"Galaxy" type skin in older engines
I'm using a older game engine from the early 2000's and I want to create a texture that resembles that of a galaxy skin.
Something like this where the texture remains kind of stationary when the model moves to create this strange parallax-like effect. I don't know what the official term for it is. The problem is that I'm using a much older game engine so things like nodes just aren't a thing I can take advantage of. In fact the engine is so old that I have to type out and reference the types of textures that I need. I've attached a notepad file that lists all the known things this engine is capable of, but I'm not quite as tech-savy as I would want to be so a lot of these I just don't understand. I would greatly appreciate if I can get some guidance for this, and I'll answer as many questions as I can if you have them. Thank you.
Replies
It doesn't look very programmable to me but I may be misinterpreting it.
If there's a way to create a SkyDome or reflection that would probably be your best option.
For starters, the effect you're referring to is called "screen space" texture mapping. So the UV's are fixed to the camera's position. For parallax layering effects, you are gonna have to have the texture render out in layers, to be masked and added at runtime, and offset based on screen position.
Making an effect like this is fairly simple in UE4/5's shader graph. It would be a good way to set up a reference for what you aim to accomplish.
Going by the content of that file I suspect it's either a fixed function renderer or at least one with no custom shader authoring.
You're correct in saying that you need to fix UVs to screen space but if that function isn't exposed there's bugger all the OP can do without extending the engine
I appreciate the posts! I'll see if I can work with something based on what you guys have said.