Planet Forge

About Planet Forge – Unity Editor Tool & Plugin

Unity Planet Terrain Tool

Planet Forge is a Unity planet terrain tool for creating planets that can be explored from space down to the surface. It combines multithreaded CPU code, GPU acceleration, dynamic LOD, modular terrain and texture systems, and configurable atmospheric effects, with 27 example planet scenes and 32 terrain heightmaps included.

Planet Creation and Terrain Systems

The planet system uses stackable terrain and texture components, allowing terrain types and biome color palettes to be layered and mixed. The package includes 32 terrain types, 100 biome color palettes, 32 terrain heightmaps, and 4096x4096 heightmaps imported as R16 bit. It supports 8-bit and 16-bit heightmaps, unlimited biome support, polar ice caps, and both global and local detail placement for positioning features such as mountains or biomes at specific locations.

A dynamic LOD system maintains terrain detail while moving between space and the surface. LOD batching, adjustable detail and performance settings, in-editor preview, instant planet rebuilding, mesh collider generation, and a procedural prefab spawner are also included. The package provides 26 fully configured example planets for learning and customization, while 27 example planet scenes are listed in the technical details.

Atmosphere, Clouds, Weather and Ocean

The volumetric atmosphere system provides customizable fog, atmospheric scattering, sun-responsive behavior, and configurable sunset and sunrise colors. It also interacts with opaque and cutout objects on the planet surface. Volumetric clouds can be animated and traversed during flight, while weather effects provide rain, snow, and thunderstorms with sound effects.

The volumetric ocean system adds water that can be explored underwater, with light rays, marine snow, subsurface scattering, caustics, and shoreline sounds. Ocean buoyancy is also included. For underground environments, the terrain hole and cave placement system supports caves, while the origin shifting system allows travel thousands of kilometers in every direction.

Compatibility and Requirements

The Built-in Render Pipeline, URP, and HDRP are compatible with Unity 2021.3.0f1 and Unity 2022.3.0f1. Included shaders automatically switch between the three pipelines. The package requires Burst, Collections, and Shader Graph, which are installed through Unity's Package Manager.

The included shaders are automatically compiled with Shader Graph for Built-in Render Pipeline, URP, and HDRP for Unity 2021.3 LTS, 2022.3 LTS, 6000.0 LTS, and 6000.3 LTS.

Additional Planet Features

• Background stars with a skybox renderer containing stars and the sun, with atmospheric fading and nighttime visibility behavior.
• A gravity system for planetary environments.
• Adjustable detail and performance settings for different planet scales.
• Full source code for modifying the system's implementation.

Use Cases

• Planetary exploration games where players travel from space to detailed surfaces.
• Projects requiring procedurally configured planets with multiple terrain types and biome combinations.
• Large-scale worlds involving atmospheric flight, volumetric clouds, weather, oceans, caves, and planetary gravity.

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