Light Rays
by Tom Spilman · in Torque 3D Professional · 05/05/2009 (7:14 pm) · 26 replies
Ross got the light rays working in Torque 3D tonight and you guys deserve the first look...
Another thing to look forward to in beta 2.
Another thing to look forward to in beta 2.
About the author
Tom is a programmer and co-owner of Sickhead Games, LLC.
#2
05/05/2009 (8:35 pm)
Looks VERY nice :) 
#3
05/05/2009 (9:22 pm)
Ooo very nice! Looking forward to seeing that in action. 
#4
05/05/2009 (10:23 pm)
Beautiful! 
#5
05/05/2009 (10:41 pm)
I'm lovin it! 
#6
05/06/2009 (1:07 am)
That's sexy. 
#7
05/06/2009 (1:39 am)
Completely wicked. 
#8
05/06/2009 (2:41 am)
Nice! :) 
#9
05/06/2009 (5:20 pm)
Looks Fk'n amazing, Tom. Great job Ross! 
#10
05/06/2009 (6:24 pm)
Looks very nice :) 
#11
05/06/2009 (10:49 pm)
Extremely impressed! How does it effect framerates?
#12
Ok... no... just kidding.
It has an impact... it has to take alot of samples for each screen pixel to get the radial effect from the sun position. This is pretty much a direct implementation of the GPU Gems 3 technique.
Like with most of these techniques the hit is gonna vary by the amount of fillrate your card can handle. I wouldn't recommend using this effect on lower end GPUs.... for sure nothing below a Geforce 8xxxx series card.
05/06/2009 (11:18 pm)
@Pete - It actually makes it run faster.Ok... no... just kidding.
It has an impact... it has to take alot of samples for each screen pixel to get the radial effect from the sun position. This is pretty much a direct implementation of the GPU Gems 3 technique.
Like with most of these techniques the hit is gonna vary by the amount of fillrate your card can handle. I wouldn't recommend using this effect on lower end GPUs.... for sure nothing below a Geforce 8xxxx series card.
#13
Also, do you have any idea roughly when beta 2 will be released?
05/07/2009 (6:07 am)
With this, as well as ScatterSky and the improved bloom, I'm wondering how I'm ever going to be able to wait for beta 2 ;)Also, do you have any idea roughly when beta 2 will be released?
#14
Question, will these only occur when you look towards the sun/light source, or can it also scatter down, lets say you have a iso/ortho camera and want light to come from tree tops down to ground even though you are not looking at the sun/light source.
Wow, this is hard to explain, hope you understand what im talking about hehe :P
05/07/2009 (8:49 am)
Awesome looking.Question, will these only occur when you look towards the sun/light source, or can it also scatter down, lets say you have a iso/ortho camera and want light to come from tree tops down to ground even though you are not looking at the sun/light source.
Wow, this is hard to explain, hope you understand what im talking about hehe :P
#15
Not really, you're simply asking if you want the volumetric lighting effect to come down via the raycast angle from an emitting source such as the sun.
I was talking to Tom about this very thing last night (since its similar to an effect I was thinking for the Undercity demo) and he said that the way the system currently works is its based on screen space coordinates so what you are looking for isnt quite possible.
05/07/2009 (9:02 am)
@BoNot really, you're simply asking if you want the volumetric lighting effect to come down via the raycast angle from an emitting source such as the sun.
I was talking to Tom about this very thing last night (since its similar to an effect I was thinking for the Undercity demo) and he said that the way the system currently works is its based on screen space coordinates so what you are looking for isnt quite possible.
#16
I usually create a tube, expand it at bottom a bit, no collision (ofc) and use a 2D texture (perhaps animated now thats possible :o) and then slap it around the tube to fake the "god rays" (it works awesome btw, but only for indoors scene or isometric/orthographic scenes).
05/07/2009 (9:18 am)
Ah okay, guess ill have to use the "faking it" method again then for that hehe.I usually create a tube, expand it at bottom a bit, no collision (ofc) and use a 2D texture (perhaps animated now thats possible :o) and then slap it around the tube to fake the "god rays" (it works awesome btw, but only for indoors scene or isometric/orthographic scenes).
#17
If we can find some time we'll be implementing that as well as it works for all lights and not just the sun.
05/07/2009 (11:36 am)
There is another technique... a more complex one that uses more fillrate.... that can do rays regardless of the direction your looking.If we can find some time we'll be implementing that as well as it works for all lights and not just the sun.
#18
Edit: It looks like from the first shot, that the beams are going from a crack in the trees to a the patch on the ground, do they all line up like this? Or did that one shot just get lucky?
05/07/2009 (11:39 am)
That lighting effect is super sexy, any chance we can get a video of it? I'd love to see what it looks like walking under trees, or as you walk out from, behind the tower.Edit: It looks like from the first shot, that the beams are going from a crack in the trees to a the patch on the ground, do they all line up like this? Or did that one shot just get lucky?
#19
It does line up more or less since it does use the sun direction and what is occluding it.
05/07/2009 (11:53 am)
I think Brett will be doing a blog again soon and will include some video with this... not 100% sure.It does line up more or less since it does use the sun direction and what is occluding it.
#20
05/07/2009 (11:53 am)
DOUBLE POST...NO DELETE... YET. 
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