GeoSim v1.4 | Photorealistic Planets (EEVEE / Cycles)

For instruction on using the addon, see the documentation section on the BlenderMarket here

What is GeoSim?

GeoSim is an add-on which allows the creation of photorealistic, realtime, customizable planets in a matter of seconds. Combined with a robust and easy to use shader nodegroup, GeoSim is a must-have for any 3D artist looking to create space/sci-fi scenes.

  - Physically Based Volumetric Rendering 

Using a multitude of advanced techniques, GeoSim can create photorealistic planetary atmospheres at a much higher quality and speed than Cycles or Eevee. Attributes such as density, thickness, and color can all be controlled with in the GeoSim shader.

  - Image-based Clouds

In order to add an extra layer of realism, GeoSim includes real-time, shadow-casting clouds. Just plug in your image/procedural texture and the shader will automatically convert it into semi-3D, volumetric clouds.

  - Full Texture Support

GeoSim comes fully equipped to handle all required textures, including albedo, roughness, specular, normal, and emission. All image textures can be accessed easily through

a separate nodegroup, allowing them to be modified at any

time.

Calamity | a Blender short film made using GeoSim

Current Limitations/Things to note

-The planet surface does not react to light sources other than the main GeoSim sun

-Objects cannot cast shadows or illuminate GeoSim planets

Most of these will likely be fixed in future updates!

*All future updates will be accessible to anyone who currently owns the product.

Changelog
1.1

• New "Surface" section in GeoSim Nodegroup.
• Added the ability to disable emission maps on areas of the planet that are in daylight, for use with city lights textures.
• Normal map strength is now controlled outside of the shader.

1.2

• 33% decrease in render times due to optimizations and bugfixes.
• The camera may now fly inside of the atmosphere.
• Normal mapping and cloud coloring bugs fixed.

1.3

• Massive UI and documentation overhaul.
• Support for terrain displacement and self shadowing
• Clouds are much more photorealistic.
• Various bug-fixes and optimizations.
• Support for Blender 3.0.
• Added "Color Separation" and "Ambient Light" sliders for better control of the atmosphere.
• Added a separate downloadable file called "Textures" containing 2k, 4k, 8k, and 16k earth textures, courtesy of NASA 

1.4

• Indirect lighting added.
• Clouds can now cast shadows on the atmosphere.
• New "sharpness" control for clouds.
• Specular reflections now use the GGX reflection model.
• Atmosphere now supports mie scattering.
• Parallax displacement optimized.
• New strength control for emissive textures.
• Orthographic view now supported
• Depth of field now supported
• Planets now cast accurate tinted shadows