropical Moon Model mechanics:
6 spheres (each one slightly larger then the last):
Surface
Clouds
Low atmosphere
Medium atmosphere
High atmosphere
Super High Atmosphere
This is how I got the atmosphere effect. I used the four atmosphere spheres as a clear thin glass material, set to Interference ON, thickness at 0.00. This way the glass doesn't render but acts as a "container"
Each sphere then uses a Medium with gradually less density and darker shades of blue to fake atmospheric thickness falloff with altitude.
Here's the result (short render, forgive the render quality):
Two things remain unresolved:
- Amber dust color (sunset light) in atmosphere on terminator.
I've tried a number of things to get the effect. I've added an amber tint to one of the atmosphere layers but that unfortunately just tints the whole surface vs. just at the terminator. I think I've tried every single combination of settings and densities in the medium settings to get this to work and I can't get the effect I want. If I make one of the medium layer amber then that amber color shows on the edge of the planet in direct sunlight which isn't correct.
The light from the sun needs to create a color shift to the sunset amber the farther it passes through the medium. If you look at the image the thin "blue sky" ring on the sun side is picking up sunlight directly overhead.
Is there any way to get the color in the medium to shift the more of it the sunlight passes through? Or another method? This would give that sunset light effect on the terminator.
Getting the atmosphere to fall off with height from surface sphere:
Does anyone know any way to get the density of medium to fall off the farther away from the inner surface it gets or another method to accomplish an atmosphere effect so I can abandon the multi sphere approach? I want this because when zoomed in the multi sphere method obviously doesn't hold up.
Can either of these issues be resolved using a Fresnel Ramp texture? If so any suggestions on how to use and map it?
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