176 replies to this topic

[Skunky]

not alot going on around here,so ill show you what ive been messing with lately.these two screenies are from hudson valley,ive used a 10,000 x 5000 HDRI pano as a sky and back ground.good news is got it to work, and dosent seem to affect FPS. the bad news is its still a bit blurry even at that rez.i guess its a unity limitation.i do think its  got some potential.the really good HDRI panos  cost money,this was a free one.ill post a link to the course here in the next few days so everyone can play it and give feedback to see if its worth pursueing any further.

[Buck]

Very cool! Looks great!
Excited to see it in game

[yesrushdt]

Is it blurry in Unity or just in the game?  If in game you may want to try turning bloom off in the graphics settings.

[Skunky]

Is it blurry in Unity or just in the game?  If in game you may want to try turning bloom off in the graphics settings.

the HDRI pano looks great before putting into unity.has to be a unity thing.im thinking a 20,000 x 10,000 would look great,but i dont want to spend 50 dollars to find out,and im not sure the increased file size would not cause problems in the FPS (245 megs).

[Stingreye]

the HDRI pano looks great before putting into unity.has to be a unity thing.im thinking a 20,000 x 10,000 would look great,but i dont want to spend 50 dollars to find out,and im not sure the increased file size would not cause problems in the FPS (245 megs).

Wonder if the sky is subject to the same 8k texture limitation, similar to the overlay image.

[GolfGuy72_2000]

The blur actually gives it a nice sense of depth, in my opinion. Looks awesome, Skunky - I always appreciate your work!

[Skunky]

Wonder if the sky is subject to the same 8k texture limitation, similar to the overlay image.

i do believe your right about that.

[Dropzone73]

Vignetting and bloom effect seems to give some dynamics to HDR skyboxes (IMO), because without it, you wouldn't see the different shades of gray in the clouds when the amount of light varies. I have done some experimenting lately with HDR skyboxes and I really like them.

 

When in PhotoShop, you can also adjust exposure level of HDR/Radiance-format like in Unity and see that the picture changes when amount of light/exposure level changes. So it contains information of many photos taken with different lightning setting in one file. Will continue to experiment with that format and will make some new boxes (and already have). Maybe I'll start my own skybox business in Unity Asset Store if they are so expensive.

 

Using fog is a little harder when using a skybox that has also hills and mountains in them. Then you just can't use much fog or your horizon will look really silly.

[Skunky]

Vignetting and bloom effect seems to give some dynamics to HDR skyboxes (IMO), because without it, you wouldn't see the different shades of gray in the clouds when the amount of light varies. I have done some experimenting lately with HDR skyboxes and I really like them.
 
When in PhotoShop, you can also adjust exposure level of HDR/Radiance-format like in Unity and see that the picture changes when amount of light/exposure level changes. So it contains information of many photos taken with different lightning setting in one file. Will continue to experiment with that format and will make some new boxes (and already have). Maybe I'll start my own skybox business in Unity Asset Store if they are so expensive.
 
Using fog is a little harder when using a skybox that has also hills and mountains in them. Then you just can't use much fog or your horizon will look really silly.

iagree turning on vignetting and bloom,everything just seems to blend better.ill check that out in photoshop about exposure.
the lower rez hdri's are about 5 to 10 dollars, the super hi rez can be 40 to 50.

[KenR]

That looks great... look forward to seeing it in game. 

[Skunky]

https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing
ok, give it a look see and let me know what you think.is it even worth the effort.i think it gives a much more expansive feeling to the course. and turn up game contrast in settings to 107 or more for best results.

[Goran JoeMen]

I remember in the old JN GBC game, some of us designers made the horizon more blurry or hazy by purpose to give it more depth and look further away lol. I did not, always went for the sharpest look I could but not easy in that time with the low resolution.

Perhaps it is time for us players to start supporting the designers for their costs, I am certain many of us would for more courses by the established designers. Especially now when we been promised we can keep playing the game for as long as we live...

[Birdie]

iagree turning on vignetting and bloom,everything just seems to blend better.ill check that out in photoshop about exposure.
the lower rez hdri's are about 5 to 10 dollars, the super hi rez can be 40 to 50.

I think the one i use is a 15k sky. But i also see it gets lowered on import by Unity. I also have a little black border at the bottom which is not visible in normal gameplay. Anyway it looks better than anything i tried and it really adds a lot to the scene.

Just tried to find where exactly i bought it. I think i paid something about 10€ and only can recommend it.

I just saw on a website where i eventually bought it they have a discount for sky bundles/collections at 50€. Just in case someone is interested or if you are already thinking about buying a single one for 50€...

https://hdri-skies.c...ry/collections/

[Skunky]

I think the one i use is a 15k sky. But i also see it gets lowered on import by Unity. I also have a little black border at the bottom which is not visible in normal gameplay. Anyway it looks better than anything i tried and it really adds a lot to the scene.
Just tried to find where exactly i bought it. I think i paid something about 10€ and only can recommend it.
I just saw on a website where i eventually bought it they have a discount for sky bundles/collections at 50€. Just in case someone is interested or if you are already thinking about buying a single one for 50€...
https://hdri-skies.c...ry/collections/

birdie i have to admit,when i saw your sky for manilla,it got me very intrested,thats the best looking one ive seen.and did you see the vhdri pack for 100 euros,incrediable looking stuff.

[Birdie]

birdie i have to admit,when i saw your sky for manilla,it got me very intrested,thats the best looking one ive seen.and did you see the vhdri pack for 100 euros,incrediable looking stuff.

These skies are definitely impressive. But they will probably also get resized to 8192x8192 or 8192x4096. That's what my sky's values tell me at least. I don't know if it would still get better with a resized 20k sky. I will not risk it atm as i'm really happy with my sky. 

[DPRoberts]

Seems like no catch here. Free to try. They have 92 Skies and more in the Outdoor section. Pretty high quality texture section as well.

https://hdrihaven.com

[Birdie]

Seems like no catch here. Free to try. They have 92 Skies and more in the Outdoor section. Pretty high quality texture section as well.

https://hdrihaven.com

Thanks DP, very interesting. Maybe these sizes are well suited for our needs too and won't give a border like in my case when resized?

[Skunky]

somehow hudson vally ended up as a release on PGLS,I havent submited to them yet,not a big deal but was really just wanting some feedback at the moment.

[✠ davef ✠]

course plays and looks great, i have always had my dynamic skys on

with them off now this one is a real winner can't wait to see what you come up with next.

great work there keep it coming. as for it being released on PGLS i sent Mark the link as i always do

when a course is put up here on the PP forums to help keep things fresh and caught up with there on the PGLS site.

sorry if that is not ok, but if a course is released here why is it not ok to keep the sites that keep this game alive up to date too?

 

thanks much for all the great courses you put out

to keep us going.

[yesrushdt]

Looks amazing Skunky.  The skybox and panorama really add to the realism.  Something I miss from the TW PC days that hasn't been used much on PG.

 

The only issue I noted was the 3d/2dg going through the left and/or right side of the cartpaths throughout the course.