Skip to content

Primary Body

Define the main planet in your scene: its size, surface, atmosphere, and how it aligns with the rest of TrueSKY.

Where to Find It

  • Open the 3D Viewport N-panel.
  • Go to True-VFX -> TrueSKY 3.
  • Click the Primary tab.

When to Use This Panel

  • Set the scale and curvature of your world for ground or space shots.
  • Enable or disable the visible planet surface and its displacement.
  • Control the atmosphere that other panels (Clouds, Luminous, Space) reference.
  • Add rings or aurora for stylistic worlds.

Quick links

Panel Layout

  • Primary Body header with a preset picker for full planet setups.
  • Surface group for radius, mesh quality, cut-out, subdivision, and displacement.
  • Use Global Positioning dropdown for scene-wide linking and overrides.
  • Location group for coordinates and city search.
  • Atmosphere, Aurora, and Rings groups for visual layers.

Key Sections

Structure and Presets

  • Use the top preset picker to store complete planet looks (surface + atmosphere).
  • Toggle the main surface on or off; most shots benefit from keeping it enabled.

Surface and Geometry

  • Radius sets planet size and horizon curvature.
  • Display Full Planet switches between an optimized ground patch and a full sphere. Use the full sphere for orbital shots; keep it off for ground-level efficiency.
  • Resolution / Quality Multiplier raise or lower mesh detail. Increase gradually to balance detail and render speed.
  • Cut Out and Cut Out Radius remove a region near the origin so the camera or scene can sit inside the planet without clipping the horizon.
  • Offset North rotates the surface mesh so north aligns to your reference or map orientation.
Adaptive Subdivision (optimized grid mode)

Visible when Display Full Planet is off.
- Use Adaptive Subdivision focuses tessellation near the camera.
- Percentage of Radius and Falloff Factor control how quickly detail fades.
- Max Subdivision and Iterations cap tessellation to keep memory in check.

Displacement and Flattening

  • Enable Use Displacement to add height variation from a heightmap.
  • Minimum / Maximum Height set the elevation range so features scale correctly.

Info

By default the values are correct for the included Earth heightmap.

Tip

Adjust them when using custom heightmaps to fit your terrain scale.

  • Displacement Multiplier exaggerates or softens relief.

alt text alt text alt text alt text

  • Flatten Radius and Flatten Falloff keep an area around the camera level while leaving distant terrain detailed. alt text
  • Assign the Displacement Texture in the dropdown if you need custom terrain.

alt text

  • Enable Use Global Positioning to drive the primary body from the scene-wide Global Positioning tab.
  • Use Override in the Location header when you need a local adjustment.
  • Offset mode adds a latitude/longitude offset to the global coordinates.
  • Full Override lets you set a completely independent location.
  • If the primary body has been rotated off north, use Align GPS to Body in Global Positioning to re-sync orientation.

Location and Coordinates

  • Use Location search to pull latitude and longitude automatically.
  • Latitude / Longitude fields with direction toggles keep signs clear for north/south and east/west.
  • Linked luminous bodies can inherit these coordinates for matching sun angles.

Atmosphere

  • Toggle the atmosphere panel to add a translucent shell around the body.
  • Height: Sets how tall the atmosphere extends above the surface. Higher values produce a broader horizon glow and deeper aerial perspective.
  • Resolution: Controls the mesh quality used for the atmosphere shell.
  • Shader Settings:
    • Air: Overall density multiplier for Rayleigh scattering. Higher = stronger blue sky and deeper aerial perspective.
    • Aerosols: Overall density multiplier for Mie scattering. Higher = more haze and softer shadows.
    • Ozone: Controls the absorption of UV light, affecting sky color and atmospheric effects.
  • Artistic Values: High-level looks for the sky scattering.
    • Sun Glare: Width/strength of the bright solar halo in the sky. alt text
    • Sky Anisotropy: Balances forward/back scatter to shape the overall sky look. alt text
    • Atmosphere Range: Adjusts how quickly the blue sky fades with altitude. alt text
  • Exponential Fog: Ground-hugging fog for stronger light shafts and near-horizon haze.
    • Density: Overall fog thickness.
    • Anisotropy: Directional scattering (more forward scatter increases god-ray contrast). alt text
    • Fog Range: Controls how fog density falls off with height. alt text
    • Coefficients (optional): Fine-detail tuning when you need more control.
  • Advanced Air/Aerosols/Ozone: Three groups of X/Y/Z coefficient sliders for physically‑inspired color shaping. Use when you need precise control beyond the artistic sliders.

alt text alt text alt text

  • Material (Advanced): Assign or replace the atmosphere material used by this body.

Aurora

Use Aurora to add animated polar lights that wrap around the body.

  • Toggle Aurora on to enable the effect.

Core controls

  • Altitude Offset: Moves the aurora layer up or down relative to the atmosphere.
  • Layer Thickness: Sets the vertical height of the glowing band.
  • Oval Latitude: Shifts the aurora toward the poles (higher) or toward the equator (lower).
  • Random Seed: Changes the pattern layout for a new look.

Wisps

Main

  • This is the main structure of the aurora.
  • Scale: Size of the primary wisps. Higher values create finer, tighter ribbons.
Scale: 1 Scale: 7 Scale: 8
Scale 1 Scale 7 Scale 8
Scale: 12 Scale: 21
Scale 12 Scale 21
  • Stretch: Stretches wisps sideways for longer streaks.
  • Speed: Animation speed of the main wisps.

Secondary

  • This adds finer detail on top of the main wisps.
  • Scale: Size of the secondary detail layer. Higher values add finer detail.
  • Noise Size: How complex the detail looks across the wisps. Animated comparison of the size setting
  • Speed: Animation speed of the secondary detail.

Shape

  • Vertical Columns: Strength of vertical shafts. Higher values create stronger columns. Animated display of the various values of Vertical Columns
  • Base Spread: Expands the bright floor near the horizon. Animated display of the various values of Base Spread

Dithering

  • Dither Start Bias: Where the fine dithering begins across the aurora height. Animated display of the various values of Dithered Start Bias
  • Dither Amount: Strength of the dithering that helps break up banding. Animated display of the various values of Dither Amount

Colors

  • Top Color: Color at the upper part of the aurora.
  • Bottom Color: Color at the lower part of the aurora.
  • Fade Position: Moves the blend point between bottom and top colors.
  • Fade Sharpness: Softens or sharpens the color transition.

Emission

  • Overall Brightness: Global intensity for the entire aurora.
  • Wisp Coverage: How much of the band lights up. Higher values widen coverage and reduce contrast.
  • Hotspot Brightness: Boosts localized bright spots within the aurora.

Wisp Speed Comparison

All speeds of the named setting are set to 1.0

Main Wisp Speed Secondary Wisp Speed Both Together
Main Speed Secondary Speed Both moving together
The full structure is moved by the main speed. The fine details move independently. Both speeds set to the same value.

Tip

If the aurora looks too low or detached from the body, adjust Altitude Offset and Layer Thickness together to keep the band anchored to the horizon.

Rings

Add one or more ring sets to the active body, similar to the Primary Body’s rings.

  • Rings list: Shows all ring entries with visibility toggles and add/remove buttons, plus a presets menu for saving/loading full ring setups.
  • Placement
    • Elevation and Rotation set the ring plane orientation, with a placement presets button for quick looks.

alt text alt text

  • Ring Size
    • A quick multiplier for scaling the entire ring set up or down in the header.
    • Outer Radius: Sets the outer edge distance from the body.
    • Inner Radius Mode: Choose Relative (factor between the body and outer edge) or Absolute (set an explicit inner offset). alt text
    • Radius Override: When multiple ring entries exist, enables the outermost ring to set the effective outer boundary for the system.
  • Advanced
    • Material: Assign a specific material for the rings.
    • Quality: Vary for smoother ring shapes at close range.
    • Offset UVs: Slide UVs to reveal more/less of the ring texture near the inner edge.

Info

All pre-installed presets have the same distance from the primary body. This distance is the same distance from the Earth to the its Moon. This way you can more easily get those cool planet-rise effects in your scenes.

The Scene Builder tool includes viewport toggles for Primary Surface, Primary Atmosphere, and Primary Rings. See Viewport Toggles.

Typical Workflows

  • Ground-level Earthlike setup: Keep Display Full Planet off, set Radius for your scene scale, enable Use Displacement, then refine Atmosphere until the horizon haze matches your lighting.
  • Orbital or wide hero shot: Enable Display Full Planet, increase Resolution, add Rings if needed, and confirm Luminous and Space tabs align with the new scale.
  • Stylized or airless body: Disable Atmosphere, keep Surface on with lower Strength in Luminous for harder light, and use Cut Out if you need to place the camera close to the surface.

Tips and Pitfalls

  • Set your primary body early because other panels reference its scale and coordinates.
  • If the surface looks jagged, raise Resolution slightly before changing displacement ranges.
  • When adaptive subdivision is on, avoid extreme Max Subdivision values to prevent slow viewport performance.
  • Match City Search with Global Positioning (and Luminous Use Global Positioning) to keep time-of-day lighting believable.

Related pages