Godot 4 Raymarching! Modelling Techniques.

[@nutzeeer]

i would like to implement raymarching leveraging godots node system. to make it easier for basic settings, while still allowing all the raymarching complexity.

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

That may require some engine level knowledge but I think it's definitely doable. (Not for me though 😅)

[@iadoptedanalien]

I'm following the tutorial, and I'm having some troubles when switching the camera projection from perspective to orthographic. The interaction between the SDFs and the camera seems a bit "wrong". Do you have any tips on how to adjust the shader to make it work correctly with orthographic cameras?

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

Seems like I haven't taken the orthographic projection into consideration. I will check and get back to you. (90% chance it won't work with orthographic projection)

[@iadoptedanalien]

@@iDigvijaysinhG Thank you for your reply! If you could provide any insights or examples on how to adapt the shader for orthographic projection, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm really looking to get this working, as I'm having some trouble with the adjustments

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

Ok so as I have suspected, working with orthographic projection is a bit tricky, so the solution depends on what you are trying to achieve. A few suggestions, first, change the camera projection to perspective and than try to fake the orthographic style by adjusting camera position and POV. If that is not feasible, try to use a Sphere as the ray marching volume.

[@iadoptedanalien]

@@iDigvijaysinhG Unfortunately, I need to use an orthographic camera due to the style of my project, and using a sphere as the volume didn’t work out too well. I’ll spend some time studying the math behind it and see if I can figure it out. Thanks for the help, your ray marching series was super useful

[@plur_ndbn]

Thanks. Any chance you will create videos about CanvasItem shaders?

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

Hey, I don't have any idea in mind but I am open to suggestions. Do you have any particular effect in mind? I have made one using visual shader by the way, it's called ice freeze full screen shader if you want to check it out.

[@plur_ndbn]

​ @iDigvijaysinhG In current (my first) project I try to create space system (in 2D), interested in warp, light speed, wormhole effects, etc.. But It all personal for me, it uncomfortable to ask. At now i've try create planets, It a bit hard for me (poor math) for understanding UV transforms, for example I've search how wrap texture in 2D sphere, some parts of this found in different sources void fragment() { vec2 uv = 2.0 * (UV - 0.5); float r = length(uv); uv *= asin(r) / r; uv.x = uv.x / TAU; uv.y = uv.y / PI + 0.5; uv.x += TIME * 0.01; COLOR.rgb = texture(TEXTURE, uv).rgb; COLOR.a = step(r, 1.0); } I've compared this with your spherize_uv function, it a bit different result. Texture I use from website "Solar Textures" I also know people likes full screen effects, like CRT, pixelated, distortion, may be you will interested to create video with explanation, because many just copy shader code from sites.

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

@plur_ndbn, don't worry too much about asking. Think of it this way, you are giving me video ideas. And as far as math is concerned, I can tell from personal experience that mathematics has a tendency to seem difficult until we know proper applications for its concepts. I would recommend you check out Desmos, it's a tool to visualize maths(sort of). And of course practice, practice practice. And when you get stuck don't feel discouraged, game development in general is hard, it's only natural that we struggle sometimes. Having said that I will definitely come up with something in the future based on your ideas.😁

[@artiartem]

Does it have any issues when using marching on specific object in the scene and leaving other objects with standard rendering?

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

Hey, you can use standard meshes alongside ray marched shapes just fine.

[@UltimatePerfection]

How about adding support for metaballs modelling?

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

Like the ones in the Blender? I am sorry could you elaborate?

[@UltimatePerfection]

@@iDigvijaysinhG Yup. Like those in Blender.

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

@@UltimatePerfection Yes, but I am not sure about adding support part, You can probably use smoothmin and smoothmax function to sort of mimic that behaviour.

[@maxarq]

ok what about texturing them?

[@UltimatePerfection]

Dunno, triplanar maybe?

[@iDigvijaysinhG]

That is the topic for the next episode in the series, you have to wait a bit longer for that.