Another fresnel highlight .. this one simluates overall "world specular" / sun brightness enhancement. If we zoom out on planet earth to view it from space, and have the sun off to the side, we'll see earth look like a huge orb, and the sun will create a specular shine on the surface of the earth. That's pretty much what this is simulating.
The highlight is the view angle (camera) interacting with the sun's angle to do a fresnel and determine where the sun is coming from. So, when we look towards it more, we get more brightness added to things. This creates a massive subtle "sunny trail" that enhances the specular one that ground & plants already do... b/c it's doing it to a massive area.
As the sun moves, this massive area moves along with it. As it goes overhead, it becomes more of a massive spotlight from above. But, as it nears horizons, it becomes a huge casting of highlight across the landscape from the direction of the sun.
This adds more body and depth to the landscape, because it simulates sun seeming brighter from a) the sun coming at you, b) the sun bouncing off things and into you .. as opposed to looking away from the sun, where you just see the light bouncing off sunlit things which are also absorbing some of the light, too.
The red-shaded area in the image above is the sun-facing side, and the un-red area is the area away from the sun. The camera is in-between transitions here, so it's adding it more as it transitions towards the sun's angle, and cutting it off more as it transitions away from the sun's angle.
The effect here has been amped up quite a bit to demonstrate what's going on. The actual shaders use a much more subtle effect, so as not to over-brighten or overpower the scene. When blended with the fresnel "frosted tips" and "backlight / spotlight", it all adds up to an enhanced environment that simulates more light bouncing around and interacting.
Important to note.. the atmospheric scattering / horizon blue'ing that the game does (IE: the horizon fog that overlays the scene) simulates this to some extent. Asobo's original code just used sun color to do it, and it was sun coloring haze near sun, and negating it away from sun. I enhanced it by forcing it to use sky color when away from sun, which made the sky a richer blue. But, the fresnel "sunny spot" I added adds extra impact to ground, plants, objects, etc.. enhancing the "towards the sun it's brighter" effect a bit more.
Another fresnel highlight .. this one simluates overall "world specular" / sun brightness enhancement. If we zoom out on planet earth to view it from space, and have the sun off to the side, we'll see earth look like a huge orb, and the sun will create a specular shine on the surface of the earth. That's pretty much what this is simulating.
The highlight is the view angle (camera) interacting with the sun's angle to do a fresnel and determine where the sun is coming from. So, when we look towards it more, we get more brightness added to things. This creates a massive subtle "sunny trail" that enhances the specular one that ground & plants already do... b/c it's doing it to a massive area.
As the sun moves, this massive area moves along with it. As it goes overhead, it becomes more of a massive spotlight from above. But, as it nears horizons, it becomes a huge casting of highlight across the landscape from the direction of the sun.
This adds more body and depth to the landscape, because it simulates sun seeming brighter from a) the sun coming at you, b) the sun bouncing off things and into you .. as opposed to looking away from the sun, where you just see the light bouncing off sunlit things which are also absorbing some of the light, too.
The red-shaded area in the image above is the sun-facing side, and the un-red area is the area away from the sun. The camera is in-between transitions here, so it's adding it more as it transitions towards the sun's angle, and cutting it off more as it transitions away from the sun's angle.
The effect here has been amped up quite a bit to demonstrate what's going on. The actual shaders use a much more subtle effect, so as not to over-brighten or overpower the scene. When blended with the fresnel "frosted tips" and "backlight / spotlight", it all adds up to an enhanced environment that simulates more light bouncing around and interacting.
Important to note.. the atmospheric scattering / horizon blue'ing that the game does (IE: the horizon fog that overlays the scene) simulates this to some extent. Asobo's original code just used sun color to do it, and it was sun coloring haze near sun, and negating it away from sun. I enhanced it by forcing it to use sky color when away from sun, which made the sky a richer blue. But, the fresnel "sunny spot" I added adds extra impact to ground, plants, objects, etc.. enhancing the "towards the sun it's brighter" effect a bit more.