Procedural Universe v1.0.0 [Blender Add-on]

Tested with Blender 3.4 + on both Mac and Windows.

V0.2 UPDATE - Partially tested on Blender 3.6.4 - 4.1.1 (on 4.2b weird things happens to some nodes)

100% procedural universe elements.

• Planets from image textures
• Procedural Planets

• Stars (particles)

• Fog (just to help other elements)

• Procedural Galaxies
• Simple BlackHoles
• Advanced BlackHoles
• Procedural Nebulas
• High detail procedural Asteroid
  
  ---- NEW ----
• Procedural Sun
• Procedural Nebula 2

ATTEMPTION!! THIS IS AN BETA VERSION. IT MAY HAVE BUGS, ERRORS, ETC.

- ELEMENTS

Create different universe elements and combine them. Fully customizable.

- INTERFACE

All options (objects, materials, lights, etc) are integrated in the interface. You don't need to switch between panels and tabs, just the "Objects Settings" menu.

There is a list of added objects, if you need to remove some of them, USE THE REMOVE BUTTON FROM THE LIST.

There is a "Randomizer" button that will set random values for some elements, giving you the ability to create different styles/looks with just one click.

- RENDER SETTINGS

There are elements that requires some render settings to be changed. All relevant options are in "Render Settings" menu too. There are also two buttons, to "Change All" options and to "Change Required" options. With just one click...

- PRESETS

The interface comes with a Custom Preset system, in which you can Create, Remove and Load your own settings. Once you have your scene completed, just create a new preset, set the info you want, and you're ready to go. You can create a new project, and load that preset. NOTE THAT PRESETS WILL SAVE ONLY THE ELEMENTS ON THE LIST, EVERYTHING ELSE IS IGNORED.

NOTE:

The contents of this addon are not "just mine". It is based on Geometry Nodes and Shaders, and most of the nodes/methods I've used comes from real geniuses of Blender. I've modified, added, removed almost everything, but I not claim those as mine!. Indeed I want to thank all of them, I've learned a lot. And they are:

Samuel Krug - https://www.youtube.com/@samk9632

Iridesium - https://www.youtube.com/@samk9632

Alaskan FX - https://www.youtube.com/@AlaskanFX

Ryan King Art - https://www.youtube.com/@RyanKingArt

CG Geek - https://www.youtube.com/@CGGeek

VERSION HISTORY

- v0.0.1

• First release

- v0.0.2

• Added High detail procedural Asteroid.

• Fixed some minor bugs.
• Some UI changes.

- v0.0.3

• Fixed Planet From Image not working on Windows.
• Fixed Planet From Image duplicates. When adding an already existing planet, its preferences does not appear. Now it's not possible to add an existing one.
• Partially Fixed Randomizer on Galaxy, Nebula, ProPlanet, Asteroid and Universe.
• Fixed some minor bugs.

- v0.0.4

• Added Procedural Sun (with flares). It has different elements, and a lot of options. In order to see what we are doing with the flares, there is a button to Preview them. Important to exit from Preview mode before adding/changing other objects.
• Added Procedural Nebula 2. Full control over the shape.
• Added new Atmosphere to PU-ProPlanet and Planet From Image. Now we must select the source that will act as sun, and the atmosphere will react to the direction of our sun.
• Added "Prepare For Render" function. It creates a new collection and a new ViewLayer for each object. Every object on each ViewLayer is set to Indirect Only, except for the current object. Also EXR-MultiLayer format is selected, and the Output is set to Render folder in same .blend file. From there, render depends on GPU memory, so you can disable some layers and render different files in case of low GPU memory.
• Added World texture options to PU-Stars. You can deselect "Particles" option to use noise on World Shader.
• Added Disable button to completely remove Procedural Universe.
• From now on, Remove Objects list section is renamed to Select/Remove/Export Objects.
• Added Select Object button to Remove Objects list section. Easy to select any PU object.
• Added Export Object button to Remove Objects list section. When we finish to setup an element, export it, this way we can create more than just one. Unfortunately exported objects will be unlinked from Procedural Universe. It creates a new collection with the selected object (and helpers).
• Fixed Location in all objects. Now we can move them with their native Location setting.
• Fixed some options in PU-Galaxy which Min and Max values are too low/high, making hard to control them.
• Enhanced PU-BlackHole2. Now we can disable Absorption Material (to see what we are doing).
• Enhanced Render Settings panel (Less confusing, and a little more fancy).
• Added Documentation.pdf. Preliminary version.

- v0.1.0

• Added initial compatibility with Blender 4.
• First BETA version.

- v0.2.0

• Partially tested on 3.6.4 - 4.1.1 (in 4.2b weird things happens on some nodes).
• Added Blender 4.2 initial compatibility.
• Fixed Add Planet From Image.
• Fixed minor bugs.

- v1.0.0

• In Blender 4.2 weird things happens on some nodes.
• Added Extensions initial compatibility.
• Fixed "First disable flares preview" message in Randomizer and Presets settings.