Nebulae in Progress

I've always wanted some compatibility with non-square images. For example, assuming that I want to render at 9000X6000 (just because its awesome) the filter would recreate a similar planet after it renders 1 square unit (or however ff calculates by.) It'd be always nice to have just one planet per unit render or the option to put more. Of course the other suggestion is the ability to randomize the location of the planet. And I always wanted GIGANTIC planets hehe. Would make all dreams come true!!

Otherwise you may want to tone down the glow / limit the option to. It's over-kill.

Very nice filter Keep it up.

Hey Betis, I would suggest staying with the stars and "faint" clouding as-is.....and maybe focus on different types of planets.....with rings (Saturn), smaller moons, etc. The planet in your last pic looks great!!!

Maybe you could even do close-ups on planets kinda like this.....

***cough***

I think the current problem with FF is the lack of support for non-seamless filters. FF considers the option and hopefully things will happen.

Though the sweet thing about Filter Forge is that its NOT just some texture machine, its got CRAZY load of things to play with. Which eventually these can result in amazing things.

I use it standalone rather than a Filter tool or texture tool. I use it for art and FF can be art just by itself.

And perhaps if they consider such ideas possible, perhaps BIG, realistic planets are not too far away.

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I agree.....seamless tiling should just be an option.....and not automatically forced onto all submitted filters.....

amen to that!

and what in the world is that avatar, betis?

Another revision... No Moons yet.

Betis, you da man!!!

I like everything about the first one.....

I like the lighting and planet surface on the second one.....with the only problem being that the planet itself looks 2D and needs a little more work towards appearing 3D.....but overall, great work!!!

Edit.....my first suggestion here wouldn't work.....using refraction is the problem.....

I think you need to prof gradient the planet shape without refraction.....then add the surface texture.....

Doing it without refraction will also make the filter much faster.....so you can add other stuff without bringing it to a crawl.....

I'll have to experiment with that.

But then there's no perspective... Which takes away from the 3D!

Where's your time going?

Oh and with the non-global refraction:

Doesn't using a map input, even though you are making most parts 0, make it slower?

Oh, this is a simple filter, not a surface one. Those are quite slow, yes. I'll do more experiments.

Edit: I just did some experiments, global is faster by about 1/20 of a second.

Here's the filter.

Refraction Render Experiments.ffxml

Submitted. Here's the new default.

Yep, sure did. *points to filter page link below name*

The seamless tiling really borked the preset up, but tweak the settings a bit, (details up) and it'll look better. An update (minor) is in the works.

when you post in the library, it's fine to overwrite your filter with an update, but when you post in the forum, change the name a bit. put a version number on it or something. it's not a big deal; i can change the name when i save it from here, but would be nice.

as for the filter, there's something odd (to my eye, anyways) about the shadow being cast on the planet. i can accept it if i believe there's a moon that is casting that shadow on the planet, but i cant believe that's how the sun would make that shadow. i even had to go look on google images of planets to see if i mistaken on this and i think i'm right. there wouldnt be such a sharp arc on the shadow with the light coming from a sun, or at least that's how the google images show it.

I found these images on google (it was difficult to find a picture of a planet with a self-shadow), and they look good to me, except that I need to make mine less circular. Post your picture for comparison.

Oooh, I definitely see what you mean. I think I know how to do that. Very good example, thanks.

Also simulating certain atmospheric conditions will be so awesome.

Ooo that's tough. Generally some atmospheric effects are like tinted atmospheres between the day and night. So you basically see a nice reddish sunset-line in the atmosphere.

Another effect is the amount of gas. So the amount of glow changes here.

Great work guys... some of those renders look awesome.

A while back I worked on a bunch of filters like this... I'll try to post some pics later. I never finished any of them, but a couple are pretty cool (I think).