Author Topic: Universe Sandbox 2 - New Screenshots - April 2012 (Read 150074 times)

Dan Dixon · « **on:** April 19, 2012, 07:02:17 PM »

These are work-in-progress screenshots of a black hole, rocky planets, and a sun like star in Universe Sandbox 2.

Further down you can find three new (and very early) screenshots of a galaxy, rocky bodies, and ring debris.

Universe Sandbox 2 is a major update due out in 2013 for both Windows and Mac. This is a full rewrite of Universe Sandbox in a new 3D engine.

These screenshots largely represent the amazing shader and graphic programming work of Georg at IonStar in Solingen, Germany. And thanks to Chris for his excellent (and unseen) UI system and code that glues everything together.

The original Universe Sandbox 3 screenshots: 1st | 2nd | 3rd

Newer Screenshots - November 2012

Edited to reflect the delay in the release from end of 2012 to 2013. Sorry about that. We want to make sure it's awesome.

Dan Dixon · « **Reply #1 on:** April 19, 2012, 07:08:20 PM »

And some images from some very experimental ideas and techniques we're working on.

vh · « **Reply #2 on:** April 19, 2012, 07:48:31 PM »

Looks very nice. I like the rings and the rocky planets/moons. The galaxy sort of resembles the one in the game Spore. I like it

Darvince · « **Reply #3 on:** April 19, 2012, 07:49:59 PM »

Is that gas and bump maps I see? The rocky planets look amazing, as well as the star glow.

smjjames · « **Reply #4 on:** April 19, 2012, 09:12:45 PM »

Wheres the jaw drop smiley? I'm asking because we need one, but I guess this one is the closest

WOW, just WOW! I'm finding it hard to believe (and at the same time, I DO believe) that such awesomeness is going to be in Ubox3, I guess we are too used to what it is now, but believe me, I'm not saying that I won't like it or anything, this will be going to a new level of awesome.

I mean, seriously, those screenshots have the quality of a CG render.

Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.

FiahOwl · « **Reply #5 on:** April 19, 2012, 09:30:29 PM »

atomic7732 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 19, 2012, 09:31:07 PM »

Oh god yes.

FiahOwl · « **Reply #7 on:** April 19, 2012, 09:40:20 PM »

Oh deer.

Naru523 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 19, 2012, 10:15:25 PM »

Oh my mother of the gods.

Quote from: smjjames on April 19, 2012, 09:12:45 PM

Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.

The one behind Mars is Mercury.

Bla · « **Reply #9 on:** April 19, 2012, 10:21:41 PM »

Amazing.

The ring objects seem to look a bit big, and the stars in the galaxy also seem big imo, but maybe that's the best idea considering most computers can't handle enough stars/ring objects to make galaxies and rings look smooth with smaller objects.

smjjames · « **Reply #10 on:** April 19, 2012, 10:22:01 PM »

Quote from: Naru523 on April 19, 2012, 10:15:25 PM

Oh my mother of the gods.

Quote from: smjjames on April 19, 2012, 09:12:45 PM
Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.
The one behind Mars is Mercury.

Shouldn't it be more of a greyish color (maybe with some reddish color to it?) than a yellow-red similar to cloudless Venus?

Naru523 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 19, 2012, 10:30:25 PM »

It depends on which type of texture, although I would assume the planet would somewhat near be orange, as Mariner 10 pictured it with an orange tone.

smjjames · « **Reply #12 on:** April 19, 2012, 10:37:41 PM »

Quote from: Naru523 on April 19, 2012, 10:30:25 PM

It depends on which type of texture, although I would assume the planet would somewhat near be orange, as Mariner 10 pictured it with an orange tone.

Or depending on whether its in false color or something. Anyways, some images of Mercury have it greyish with a reddish tone and a hint of blue in some places.

SuperNova · « **Reply #13 on:** April 20, 2012, 06:32:51 AM »

Looks very nice and realistic, any ideas when it will be released?

dhm794 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 20, 2012, 01:26:03 PM »

Looks very good. Looking forward to it.

mrt127 · « **Reply #15 on:** April 20, 2012, 02:36:12 PM »

I need new pants

FiahOwl · « **Reply #16 on:** April 20, 2012, 04:06:27 PM »

Quote from: mrt127 on April 20, 2012, 02:36:12 PM

I need new pants

I always wondered why you need new pants but no new underwear... Do you keep spare underwear with you?

mrt127 · « **Reply #17 on:** April 20, 2012, 04:20:40 PM »

Quote from: FiahOwl on April 20, 2012, 04:06:27 PM

Quote from: mrt127 on April 20, 2012, 02:36:12 PM
I need new pants

I always wondered why you need new pants but no new underwear... Do you keep spare underwear with you?

Yes, for some reason someone keeps steeling my pants!

clockworks · « **Reply #18 on:** April 20, 2012, 04:52:37 PM »

mmm damn

smjjames · « **Reply #19 on:** April 20, 2012, 05:07:54 PM »

Quote from: SuperNova on April 20, 2012, 06:32:51 AM

Looks very nice and realistic, any ideas when it will be released?

No idea myself, but I'm hoping for a summer release.

vh · « **Reply #20 on:** April 20, 2012, 07:38:05 PM »

Sometime this year according to Dan.

ShoeUnited · « **Reply #21 on:** April 21, 2012, 10:00:22 AM »

It looks very nice.

Dan Dixon · « **Reply #22 on:** April 21, 2012, 12:10:13 PM »

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

Quote from: smjjames on April 19, 2012, 09:12:45 PM

Also, if the planet behind Earth is suppoused to be Venus, its missing its clouds. What the other two behind Mars are, no clue (the last one could be The Moon and the next one could be Io or another Venus?.

Yeah... that's Venus with no clouds and it needs clouds. This is all a work-in-progress and we haven't finalized anything yet. In order the planets are: Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Pluto.

Quote from: Bla on April 19, 2012, 10:21:41 PM

The ring objects seem to look a bit big, and the stars in the galaxy also seem big imo, but maybe that's the best idea considering most computers can't handle enough stars/ring objects to make galaxies and rings look smooth with smaller objects.

Yes, objects are too big right now. The ring objects are the first example of this that Georg got working, so almost no tuning or adjustments have been made yet.

Quote from: smjjames on April 19, 2012, 10:22:01 PM

Shouldn't it be more of a greyish color (maybe with some reddish color to it?) than a yellow-red similar to cloudless Venus?

Yes... just like Venus, Mercury's coloring and appearance is totally wrong at the moment. The hard part is getting all the new tech to work together, once that's finalized we can tune and tweak the appearance and colors.

A couple more comments about the screenshots:

The galaxy screenshot is also very early and in-progress. Eric, an astronomer who's recently joined the project, is still ramping up but has already pointed out how the distribution of stars is inaccurate (it should be much higher in the center; not as even) and he will be writting code to improve make it more realistic.

He will also be working on hooking up stellar evolution code soon. < I'm really excited about this.

And the rocky bodies (the 5th screenshot) is the result of some very early and experimental code that allows for bodies much more interesting than perfect spheres.

Thanks again. We can't wait to let all of you try this out for yourselves.

Chaotic Cow · « **Reply #23 on:** April 21, 2012, 12:42:08 PM »

Looking amazing. I can't wait to see more of this in the future!

rahjerz · « **Reply #24 on:** April 21, 2012, 02:34:07 PM »

Wow! That is very impressive. I'm curious what will be the system requirements. I am running a single gtx260 on and a 9850be quad core with 6gb of RAM. Anyway, looking forward to the update.

Dan Dixon · « **Reply #25 on:** April 21, 2012, 02:37:45 PM »

Quote from: rahjerz on April 21, 2012, 02:34:07 PM

Wow! That is very impressive. I'm curious what will be the system requirements.

Not sure exactly... but if you can run the current version (v2) then you'll be able to run the new version (v3). Although it is possible some graphical effects won't work on very old hardware, you'll still be able to run the core simulation.

That said... Your video card will do just fine.

JayPix2012 · « **Reply #26 on:** April 21, 2012, 07:59:59 PM »

When will the beta for Universe Sandbox 3 be released? Just wondering.

mrt127 · « **Reply #27 on:** April 22, 2012, 02:11:10 AM »

Dan, I have a question:

As well as Black Holes looking a lot better, Will an Object falling into a Black hole be more realistic?

Kevin1994 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 22, 2012, 03:28:50 AM »

Le Le Le Le Le Star life cycle yes! went it blows up it will go nova or super- nova or even hyper-nova

Georg · « **Reply #29 on:** April 22, 2012, 09:55:33 AM »

Hey folks,

thanks for the kind words, much appreciated! I'm really excited to be on the project. Developing Universe Sandbox is great fun, Dan is really a joy to work with, as are my other teammates Chris, Thomas and Eric. Sort of like a rock band, but with less groupies, more coffee and a lot quieter. Well, maybe not like a rock band. But still rocking.

When working in the industry you find yourself in a very restrictive environment sometimes... development isn't cheap, and that cuts down on the time you have, and in the end, creativity and attention to detail suffer. Not over here, though - we're still working hard to get a release out to you quickly, but not at the cost of rushing it. So I've got more headroom to make things look good, which makes us - and you, too - smile more. That's what we're here for, right?

Most visuals you see in the screenshots are work in progress and as such will continue to be awesomized (awesomified? incrawesomed? you know, that kinda thing), so stick around and keep the feedback coming, we're listening to you, talking about your opinions and insights just the same as we do about ours.

Have a nice rest of the weekend and greetings from Germany,

Georg